Was Messiah’s Resurrection on the "First Day of The Week" - Sunday?

Everyone agrees that when you look at a Gregorian calendar, Sunday is definitely identified as the first day of the week. Was this true in the first century? Yes, the majority of people today would agree, including the Pope and the Chief Rabbi of Israel.

On the opposite end of the week from Sunday, we find the seventh day, which God called the Sabbath (Shabbat) in Genesis 2. The same groups of people would agree with this statement.

This brings us to our discussion, “on what day of the week did Messiah resurrect? Key to this discussion is the English phase “first day of the week,” as found in the New Covenant. It was translated from the Greek words “Mia Ton Sabbaton” by modern day Christian scholars. We must give credit to the King James Version translators for italicizing the word “day” to show that it was inserted for clarity. They explain this in their preface. We will get more clarity about why they added the word “day” as we break down this phrase.

“Mia ton Sabbaton”

Greek scholars agree that “mia” means “ONE.” When you look at Christian scholar Dr. Strong’s Concordance, sure enough, that’s what it says. We also know that there is a Greek word for “first” and it is “protos,” as in the word “prototype.” Protos is not the word in our Greek text.

Thus, the phrase “first of the week” is more accurately translated as “one of the week(s).”

What about the last word of this Greek phrase, “sabbaton?” Another Christian scholar, Dr. Young, translates this word in his Interlinear as “SABBATHS,” which is plural. There was not a word in the Greek language for God’s seventh day so, “Sabbaths” was transliterated.

Now, our translation more accurately reads, “One of the Sabbaths” or “One of the Weeks.”

How can this be? Sunday is not one of the Sabbaths!

This phrase is primarily used describing when the women went to Yeshua’s (Jesus’) tomb and found that He had resurrected from the dead. Christianity states this took place on a Sunday, based on the phrase “mia ton sabbaton.” However, we have seen above that this understanding is not correct. Their translation may support their church doctrine, but is says something more in keeping with the Hebraic calendar.

This will make more sense if we understand observing God’s Passover as commanded in the Book of Leviticus.

Days that God Ordained

Passover is preparation day for the first day of Feast of Unleavened Bread (Lev 23:5). The Passover Lamb is slaughtered on Passover and eaten the next day on Unleavened Bread (Lev 23:6), a High Holy Day (annual Sabbath). Unleavened Bread is a seven-day feast and concludes with another High Holy Day (Lev 23:8).

God tells us in Leviticus 23:15, that in order to determine when to celebrate Pentecost (Shavout), we must count off seven Sabbaths (weeks). The death and burial of our Messiah occurred on Wednesday (Passover) and His resurrection occurred on “one of the Sabbaths,” which that week, fell on the weekly Sabbath. This requires a lengthier explanation to bring in all the details surrounding this event but it makes sense, if you think of it in a Hebraic way and not a Greek way. Yeshua said that He was “Lord of the Sabbath” so why would He not pick that day to rise from the dead?

So, put on your Hebrew thinking cap and let’s take a look at things the way God looks at them.

Everything concerning the physical coming and going, both first and next time, of our Messiah are all designed around the days that God gave Israel (in which God-Fearers are grafted). These are outlined in Leviticus 23. Messiah’s first coming was highlighted in the spring feast days. His second coming is highlighted in the fall feast days (Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonements, and Tabernacles). Paul tells us in Colossians 2:17, “…they are a shadow of things to come…” Another way of saying this is that they are an outline of future events. They are certainly worth our attention and study!

Paul also told the Corinthian assembly in 1 Cor 5:6-8 to observe the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread:

• “Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Messiah, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."

What about Sunday?

Nowhere in the bible does God command us to keep the “first day of the week” (Sunday) as a weekly assembly. But, early church teachers made Sunday their assembly day and explained it as the day resurrection occurred. But we, based on the above explanation, see Messiah’s resurrection occurring on the Sabbath, which coincided with “one of the Sabbaths” that week. There are other reasons to support our view.

History provides evidence of why assemblies began meeting on the first day of the week (Sunday), forsaking the practice of our Messiah and His Apostles (including Paul).

The Roman church will gladly step up and take credit. The evidence is overwhelming, if one wants to look. At the Council of Trent in Italy (1545 to 1563), the Archbishop of Reggio, addressed this topic.

• "The Protestants claim to stand upon the written word only; they profess to hold the Scriptures alone as the standard of faith. They justify their revolt by the plea that the Church has apostatized from the written word and follows tradition. Now the Protestant's claim that they stand upon the written word alone is not true. Their profession of holding the Scriptures alone as the standard of faith is false. Proof ... The written word explicitly enjoins the observance of the seventh day as the Sabbath. They do not observe the seventh day, but reject it. If they truly hold the Scriptures alone as the standard, they would be observing the seventh day as it is enjoined in the Scripture throughout. Yet they not only reject the observance of the Sabbath as enjoined in the written word, but they have adopted, and do practice, the observance of Sunday, for which they have only the tradition of the (Catholic) Church. Consequently, the claim of Scripture alone as the standard fails and the doctrine of 'Scripture and tradition as essential' is fully established, the Protestants themselves being Judges."

Protestants continue to keep the Catholic tradition of meeting on Sunday and claiming it is the day of resurrection and their weekly day of rest. Now that we have knowledge of history and language that exposes these traditions of men; do we have to do the same?