REVELATION 1:10

  Q: What does The Lord's Day mean?

There are at least four different explanations for this phrase, which is found in the Bible only in this verse:

A. The first day of the week, Sunday

The preponderance of New Testament scholars prefer this explanation because:

1. The early Christians appear to have met on that day in light of Christ's resurrection on a Sunday in order to break bread and collect offerings according to I Corinthians 16:2, Acts 20:7, Luke 24:1 and John 20:19.

2. The adjective “Lord's” only appears in the New Testament in one other spot outside of Revelation 1:10. That is in I Corinthians 11:20 referring to the Lord's Supper, which was celebrated on the first day of the week.

3. The phrase “Lord's Day” is used by Christian writers from the 2^nd century onward to refer to Sunday.

4. Some have even detected early liturgical language in Revelation 1:1-8, indicating that John may have actually been in a Christian worship service when he received his vision.

5. In secular Greek usage, the phrase appears beginning in 68 AD, where it refers to a regular (monthly or weekly) celebration of the Roman emperor's birthday. Thus, several authors express the opinion that the phrase was adopted by early Christians as a defiant replacement for Emperor's Day celebrations.

B. Easter Day

This is a variation on the above option. However, there is no historical evidence that “the Lord's Day” was ever a phrase referring to Easter.

C. The Eschatological Day of the LORD

This is the explanation preferred by some futurist scholars, and it is in line with their somewhat dubious contention that all of the events in Revelation refer to the last days. According to them, John was taken in a vision to view the world-shaking happenings of the future associated with Christ coming again and setting up his kingdom. These writers point out that Sunday in the New Testament is always referred to as “the first day of the week,” never as “the Lord's Day.” Arguing against their own view is the fact that LXX never translates the Old Testament phrase “The Day of the LORD” using the Greek phrase found in Rev. 1:10.

D. The Sabbath

This view is not even mentioned by most commentators. When it is, it is stated to be the least likely alternative. By the way, commentators are evenly divided among two views regarding the early Christians' treatment of the Sabbath. Some feel that Sunday replaced Saturday as a day of rest at an early date in Christianity; others feel that Sunday observances had nothing at all to do with Sabbath-keeping among the early Jewish Christians, who practiced them both. It was only when Christianity became overwhelmingly Gentile in composition that Sabbath-keeping dropped by the wayside. Sunday was revived as a day of rest with various restrictions on permitted activities mainly with early Protestant groups.