Church rule-breaker said "on the first day there was spice" (8)
I believe the answer is:
cinnamon
'spice' is the definition.
(I know that cinnamon is a type of spice)
'church rule-breaker said on the first day there' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'on' is found in the answer.
'first' could be 'i' (I in Roman numerals eg Elizabeth I) and 'i' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'was' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cinnamon that I've seen before include "'Spice in con man, strangely (8)'" , "Yellow-brown spice from bark of Asian tree" , "Yellowish-brown - spice" , "The spice is oddly non-manic" , "Something spicy" .)