Sabbath or Sunday, Seventh or First Day?

A few years ago, at an international meeting in Korea, I met one person who told me he belonged to the Seventh Day Baptists, and asked me if I had heard of them.

As it happened, I knew of the group, a Christian group that is Baptist in faith and practice, except that they still honor the old Hebrew Sabbath, worshiping on the 7th day of the week instead of the 1st, as most Christians do.

In North America, I knew that the Seventh Day Baptists participate in the North American Baptist Fellowship and the Baptist World Alliance, like most other Baptist groups in the US, Mexico and Canada.

Most people will be familiar with another Sabbath Christian group, the Seventh Day Adventists, a better-known church that also worships on the Sabbath. Though better known for their apocalyptic beliefs, the Adventists observe more of the Hebrew requirements and practices than other Christians. Even so, they have become more closely allied with "evangelical" denominations in North America in recent years.

Most Christians worldwide observe the first day of the week as the Lord's Day in honor of the resurrection of Jesus. The pattern was set even before the New Testament Gospels and letters were written, as indicated in the book of Acts, the strong admonition in Hebrews (Hebrews 10:25) and other New Testament references.

As the Greek-speaking peoples gradually became Christian, this led to the first day of the week, their worship day, being named "The Lord's Day." This is the Greek name even today for that first day of the week.

But the first followers of Jesus the Messiah ("Christ" in Greek) were often meeting every day of the week, including Saturday. The first messianic believers continued observing the Sabbath as well as worshiping on Sunday and other days throughout the week. Jewish followers of Jesus continued worshiping in the synagogues and the temple until its destruction in AD 70.

What are the factors about worshiping on Saturday or Sunday? I recently thought through this question again in some detail and have posted a recent article discussing this topic. I also list here other related topics among my resources.

Sabbath, Sunday and Covenant Relationships – The Sabbath for the Christian: Thoughts on Commandment Four
Sabbath and Sunday
Keeping The Torah By Nature – Life Instruction
Related:
The Gospels in their Jewish Setting
When Paul Studied with Gamaliel