I Appeal To Caesar!

Paul’s epistles. In those days before modern mass communication, Paul followed the example of Gamaliel, his former teacher, who corresponded with far-flung Jewish students, synagogues and Rabbis by letter. Paul writes letters of encouragement and instruction to converts and churches in far-flung areas. These Pauline letters became accepted on a par with the Old Testament Scripture writings of the Jews and the writings of the apostles of Jesus; eventually, these writings became part of the twenty- seven books of our New Testament (note Peter’s statement: 2 Peter 3:15, 16). P. 2 Sunday Services. R. C. H. Lenski states the belief of many Christians: “The break with the Jewish Sabbath became decisive the moment the converted Jews withdrew from the synagogue; they no longer wanted to be identified with the hostile Jews, and the keeping of Sunday in place of Saturday thus received a strong impetus from the beginning. But there is no command anywhere in the New Testament obligating believers to observe Sunday. In the old covenant Saturday was fixed by divine law for the Jews. In the new covenant no day is fixed in any manner by any law. “The supposition that Christ or his apostles transferred the legal sanction from Saturday to Sunday is without support. To call our Sunday the Christian “Sabbath” is to apply a wrong and misleading name. Sunday as a day of rest and worship for Christians is just about the opposite of the Jewish Sabbath. We keep Sunday because we want and need it for the public worship without which we cannot get along in our Christian life…. We refuse to attach anything legal to it that may be in conflict with Col. 2:16, or Gal. 5:1. The Interpretation of The Acts of the Apostles, pp. 825-826. Simon J. Kistemaker comments: “The Jews designated five days for the week by ordinal numbers (the first day, the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth. These were followed by the day of preparation (Friday) and the Sabbath (Saturday). The early Christians adopted this nomenclature. But by the end of the first century, they called the first day of the week the Lord’s Day to commemorate that Jesus rose from the grave on that day (Rev. 1:10; the first-century document Didache 14:1). Interestingly, the modern Greek calendar lists the days of the week as Lord’s Day, second, third, fourth, fifth, day of preparation, and Sabbath.” New Testament Commentary, Acts, p. 719.