Posted on 07/08/2023 4:16:50 AM PDT by vespa300
Jesus rose from the dead "on the first day of the week."104 Because it is the "first day," the day of Christ's Resurrection recalls the first creation. Because it is the "eighth day" following the sabbath,105 it symbolizes the new creation ushered in by Christ's Resurrection. For Christians it has become the first of all days, the first of all feasts, the Lord's Day (he kuriake hemera, dies dominica) Sunday:
We all gather on the day of the sun, for it is the first day [after the Jewish sabbath, but also the first day] when God, separating matter from darkness, made the world; and on this same day Jesus Christ our Savior rose from the dead.106
Sunday - fulfillment of the sabbath
(Excerpt) Read more at vatican.va ...
I’m not even going to engage with stubbornly blind people.
It’s called ‘tradition’, and even Protestants follow it.
Tradition can stand alone, but without tradition, the Bible is nothing.
>>>>I’m not even going to engage with stubbornly blind people.
It’s called ‘tradition’, and even Protestants follow it.
Tradition can stand alone, but without tradition, the Bible is nothing.>>>>
Where Tradition and thus saith the Lord conflict.....keep your tradition.
These laws were passed at a time when the U.S. was basically a Protestant country, and in many cases openly hostile to Catholicism.
Yeah, they say that the “PROTEST” is over. Catholics ask them to come back to the mother church, from whence they came.
Catholics, Lutherans End 500-Year Salvation Debate
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-nov-01-mn-28751-story.html
Some religious organizations (Seventh-day Adventists, Seventh-Day Baptists, and certain others) claim that Christians must not worship on Sunday but on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. They claim that, at some unnamed time after the apostolic age, the Church “changed” the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday.
However, passages of Scripture such as Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:2, Colossians 2:16-17, and Revelation 1:10 indicate that, even during New Testament times, the Sabbath is no longer binding and that Christians are to worship on the Lord’s day, Sunday, instead.
The early Church Fathers compared the observance of the Sabbath to the observance of the rite of circumcision, and from that they demonstrated that if the apostles abolished circumcision (Gal. 5:1-6), so also the observance of the Sabbath must have been abolished.
The following quotations show that the first Christians understood this principle and gathered for worship on Sunday.
The Didache “But every Lord’s day . . . gather yourselves together and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure. But let no one that is at variance with his fellow come together with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be profaned” (Didache 14 [A.D. 70]).
The Letter of Barnabas “We keep the eighth day [Sunday] with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose again from the dead” (Letter of Barnabas 15:6–8 [A.D. 74]).
Ignatius of Antioch “[T]hose who were brought up in the ancient order of things [i.e. Jews] have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord’s day, on which also our life has sprung up again by him and by his death” (Letter to the Magnesians 8 [A.D. 110]).
Justin Martyr “But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Savior on the same day rose from the dead” (First Apology 67 [A.D. 155]).
The Didascalia “The apostles further appointed: On the first day of the week let there be service, and the reading of the holy scriptures, and the oblation [sacrifice of the Mass], because on the first day of the week [i.e., Sunday] our Lord rose from the place of the dead, and on the first day of the week he arose upon the world, and on the first day of the week he ascended up to heaven, and on the first day of the week he will appear at last with the angels of heaven” (Didascalia 2 [A.D. 225]).
Origen “Hence it is not possible that the [day of] rest after the Sabbath should have come into existence from the seventh [day] of our God. On the contrary, it is our Savior who, after the pattern of his own rest, caused us to be made in the likeness of his death, and hence also of his resurrection” (Commentary on John 2:28 [A.D. 229]).
Victorinus “The sixth day [Friday] is called parasceve, that is to say, the preparation of the kingdom. . . . On this day also, on account of the passion of the Lord Jesus Christ, we make either a station to God or a fast. On the seventh day he rested from all his works, and blessed it, and sanctified it. On the former day we are accustomed to fast rigorously, that on the Lord’s day we may go forth to our bread with giving of thanks. And let the parasceve become a rigorous fast, lest we should appear to observe any Sabbath with the Jews . . . which Sabbath he [Christ] in his body abolished” (The Creation of the World [A.D. 300]).
Eusebius of Caesarea “They [the early saints of the Old Testament] did not care about circumcision of the body, neither do we [Christians]. They did not care about observing Sabbaths, nor do we. They did not avoid certain kinds of food, neither did they regard the other distinctions which Moses first delivered to their posterity to be observed as symbols; nor do Christians of the present day do such things” (Church History 1:4:8 [A.D. 312]).
“[T]he day of his [Christ’s] light . . . was the day of his resurrection from the dead, which they say, as being the one and only truly holy day and the Lord’s day, is better than any number of days as we ordinarily understand them, and better than the days set apart by the Mosaic law for feasts, new moons, and Sabbaths, which the apostle [Paul] teaches are the shadow of days and not days in reality” (Proof of the Gospel 4:16:186 [A.D. 319]).
Athanasius “The Sabbath was the end of the first creation, the Lord’s day was the beginning of the second, in which he renewed and restored the old in the same way as he prescribed that they should formerly observe the Sabbath as a memorial of the end of the first things, so we honor the Lord’s day as being the memorial of the new creation” (On Sabbath and Circumcision 3 [A.D. 345]).
Cyril of Jerusalem “Fall not away either into the sect of the Samaritans or into Judaism, for Jesus Christ has henceforth ransomed you. Stand aloof from all observance of Sabbaths and from calling any indifferent meats common or unclean” (Catechetical Lectures 4:37 [A.D. 350]).
Council of Laodicea “Christians should not Judaize and should not be idle on the Sabbath, but should work on that day; they should, however, particularly reverence the Lord’s day and, if possible, not work on it, because they were Christians” (Canon 29 [A.D. 360]).
John Chrysostom “[W]hen he [God] said, ‘You shall not kill’ . . . he did not add, ‘because murder is a wicked thing.’ The reason was that conscience had taught this beforehand, and he speaks thus, as to those who know and understand the point. Wherefore when he speaks to us of another commandment, not known to us by the dictate of conscience, he not only prohibits, but adds the reason. When, for instance, he gave commandment concerning the Sabbath— ‘On the seventh day you shall do no work’—he subjoined also the reason for this cessation. What was this? ‘Because on the seventh day God rested from all his works which he had begun to make’ [Ex. 20:10-11]. . . . For what purpose then, I ask, did he add a reason respecting the Sabbath, but did no such thing in regard to murder? Because this commandment was not one of the leading ones. It was not one of those which were accurately defined of our conscience, but a kind of partial and temporary one, and for this reason it was abolished afterward. But those which are necessary and uphold our life are the following: ‘You shall not kill. . . . You shall not commit adultery. . . . You shall not steal.’ On this account he adds no reason in this case, nor enters into any instruction on the matter, but is content with the bare prohibition” (Homilies on the Statutes 12:9 [A.D. 387]).
“You have put on Christ, you have become a member of the Lord and been enrolled in the heavenly city, and you still grovel in the law [of Moses]? How is it possible for you to obtain the kingdom? Listen to Paul’s words, that the observance of the law overthrows the gospel, and learn, if you will, how this comes to pass, and tremble, and shun this pitfall. Why do you keep the Sabbath and fast with the Jews?” (Homilies on Galatians 2:17 [A.D. 395]).
“The rite of circumcision was venerable in the Jews’ account, forasmuch as the law itself gave way thereto, and the Sabbath was less esteemed than circumcision. For that circumcision might be performed, the Sabbath was broken; but that the Sabbath might be kept, circumcision was never broken; and mark, I pray, the dispensation of God. This is found to be even more solemn than the Sabbath, as not being omitted at certain times. When then it is done away, much more is the Sabbath” (Homilies on Philippians 10 [A.D. 402]).
The Apostolic Constitutions “And on the day of our Lord’s resurrection, which is the Lord’s day, meet more diligently, sending praise to God that made the universe by Jesus, and sent him to us, and condescended to let him suffer, and raised him from the dead. Otherwise what apology will he make to God who does not assemble on that day . . . in which is performed the reading of the prophets, the preaching of the gospel, the oblation of the sacrifice, the gift of the holy food” (Apostolic Constitutions 2:7:60 [A.D. 400]).
Augustine “Well, now, I should like to be told what there is in these ten commandments, except the observance of the Sabbath, which ought not to be kept by a Christian” (The Spirit and the Letter 24 [A.D. 412]).
Pope Gregory I “It has come to my ears that certain men of perverse spirit have sown among you some things that are wrong and opposed to the holy faith, so as to forbid any work being done on the Sabbath day. What else can I call these [men] but preachers of Antichrist, who when he comes will cause the Sabbath day as well as the Lord’s day to be kept free from all work. For because he [the Antichrist] pretends to die and rise again, he wishes the Lord’s day to be held in reverence; and because he compels the people to Judaize that he may bring back the outward rite of the law, and subject the perfidy of the Jews to himself, he wishes the Sabbath to be observed. For this which is said by the prophet, ‘You shall bring in no burden through your gates on the Sabbath day’ [Jer. 17:24] could be held to as long as it was lawful for the law to be observed according to the letter. But after that the grace of almighty God, our Lord Jesus Christ, has appeared, the commandments of the law which were spoken figuratively cannot be kept according to the letter. For if anyone says that this about the Sabbath is to be kept, he must needs say that carnal sacrifices are to be offered. He must say too that the commandment about the circumcision of the body is still to be retained. But let him hear the apostle Paul saying in opposition to him: ‘If you be circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing’ [Gal. 5:2]” (Letters 13:1 [A.D. 597]).
That certainly would have been news to Luke, who wrote about keeping the Sabbath commandment even 30 years after the death of Christ, EVEN DURING NEW TESTAMENT TIMES.
Luke 23:54And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on. 55And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. 56And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.
When did the Church begin to worship on Sunday instead of Saturday, the Hebrew Sabbath? On this question hinges the conclusion to many arguments with Fundamentalists, especially Sabbatarians (the Seventh-Day Adventists are the best known) who owe their raison d’etre to the conviction that the early Church apostatized when it abandoned observance of the traditional Sabbath. Let’s answer this charge by taking a look at the facts about the Sabbath in the Old and New Testaments.
The Sabbath in the Old Testament
“In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). That God’s creation was perfect is implied by the fact that on the seventh day he rested; he had accomplished everything in the way he desired. The Jewish concept that the number seven is the perfect number has developed from the creation story as well as from the Sabbath. That seven is the perfect number is reinforced by the septenary structure in the text of Genesis. Hebrew Genesis 1:1 has seven words and the second verse fourteen. Three nouns (“God,” “heavens,” and “earth”) occur in the first verse and are repeated in the story in numbers divisible by seven: “God” thirty-five times; “earth” twenty-one times; and “heavens” twenty-one times. It is particularly significant that the seventh and last section (Gen. 2:2–3) which deals with the seventh day has in Hebrew three consecutive sentences (three for emphasis), each of which consists of seven words and contains in the middle the expression “the seventh day.”
Sabbatarians (those who worship on Saturday) argue that God’s rest on the seventh day—since God obviously did not need to rest—was setting an example for man. But the word “Sabbath” is not found in Genesis and nothing is said about Adam and Eve resting. Moreover, in Eden God provided everything needed for the happiness of Adam and Eve and there was no work for them to do. Work entered into the world only as a part of the curse of sin: “Because you . . . have eaten from the tree . . . by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread” (Gen. 3:17–19). Prior to their sin, Adam and Eve were in God’s perpetual rest and fellowship; observance of a Sabbath would have been superfluous.
A more likely reason behind God’s seventh-day rest may be seen in a recurring theme of the creation story: “And there was evening and there was morning, a second day” (Gen. 1:5). This pattern is repeated for the first six days but missing on the seventh day, suggesting that God’s rest was not to establish one day per week of rest (though it did foreshadow the Sabbath), but to institute a time of perpetual rest and open fellowship with himself. In sanctifying the seventh day (Gen. 2:3) God sanctified his creation. He had made the perfect world and he blessed it.
When then was Sabbath instituted? For this we must go to Exodus 16:23–24: “Moses told [the Israelites], ‘That is what the Lord prescribed. Tomorrow is a day of complete rest, the Sabbath, sacred to the Lord. You may either bake or boil the manna as you please; but what ever is left put away and keep for the morrow.’” Thus, the first mention of Sabbath is in connection with the manna.
The Sabbath law is restated in the Ten Commandments: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work . . . for in six days the Lord had made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Ex. 20:8–11). In Genesis, God blessed the seventh day and made it holy; in Exodus God blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. This verse of Exodus has been used to suggest that the Sabbath was instituted at the time of creation. But if God’s rest on the seventh day is viewed as the beginning of a time of perpetual rest and fellowship with man, this Exodus passage can be seen as ironical: The Sabbath was but an infinitesimal reminder of what man would have enjoyed had Adam not sinned.
There was a list of activities that were forbidden on the Sabbath: Do not go out of your place (Ex. 16:19); do not bake or boil (Ex. 16:23); do not do any work (Ex. 20:10); do not build a fire (Ex. 35:1,3); do not carry a load (Jer. 17:27, Neh. 1:15); do not buy or sell (Neh. 10:31); and do not do your own pleasure (Isa. 58:13–14). Rather on the Sabbath one should keep the day holy (Ex. 20:8); rest (Ex 31:15); observe or celebrate the day (Ex. 31:16); and delight in the Lord (Isa. 58:14). The Sabbath laws given to the Israelites told them to behave very much as Adam and Eve behaved in Eden. It is also interesting to consider that nearly all the prohibitions given in connection with the Sabbath would have been meaningless to Adam and Eve on that first seventh day before sin entered the world.
The Sabbath in the New Testament
Though the Gospels report that Jesus observed the Sabbath, there are several incidents where he is accused of violating Sabbath law (Jn. 9:16, Jn 7:23, Mk. 3:4). It is interesting that in various passages the Lord restates all of the decalogue except for one commandment. “And Jesus replied, You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, honor your father and mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt. 19:18–19). “It is written: ‘The Lord your God shall you worship, and him alone shall you serve’” (Mt. 4:10). Finally, “But I say to you, do not swear at all; not by heaven, for it is God’s throne” (Mt. 5:34). The commandment Jesus didn’t restate? To keep holy the Sabbath.
Our Lord defends his disciples when the Jews attacked them for not observing the Sabbath, ending his comments by saying: “For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath” (Mt. 12:1–8). Or again, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mk. 2:27). The fact that Jesus rebukes too severe an interpretation of Sabbath law (Lk. 13:10–16, 14:1–5; Jn. 5:9–18, 7:22) suggests that the he was not pleased with the way that the Sabbath was being observed.
Sabbatarians argue that the Lord observed the Sabbath and we should imitate Christ in this. This reasoning, however, fails to consider that our Lord was still under the old covenant when he observed the Sabbath. Indeed, Christ perfectly observed the Sabbath as he did all of the old covenant. However, after he enunciated a new covenant at the Last Supper, his emphasis seems to be on Sundays. Sunday was the day he was found to have been resurrected, and his first two appearance to the twelve disciples were on the following two Sundays (Jn. 20:19, 20:26). Again, five weeks later—on Sunday—the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles.
Throughout the book of Acts, Luke reports mass conversions of the Jews in Jerusalem, and notes that many were devout Jews and priests (Acts 2:5,41; 6:7) who remained “zealous for the law” (Acts 21:20). There is no suggestion in the New Testament that these devout Christianized Jews gave up Sabbath worship. The church in Asia, with Paul as its teacher, was confronted by Jewish-Christians who insisted that new Christians be circumcised as Old Testament law commanded. The disciples met in Jerusalem in the year 49 to resolve this matter. At that Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:10–21), Peter, James, and the other apostles set aside the law of circumcision, a law that was a sign of God’s covenental relationship with the chosen people and which was an “everlasting pact ” (Gen. 17:13). While there was much debate in Jerusalem on whether or not Gentile Christians should be exempted from circumcision, the council was silent on the matter of Sabbath worship; this suggests that Sabbath versus Sunday worship was not an issue at that time.
Around the year 60, circumstantial evidence suggests that the Roman church began to worship on Sunday. For instance, in the year 50 the Christian church in Rome was considered to be a sect of Judaism; fourteen years later these same Christians were clearly understood to be distinct from the Jews. (Nero blamed the Christians for the fires in Rome in 64.) That such a sharp change could occur in this short span of time suggests that there was a significant external difference in the practices of the two faiths. The change of Christian worship from Sabbath to Sunday would certainly have allowed for this distinction.
The Council of Jerusalem’s decision on circumcision may have changed the way the early Church viewed Sabbath as well. One can almost hear the discussions of the Gentile Christians of the time: “Did not the Council of Jerusalem set aside the ‘everlasting’ law of circumcision? Should not the Church then set aside the other old covenant law—the Sabbath law?” Jewish Christians, similarly. would have questioned how many of the old covenant Sabbath regulations applied under the new covenant, for Sabbath rules were legion and varied from one rabbi to the next. Thus in the era following the Jerusalem Council it seems inconceivable that the apostles were not asked about the observance of the Sabbath.
It is not surprising then to find several New Testament comments addressing this matter. Let us begin with Colossians 2:17–19: “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day—things which are a mere shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” This verse has been vigorously debated. What is meant by “Sabbath day”? How are we to understand “Let no man judge you”?
The Old Testament usage of the terms listed in Colossians 2:16 (“festival,” “new moon,” and “Sabbath”) make clear beyond question that Paul is referring to the weekly Sabbath. In the Old Testament, Sabbath convocations—that is, the list of Sabbaths (days), new moons (months), and fixed festivals (seasons)—were listed in ascending or descending order. The ascending order of 1 Chronicles 23:31—”. . . and whenever burnt offerings are offered to the Lord on Sabbaths, new moons, and feast days, according to the number required of them”—is echoed in 2 Chronicles 2:4, 8:12–13, and 31:3; whereas a descending order—”And it shall be the prince’s part to provide the burnt offerings, the grain offering, and the drink offerings, at the feasts, on the new moons, and on the Sabbaths, as all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel”—is used in 1 Chronicles 23:31. In Colossians 2:16–17 Paul uses the same structure as the Old Testament writers, allowing us to be sure that he is writing about not only the yearly and seasonal Sabbaths, but also about the weekly Sabbath.
When Paul writes “Let no one pass judgment on you,” the text suggests that the ones who were doing the judging were the Jewish Christians who were practicing the old covenant convocations and other dietary aberrations of Christianity. Finally, Paul writes that the Sabbath is a shadow of things to come, and that the substance is in Christ. It is clear from this text that Paul, like the Old Testament writers, considered all the Old Testament convocations as inseparable; indeed, in saying that all three are a mere shadow of things to come, he makes no distinction between the first two terms and the third. Paul concludes that the reality lies in Christ. The Greek literally reads: “but the body is of Christ,” meaning that all of our lives and all of our energies need to be submitted to Christ who is ever present to us and that the old covenant convocations such as the Sabbath are no longer binding.
In Paul’s letter to the Romans, written around 57–58, he says, “For one person considers one day more important than another, while another person considers all days alike. Let everyone be fully persuaded in his own mind. Whoever observes the day observes it to the Lord” (Rom. 14:5–6). The apostle is speaking here about the day which is being observed to the Lord, i.e., the day of worship. He notes that this is up to each person to decide. It must be noted, however, that Paul does not specifically mention the Sabbath here.
From these texts it seems clear that Paul considered Sabbath observance a matter of personal conviction that was not important in itself. Moreover, since Paul was presumably responding to the churches in Colossae, Galatia, and Rome about matters which concerned them, it seems clear that some Christians were worshiping on days other that Sabbath in Rome and in Asia Minor around 54–58.
Around the years 80–90, Christians were thrown out of the synagogues. This may have provided further stimulus for Christians to change their worship from Sabbath to Sunday. The apostle John wrote his gospel in this same time frame, significant because it provided for Christians an explanation of how God could change an “everlasting” law. John wrote how the world had been symbolically created anew in Jesus. One implication of this is that with the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ one eternity had ended and another had begun. God could therefore abrogate an everlasting law and still not contradict himself.
The Sabbath in the Post-Apostolic Age
In Syria, following the death of the last apostle, a guide for the teaching of Christians was written called the “Doctrine of the Apostles,” or the Didache. Its use was reported by church historians but the document itself was lost for centuries. It was found around 1900 in a manuscript dating back to the year 1000. The Didache taught: “On the Lord’s own day, gather together and break bread.” This is a clear reference invoking Christians to worship on Sunday written around the year 100.
In the year 110—only twelve years after the death of the last apostle—Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, calls the Sabbath “antiquated.” The full passage of the letter of Ignatius to the Magnesians, reads: “Do not be led astray by other doctrines nor by old fables which are worthless. For if we have been living by now according to Judaism, we must confess that we have not received grace. The prophets . . . who walked in ancient customs came to a new hope, no longer Sabbatizing but living by the Lord’s day, on which we came to life through Him and through His death.”
There is widespread belief among Christian scholars that the institution of Sunday worship occurred in the apostolic or post-apostolic age in commemoration of the Resurrection. The New Testament itself never calls Sunday the day of the Resurrection but consistently “the first day of the week.” Moreover, nowhere does the New Testament suggest that the Lord’s Supper was celebrated in commemoration of Christ’s Resurrection. Neither do the earliest post-apostolic writings invoke the Resurrection as a reason for Sunday worship.
The Epistle of Barnabas (A.D. 130–135) is the first explicit mention of Lord’s day worship being based on the Resurrection. Barnabas writes: “Finally He [God] says to them: ‘I cannot bear your new moons and Sabbaths.’ You see what he means: It is not the present Sabbaths that are acceptable to me, but the one that I have made; on that Sabbath day, which is the beginning of another world. This is why we spend the eighth day in celebration, the day on which Jesus both arose from the dead and, after appearing again, ascended into heaven.”
In the year 135 Jerusalem was sacked and the Roman emperor Hadrian prohibited Sabbath worship throughout the Roman Empire. Hadrian also prohibited anyone of Jewish descent from living in Jerusalem. A new Christian community was recruited for Jerusalem from other nations, and the bishops of Jerusalem until the mid–third century bore Greek and Roman names. Thus, after 135, even the Jerusalem Church worshiped on Sundays. Hadrian’s prohibition against Sabbath worship spelled the end of the Sabbath-or-Sunday problem for the early Church. Another council was not necessary.
Justin Martyr confirmed the non-issue of Sunday worship in 150, writing: “On Sunday, we meet to celebrate the Lord’s supper and read the Gospels and Sacred Scripture, the first day on which God changed darkness, and made the world, and on which Christ rose from the dead.” It is worth pointing out that the unity of intent in the writings of the apostolic fathers speaks to the worldwide acceptance of Sunday worship between 100–150.
In the year 321 the emperor Constantine made a new edict known as the Sunday decree: “All judges and city people and the craftsmen shall rest upon the venerable Day of the Sun. Country people, however, may freely attend to the cultivation of the fields, because it frequently happens that no other days are better adapted for planting the grain in the furrows or the vines in trenches. So that the advantage given by heavenly providence may not for the occasion of a short time perish.”
At the time this law was instituted Sunday worship had been universally practiced in the Church for at least 170 years. The significance of the law, however, was that in sanctioning Sunday as a day of rest the emperor implicitly recognized Christianity as the state religion. (Constantine refers to Sunday as the “Day of the Sun” according to the Roman tradition.)
In her book Cosmic Conflict, published in 1844, Seventh-Day Adventist prophetess Ellen White argues that the early Christian Church became apostate at the time of the decree of Constantine (p. 551–554). This opinion is refuted by current scholarship even from Seventh-Day Adventists. S. Bacchiocchi, a leading sabbatarian SDA scholar, writes in From Sabbath to Sunday (1997) that the change in worship days began around the year 60 in Rome but was not generally accepted until after the decree of Hadrian in 135 (p. 303–321).
There is a glaring inconsistency in Mrs. White’s belief that the church apostatized in 321: She accepts specific doctrines approved by the Catholic Church after the date of alleged apostasy. Three examples will suffice to make the point: (1) the canon of the New Testament was approved in 393 at the Council of Hippo; (2) the doctrine of the Trinity was defined in 325 at the Council of Nicea; and (3) the doctrine of the true manhood true Godship of Jesus was defined in 451 at the Council of Chalcedon.
Sabbatarians hold that the Sabbath is part of the decalogue, which is the immutable law of God. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the ten commandments are “fundamentally immutable” (no. 2072). However, the Church considers the Sabbath to have two aspects: an essential part to worship the Lord on one day per week and a ceremonial part as to the exact day.
Here Luke is relating events as they took place at the time of the Resurrection of Jesus. He is not endorsing Christians keeping the Hebrew Sabbath in the future.
“From Sabbath to Sunday” by Samuel Bacchiocchi. The only non-Catholic (and happened to be SDA) ever to attend and graduate from THE PONTIFICAL GREGORIAN UNIVERSITY. First and last because it will never happen again.
I can see you are back on your broken-record hobby horse,in promotion of your cult, like as certain RCs are driven by devotion to their source of security, but the fact is that we who observe the first day of the week, which is the only specific day Christians as a NT church are recorded as meeting, are following a practice that began before Catholicism could decree that was the right day. Which the latter no more invalidates it as being correct any more than affirming the deity of Christ does.
Unlike distinctive Catholic teachings which are not manifest in the only wholly God-inspired, substantive, authoritative record of what the NT church believed (which is Scripture, in particular Acts through Revelation, which best shows how the NT church understood the gospels)
Meanwhile, by requiring observance of the 4th commandment then it is does what the NT church never did, while the SDA's are inconsistent in keeping this as well as certain other everlasting, forever, perpetual type commands typological commands.
The fourth commandment of God’s unchangeable law requires the observance of this seventh-day Sabbath as the day of rest, worship, and ministry in harmony with the teaching and practice of Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath. - https://www.adventist.org/beliefs/
The Lord of the Sabbath taught more than just the gospels, before the institution of the new covenant.
Seventh day Sabbath keeping and everlasting, forever, perpetual type commands
Under the O.C., the glory of God was veiled from those who sought justification by the Law, while under the New, the veil is taken away (2Cor.3:14- 4:7).
Some contend that we ought to keep the seventh day Sabbath, as it is an everlasting covenant, yet as the table below shows it is not alone in that category. Neither does it's sanctification prior to the codification of the 10 commandments establish it as an ordinance to be obeyed (as under the Old Covenant) under the New Covenant, as it, like circumcision (likewise an everlasting covenant), is also part of the ceremonial prefigurements that the Lord Jesus would and has, fulfilled. As God rested from the work of creation the 7th day, the Lord Jesus rested from His work of atonement on the first day. The Lord then met the disciples on the first day of the week, and sent the Gift of the Holy Ghost on that day. (Jn. 20:1,19; Acts 2:1ff) Further evidence that the 1st day of the week became the primary day of Christian assembly is that the 1st day is the only day specifically mentioned as a meeting day for a community of New Testament believers. (Acts 20:7; 1Cor.16:2) Meanwhile, 9 of the 10 commandments are reiterated in the New Testament, but the 4th commandment is conspicuously absent, and now where is there amy command ever given under the New Covenant to the church to keep the 7th day Sabbath. Nor is there any mention of an established church specifically meeting on the 7th day, unlike on the 1st.
Those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation enter into the antitype of the Old Testament Sabbath, the spiritual rest of Christ in His spiritual kingdom, (Heb.4; Col.1:13,14) as they walk by faith and not by sight. “For we which have believed do enter into rest,...” “For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His.” (Heb. 4:3a, 10) That chapter shows that even under the Old covenant there remained a type of rest to be obtained that went beyond physically keeping the Sabbath, which soul-rest (Mt. 11:28) is found by faith and surrender to the Lord Jesus. And yet this rest is to to be fully realized by them which continue in faith: “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.” (Rv. 14:13b)
True believers are to be led by God's Holy Spirit in accordance with the Bible and in obedience to the covenant He has enjoined us to be under. The New Covenant was distinctly declared by God to be “Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD” (Jer. 31:32), and part of that distinction is not only the lack precisely prescribed ritualistic worship (as in static liturgies) but the replacement of annually observed “days, and months, and times, and years” (Gal. 4:10) such as the Galatians were chastised for observing, as such is consistent with legalism [this does not mean that some manner of ritual or liturgy is evil, as structure is necessary, (1Cor. 14:26-33) but structure is to facilitate the moving of the Holy Spirit, and not hinder Him, and the tendency is for ritual to become mechanical, fossilized and lifeless.]. And as said before, the only precedent we have for a weekly observance is that of the 1st day of the week.
We need no more keep the 7th day Sabbath than the other ordinances which foreshadowed the coming and work of Christ. “Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.” (Heb. 9:10) “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” (Col. 2:13-17) We may be in great anticipation when we see the shadow of someone we yearn to see, but once the reality comes we look at the body which made the shadow. Praise ye the Lord.
Christ having come in the flesh, He has fulfilled Old Testament figures. and presently “we walk by faith and no by sight” (2Cor. 5:7), as seeing Him who is invisible.” (Heb. 11:27) It may be possible however, that when the Lord Jesus establishes His physical kingdom – and our faith becomes sight – then the O.T.. ceremonies will once again find their place in a dispensation in which the restored Jewish nation will be proved, in a physical kingdom in which sacrifices would be possible, perhaps in a memorial sense (Ezk.37, 40:48)
See more on this issue here.
EVERLASTING, FOREVER, PERPETUAL COMMANDS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Below is a list of everlasting, forever, perpetual (synonymous terms) covenants (binding agreements) or perpetual, forever type statutes and ordinances (laws). Note: While it is possible that “for ever” (#5769; also often translated as “everlasting” or “perpetual”) can mean less than eternal (Dt. 15:17) , that is rarely the case, but as in “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever:”or “The righteousness of Thy testimonies is everlasting: give me understanding, and I shall live” (Ps. 119:144 – a good prayer), it usually denotes eternity! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1 | Gn. 9:16; Rainbow in clouds a sign of everlasting covenant | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2 | Gn. 17:2-13; Circumcision an everlasting covenant. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
3 | .Ex.31:14-17; 7th day Sabbath a sign for a perpetual covenant throughout all Israel's generations. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
4 | Lv.24:5-8; Offering of shewbread-everlasting covenant-perpetual statute. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
5 | Num.18:19; Heave offering: a statute forever-covenant of salt forever. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
6 | .Num.25:12,13; Righteous Phineas given a covenant of peace..a covenant of everlasting priesthood. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
7 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
8 | Ex.12:17; Feast of unleavened bread an ordinance forever. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
9 | Ex.27:20,21; Lv.24:3; light burning in Tabernacle: a statute forever. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
10 | Ex. 28:43; Nakedness of priests to be covered by a statute forever. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
11 | Ex.29:9; 40:15; Holy garments for the Aaronic Priesthood for a perpetual statute. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
12 | Ex.29:28; Lv.10:15; Num.18:8,11,18; Heave offering eaten by a statute forever | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
13 | Ex.29:42; Animal sacrifices to be offered continually throughout all Israel's generations | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
14 | Ex.30:8; Incense to be burned in Tab. perpetually throughout all generations. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
15 | Ex.30:10: Atonement on altar throughout all your generations. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
16 | Ex.30:21: Ceremonial washing by a statute forever. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
17 | Ex.30:31: Anointing with Holy Oil unto YHWH for sons of Aaron throughout all their generations. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
18 | Lv.3:17: Eating of fat + blood prohibited a perpetual statute. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
19 | Lv.6:13: Fire ever to be burning on the altar, to never go out. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
20 | Lv.6:18-20: Law of the meat offering: a statute forever. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
21 | Lv.6:22: Meat offering of priests: a statute forever. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
22 | Lv,7:34-36: Peace offerings a statute forever. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
23 | Lv.10:9: Drinking of wine, strong drink forbidden to priests going into Tab.: statute forever. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
24 | Lv.16:29-34: Day of atonement a everlasting statute, a statute forever. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
25 | Lv.17:7: Bringing in of sacrifices into Tab., not worshipping devils, a statute forever. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
26 | Lv23:14: Offering of first fruits unto YHWH a statute forever. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
27 | Lv.23:21: Feast of Pentecost: a statute forever. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
28 | Lv.23:41: Feast of Tabernacles: a statute forever. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
29 | Lv.25:34: Law of land reserved for Levites: a perpetual possession. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
30 | Num.10:8: Feast of Trumpets: an ordinance forever. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
31 | Num.10:15: One law for both Israelites and for the stranger in the land: an ordinance 4ever. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
32 | Num.18:23; Dt.18:5: Service of the Tab. reserved for Levites by a statute forever. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
33 | Num19:10: Law of washing garments after slaying red heifer: a statute forever. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
34 | Num.19:21:Water of separation a perpetual statute. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
35 | Dt.7:9 YHWH keeps covenant+mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments, as revealed in His rightly divided Word. See below for abundant historical support which shows that from early on, and before the “church of Rome” had power to change the day from the 1st day of the week to the 7th, which change she is erroneously credited with doing, though Rome does incorporate elements of Judaism as well as unBiblical practices. These quotes are only for historical purposes, and any doctrinal views must be subject to examination by the Bible.
Source of historical quotes (abridged): http://www.bible.ca/H-sunday.htm: Note that references to outside links does not infer sanction of all that a site may offer, and this one erroneously holds that baptism is necessary for salvation, and that “sign gifts” have ceased. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In Matthew 18:18 Jesus seems to give Peter and subsequent Church leadership the authority to make changes to the Old Law (Testament)
We have to trust the Holy Spirit - no matter how things appear at times - to keep the Church operating within the Lord God Almighty’s Perfect Will.
——>Here Luke is relating events as they took place at the time of the Resurrection of Jesus.
Yes, he sure is. But, he’s also making the point that the 7th-day-Sabbath is in full effect, even 30 years after the cross. If the Sabbath had been abolished or in any way changed, at the moment the New Covenant was RATIFIED, he wouldn’t have mentioned it. Everything Ceremonial, Shadows, Types, Rituals, etc... ended the second Christ died. Luke is CLEARLY making the point that the Sabbath, and rest of the 10 commandment law, wasn’t part of that. In fact, the original 10 commandment law IS THE FOUNDATION of the New Covenant.
——>In Matthew 18:18 Jesus seems to give Peter and subsequent Church leadership the authority to make changes to the Old Law (Testament)
Certainly not...
Matthew 5:
17Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
It seems that no matter how many times the sophistry of 7th day cultist is exposed, they keep on parroting their polemics as this. Based upon the reasoning that believers acting as Jews under the Old Covenant, even before the resurrection of Christ meant that what they literally observed was for all subsequent believers, then circumcision (an everlasting command of covenant) as well as all purity laws are also to be kept. All 9 of the 10 commandments are reiterated for Christian, except for one.
Bible:
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)\ SDA:
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither sabbath-breakers, fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (1 EGW 6:9-10)
——>Based upon the reasoning that believers acting as Jews under the Old Covenant, even before the resurrection of Christ meant that what they literally observed was for all subsequent believers, then circumcision (an everlasting command of covenant) as well as all purity laws are also to be kept. All 9 of the 10 commandments are reiterated for Christian, except for one.
These Christians, who are the seed of Abraham, SAME as literal Israel, WHO OBEYED THE SABBATH COMMANDMENT? Those Christians?
Galatians 3:26For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
The New Covenant had nothing to do with Christ’s resurrection. It became RATIFIED and in full effect at the moment of the shedding of Christ’s blood.
>>>but the fact is that we who observe the first day of the week,>>>>
Well, after your worthless encyclopedia full of spin and twist that any amateur Adventist could destroy.....I admit....I’m curious.
Just how do you “observe” the first day of the week? Are you like that guy last week who went to the Supreme Court because he refused to work on Sunday?......or are you like that post of yours.....all talk?
I’m curious. Thanks bruh.
You are correct. The church did not, as Vespa300 claims, move the Sabbath to the first day of the week. The section of the catechism that he references is called The Lord's Day. It explains the origination of Sunday worship but clearly says "Sunday is expressly distinguished from the Sabbath."
The Catholic Church claims that “the church is above the Bible, and this transference of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact” (Catholic Record of London, Ontario Sept 1, 1923).
We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea, (AD 336) transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.
Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, by Peter Geiermann, published in 1928
There are literally hundreds of quotes.
Ezekiel 46:1
Thus says the Lord GOD: “The gateway of the inner court that faces toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and on the day of the New Moon it shall be opened.
Day 1 of month: New Moon Day, In the Beginning- gate open
Day 2 of month: 1st Day, Let there be Light- gate shut
Day 3 of month: 2nd Day, Firmament/sky- gate shut
Day 4 of month: 3rd Day, sea/land, vegetation- gate shut
Day 5 of month: 4th Day, sun/moon/stars- gate shut
Day 6 of month: 5th Day, flying birds/sea animals-gate shut
Day 7 of month: 6th Day, remaining animals/man- gate shut
Day 8 of month: 7th Day Sabbath - gate open
According to scripture, there is no ‘Sunday’..
The Sun,moon and stars were all created on the 4th Day of His week (see Day 5 of biblical pattern above)
When His Kingdom cones, there will be no more Saturday or Sunday..
No Friday, or Monday, or Tuesday,or Wednesday, or Thursday,either..
Just New Moon Day, 6 work days, and the 7th Day Sabbath.
Hardest hit?
Modern Islam,Judaism and Christianity..
<<< Where Tradition and thus saith the Lord conflict.....keep your tradition.>>>
Ah … there is the rub, isn’t it?
The Gospels were not even written down until 40+ years after the Ascension, and even then, of the 4 gospel writers, only John can be definitely placed as actually there.
Without the oral testimony (tradition), how can you even know what the Lord said?
Besides, if the Lord’s Day is to be relegated to an afterthought while we celebrate the Sabbath on Saturday, then when will the Protestant churches make that move?
Matthew 12:8
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