Was Jesus Resurrected on the Sabbath?

Did you know there is absolutely no phrase in the Greek Scriptures that reads “the first day of the week?” Now, in almost all English versions the phrase is prevalent. However, in Greek the phrase is mia toon sabbatoon—literally, the first of the Sabbath. For some reason, translators sometimes render sabbatoon as “Sabbath” and sometimes as “week.” The only rationale for determining which word to use is context. Context, however, is often very subjective. Also interesting, this conflict only occurs in the B’rit Hadasha. The Septuagint (Greek OT translation) uses the word hebdoma for “week.”

The strangest occurrence of translators doing weird things is in Matthew 28:1. “After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. (NIV)” Or, “Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week…”(NASU) Notice the word “day” is italicized—added by translators.” Finally, here’s Young’s Literal Translation: “And on the eve of the sabbaths, at the dawn, toward the first of the Sabbaths….”

In this verse, the Greek word “sabbatoon” is used twice. Most English translations render the first occurrence as “Sabbath” and the second as “the first day of the week.” Why? Because logically (i.e. Greek thinking), you cannot have two Sabbaths back to back. Therefore, the second must be (again, logically) the first day of the week.

Unfortunately for the logic enthusiasts, Hebrew thinkers know that it IS possible to have back to back Sabbaths—depending on the year. There are special Sabbaths that from time to time fall on the day before a weekly Sabbath.

Now for the effects of this dilemma: It appears that there is a scenario where Jesus could have been crucified on Wednesday or Thursday and resurrected on Saturday. Granted, very few Christian Bible scholars lend any credibility to this theory; however, there is no denying that there is a problem of consistency when it comes to the English translations. It leads one to wonder which came first—Sunday worship or the questionably translated scripture which calls for Sunday worship.

Getting dusty, again...
Bryan