What is the difference between the Sabbath and Sunday? - Sabbath - TouchPoints

Acts 2:42-47All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

We often forget that for several decades after Jesus’ resurrection, the majority of his followers were devout Jews. They saw Jesus as the fulfillment of all God had promised in the Old Testament, and they continued to practice Judaism the way Jesus had, meeting in the synagogue and Temple and keeping the Sabbath, in addition to meeting in homes and learning from the apostles.

Acts 13:14-15, 42-49Paul and Barnabas traveled inland to Antioch of Pisidia. On the Sabbath they went to the synagogue for the services. After the usual readings from the books of Moses and the prophets, those in charge of the service sent them this message: “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, come and give it.” . . . As Paul and Barnabas left the synagogue that day, the people begged them to speak about these things again the next week. Many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, and the two men urged them to continue to rely on the grace of God. The following week almost the entire city turned out to hear them preach the word of the Lord. But when some of the Jews saw the crowds, they were jealous; so they slandered Paul and argued against whatever he said. Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and declared, “It was necessary that we first preach the word of God to you Jews. But since you have rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we will offer it to the Gentiles. For the Lord gave us this command when he said, ‘I have made you a light to the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth.’” When the Gentiles heard this, they were very glad and thanked the Lord for his message; and all who were chosen for eternal life became believers. So the Lord’s message spread throughout that region.

From the earliest days of his missionary journeys, Paul always began work in a new place by joining Sabbath worship at the local synagogue or some other gathering of Jewish worshipers. He preached Christ from the Old Testament and shared the gospel both to Jews and God-fearing Gentiles who were in the synagogue.

Acts 16:12-15From there we [Luke, Paul, and companions] reached Philippi, a major city of that district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. And we stayed there several days. On the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank, where we thought people would be meeting for prayer, and we sat down to speak with some women who had gathered there. One of them was Lydia from Thyatira, a merchant of expensive purple cloth, who worshiped God. As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart, and she accepted what Paul was saying. She was baptized along with other members of her household, and she asked us to be her guests. “If you agree that I am a true believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my home.” And she urged us until we agreed.

It appears that Philippi had a very small population of Jews (it required 10 Jewish men to establish a synagogue in a city), but Jews and God-fearers met by the river there on the Sabbath in hopes of eventually establishing a synagogue. Paul began his ministry in Philippi with this group.

Acts 17:1-4Paul and Silas then traveled through the towns of Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. As was Paul’s custom, he went to the synagogue service, and for three Sabbaths in a row he used the Scriptures to reason with the people. He explained the prophecies and proved that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead. He said, “This Jesus I’m telling you about is the Messiah.” Some of the Jews who listened were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with many God-fearing Greek men and quite a few prominent women.

Throughout the book of Acts we see the gradual shift from a Jewish-centered Sabbath to a Jesus-centered Sunday. By his second missionary journey, Paul had established the pattern of beginning his work at the local synagogue and then expanding to the wider, largely Gentile, community. For much of this time, Jesus’ followers actually kept both days, preserving the day of rest as well as making the first day of the week a celebration of Jesus’ resurrection because he rose on Sunday morning.