The Sabbath and Sunday
Common Misunderstandings:
1. "We have been told that the Sabbath is the Seal of God."
The Seal of God is NOT the Sabbath! The Bible tells us clearly that the Seal of God is the Holy Spirit indwelling believers the moment they are saved.
Ephesians 1:13 (NIV) says,
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession-to the praise of His glory.
See Also:
Ephesians 4:30
2 Corinthians 1:21-22
This establishes that sabbath is not the SEAL of GOD
2. "We have been told that the true church in the last days, the Remnant church will be a commandment keeping church. Isn't that what Revelation 12:17 says?" Revelation 12:17 says:
And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
In the new Covenant, what are the "commandments" of God? Does this mean the Ten Commandments? NO! The Greek word used for the Ten Commandments is "NOMOS". That word is not used here. The word used here is "ENTELE" and means "
teaching"
The Apostle John clarifies this and actually tells us what the "Commandments" are that we are to keep:
See I John 5:1-3
I
used to use these verses to teach people that they must keep the Ten Commandments, especially the Sabbath. But look at what I John 3:21-24 has to say!
3. "The Roman Catholic Church changed the day of worship from Sabbath (Saturday) to Sunday." "Isn't it paying homage to the Roman church to worship on Sunday, because didn't the Roman Emperor Constantine change the day of worship?"
Costantine's Edict , AD 321
It is claimed that Constantine's edict of March 7, 321 changed the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday. Consantine's edict reads:
On the venerable Day of the Sun [venerablili dei Solis] let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits.Codex Justinaianus, book 3 title 12,3 trans. In Schaff, History of the Christian Church 5th ed. (New York: Charles Scribner, 1902), vol. 3, P. 380, note1.
Pliny's Letter , AD 107 worhsip and bread were together
Pliny was governor of Bithynia, in Asia Minor, from AD 106-108. He wrote in AD 107 to Trajan, the emperor, concerning the Christians. This is what he said:
They were want to meet together on a stated day before it was light, and sign among themselves alternately a hymn to Christ as God....When these things were performed, it was their custom to separate and then to come together again to a meal which they ate in common without any disorder.
We know the day the early church broke bread was on a Sunday.
Upon the first day of the week when the disciple came together to break bread. Acts 20:7 this establishes that they were meeting on the first day for communion and a sermon
The Epistle of Barnabas, AD 120 establishes an early record of the 8th day as a joyful dayIn chapter 2 the Epistle of Barnabas says:
"Incense is a vain abomination unto me, and your new moons and Sabbaths I cannot endure. He has, therefore, abolished these things."
When he speaks of the first day of the week, Barnabas says:
"Wherefore, also, we keep the eighth day with joyfulness, the day, also, on which Jesus rose again from the dead." Chapter 25
Statements By the Church Fathers:
Justin Martyr, AD 140 - establishes change short time after
Note: Justin's "Apology" was written at Rome about the year AD 140, only 44 years after the Apostle John recieved the vision of the Revelation at Patmos.
The Schalff-herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge states this about Justin's works: "In these works Justin professes to present the system of doctrine held by all Christians and seeks to be orthodox on all points. The only difference he knows of as existing between Christians concerned the millennium. Thus Justin is an incontrovertible witness for the unity of faith in the Church of his day and that fact that the Gentile type of Christianity prevailed."
Quoted by Canright in the Complete Testimony of the Early Fathers, Fleming H. Revell, 1916, pp. 24-25.
Note: At this early date , AD 140, the only difference among Christians was about the millennium. At that time , they had no disagreement in keeping Sunday, and as you will see, Justin says that was the day on which all Christians worshiped.
In chapter 67 of his first Apology, entitled, "Weekly Worship of the Christian" writing to the pagan emperor, Justin states:
"...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 writings of the prophets are read as long as time permits;then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructed, 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...But Sunday is the day on which God, having wrought the change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Savior on the same day rose from the dead."The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol 1, pp. 185-186 (Emphasis Added)
Clement of Alexandria, in Egypt, AD 194 Clement, writing around AD 194 says:
"He, in fulfillment of the precept, keeps the Lord's Day when he abandons an evil disposition, and assumes that the Gnostic, glorifying the Lord's resurrection in himself." Book 7, Chapter 12 (emphasis added)
Ignatius of Antioch, the third bishop of Antioch, who died in AD 108, wrote: the Lord's day reference Same as Revelation:a mere 12 years after John recieved Revelation. Sda's say that the Lord's day in Revelation is a reference to Sabbath, fine, but how and when did the change of the term become associated with the Ressurection a Mere 12 years after John wrote the Revelation? Where is the documentation that proves the Change? if you cannot prove the change then we must conclude that the "Lords day" in Revelation was Sunday for they would be refering to same thing.
"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 in Him....Let us therefore no longer keep the Sabbath after the Jewish manner, and rejoice in days of idleness; for "he that does not work, let him not eat"....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]" Epistle of Ignatius to Magnesians, "The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol, 1, pp. 62-63 (emphasis added).
Tertullian of Africa, wrote around AD 200:In his Apology, Chapter 16 Tertullian says:
"We solemnize the day after Saturday in contradistinction to those who call this day their Sabbath, and devote it to ease and eating, deviating from the old Jewish customs, which they are not very ignorant of."
"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 " Ancient Syriac Documents, The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3, P. 123
Note: The early church explained why they prayed toward the east. It was because, "...as the lightning which lighteneth from the east and is seen even to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be; that by this we might know and understand that He will appear from the East suddenly"
Ancient Syriac Documents, The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 8, P 668
Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth in Greece, AD 170
Dionysius was Bishop of Corinth, the Church which Paul raised up and to which he gave the command about Sunday collections, in I Cor. 16:1-2. He says:
"We passed this holy Lord's Day, in which we read your letter, from the constant reading of which we shall be able to draw admonition" Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, BK. 3, Chapter 23 (Emphasis Added)