Did the Early Believers Begin Worshiping on Sunday?
- Ely Hernandez
- May 17
- 3 min read
One of the most common arguments used today is that after the resurrection of Messiah, the early disciples supposedly abandoned Shabbat and began gathering every Sunday as a new day of worship.
Passages often used to support this idea include:
Acts 20:7 — “On the first day of the week…”
1 Corinthians 16:2 — “On the first day of every week…”
The resurrection accounts in the Gospels, where Yeshua rises “on the first day.”
For many Christians, these verses are presented as proof that Sunday replaced Shabbat.
But when we examine the historical context, the language, and the Jewish world of the first-century believers, a different picture begins to emerge.
1. The First Believers Did Not Abandon Torah
After the death and resurrection of Messiah, the disciples did not suddenly stop living as Jews or stop gathering in synagogues.
The book of Acts repeatedly shows this:
Acts describes Paul the Apostle entering synagogues as his regular custom.
Jewish believers continued observing the moedim (appointed times).
Temple worship and Torah-centered life continued for many believers in Jerusalem.
Acts says Paul’s custom was to go into the synagogue on Shabbat and reason from the Scriptures.
This tells us something important:
There is no evidence that the apostles taught that Sunday had replaced the Sabbath.
2. Understanding the Phrase “First Day of the Week”
In Acts 20:7, most English Bibles say:
“On the first day of the week…”
But the Greek phrase is:
μία τῶν σαββάτων (mia ton sabbaton)
Literally:
“one of the Sabbaths” or “first of the Sabbaths.”
Greek scholars note this phrase was commonly used idiomatically for “first day of the week,” but Torah-observant interpreters point out that in the context of the Omer count, it can also be understood in connection with the counting of Sabbaths toward Shavuot.
This becomes very important because in Acts 20, the context has just mentioned:
“After the days of Unleavened Bread...”
Meaning the events are taking place during the season of counting toward Shavuot.
So when Luke says “mia ton sabbaton,” it may not be describing a weekly Sunday worship service.
It may be referencing: “one of the Sabbaths” during the seven-Sabbath count toward Shavuot.
3. Why Were They Gathering?
If this gathering was connected to the Omer count, then the disciples were not meeting because Sunday had become a new Sabbath.
They were gathering because they were in the season of:
Counting the Omer
Preparing for Shavuot
Walking in the appointed times of Adonai
This fits perfectly with the life of the first-century Jewish believers.
They were not inventing a new religion.
They were continuing in Torah, now with the revelation of Messiah.
4. What About Pentecost?
When we come to Acts 2, the disciples are gathered again.
Why? Because it was Shavuot!
The Greek says:
“When the day of Pentecost had fully come…”
Pentecost is simply the Greek way of saying the fiftieth day—Shavuot.
They were not gathered because it was “Sunday church.”
They were gathered because Torah commanded Israel to count seven weeks and appear before יהוה at Shavuot.
5. The Historical Reality
The first-century disciples:
Kept gathering in synagogues
Continued observing biblical feasts
Continued honoring Shabbat
Continued living as Torah-faithful followers of Messiah
The idea that Sunday became “the new Sabbath” developed much later in church history—not in the days of the apostles. The apostles gathered when Torah called for gathering.
And during the Omer season, gatherings on Yom Rishon may have occurred because of the counting toward Shavuot—not because Shabbat had been replaced.
Final Thought
When we read the New Testament through Western traditions, we may assume the apostles created Sunday worship.
But when we read it through the lens of Torah, Hebrew thought, and first-century Jewish life, we discover something deeper:
The disciples were not abandoning the appointed times.
They were living them—now through Messiah.
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