The Lord's Day

The Lord's Day

Or, How Sunday Spins Our Week

George Orwell wrote,

“[W]e have now sunk to a depth at which the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men.”

Whatever my level of intelligence, I do think some restatement of the obvious regarding the Lord's Day is an intelligent, as well as a spiritually and eternally important, thing to do.

Sundays matter. They matter in a different way than the other six days. They matter for the sake of the other six days. Sundays matter for every image-bearer, for every follower of the risen Christ, and for every local church who assembles for worship.

There is a liturgy to the week, not only to the worship service. We recognize the pattern of the Lord’s Day not only the pattern on a Lord’s Day. There is a lesson in the righteous structure and sequence of the week, and you should know and desire the blessings and make it your habit to hunger for them.

• Maybe your parents have required you to come to church with them. Good, they should (as they obey Ephesians 6:4). And, are you eager, or just doing what you’re told?
• Maybe you’ve never considered the glory of what you get on/from Sundays. There’s more to the service than just attending, there’s more to the day than just the service.
• Maybe you’ve convinced yourself that it’s Legalism when someone else talks about being consistent. But is the imaginary Pharisee in your mind really saying that you’re “saving” yourself by what you do (or don’t) on Sundays?
• Maybe you do know, and you keep telling your conscience to be quiet. You need light and heat, truth and exhortation to put first days first.

This isn’t to lord it over anyone, but it is for your progress and joy in the faith (see Philippians 1:25).

The Lord’s Day

Even the phrase itself, the Lord's day is instructive. It isn't just Sunday, or the first day of the calendar week, or the last day of your weekend. It's not your day at all. It is the Lord's day. The name comes from the Bible, and though only found in one verse, it is an inspired designation. The apostle John wrote in Revelation 1:10,

“I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet.”

John was isolated on the island of Patmos; exiled as punishment for preaching the gospel. As he began to write the Revelation of the end times he tells us when he received this vision: on the Lord's day.

This is the only verse that uses this exact phrase. After reading it in English I had a question, because there is a similar phrase in many Old and New Testament contexts referring to "the day of the Lord." That “day” denotes a future day of judgment when the Lord comes back and pours out His wrath on those nations and peoples who rejected Him (as we sing in Psalm 98:9).

In many languages there are numerous ways to indicate possession. You can say "the desk of Bob" or "Bob's desk." Both constructions show that the desk is owned by Bob. In English we typically show possession by adding apostrophe+s. In highly inflected languages (like Greek) possession is expressed by this genitive phrasing: nominative+of+genitive.

So I wondered if it was the same phrase, and if so, why every other time in Scripture we read "the day of the Lord" but here in Revelation 1:10 it was translated "the Lord's day." There are at least a couple reasons for the difference. The first is word order.

In most of the references to the day of the Lord, "Lord" comes after "day" in the typical genitive construction.

ἡ ἡμέρα τοῦ κυρίου
the day of the Lord

But in Revelation 1:10, the word for "Lord" comes between the article and the noun. This is the first attributive position and is the principal way to accentuate or highlight the adjective more than the noun. The emphasis is on Lord's.

τῇ κυριακῇ ἡμέρᾳ
the Lord's day

But word order is not the biggest reason why Revelation 1:10 is different. The biggest reason is because it isn't even the same word. The word in Revelation 1:10 is the dative form of κυριακός. While in the same family of words as the noun, κύριος, meaning Lord, this is an adjective that doesn't refer to the person as must as to what pertains to the person.

The word κυριακός is not a Bible-only word. It was used frequently in secular Greek writings in imperial, official language: "concerning the emperor" or “associated with the emperor," often referring to the emperor's accounts and what was rightfully related to his position. John applies the word to a particular day as “linked to the Lord; the Lord's." It’s a day set apart for, and distinctively connected to, the Lord. It is not my day, your day, or even the church's day; it is the Lord's day.

There is only one other place that κυριακός is used to describe something else so directly related to the Lord. In 1 Corinthians 11:20 Paul refers to "the Lord's supper" and transforms ordinary food and a common table into something that is distinct, something special. Paul admonished the Corinthians that they were treating His supper with disrespect and therefore treating the Lord with disregard.

Let us restate the obvious: the Lord's day is the Lord’s and our attitude toward the day cannot be separated from our attitude toward the Lord of the day.

The First Day

The first day of the week, Sunday, was and is the Lord's day. While the title "Lord's day" is only used in Revelation 1:10, "first day" is a common identification of the day when believers gathered.

In the Old Testament, Israel was commanded to keep the Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-11). God required them to set apart the seventh day of the week (Saturday) and to rest from their work just as God rested from His work of creation (Genesis 2:2-3). There is no command to keep the Sabbath in the New Testament, and it is the only one of the 10 Commandments not repeated in the New Testament. Not only that, but almost immediately after the resurrection of Jesus on Sunday (Matthew 28:1) Christians started congregating for corporate worship on the first day.

At least a few New Testament passages demonstrate the first day focus of the apostles (for example, Acts 20:7-12 and 1 Corinthians 16:2). When the apostle John mentioned (c. AD 95) that his vision was on the Lord's day, it’s reasonable to think that he was longing for the corporate Christian fellowship and worship from which he was isolated.

We also see multiple references to the first day as the Lord's day from the early church fathers as well, spanning from the 2nd through the 5th centuries. Just one example comes from Justin Martyr (c. AD 150):

“On Sunday we hold our joint meeting; for the first day is that on which God, having removed darkness and chaos, made the world, and Jesus Christ our Saviour rose from the dead.”

Since the middle of the first century Christians have gathered on Sunday, the first day of the week, and recognized it as the Lord's Day. There is more to say about the relationship between Sunday and the Sabbath, which, Lord willing, we’ll consider next Lord’s Day.

Conclusion

Our whole lives are to be worship to God (per Romans 12:1); worship is more than just a Sunday activity.

But here’s the liturgical linchpin: The Lord's Day is a part of whole-week worship.

In everything we’ve noted so far about the Lord's day, maybe it seems like we're supposed to pause from life on Sunday for worship. In that case, Sunday could be seen like an overweight bully at the bottom of a seesaw, laughing at six little school girls of the rest of the week that he’s got suspended high above the ground. To be sure, Sunday corporate worship is weighty. The neglect of the Lord's day is a serious threat to our faith, endurance, and harmony.

But this is not an attempt at being "balanced," it's an appeal for being zealous/spoude. Don’t think of Sunday and the other six days as if they’re on opposite sides of a teeter totter. Instead, Sunday is like the fat kid spinning those little school girls on the merry-go-round faster and faster till they squeal with delight. First day gathering isn't an interruption of life for worship, it incites and impels whole-life worship.

To be jealousable you have to be blessed. And in order to be blessed, you must seek the blessing of the Lord on the Lord’s Day.

Charge

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you in time. Fear the Lord, and wisdom will come into your heart and discretion will watch over you. Honor the Lord with your week, from the first day to the last. He will bless you, and you will enter into Your Master's joy.

Benediction:

[A]ccording to the riches of his glory may he grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:16–19, ESV)