Sabbath or Sunday, What Does Holy Scripture Say?
Sabbatarians, the sects which hold to the Sabbath, are
7th Day Adventists, Seventh Day Baptists, Seventh Day Pentecostals, Seventh Day
Armstrong
World Wide Church of GOD, and a few other small Sabbath keepers,
and of course the Jews.
Jer 31:31-34, "...and I will make a New Covenant...not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers...the covenant which THEY MADE VOID..."
Hosea 2:11, "And I will cause all her mirth to
cease, her solemnities, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her festival
times."
Jesus Christ rebuked those who criticized Him for doing things on the
Sabbath:
Matthew 12:1-8, Mark 2:23-28,3:1-6, Luke 13:14-17, in John
5:5-18, Jesus Himself breaks the Sabbath.
The Old Covenant, and with it the Sabbath, was obsoleted by the New
Covenant. It was replaced by the Law of Christ and the Lord's Day:
2Cor 3:4-18, "...but their minds were darkened;
for to this day, when the Old Testament is read to them, the selfsame veil
remains, not being lifted to disclose the Christ in whom
IT IS MADE VOID."
2Cor 5:17, "If then any man is in Christ, he is a new
creature: the former
things HAVE PASSED AWAY; BEHOLD, THEY ARE MADE NEW!"
Eph 2:15, "The law
of the commandments expressed in decrees HE
HAS
MADE VOID, that of the two He might create in
Himself one new man
and make peace."
Col 2:13-19,
"And you, when you were dead by reason of your sins and the uncircumcision
of your flesh (failing to follow the Old Covenant), He brought to life along
with Him, forgiving you all of your sins (bypassing the O.C.), cancelling the
decree agains us (the O.C.), which was hostile to us. Indeed, He has taken it completely away, NAILING IT TO THE CROSS (the O.C. was
nailed to the cross, effectively ending it, and with it the Sabbath). ...Let no
one call you to account for what you eat or drink or in regard to a festival or
a new moon, or a SABBATH." That says, just what it says, DO NOT ACCOUNT FOR A SABBATH.
Hebrews 8:6-13, "But now he has obtained a SUPERIOR MINISTRY, IN PROPORTION AS HE IS MEDIATOR, OF A
SUPERIOR COVENANT, enacted
on the basis of superior promises. For had the FIRST
BEEN FAULTLESS, PLACE WOULD NOT OF COURSE BE SOUGHT FOR A SECOND. (so the O.C. was faulted, through our fault not GOD's, and there
was a need for a N.C.)....(vs13) Now in saying 'A NEW
COVENANT,' HE HAS MADE OBSOLETE THE FORMER ONE; AND THAT WHICH IS OBSOLETE AND
HAS GROWN OLD IS NEAR ITS END."
Hebrews 7:11-12, "...what further need was there
that another priest should rise, according to the order of Melchisedech, and
said not to be according to the order of Aaron? For when the priesthood is
changed, IT IS NECCESSARY THAT A CHANGE OF LAW BE MADE
ALSO."
I do not see how Scripture could
be any plainer than that. The Old Covenant, and with it the Sabbath,
circumcision, bloody sacrifices and a multitude of other Jewish laws was ended
and replaced by the New Covenant of Jesus Christ. The Sabbath is ended, finis,
kaput... But there is a lot more. Read Hebrews 9 and 10, about the New
Covenant.
Hebrews 10:9-10, '"Behold, I come to do thy will,
O GOD," HE ANNULS THE FIRST COVENANT IN ORDER TO
ESTABLISH THE SECOND.'
The Sabbath along with the
Old Covenant is dead, the last nail driven into the coffin, and it is
buried.
Galations 3:10-29, "For those who rely on the works
of the Law are under a curse...BUT THAT BY THE LAW NO MAN IS
JUSTIFIED BEFORE GOD IS EVIDENT, BECAUSE HE WHO IS JUST LIVES BY
FAITH....CHRIST
REDEEMED US FROM THE CURSE OF THE LAW.....BUT
BEFORE THE FAITH CAME WE WERE KEPT IMPRISONED UNDER THE LAW, SHUT UP FOR THE
FAITH THAT WAS TO BE REVEALED. THEREFORE THE LAW HAS BEEN OUR TUTOR UNTO CHRIST,
THAT WE MIGHT BE JUSTIFIED BY FAITH. BUT NOW THAT FAITH HAS COME, WE ARE NO LONGER UNDER A TUTOR...."
The Old Covenant (the
Law, and with it the Sabbath), has been a good tutor, but is no longer
needed.
Sabbatarians insist St. Paul preached to the Jews on the Sabbath, and therefore,
the Sabbath is still the day of worship:
They are right about his preaching
to the Jews on the Sabbath as shown in Acts 13:14, Acts 13:44, and Acts 18:4.
What they fail to realize is, since that was the day when the Jews were
gathered in the Synagogue, as it was their Sabbath, he could preach to the
maximum number gathered in one place, all at one time. That was the only reason
for his preaching to the Jews on the Sabbath.
He preached to the Jews first
on the Sabbath, while they were gathered in one place and then after he preached
to the Gentiles as shown in Acts 13:46.
Also, they fail to see that St. Paul was not under the Law of the Old Covenant, but under the Law of Christ, "And I have become to the Jews a Jew that I might gain the Jews; to those under the Law, as one under the Law, that I might gain those under the Law; to those without the Law, though I am not without the Law of GOD, but am under the Law of Christ." 1Cor 9:20-21
To break this down, in easier terms:
St. Paul said he
was not under the Law of the Jews (the Old Covenant).
However, he said he was
not without the Law.
He said his Law was a different Law.
He said his Law
is the Law of Christ (the New Covenant).
There are many documents written by early Church Fathers
which attest to the demise of worship on the Sabbath, replacing it with Sunday,
'The Lord's Day'. The earliest document, that I know of, is on this website.
Please read the 'Didache', 14:1, written between 70-95 A.D.
Contrary to the denial by Sabbatarians that the seventh day,
the Lord's day, Sunday, is Biblical, I offer the following:
Biblical
references to happenings on Sunday, the first day of the week...
1.
Jesus Christ rose from the dead on Sunday, Lk 24:1-12
2. Christ appeared
to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and celebrated the Eucharist
on Sunday, Lk 24:13
3. Jesus appeared to the disciples behind closed
doors, Jn 20:19
4. Jesus appeared to the disciples with Thomas one week
later, Jn 20:26 NAB
5. Jesus opened the minds of the Apostles to the
Scriptures, Lk 24:45
6. The Apostles received their 'Great Commission' to
go and teach all nations, Mt 28:1-20.
7. The Apostles were
given the Holy Spirit and the power to forgive sins, Jn 20:19-23.
8. Jesus told the Apostles to wait in the city until they were to be
clothed with power from on high, Lk 24:49.
9. On the seventh
Sunday after the resurrection, the Holy Spirit descended upon the
Apostles, Act 2:1-4.
10. Immediately after receiving the Holy Spirit,
Peter gave a powerful address on the Gospel resulting in 3000
conversions, Act 2:41.
11. The Apostles met for the Holy Eucharist, Act
20:7
12. The Apostles set the first day of the week for the Churches to
take up the collections, 1Cor 16:1-2.
Many early converts from Judaism continued for a while to attend the synagogue
or temple on the Sabbath, as it was the house of God, and the Old Covenant
fulfilled by the New was proclaimed and preached in the synagogue and temple.
At first there was little or no thought given to separating from the Jews,
as many Jews were converting to the new faith. But this attendance in
no way
signified that the Apostles or their flock subjected their faith to the
requirements of the Old Covenant as interpreted by the Jews. To the contrary!
These Jewish converts, as well as their gentile brothers, gathered often daily,
but especially on Sundays, for "the apostles' instruction and the communal
life, ...the breaking of bread and the prayers." (Acts 2:42).
Many
Jews however, refused to convert and the salvation of GOD was sent to the
Gentiles and so went the sabbath, Act 28:23-29. The New Testament does not
provide any evidence that the Apostles instructed believers to continue
observance of the weekly sabbath. But it does show that there were explicit
teachings regarding the Eucharist and the Agape, both of which were
especially celebrated on Sundays.
As history testifies, Christians more
or less gradually abandoned the
synagogue and temple because of the
pre-eminent place given every Sunday
by that first, glorious Easter Sunday.
Much independent historical evidence
is available to demonstrate that
beginning very early, the early Church gradually replaced the Sabbath observance
with Sunday worship.
WHAT DID CHURCH FATHERS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THE SABBATH?
The Didache...
This was the teaching of the Apostles. Therefore it was the
Apostles who
first began Sunday worship...
"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, 74 A.D..
Ignatius of Antioch... "Those 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 9. 107 A.D..
Justin Martyr... (100-165) "We too would observe the fleshly circumcision,
and the sabbaths, and in short all the feasts, if we did not know for what
reason they were enjoined on you, namely, on account of your transgressions
and the hardness of your heart... How is it, Trypho, that we would not
observe those rites which do not harm us, I speak of fleshly circumcision
and sabbaths and feasts?... God enjoined you to keep the sabbath, and impose
on you other precepts for a sign, as I have already said, on account of your
unrighteousness and that of your fathers."
Dialogue with Trypho the Jew
18, 21, 155 A.D..
Justin Martyr... "We all gather on the day of the sun, for it is the first
day (after the Jewish Sabbath, but also the first day of the week) when GOD,
separating matter from darkness, made the world; and on this same day,
Jesus
Christ our Savior, rose from the dead."
1 Apol 67, Pg 6: 429 and
432.
Tertullian... "Let him who contends that the sabbath is still to be
observed as
a balm of salvation, and circumcision on the eighth day... teach
us that, for
the time past, righteous men kept the sabbath or practiced
circumcision, and were thus rendered 'friends of God'. For if circumcision
purges a man, since God made Adam uncircumcised, why did he not circumcise him,
even after
his sinning, if circumcision purges?... Therefore, since God
originated Adam uncircumcised and unobservant of the sabbath, consequently his
offspring
also, Abel, offering him sacrifices, uncircumcised and unobservant
of the sabbath, was by him (God)commended Gen. 4:1-7, Heb. 9:4... Noah also,
uncircumcised, yes, and unobservant of the sabbath, God freed from the deluge.
For Enoch too, most righteous man, uncircumcised and
unobservant of the
sabbath, he translated from this world, who did not first taste death in order
that, being a candidate for eternal life, he might show us that we also may,
without the burden of the law of Moses, please God."
An Answer to the
Jews 2, 203 A.D..
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, because on the first day of the week 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,
225 A.D..
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, 229 A.D..
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, 300 A.D..
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, 312 A.D..
Eusebius of Caesarea... "The 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, 319 A.D..
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, 345 A.D..
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, 350 A.D..
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, 360 A.D..
John Chrysostom... "When he said, 'You shall not kill'... he did not add,
'because murder is a wicked thing'. The reason was that conscience had
taught this before hand, 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. And again: 'Because you were a
servant in the land of Egypt',
Deut 21:18. 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
Statues 12:9, 387
John Chrysostom... "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, 395 A.D..
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, 400 A.D..
John Chrysostom... "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 that the sabbath, as not being omitted at certain
times.
When then it is done away, much more is the sabbath."
Homilies on
Philippians 10, 402 A.D..
Jerome... (342-420) "The Lord's Day, the day of resurrection, the day of
Christians, is our day. It is called the 'Lord's Day' because on it the Lord
rose victorious to the Father. If pagans call it the 'Day of the Sun', we
willingly agree, for today the 'Light of the World' is raised, today is
revealed
the 'sun of justice' with healing in his rays."
Pasch CCL
78, 550
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... Which of these commandments would anyone say that
the
Christian ought not to keep? It is possible to contend that it is not the Law
which was written on those two tables that the apostle (Paul) describes as 'the
letter that kills', 2 Cor. 3:6, but the law of circumcision and the other sacred
rites which are now abolished."
The Spirit and the Letter 24, 412 A.D..
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 had 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, 597 A.D..
One final note:
The Old Covenant was ended, being replaced by the New.
The only ones refusing to let go of the Old Covenant are the Jews and a few
Sabbatarians.
I must point out to the latter group, that you cannot be
pickers and choosers.
If you insist on the Sabbath, then you have to accept
and practice ALL of the Old Law, such as circumcision, bloody sacrifices, and
all those 'good' things
in Leviticus. You cannot have it both ways. You
cannot have part of the old
and part of the new. It is an all or nothing
situation. True Christians abide by the laws of the New Covenant, as New
Testament Holy Scripture commands.
A letter to all sabbatarians:
If you refuse to believe the teachings of the
Apostles, the Didache, the
teachings of the Church Fathers, as shown here
(and I trust you did not
believe what I have posted and researched the files
for yourselves), and the Holy Bible, then I say, I have sympathy for you. You
are following the false prophet. I will not listen to you as you continue to
beat the dead horse.
The Old Covenant is DEAD. The Sabbath is DEAD. We are
in the New Covenant of Jesus Christ, and no matter how forceful you become, you
are wrong, wrong, wrong. I have heard all of your arguments over and over
again. Less than 1% of all Christianity believes as you
do.
Compiled on December 9, 1997