The Lord’s Day (Sunday)

In the Bible, the “day of the Lord” refers to the end of time, the moment when God or Jesus passes judgement on all people. This expression is he hemera tou kyriou in Greek. Another Greek expression, he kyriake hemera is often translated in the same way. This last expression, from Revelation 1:10, does not refer to the end of time, but is probably used as a name for Sunday.

In early Christianity, the Sunday became a special day because it was the day that Jesus rose from the dead (see for example Acts 20:7-12). The general explanation is that the expression used in Revelation 1:10 (“the Lord’s day”) is an honorary title for the Sunday, because Jesus rose from the dead on that day.

The fact that the Sunday was given a special significance in early Christianity did not mean that the Sunday replaced the Sabbath. The decision to apply the Sabbath commandments to the Sunday was taken after the time of the New Testament. In the New Testament there is still a fervent discussion about the place of the Jewish law in Christian life.