Sunday is Called the Lord’s Day Three Times in a Major Papua New Guinea Newspaper

 

The National is a popular newspaper in Papua New Guinea. It is available in print and online. On December 23, 2022, The National published an article titled, “It is special Christmas again.” In this article, Sunday was referred to not once, but three times, as the Lord’s Day. There is no doubt that this is an effort to persuade the people of Papua New Guinea that Sunday should be observed as a day of rest. The newspaper expressed the following:

“Christmas Day, Dec 25 is this Sunday. This happens once in several years so it is quite special for the majority of Christians, notably Catholics, to be in church to mark the birth of Jesus Christ on the Lord’s Day, Sunday. [1]

“For majority of the Christians led by Catholics, it would be special to be in Church this Sunday to celebrate and acknowledge the message of the birth of Jesus Christ on the Lord’s Day, Sunday.” [1]

“Sunday is when Catholics and the majority of Christendom gather to commemorate the resurrection of the Lord from the dead and the consequential institution of the Christian faith. When the commemoration day of the birth of Christ, Christmas Day, falls on the Lord’s Day, it makes the two occasions doubly special.” [1]

No matter how much they write about it or desire it to be, simply calling Sunday “the Lord’s Day” does not make it so. Even so, Sunday was proclaimed in the newspaper as the Lord’s Day. This message has been promoted by the news media for years in an effort to encourage people to attend church on Sunday. Others are calling for Sunday closing laws in order to save our culture. There is no denying the rising popularity of the Sunday rest movement and the attempt to convert the entire population into Sunday-keepers. This situation will grow worse in the days ahead: “And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” Revelation 13:17.

Sabbath from a Biblical Perspective: Sunday or Saturday?

Jesus: “And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.” Luke 4:16.

Jesus declared: “…The sabbath was made for man* [Greek: anthropos, mankind]…” Mark 2:27. “The Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day” Matthew 12:8.

God commanded: “But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God” Exodus 20:10.

Paul: “And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures.” Acts 17:2-3.

“And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks” Acts 18:4.

Paul declared: “There remaineth therefore a rest [Sabbath] to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His” Hebrews 4:9, 10.

“For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day…And God did rest the seventh day from all his works,” “And blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Hebrews 4:4.

Paul and the Gentiles: “And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. And the next Sabbath came almost the whole city together to hear the Word of God.” Acts 13:42, 44.

The book of Acts records 84 Sabbaths on which the Apostle Paul and his associates held religious services (Acts 18:4, 11). Yet there is not one word in the entire Bible authorizing the keeping of Sunday in place of the seventh-day Sabbath.

Disciples: “And that day was the preparation and the sabbath drew on. And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulcher, and how His body was laid. And they returned and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment” (Luke 23:54-56).

Notice that Luke, a non-Jewish biblical writer, approximately 37 years after the resurrection of Christ, still called the Sabbath (the seventh day of the week) a commandment of God.

“And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James…very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun… And entering into the sepulcher, they saw a young man…And he saith unto them, be not affrighted; Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: He is risen.” (Mark 16:1-6).

It is well known that Sunday was the resurrection day. “The Sabbath was past” when it dawned. Thus it is evident that the Sabbath is Saturday, the day before Sunday.

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17). “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matthew 5:18).

Throughout the New Testament, there are no fewer than 59 references to the Sabbath.

Sabbath in the New Earth: “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain; and it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the LORD” (Isaiah 66:22, 23).

The Encyclopedia Britannica: “There is no evidence that in the earliest years of Christianity there was any formal observance of Sunday as a day of rest or any general cessation of work.” 1911 Edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, Article: Sunday (www.1911encyclopedia.org).

Roman Catholic: “Question: Which is the Sabbath day? Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath day. Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday? Answer: We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.” Peter Geiermann, The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, 1957 edition.

Roman Catholic: “Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act… And the act is a MARK of her ecclesiastical authority in religious things.” H.F. Thomas, Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons. Nov 11, 1895.

Sources

[1] https://www.thenational.com.pg/it-is-special-christmas-again/