The First Day of the Week

Vanity ^ | 6-10-08 | Dangus

[dangus]

One controversial translation issue is the phrase, “mia ton sabbaton.” This has traditionally been translated as “the first of the week.” Under pressure from 7th-day Adventists, however, some translations of the bible have taken to translate this “on one of the Sabbaths.” But the Adventists’ translation is based on a faulty transliteration. In the Greek, “sabbaton” is spelled with either an omicron (“small ‘o’”) or an omega (“big ‘o’”). When spelled with an omega, “sabbaton” is the genitive plural. In other words, it means “Sabbaths’.” The Adventists’ position is that “primus” means “first;” “mia” means closer to the number, one. This is ordinarily true, but “primus” means “first” not only in time, but priority. Hence, to call Sunday the “primus” day of the week would be to denigrate the Sabbath. Hence, a strange idiom meaning, roughly, “Sabbaths’s one” is used for the first day of the week. The Adventists’ position would mean that for no reason, the bible uses a grammar which makes no sense: If the bible had meant “on one of the Sabbaths,” there’s no reason it would state, instead, “on one of the Sabbaths’.” An English speaker, fluent in Greek would ask, “on the Sabbaths’ one what?” Other bible passages make clear that the Resurrection took place on a Sunday, which would mean the Adventists’ translation contradicts other scripture… or makes one have to create more strange translation. A traditional reading of Luke 23:56-24:1 suggests Christ’s followers worked with all due diligence. Immediately after burying Christ, they prepared his burial ointments, then “On the Sabbath day, they rested according to the commandment. But on the first day of the week…” The Adventists reading would have them resting on the Sabbath, according to the commandment, “but on one of the Sabbaths.” The Adventists’ position is that the Sabbath they rested on wasn’t a Saturday, but was a different kind of Sabbath, so that one Sabbath can immediately follow another. (Leviticus does call two other holy days Sabbaths.) While that might explain how “one of the Sabbaths” (if that were actually a valid translation) might make sense in general, it certainly doesn’t suggest that the author refers to a Sabbath on the very next day. Rather, one gets the sense that such events happened some undetermined number of weeks later. One reason that Adventists gain some cache with such odd claims, however, is that the timeline of events in the gospels is somewhat difficult to understand. According to traditional interpretations of the bible, Jesus celebrates Passover with his disciples, is condemned, killed, and then buried… all before the Jews celebrate Passover. The Adventists correctly assert that the evening after the crucifixion is not actually Passover! But they get the meaning of that wrong. The Essenes, who formed the core of Jesus’ disciples (Peter, John, Andrew, and others) celebrated Passover according to a different calculation than the Sanhedrin. That Jesus’ apostles are depicted as doing what the Sanhedrin would have regarded as women’s work in preparation for the Passover confirms that Jesus was celebrating the Passover according to the Essene tradition. The Essenes celebrated Passover from what would have been Thursday evening through Friday afternoon. Hence, Jesus offered himself as the sacrifice of the seder, and was killed the next day, all within the Passover. Then, the Sanherin began their Passover. Many Adventists suppose that the “day of Preparation” is only preparation for the Sabbath. Luke 23:55-24:1 confirms the traditional timeline: They buried him on one day, rested for the Sabbath, then went back on the morning of the third day to anoint the body with spices, as Jewish custom dictated must be done in all appropriate haste. If we were dead for three days, as we count days, then the bible omits mention of one day, leaving the reader to wonder why they neglected his body that day. Even though he was dead for only about 40 hours, he was dead for three days by the way days were counted then: he was dead on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. If three days meant he had to be dead for the largest part of each day, he would not have risen until the fourth day. The observance of Sunday is a remembrance of the Resurrection. It is in honor of his resurrection, not as a substitute for a Saturday Sabbath, that Christians choose Sunday as a day of prayer. Some people suppose that when Christ healed on the Sabbath, he was excused because the work was so critical, yet Jesus and his disciples did such mundane work as harvesting food for their immediate consumption (Mt 12:1). Given Jesus’ fasts, certainly satisfying hunger was no such critical labor. It is senseless to suppose that one is going to Hell because one fails to keep the Sabbath properly. As Paul preached, “Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day (Col 2:16).” The Sabbath was a day to renew our bodies and spirits. As Jesus stated, “The Sabbath was made for Man, not Man for the Sabbath (Mk 2:27)” Today, this purpose is fulfilled by keeping holy the day on which Christ rose from the dead.

[woollyone]

Let me try this again...
Jews consider tonight after sundown...to be tomorrow.
That is why the Sabbath always begins as sundown on Friday.
Because after Sundown on Friday...that is actually Saturday to a Jew...and Saturday after sundown, the Sabbath ends, because to them, that is Actually Sunday.

See?

So...with that in mind, let me re-post the sequence...

Jesus was buried before sundown on Thursday...that's the Jewish Thursday day. He rose before sunrise...what we call Sunday morning, but a Jew would call Saturday night.

so again...
Thursday afternoon 1st day
Thursday after sunset 1st night (that's a Jewish Friday)
Friday sunrise 2nd day
Friday after sunset 2nd night(that's a Jewish Saturday)
Saturday after sunrise 3rd day
Saturday after sunset 3rd night.(that's a Jewish Sunday)

Clearly in Jewish reckoning of days/nights, Christ was in the earth three days and three nights. In the Bible, and part or whole of a day or night is reckoned as whole day or night. SO even though He was in the tomb on Thursday day for a brief time, it is still considered a “day”.

There is no need to allegorize the clear meaning of Christ, when viewed form the Jewish perspective. It is NOT four days.

And with a Friday afternoon crucifixion, there is ABSOLUTLEY no way to reconcile Christ's very clear prophecy of three days and three nights. Not with a Jewish reckoning of days and not with our current reckoning of days that start and end at midnight. It cannot be done.

peace

[vpintheak]

I just went through a month long Prophecy seminar at an SDA church. They do not believe we are going to hell if we worship on a different day. I work with an SDA gentleman, a good Christian guy. The whole seminar was very thought provoking.
After much thought and deliberation I have come up with this compromise and feel satisfied. On Six days, I do my labor, and on the Seventh I rest according to Gods command. That rest day just happens to be the first day of the week according to the calendar.
I feel I am worshipping God according to His commands, and celebrating Christs victory over death and hell. Some of you may not agree, I know SDA does not agree. But I do not let anyone make me feel bad as Colassians 2 points out.

[jkl1122]

Christians are not commanded to work 6 days and then rest for one. We are not required to keep the sabbath.

[vpintheak]

Did Christ not say He came not to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it? Are we not to emulate Christ? Are we not commanded to be perfect, as God is perfect? We are absolutely supposed to follow Gods commands. We are not allowed to pick and choose. That is one slippery slope yoou are trying to walk up brother.

[1000 silverlings]

You are correct, Christians are not under the Law. In fact, I would go farther and say that being in Christ is the ultimate Sabbath, that Christ Himself is our Sabboth, our peace and our rest.

Hebrews 3:18

And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not ?

3:19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

[dangus]

>> Jesus was buried before sundown on Thursday...that’s the Jewish Thursday day. <<

That’s the picking point... He was buried on a Friday.

[dangus]

>> I just went through a month long Prophecy seminar at an SDA church. They do not believe we are going to hell if we worship on a different day. <<

Some may have mellowed out. They used to be strict restorationists, holding that all other churches were demonic. If they really have mellowed out their theology, I’m glad to hear of it, but from my recent encounters (2001-2003), I’d guess it’s more likely that they’ve adopted a strategy similar to the Mormons: leave the tough doctrines until people are hooked.

It’s tough to imagine them mellowing out so much, since their existential belief is the grandest conspiracy theory in the history of man: that all of Christianity was subverted by Satan through the workings of Constantine who somehow tricked all of Christendom (including those waaaay beyond the influence of the Roman Empire) to worship a pagan god by worshiping on Sundays.

[Salvation]

Thanks.

[BlueDragon]

The positions you have outlined here, are persuasive. Yet still, with this better fit, timewise, an even count still remains difficult, as counting the "day" of crucifixion as a day "in the earth" seems problematic to me, being as they had to hurry just to get all the preparations done before sundown.

If they only beat the sun disappearing over the Western horizon by say (for discussion's sake) an half-hour or so, possibly less --- would that still count as a "day"?

If not, and one could somehow reasonably push the crucifixion back yet another day, with the next somewhat mid-week day being on of those "extra" Sabbaths, then the count gets too long by half a day or so...?

Please don't get me wrong here... I'm not meaning to be argumentative, in the very least. Frankly, I lack the wherewithal, knowledge, and time to research, digging back through calendar changes of several cultures in an attempt to unravel the mysteries. Though I have heard it explained in fairly close detail previously, including in the argument put forth, much the same sort of observation or way of thinking you share with us here...

[vpintheak]

There was talk of Constantine and the change of the Sabbath of course. Mostly it was talk of the Catholic Church during Constantines rule met and changed the worship day to Sunday. Then given to us if we wanted to follow the law of man or God. The Speaker probably 2 times every meeting stressed God has His lambs in every denomination. There was no real bigotry at all. I also do not feel any bigotry from my coworker who is a SDA.

[dangus]

I never meant to suggest anyone was a bigot. But you went to a prophesy seminar, and you were told you were worshiping on the wrong day, and had it put to you whether you would obey God or obey man. IOW: you went for one purpose, and got a low-key, but high-pressure sales pitch to convert faiths.

Some would consider the SDA dishonest for that.

[dangus]

(by “the SDA” I mean “the member of the SDA who did that,” not the entire church; it would be silly to blame the whole organization on one unscrupulous proselytizer.)

[vpintheak]

I knew what I was getting into, and have no plans on converting. I was interested in revelations, and they did a great job with my kids. Trust me, I know the lady who was leading the kids service. I wasn’t worried a bit.

[dangus]

>> I was interested in revelations, and they did a great job with my kids. Trust me, I know the lady who was leading the kids service. I wasn’t worried a bit. <<

Tell me how harmless it is when the SDA’s attacks on church history leads your kids to read Elaine Pagels’ gnosticism by the time they hit about 16 or 18. Because that’s the irony of the SDA: by attacking church history, they also validate every argument of wiccans, pagans, gnostics, and those most idiotic of heretics: Da Vinci Code fans.

[dangus]

I found your e-mail as soon as I was done re-posting with formatting. I was impressed how fast you were. I was like, “alright, alright, already!” Hee-hee. Blessings to you!

[woollyone]

In normal usage, the term “day” is normally understood to be either a part of, or an entire day.

Backing the crucifixion to Wednesday, or having it on Friday, cannot acocunt for 3 days and 3 nights. Wednesday makes too much and Firday makes too little.

Not claiming superior knowledge, just presentign a theory that is interesting for discussion.

Most important, is that our faith overcomes our doubts.

[woollyone]

First, the word “Friday” is not in the text.
Second, without allegory, how do you account 3 days and three nights int he earth.

Jesus used Jonah as a letteral example and ocmparison to say that he would literally be the same duration in the earth.

BTW, did not have time last night to dif further into the subject at home. Will try again tonight.

[woollyone]

Ok...did a quick google search and came up with a few comparable articles...

Search results here...
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=ig&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=chuck+swindoll+plural+sabbaths&spell=1

First article from the search that I read and agrees with Chuck’s teaching on the subject here...
http://www.bibleteacher.org/pdf_sermons/What_Day_Did_Jesus_Die.pdf

AN interesting not eis the context of the Matt 12 prophecy, seems to be that the Pharisees asked for a sign and Jesus said that the only sign given would be that the Son of Man would be as Jonah, 3 dyas and 3 nights in the eart. SO to my ears and logic it would seem that this was a prophecy to be taken literally, not figuartively, because it was meant to be a conformation of Jesus’ diviniyt. Just my thoughts.

More importanlty, let God be glorified and all here be blessed!

[topcat54]

Thanks.

[Harrymehome]

The article has so many warps in it that it is better to begin from scratch. The most ancient aramaic text, the Peshita says the “first of the Sabbaths”. The Latin Vulgate (400 AD) says the same. The Valera and the Reina say the same. The Greek says the same. It’s not” the first day of the week” or “one of the Sabbaths”. “First of the Sabbaths” means the first 7th day sabbath during the count of the Omer which begins on the 16th Nisan, the day after the “High Sabbath” of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (15th Nisan). (John 19:31). There are 3 High Days that are days of no labor or rest. The other two are Pentecost and Feast of Tabernacles.

Before I proceed any farther in clarifying all the errors in this article, I’ll pause for any feed-back.

Blessings in your search for TRUTH