Sunday versus Sabbath
I. Some observations about the assertion that God wants all believers to observe the seventh-day Sabbath on the premise that it was established before the Law:
Most Christians take the view that we are not obliged to observe the weekly seventh-day Sabbath, since it is part of the Mosaic Law and we are no longer required to obey the Law. However, those who believe that God still wants us to observe the Sabbath respond by noting that God blessed and hallowed the seventh day prior to the Law; that is, He established the Sabbath when He rested on the seventh day of the week of the creation of the universe. Therefore, since the Sabbath did not originate as part of the Law, it transcends the Law and has not been abolished.
I offer the following response to this theory:
1. Beginning with Adam, through Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc., down through all the generations until Moses and the people of Israel were in the wilderness of Sin ( two-and-a-half months out of Egypt and two weeks away from Sinai), there is not a single reference to anyone observing a weekly seventh-day Sabbath.
2. Although God spoke to the people of those generations many times, and in various guises, He never mentioned or alluded to the Sabbath.
3. There is no actual scriptural reason to believe that anyone during that time had ever so much as heard of something called the Sabbath. It is simply never mentioned.
4. On the last day of the week of creation, God blessed the seventh day, and called it holy, but he gave no regulations, ordinances, laws or instructions regarding its observance. If all we had was the book of Genesis, there would be no reason to conclude that God intended anyone to take any action regarding the seventh day of the week. Perhaps this is one reason why the Sabbath is never mentioned until the time of Moses.
5. The first weekly Sabbath mentioned in the Bible was instituted when the people of Israel were in the wilderness of Sin, and complained about the lack of food. God provided manna and quail, and at the same time implemented a seventh-day Sabbath. This occurred when the people of Israel were well out of Egypt, and had nearly arrived at Sinai.
6. Conclusion: I conclude from this that, while God proclaimed the seventh day holy, during the week of creation, He did not want it to be implemented until the time of Moses. This is very much like our legislators who pass a law, but schedule it to take effect at some future date.
Since the first and only time God implemented the observance of a weekly Sabbath, prior to Moses climbing Mount Sinai, was the instance where He provided manna (again, only two weeks prior to arriving at Sinai), it seems reasonable to me that the viewpoint that God wants us to observe the Sabbath on the basis of its having been established prior to the Law, skates on very thin ice. There is only this one instance in all of that time where a weekly Sabbath was instituted prior to Moses climbing Mount Sinai, and I doubt that that’s enough to establish the theory. God obviously did not want the Sabbath to be observed until then.
II. Regarding the early establishment of Sunday as the accepted time of Christian worship prior to the reign of Constantine
The view that Sunday (the “Lord’s day”) was not established as the predominant day of Christian worship until the reign of Constantine (4th Century) is clearly inaccurate. There are numerous references to the Lord’s day (Sunday) among the church fathers, many of which occur well before Constantine. The following examples show that there was, very early on, a distinction made between the Sabbath and the Lord’s day, and that worship commonly took place on Sunday, although the Sabbath was also sometimes observed.
There is no attempt to place these passages in context; they are cited only to show that Sunday worship was common at least by the second century, and probably earlier.
Ignatius (born c. 50 AD; friend of Polycarp)
1. … If, therefore, those who were brought up in the ancient order of things 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….
2. … Let us therefore no longer keep the Sabbath after the Jewish manner,… But let every one of you keep the Sabbath after a spiritual manner, rejoicing in meditation on the law, not in relaxation of the body, admiring the workmanship of God, and not eating things prepared the day before, nor using lukewarm drinks, and walking within a prescribed space, nor finding delight in dancing and plaudits which have no sense in them. And after the observance of the Sabbath, let every friend of Christ keep the Lord's Day as a festival, the resurrection-day, the queen and chief of all the days of the week.
3. … If any one fasts on the Lord's Day or on the Sabbath, except on the paschal Sabbath only, he is a murderer of Christ.
4. … On the day of the preparation, then, at the third hour, He received the sentence from Pilate, the Father permitting that to happen; at the sixth hour He was crucified; at the ninth hour He gave up the ghost; and before sunset He was buried. During the Sabbath He continued under the earth in the tomb in which Joseph of Arimathaea had laid Him. At the dawning of the Lord’s day He arose from the dead, according to what was spoken by Himself, "As Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man also be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." The day of the preparation, then, comprises the passion; the Sabbath embraces the burial; the Lord’s Day contains the resurrection.
Fragments From the Lost Works of Irenaeus (early second century):
1. … This custom, of not bending the knee upon Sunday, is a symbol of the resurrection, through which we have been set free, by the grace of Christ, from sins, and from death, which has been put to death under Him. Now this custom took its rise from apostolic times, as the blessed Irenaeus, the martyr and bishop of Lyons, declares in his treatise On Easter, in which he makes mention of Pentecost also; upon which [feast] we do not bend the knee, because it is of equal significance with the Lord’s day, for the reason already alleged concerning it.
Justin Martyr (second century): Weekly Worship of the Christians
1. First Apology of Justin, Chapter XLVII:
… And we afterwards continually remind each other of these things. And the wealthy among us help the needy; and we always keep together; and for all things wherewith we are supplied, we bless the Maker of all through His Son Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Ghost.
And on the day called Sunday , all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons.
And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need.
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 Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration.
Justin Describes His Studies in Philosophy and other Articles
Chapter XLVII: Justin communicates (to Trypho) about Christians who observe the law:
Trypho again inquired, "But if some one, knowing that this is so, after he recognises that this man is Christ, and has believed in and obeys Him, wishes, however, to observe these [institutions], will he be saved?" I said, "In my opinion, Trypho, such an one will be saved, if he does not strive in every way to persuade other men,--I mean those Gentiles who have been circumcised from error by Christ, to observe the same things as himself, telling them that they will not be saved unless they do so. This you did yourself at the commencement of the discourse, when you declared that I would not be saved unless I observe these institutions."
Then he replied, "Why then have you said, 'In my opinion, such an one will be saved,' unless there are some who affirm that such will not be saved?"
"There are such people, Trypho," I answered; "and these do not venture to have any intercourse with or to extend hospitality to such persons; but I do not agree with them. But if some, through weak-mindedness, wish to observe such institutions as were given by Moses, from which they expect some virtue, but which we believe were appointed by reason of the hardness of the people's hearts, along with their hope in this Christ, and [wish to perform] the eternal and natural acts of righteousness and piety, yet choose to live with the Christians and the faithful, as I said before, not inducing them either to be circumcised like themselves, or to keep the Sabbath, or to observe any other such ceremonies, then I hold that we ought to join ourselves to such, and associate with them in all things as kinsmen and brethren.”
Stromata (Miscellanies) of Clement of Alexandria (late second century):
1. …The apostles distinguish between vain traditions of the Jews (and Christians). Among these were (1) the authentication of their own Scriptures; (2) certain "forms of sound words," afterwards digested into liturgies; (3) the rules for celebrating the Lord’s Supper, and of administering baptism; (4) the Christian Passover and the weekly Lord’s Day; (5) the Jewish Sabbath and ordinances, how far to be respected while the temple yet stood; (6) the kiss of charity, and other observances of public worship; (7) the agapae, the rules about widows, etc.
2. …The same holds of pleasure. For it is the highest achievement for one who has had trial of it, afterwards to abstain. For what great thing is it, if a man restrains himself in what he knows not? He, in fulfilment of the precept, according to the Gospel, keeps the Lord’s day, when he abandons an evil disposition, and assumes that of the Gnostic, glorifying the Lord’s resurrection in himself.
3. …The Holy Spirit upbraids the Jews with their holy-days. "Your Sabbaths, and new moons, and ceremonies," says He, "My soul hateth." By us, to whom Sabbaths are strange, and the new moons and festivals formerly beloved by God, the Saturnalia and New-year's and Midwinter's festivals and Matronalia are frequented--presents come and go--New-year's gifts--games join their noise--banquets join their din! Oh better fidelity of the nations to their own sect, which claims no solemnity of the Christians for itself! Not the Lord’s day, not Pentecost, even if they had known them, would they have shared with us; for they would fear lest they should seem to be Christians.
4. …Others, with greater regard to good manners, it must be confessed, suppose that the sun is the god of the Christians, because it is a well-known fact that we pray towards the east, or because we make Sunday a day of festivity. What then? Do you do less than this? Do not many among you, with an affectation of sometimes worshipping the heavenly bodies
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles:
The Constitutions of the Holy Apostles are thought to have been written over an extended period of time, the last books not later than the fourth Century. Apparently they are adaptations of material written in earlier centuries (the Didascalia, Didache and the Apostolic Traditions of Hippolytus). If this is true, a substantial amount of the material pre-dates Constantine, and even those written in the fourth Century might also do so, depending on when in that century they were written.
See: http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/007/0070427.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostolic_Constitutions
http://www.answers.com/topic/apostolic-constitutions
http://wwwa.britannica.com/eb/article-9008047
1. …"Christianity for the first time made charity a rudimentary virtue, giving it
general influence in stimulating the affections, it effected a complete revolution in this sphere, by representing the poor as the special representatives of the Christian founder, and thus making the love of Christ rather than the love of man the principle of charity. Even in the days of persecution, collections for the relief of the poor were made at the Sunday meetings… “
2. …But do you observe carefully the vernal equinox, which occurs on the twenty-second of the twelfth month, which is Dystros (March), observing carefully until the twenty-first of the moon, test the fourteenth of the moon shall fall on another week, and an error being committed, you should through ignorance celebrate the passover twice in the year, or celebrate the day of the resurrection of our Lord on any other day than a Sunday.
3. … Wherefore we exhort you to fast on those days, as we also fasted till the evening, when He was taken away from us; but on the rest of the days, before the day of the preparation, let every one eat at the ninth hour, or at the evening, or as every one is able. But from the even of the fifth day till cock-crowing break your fast when it is daybreak of the first day of the week, which is the Lord’s day.
4. … He was crucified on the day of the Preparation, and rose again at break of day on the Lord’s day, the scripture was fulfilled which saith, "Arise, O God; judge the earth… “
5. … And again, from the first Lord’s day count forty days, from the Lord’s day till the fifth day of the week, and celebrate the feast of the ascension of the Lord, whereon He finished all His dispensation and constitution, and returned to that God and Father that sent Him…
6. … But after ten days from the ascension, which from the first Lord’s day is the fiftieth day, do ye keep a great festival: for on that day, at the third hour, the Lord Jesus sent on us the gift of the Holy Ghost…
7. … We enjoin you to fast every fourth day of the week, and every day of the preparation, and the surplusage of your fast bestow upon the needy; every Sabbath- day excepting one, and every Lord’s day, hold your solemn assemblies, and rejoice: for he will be guilty of sin who fasts on the Lord’s day, being the day of the resurrection…
Regarding Polycrates, Bishop of Ephesus
Please note the attitude of the following writer toward the Jewish Sabbath.
1. …[A.D. 130-196.] This author comes in as an appendix to the stories of Polycarp and Irenaeus and good Anicetus, and his writings also bear upon the contrast presented by the less creditable history of Victor.
If, as I suppose, the appearance of our Lord to St. John on "the Lord's day" was on the Paschal Sunday, it may at first seem surprising that this Apostle can be claimed by Polycrates in behalf of the Eastern custom to keep Easter with the Jews, on the fourteenth day of the moon. But to the Jews the Apostles became "as Jews" in all things tolerable, so long as the Temple stood, and while the bishops of Jerusalem were labouring to identify the Paschal Lamb with their Passover.
The long survival of St. John among Jewish Christians led them to prolong this usage, no doubt, as sanctioned by his example. He foreknew it would quietly pass away.
The wise and truly Christian spirit of Irenaeus prepared the way for the ultimate unanimity of the Church in a matter which lies at the base of "the Christian Sabbath," and of our own observance of the first day of the week as a weekly Easter. Those who in our own times have revived the observance of the Jewish Sabbath, show us how much may be said on their side, and elucidate the tenacity of the Easterns in resisting the abolition of the Mosaic ordinance as to the Paschal, although they agreed to keep it "not with the old leaven." …
Didache (Range of possible dates: 50 – 120 AD)
Christian Assembly on the Lord's Day. 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 who is at odds with his fellow come together with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be profaned. For this is that which was spoken by the Lord: "In every place and time offer to me a pure sacrifice; for I am a great King, says the Lord, and my name is wonderful among the nations."
New Testament References
Having read the writings of the church fathers, above (some of which date to the first and second centuries), it becomes easier to see the following scriptural references to “the first day of the week,” and “the Lord’s day,” as applying to an established practice in New Testament times, or at least to an emerging practice.
Acts 20: 7 On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight.
1 Corinthians 16: 1 Now about the collection for God's people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.
Revelation 1:10On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet…
Observations: Taking into consideration the quotes from the church fathers, above, it is easy to surmise that:
1. … the phrase, “first day of every week,” in 1 Cor. 16:2 could imply that the Corinthians met on the first day of the week on a regular basis;
2. … that Acts 20:7 is in reference to a regular meeting of the Corinthian church;
3. … that the Lord’s Day, in Rev. 1:10 also refers to the first day of the week.
The New Testament seems to indicate that adherence to specified practices on certain days was not required as a binding obligation.
Rom. 14:5 One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6a He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord.
Colossians 2:16,17 commanded the church not to allow anyone to act as their judge in regard to sabbath days.
Col. 2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
Galatians 4:9,10 warns against going back under the Law by insisting on the legal requirement of special days.
Col. 4:9 But now that you know God-- or rather are known by God-- how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? 10 You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!
Theodore H. Mann 2006