Sunday Is The Christian Sabbath

Sunday Is the Christian Sabbath

By Pastor CG

The disciples of Moses teach that the sabbath was changed from Saturday to Sunday by Constantine in 321 A.D., and by the Catholic Church in 364 A.D. The following facts from history prove they are wrong:

1. The Encyclopedia Britannica under "Sabbath" and "Sunday" says. "In the early Christian Church Jewish Christians continued to keep the sabbath, like other points of the law ... On the other hand, Paul from the first days of Gentile Christianity, laid it down definitely that the Jewish sabbath was not binding on Christians. Controversy with Judaizers led in process of time to direct condemnation of those who still kept the Jewish day ... In 321 A.D. Constantine made the Christian sabbath, Sunday, the rest day for the Roman Empire, but it was observed by Christians for nearly 300 years before it became law by Constantine."

2. The New International Encyclopedia on "Sunday" says, "For some time after the foundation of the Christian Church the converts from Judaism still observed the Jewish sabbath to a greater or lesser extent, at first, it would seem, concurrently with the celebration of the first day; but before the end of the apostolic period, Sunday, known as the Lord’s day, had thoroughly established itself as the special day to be sanctified (set apart) by rest from secular labor and by public worship. The hallowing of Sunday appears incontestably as a definite law in the Church by the beginning of the fourth century; and the Emperor Constantine confirmed the custom by a law of the state."

3. The Catholic Encyclopedia on "Sunday" says, "Sunday was the first day of the week according to the Jewish method of reckoning, but for Christians it began to take the place of the Jewish sabbath in apostolic times as the day set apart for public and solemn worship of God." This volume quotes a number of early Christian writings of the first, second, and third centuries to prove that Sunday was kept by Christians from the earliest times.

4. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia on "The Lord’s Day" says, "The Lord’s day in the New Testament occurs only in Rev. 1:10, but in post-apostolic literature we have the following references: the Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians, IX, 1, `No longer keeping the sabbath but living according to the Lord’s day, on which also our light arose ... Acts 2:46 represents the special worship as Daily. But this could not continue long ... A choice of a special day must have become necessary, and this day would, of course, have been Sunday ... Uncircumcised Gentiles, however, were free from any obligation of sabbath observance’ ... No observance of a special day of rest is contained among the necessary things of Acts 15:28,29 .... A given day as a matter of divine obligation is denounced by Paul as forsaking Christ (Galatians 4:10), and sabbath-keeping is condemned explicitly in Col. 2:16. As a matter of individual devotion to be sure, a man might do as he pleased (Romans 14:5,6), but no general rule as necessary for salvation could be compatible with liberty wherewith Christ has made us free (Galatians 2:1-21; Galatians 3:1-14; Galatians 5:1-4,13)."

5. We next quote from the ten volumes called, "The Ante-Nicene Fathers," the writings of the early church fathers down to A.D. 325 and before Constantine and the Catholic Church are supposed to have changed the sabbath from Saturday to Sunday:

(1) Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, who lived at the time of the apostles, 30-107 A.D. He, like Polycarp, was a disciple of John and one who should know Christian practice among the early Christians as to the sabbath. He wrote, "And after the observance of the sabbath (that the Jews kept), let every friend of Christ keep the Lord’s day as a festival, the resurrection day, the queen and chief of all days of the week ... on which our life sprang up again, and victory over death was obtained in Christ ... it is absurd to speak of Jesus Christ with the tongue, and to cherish in the mind a Judaism which has come to an end .... If any man preach the Jewish law unto you, listen not to him. For it is better to hearken to Christian doctrine from a man who is circumcised, than to a Judaism from one uncircumcised" (Vol. 1, pages 63-82).

(2) In the Epistle of Barnabas, ascribed to Paul’s companion by Clement, Origen, and others, we read, "He says to them. `Your new moons and your sabbaths I cannot endure’ (Isaiah 1:13). Ye perceive how He speaks: Your present sabbaths are not acceptable to me ... I will make a beginning of the eighth day, that is, a beginning of another world. Wherefore, also we keep the eighth day with joyfulness, the day on which Jesus rose again from the dead" (Vol. 1, Page 147).