First of Sabbaths vs. First Day of the Week

Daniel Gregg (www.torahtimes.org) vs. Eric Lyons, M. Min.

[This article is in response to an article at Apologetics Press which can be accessed here]

All the resurrection accounts show that Yeshua was raised from the dead on the first Sabbath after Passover (μια των σαββατων; Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2; cf. vs. 9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19; cf. Acts 20:7; cf. 1Cor. 16:2). In 1 Cor. 16:2 Paul tells the faithful to save up a contribution "down from the first of Sabbaths" (κατα μιαν σαββατων) to send to Jerusalem for Pentecost (1 Cor. 16:8). The anniversary of the resurrection always falls right after Passover. It is marked on the "first of the sabbaths" in Acts 20:7 (Εν δε τη μια των σαββατων), when the disciples met to "break bread", which is a near eastern expression for a common meal. The next day, a common Sunday morning, Paul departed on his journey. The expression showing the time of the resurrection appears eight times in the Apostolic Writings. It designates a special Sabbath (cf. Lev. 23:15) along with the regular Sabbaths. Even John received his vision on the Sabbath (cf. Rev. 1:10).

Before the Gentiles fell into the Baalistic apostasy that became the proto-Catholic Church and the various Gnostic movements, faithful Messianic Israelites met and worshiped on the Sabbath day, and observed the Jewish feast days (cf. Col. 2:16; 1Cor 5:8; 1Cor 16:8). The apostates developed a web of deceit to lay as a foundation for their new religion taken from old Babylonia, and then proceeded to persecute the original faith into near extinction with the zeal of Jezebel. In this article we will look at the lies, half truths, and admitted truths that can be confirmed in an article published by Eric Lyons for Apologetics Press. Quotations will be from that article which are sourced at the link under Mr. Lyons name. He writes:

Admittedly, a form of the Greek word for sabbath (sabbaton or sabbatou) does appear in each of the eight passages translated “first day of the week.” For example, in Acts 20:7 this phrase is translated from the Greek mia ton sabbaton. However, sabbaton (or sabbatou) is never translated as “the Sabbath day” in these passages. Why? Because the word is used in these contexts (as Greek scholars overwhelmingly agree) to denote a “week” (Perschbacher, 1990, p. 364), “a period of seven days” (Danker, et al., 2000, p. 910; cf. Thayer, 1962, p. 566). Jesus once used the term “Sabbath” in this sense while teaching about the sinfulness of self-righteousness (Luke 18:9).

Lyons can barely tell the truth before starting in on the religious propaganda and lies. We have to eliminate those Greek scholars from the field that learned to translate μια των σαββατων from others who told them that σαββατον meant "week" based on Church tradition. That's nearly all of them. Then we have to bring in those scholars of secular Greek and the few honest believing Greek scholars left that have set aside Church tradition to objectively study the matter from its linguistic basis that have correctly concluded that the phrase simply means "one day of the sabbaths". Notice that Lyons whole argument here is based on appeal to majority and appeal to tradition. That's not linguistic science in the least. It's the one argument repeated by the opposition a thousand ways. It's the one argument guaranteed to lead one into the apostasy of the majority if the slightest credence is placed in it.

Even so Lyons sources have holes in them. The first thing that Christians need to learn is that dictionaries and lexicons are propaganda pieces. The famed Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (TDNT) was edited by Gerhard Kittel (1888-1948), "a German liberal Christian theologian who revealed himself to be a virulent anti-Semite who wrote Nazi-influenced nonsense about Christianity" (conservapedia.com/Gerhard_Kittel). Kittel wrote the preface to TDNT in July 1933. In August 1933, Herbert Lowewe, a Cambridge professor wrote:

"It gives me great pain to find that so great an authority and leader of thought should give expression to such views. I have read your previous books with pleasure and profit, and I have learned much from them. ... your present pronouncement is quite incompatible with your previous teaching, and it is as unjust to Christianity as it is to Judaism. ... It is a grievous disillusionment to find that one's idol has feet of clay" (ibid, conservapedia)

One must always keep in mind that human sources may be tainted with primary error or circular reasoning fallacies. When men come before the throne of God to answer for their sins, the "I was just following orders" defense is not going to work any more than it worked at Nuremburg. No, God will hold them responsible to have done due diligence and have examined primary evidence with taking care to preserve their objectivity in prayerful entreaty to God to show them the truth.

Perschbacher above is merely a fallacy of the circular reasoning type, his views learned by rumor from the original liar. However, if we look at a source like Danker (now BDAG, 3rd edition, 2000) we will see that famed Jesuit Scholar Robert North disagrees that Sabbath meant "week", and this linguistic expert attributes it to a mistake by the Church Fathers (BDAG, pg. 910, σαββατον, "The Derivation of 'Sabbath', Biblica 36, '55, 182-201; cf. The New Catholic Encyclopedia, "Sabbath", © 2003, pg. 458; R. North). Anyone who goes over the same linguistic evidence as North, S.J., will find the smoking gun behind the lie..............

Continued at www.torahtimes.org

Emphasis mine (Tandi)

I hope my blog visitors will read the entire article by Daniel Gregg, as well as the one by Eric Lyons, and consider this crucial issue without prejudice. The Gospel of the Kingdom is at stake! It is time to purify the Gospel message that has been hidden in partial obscurity for millennia due to anti-Torah prejudices. Comments welcome.