Forward and Introduction
As many of our
visitors will know, I came out of a seventh day sabbath
observance group many years ago.
I have long wanted to get an article out about the errors of the
seventh day sabbath approach, but time to put together the
in-depth look at the subject has not been forthcoming. However,
my good internet friend, Rolaant McKenzie (once a Seventh Day
Adventist), has written a lot on this subject, as has our
ex-Seventh Day Baptist friend, Tom Warner. Here Rolaant looks at
a particular aspect of this question; the mis-information about
the Edicts of Constatine which is rife among seventh day people.
So I commend this article to our readers (as I do the Tom Warner
article, 'Confessions of a Sabbath-Keeper')
Robin A. Brace, 2002.
Some Sabbatarian Christians maintain that the Catholic Church
changed the day of worship from Sabbath to Sunday, starting with
a Sunday law enacted by Constantine the Great (306-337 A.D.) in
321 A.D. The assumption here is that Constantine put into place a
religious law. But Constantine did not enact a Christian law, but
a civil one. He could not have been a Catholic, since the
Catholic Church as was known during the Reformation period was
not even formally organized until several centuries later. It is
even doubtful that he was even a Christian, though some make that
claim. Christians by this time were already meeting together for
worship on the first day of the week. Many, if not most, had been
doing so for at least a couple centuries before Constantine
arrived on the scene. They did not call this day Sunday, but
rather referred to it as the Lord's Day, in honor of Christ's
resurrection from the dead.
The claim by the Catholic Church in some of their catechisms that
they changed the sanctity of the Sabbath day to Sunday is not
evidence that they actually did so. The New Testament does not
anywhere make Sunday holy, neither does it make the Sabbath holy.
The emphasis had been taken away from the day and placed on
Christ, making the observance of particular days no longer
necessary. The Catholic Church claims that Peter was the first
Pope. It also claims that Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a
co-regent with Christ in Heaven now. It is doubtful that most
Sabbatarian Christians, if any at all, believe this. Why accept
what the Catholic Church says regarding transferring the sanctity
of the Sabbath day to Sunday, while not believing Peter to be the
first Pope, or that Mary is a co-regent with Christ in Heaven?
Scripture does not really portray Peter to be the first Pope,
neither does it say that Mary currently is a ruler with Jesus in
Heaven. She was no more a saint than any other Christian. And
history does not support statements by the Catholic Church that
they changed the day of worship from Sabbath to Sunday. This is
an inconsistent argument that fails to make any sense.
The early Christian Church fathers of the 1st and 2nd centuries
A.D. did not consider the Sabbath day to be a day all Christians
were obligated to observe. They gave a different testimony. While
the following epistles and statements are not in Scripture and
should therefore not be considered canonical, they help to
provide useful historical information regarding prevalent beliefs
of the early Church in its first centuries.
Ignatius was bishop of Antioch in Syria (c. 1st-2nd century A.D.)
and martyred in Rome by beasts (c. 105-116 A.D.). On his way to
Rome, he visited and wrote to various churches, warning and
exhorting them. He also wrote ahead to Rome to Polycarp, bishop
of Smyrna. Ignatius warned the Church against heresies that
threatened peace and unity, he opposed Gnosticism and Docetism,
and in his Epistle to Smyrna, insisted that Christ came in the
flesh not just in spirit.
The Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians 8-10 (c. 110
A.D.)
"Do not be deceived by strange doctrines or antiquated myths,
since they are worthless. For if we continue to live accordance
with Judaism, we admit that we have not received grace. For the
most godly prophets lived in accordance with Christ Jesus. This
is why they were persecuted, being inspired as they were by His
grace in order that those who are disobedient might be fully
convinced that there is one God who revealed Himself through
Jesus Christ His Son, who is His Word which came forth from
silence, who in every respect pleased Him who sent Him. If, then,
those who had lived in antiquated practices came to newness of
hope, no longer keeping the Sabbath but living in accordance with
the Lord's day, on which our life also arose through Him and His
death (which some deny), the mystery through which we came to
believe, and because of which we patiently endure, in order that
we might be found to be disciples of Jesus Christ, our only
teacher, how can we possibly live without Him, whom even the
prophets, who were His disciples in the Spirit, were expecting as
their teacher? Because of this He for whom they rightly waited
raised them from the dead when He came. Therefore let us not be
unaware of His goodness. For if He were to imitate the way we
act, we are lost. Therefore, having become His disciples, let us
learn to live in accordance with Christianity. For whoever is
called by any other name than this one does not belong to God.
Throw out, therefore, the bad leaven, which has become stale and
sour, and reach for the new leaven, which is Jesus Christ. Be
salted with Him, so that none of you become rotten, for by your
odor you will be examined. It is utterly absurd to profess Jesus
Christ and to practice Judaism. For Christianity did not believe
in Judaism, but Judaism in Christianity, in which "every tongue"
believed and "was brought together" to God." (10)
The Epistle of Barnabas was probably not authored by the Barnabas
of the New Testament. The writer repudiates the claims of Jewish
Christians at the time who advocated adhering to observance of
the Mosiac Law. He also argued that Christ provided salvation and
man is no longer bound by the Law. This letter compares holy life
to unrighteousness.
Epistle of Barnabas 2:4-6 (c. 130 A.D.)
"For He has made it clear to us through all the prophets that He
needs neither sacrifices nor whole burnt offerings nor general
offerings, saying on one occasion: 'What is the multitude of your
sacrifices to Me?' says the Lord. 'I am full of whole burnt
offerings, and I do not want the fat of lambs and blood of bulls
and goats, not even if you come to appear before Me. For who
demanded these things from your hands? Do not continue to trample
My court. If you bring fine flour, it is in vain; incense is
detestable to Me; your new moons and sabbaths I cannot stand.'
Therefore He has abolished these things, in order that the new
law of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is free from the yoke of
compulsion, might have its offering, one not made by man."
Epistle of Barnabas 15:8-9 (c. 130 A.D.)
"Finally, He 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, after I have set everything at rest, I will create the
beginning of an eighth 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." (11)
The Didache or The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles was an 11th
century manuscript discovered by Philotheus Bryennois. It
consists of various parts, starting with the Two Ways ethical
instruction and including community rules for liturgical
practices and leadership conduct, before ending with a short
apocalyptic section. While some of the material might go back
before the year 100 A.D., the current form of the document
probably dates to the mid-second century at the earliest.
The Didache (or The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles) 14:1 (c. 70
A.D.)
"On the Lord's own day gather together and break bread and give
thanks, having first confessed your sins so that your sacrifice
may be pure." (12)
The Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius Pamphilus (c. 260-339
A.D.) is probably one of the most important works on early Church
history available, covering the events of its first three
centuries. As one born during the early Church period, Eusebius
was an able historian who had a close view of the events that
helped shape the historical and theological developments of the
early Church.
Eusebius Ecclesiastical History, Book 1, Chapter 5 (c. 315
A.D.)
"For as the name Christians is intended to indicate this very
idea, that a man, by the knowledge and doctrine of Christ, is
distinguished by modesty and justice, by patience and a virtuous
fortitude, and by a profession of piety towards the one and only
true and supreme God; all this no less studiously cultivated by
them than by us. They did not, therefore, regard circumcision,
nor observe the Sabbath, neither do we; neither do we abstain
from certain foods, nor regard other injunctions, which Moses
subsequently delivered to be observed in types and symbols,
because such things as these do not belong to Christians."
(13)
Eusebius Ecclesiastical History, Book 3, Chapter 27 (c. 315
A.D.)
"The Ebionites cherished low and mean opinions of Christ. For
they considered Him a plain and common man, and justified only by
His advances in virtue, and that He was born of the Virgin Mary,
by natural generation. With them the observance of the law was
altogether necessary, as if they could not be saved, only by
faith in Christ and a corresponding life. These, indeed, thought
on the one hand that all of the epistles of the apostles ought to
be rejected, calling him an apostate from the law, but on the
other, only using the gospel according to the Hebrews, they
esteem the others as of little value. They also observe the
Sabbath and other discipline of the Jews, just like them, but on
the other hand, they also celebrate the Lords days very much like
us, in commemoration of His resurrection." (14)
Eusebius Ecclesiastical History, Book 5, Chapter 23 (c. 315
A.D.)
"The churches throughout the rest of the world observe the
practice that has prevailed from apostolic tradition until the
present time, so that it would not be proper to terminate our
fast on any other but the day of the resurrection of our Savior.
Hence there were synods and convocations of the bishops on this
question; and all unanimously drew up the ecclesiastical decree,
which they communicated to all the churches in all places, that
the mystery of our Lords resurrection should be celebrated on no
other day than the Lords day." (15)
Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons (c. 178 A.D.)
"The duty of celebrating the mystery of the resurrection of our
Lord may be done only on the day of the Lord." (16)
Justin Martyr (c. 100-165 A.D.) lived during the reign of
Antonius Pius and suffered martyrdom in 165 A.D. during the reign
of Marcus Aurelius. He was an enthusiastic evangelist of the
Gospel, and after traveling widely throughout the Roman Empire
settled in Rome as a Christian teacher. While there, neighboring
philosophers plotted against him because of his Christian
profession, brought him up before the Roman authorities, who
carried out his execution by beheading him.
The First Apology of Justin, Chapter 67
"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 ... 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."
(17)
Some Christians would say that these epistles and statements are
unreliable and reflect a general apostasy that was going on in
the Church at the time. But this is the Church of which Christ
said "the gates of Hades shall not overpower it." Also, the men
who wrote letters such as these to the early Christians were the
type of people of whom were spoken in Hebrews 11.
Hebrews 11:35-40.
Many early Church leaders and followers of Christ such as
Ignatius, Polycarp and Justin Martyr, to name a few, suffered
severe persecution and eventual martyrdom at the hands of the
Romans for spreading the Gospel of Christ. But to keep to the
main point, Sabbath-keeping was not a requirement in those days
for all Christians, nor was it generally observed. And this was
going on long before Constantine the Great enacted his civil
Sunday law.
Reproduced here by the kind permission of Rolaant
McKenzie. This article part of a much longer Sabbath article
on
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