Lord's Day: Edit history

Biblical Texts

In the New Testament, the expression "the Lord's day" or "the day of the Lord" is used in two senses.

• A day of worship: Revelation 1:10 reads, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." On this day John, while on Patmos, received his vision.
• The day of final judgment: 1 Thessalonians 5:2 and 2 Peter 3:10 say that the day of the Lord comes "as a thief." 2 Thessalonians 2:2 urges believers not to be shaken by claims that the day has already come. "The day of the Lord Jesus" in 1 Corinthians 5:5 and "that great and notable day of the Lord" in Acts 2:20 carry the same meaning.

Original Language and Background

The two senses rest on different Greek expressions. Revelation 1:10 uses kyriakē hēmera, built on an adjective meaning "belonging to the Lord." The same adjective appears in "the Lord's supper" in 1 Corinthians 11:20. The expression in the Epistles is hēmera kyriou, a noun phrase meaning "the day of the Lord."

This noun phrase carries forward the Old Testament concept of the Day of the LORD, the day on which God intervenes directly to judge and to save; in Hebrew it is called yom YHWH. It appears frequently in prophetic books such as Amos and Joel.

Meaning Across Scripture

The New Testament connects the Old Testament Day of the LORD with Christ's Second Coming and the Last Judgment. In Acts 2:16–21, Peter quotes Joel's prophecy, illustrating this connection.

The sense of a day of worship is linked to the record that Jesus' resurrection took place on "the first day of the week." The accounts of the early church gathering on "the first day of the week" (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2) belong to the same context. The practice of gathering on "the Lord's day" is also said to appear in writings from the late first and early second centuries, such as the Didache and the letters of Ignatius.

Interpretation and Debates

• The day referred to in Revelation 1:10: Most denominations and scholars identify this day as Sunday. Some interpret the verse to mean that John saw the eschatological day of the Lord in a vision. The Seventh-day Adventist Church, citing Mark 2:28 ("the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath"), holds that this day is the Saturday Sabbath.
• The relationship between the Lord's Day and the Sabbath: The Westminster Confession of Faith (chapter 21) defines the Lord's Day as "the Christian Sabbath." Accordingly, Presbyterian and other Reformed traditions hold that the Sabbath commandment continues in the Lord's Day. The Lutheran tradition, following the Augsburg Confession (Article 28), tends to regard Sunday worship as an ordinance established by the church. For further detail, see Sabbath and the Lord's Day.
• Scripture contains no verse that specifically commands Sunday worship. The practice rests on the texts above and on the custom of the early church.

In Korean Churches

In Korean Protestant churches, Sunday is called Juil, a Sino-Korean rendering of "the Lord's day." Especially among Presbyterians, Sunday observance (juil seongsu), which involves worshiping on Sunday and refraining from work and commerce, has long been emphasized. How strictly it is observed varies by denomination and congregation.

When "the day of the Lord" refers to the end times, Korean preachers frequently cite it together with 1 Thessalonians 5 as a call to remain watchful.