rstrats said:
Chuckt,
re: "We don't need just Mark 16 to prove early Christians worshipped on the first day of the week."
I'm not aware of any scripture that says that anyone observed the first day of the week as a day of rest and worship. What do you have in mind?
The Sabbath was a shadow but now we have the reality which is Christ. I don't worship the shadow. I worship Jesus.
Jesus' resurrection was the only thing that could have changed the Sabbath.
Colossians 2:17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
The Sabbath was a shadow of Christ
By Chuckt 3-21-2009
Colossians 2:16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath [days]:
Colossians 2:17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body [is] of Christ.
Colossians 2:17 says the Sabbath is a shadow of things to come. What is a shadow? It is the shade caused by the interception of light. It is a sketch cast by an object and it causes an image. The body is Christ and it is what cast the shadow.
Though I'm not supposed to judge others on the Sabbath, the emphasis should be on the image that cast the shadow and not the shadow itself.
Acts 20:7 And upon the first [day] of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
It was the Apostles who broke bread and preached on the first day of the week which was Sunday.
1Cor. 16:2 Upon the first [day] of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as [God] hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
Paul took up a collection on the first day of the week from "every one of you" which means that the Christians came together on the first day of the week.
John 20:26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: [then] came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace [be] unto you.
Why didn't Jesus appear on the seventh day? Why didn't Jesus appear on the Sabbath?
Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place
If you read Romans 6:14 and Galatians 3:24-25, Christians are not under Old Testament law so we don't have to observe the Sabbath because the law was our schoolmaster (Galatians 3:24) and now we are no longer under a schoolmaster (Galatians 3:25).
In terms of resurrection, Jesus was crucified on a friday and he rose on the third day which would be Sunday.
The resurrection is the Lord's day because it is the last day where men are summoned (1 Thessalonians 4:16):
Revelation 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
The trumpet sounds to resurrect souls on the last day (1 Thessalonians 4:16) and Jesus rose on the first day of the week which was Sunday so it was the resurrection that changed the Sabbath to Sunday.
1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
This is why I have to look to what the shadow of Saturday represents because I want the reality which casts the shadow and if I'm stuck on the shadow then I haven't seen any revelation beyond the shadow.
That is why I preach Christ crucified, risen and coming again because it is the image that casts the shadow. And where is Sabbath keeping in the gospel "wherein you stand" (v1) and by which you are saved (v.2)? The Sabbath was important but it isn't the new reality of God's plan of salvation:
1 Cor. 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
1 Cor. 15:2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
1 Cor. 15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
1 Cor. 15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
1 Cor. 15:5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
1 Cor. 15:6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
1 Cor. 15:7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
1 Cor. 15:8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
1 Cor. 15:9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 1 Cor. 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which [was bestowed] upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
1 Cor. 15:11 Therefore whether [it were] I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.
Although the moral principles expressed in the commandments are reaffirmed in the New Testament, the command to set Saturday apart as a day of rest and worship is the only commandment not repeated. There are very good reasons for this. New Testament believers are not under the Old Testament law (Rom. 6:14; 2 Cor. 3:7, 11, 13; Gal. 3:24-25; Heb. 7:12). By his resurrection on the first day of the week (Matt. 28:1), his continued appearances on succeeding Sundays (John 20:26), and the descent of the Holy Spirit on Sunday (Acts 2:1), the early church was given the pattern of Sunday worship. This they did regularly. Sunday worship was further hallowed by our Lord, who appeared to John in that last great vision on “the Lord’s day” (Rev. 1:10). It is for these reasons that Christians worship on Sunday, rather than on the Jewish Sabbath.
https://www.jashow.org/wiki/index.php/Questions_on_the_Sabbath