Expert: Rev. Robert Woods - 8/1/2007

Question
Why is it that so many Sunday Pastor's don't understand the meaning of grace?  The Greek meaning is the devine influence of the heart and it's reflection in the life.
Why is it that so many teach that Sunday is the Lord's day, when Jesus Himself says He is Lord also of the Sabbath day?
Why is it that Paul's writings are so misunderstood by so many into thinking we have a license to sin?

Answer
Blessings and thank you for your question.

I am not sure what you mean by Sunday Pastor's.  I am guessing you are a seven day adventist and you mean the worship of God on Sunday instead of Saturday.

Grace:  the word Grace is used 199 times in Scripture.  In Hebrew the word is חֵן [chen /khane/] It has 69 occurrences; AV translates as “grace” 38 times, “favour” 26 times, “gracious” twice, “pleasant” once, “precious” once, and “wellfavoured” once. 1 favour, grace, charm. 1a favour, grace, elegance. 1b favour, acceptance.

In Greek the word is χάρις [charis /khar·ece/] 156 occurrences; AV translates as “grace” 130 times, “favour” six times, “thanks” four times, “thank” four times, “thank + 2192” three times, “pleasure” twice, and translated miscellaneously seven times.  1 grace. 1a that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness: grace of speech. 2 good will, loving-kindness, favour. 2a of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues. 3 what is due to grace. 3a the spiritual condition of one governed by the power of divine grace. 3b the token or proof of grace, benefit. 3b1 a gift of grace. 3b2 benefit, bounty. 4 thanks, (for benefits, services, favours), recompense, reward.

So what does grace mean?  Grace is the undeserved, free forgiveness that God gives us through Jesus Christ.

2.  Why worship on Sunday?  We believe that the change in day for the Sabbath to Sunday was Divinely Authorized.  When Jesus declared that “the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath,” He wanted them to understand that He had the power to change the day on which the holy rest should be observed and the way it which it should be observed.  Scriptures clearly indicate that the Sabbath was celebrated on different days.  
a.    Originally, as seen in Genesis 2:3, the Sabbath was to be observed after the six days of work by God.  Here, in the institution of the Sabbath, it is distinctly declared to be a day of Holy rest after 6 days of labor, and it was to be a memorial of creation.  
b.    The next mention of the Sabbath is in connection with the giving of the manna (Ex 16:14-31).  Here the manna is stated to have fallen for 6 days, that is from the 16th to the 21st day of the second month; and that the day following, or the twenty-second, was the first 7th day Sabbath celebrated in the Wilderness of Sin.  “See for the Lord has given you the Sabbath, so He has given you on the 6th day the bread of life for 2 days.  So the people rested on the 7th day.”  The Sabbath as a holy rest was re-established at this time.  There is controversy over what day was actually observed.  If the 22 day was a Sabbath day, then the 15th should have been also, but it was not because they marched that day.  Dr. W. H. Rogers holds that “the only change of the Sabbath by God’s authority is for the Jews between the giving of the manna and the resurrection of Christ.  The first day of the week, but always the 7th after 6 working days was the day of the holy rest from Adam to Moses.  The Sabbatism was separated from idolatry by changing it from Sunday to Saturday among the chosen people ‘throughout their generations,’ 1500 years (Ex 31:13-14; Ezek. 20:12).  At Christ’s resurrection expired by statue limitation this peculiarity of exceptional change, leaving the divine rule for all mankind, requiring 1st day Sabbath keeping, as had been the case for the 1st 2500 years of human history.”  
c.   The Christian Sabbath or “Lord’s Day” has been tradition since apostolic times.  It came early to be known as the “Lord’s Day” to distinguish it from the Jewish Sabbath.  That this change was divinely authorized is show (1) by the example of Jesus, (2) by the authority of the apostles, (3) by the practices of the early church, and (4) by the testimony of the early apostolic fathers.
1.   Jesus placed approval upon the 1st day of the week, by meeting with His disciples on this day.  The resurrection took place on the morning of the 1st day of the week.  The four accounts of the gospels agree that the Savior arose early “the first day of the week.”  His first meeting with the body of His disciples was on the evening of the resurrection day (John 20:19); and the second on the evening of the 8th day, which would of course, be the following first day of the next week.  There were 3 more “first days” before the ascension, but it is not said whether Jesus met with His disciples on any or all of them.  However, there were 3 more appearances: to the 500, to James, and to the apostles (1 Cor.15:1-4).
2.   The Apostles authorized the change, doubtless due to the unrecorded instructions of Jesus during the 40 days (Acts 1:2).  Twenty five years later St. Paul worshiped, shared communion, and preached at Troas on Sunday (1 Cor 16:1-2).  This clearly indicates that the apostle sanctioned the 1st day as the Christian Sabbath.
3.   The practices of the early churches are further proof of worship on Sunday.  This is shown by the passages just cited, and also by St. John’s reference to the Sabbath as the “Lord’s day” (Rev 1:10).  Since he uses the phrase without any reference to the first day, evidence shows that when the Apocalypse was written, the 1st day was generally know as the “Lord’s Day” in contradiction to the Jewish 7th day.  
4.   Since some of the early apostolic fathers were associated with the apostles, their writings from the historical standpoint, furnish conclusive evidence as to the current thought of that time.  For example, Ignatius, Polycarp, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Theodoret, Eusebius, Origen, the Didache or Teaches of the Twelve all mention the Sabbath observance being on the Lord’s Day.


Putting all of this aside, I believe that God is more worried about the heart of the worshipper than the day of the worship.  At my church, we worship on Sunday , Saturday, and Wednesday.  Since God “lives in the praises of His people,” does it really matter what day we observe the Sabbath.  If we become to legalistic and think that only Sunday or any day of the week is the only day to observe the Sabbath, then we are no better than the Pharisees who condemned Jesus for working on the Sabbath.  

3.  Paul's writings.  I have no idea what you are getting at.  I don't believe that Paul says anything of the sort, nor have I heard anyone teach this.  I know there are some liberal theologians that argue that sin isn't sin.  But Paul said this would happen one day:  2Ti 4:3 "For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear."



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