QuantaCura said:
Seriously. Why do we have to prove things using Sola Sciptura? If you want to convince me, prove me your beliefs using Scripture and Tradition. Scripture plus your personal interpretation proves nothing.
First you must answer why they canonized the writings if not to set them above the other tradition available at the time. But we have other threads for that.
Here is a brief history of the DEVELOPMENT of Sunday as a replacement for the Sabbath from the tradition, though it is from the Roman tradition, so I am not sure of its status with the eastern bretheren. It is a selection of portions of the papal letter Dies Domini by John Paul II.
I am posting this to at least see where we can find common ground on the facts of the case.
A. It should be plain that Catholic and perhaps Eastern adherents will recognize this to be a view they can accept in regards to tradition. But will also note that it shows a progressive unfolding of the view of Sunday replacing Sabbath. To Oblio, here is also a reference from the Latin church that there have always been those who keep Sabbath, which you asked of from Old Sage.
B. Those of us who adhere to Sabbath will note that the evidence is in fact quite unclear until the church fathers, it is not spelled out in the NT Canon. It also shows a progression of
i. honoring as a feast day
ii. Over time eclipsing the Sabbath, but both were being observed
iii. Eventually taking on the idea of a Sabbath rest when conditions allowed after Constantine's encoding of the day of rest in civil law.
C. Other protestants will note that they really have no leg to stand on. Either you go with the church fathers, and continue with Sunday, or go with the Bible which really offers little support of Sunday. Or you could simply go with the view that there is no Sabbath, no Sunday, no any of it. But the texts cited for that view are in fact often referring to fast days or ceremonial Sabbaths. One way or another you have to come to terms with the historical accounts of how the day came to be honored which you are honoring.
Please note also that Christians, as the church fathers stated, and others, are in fact to worship on every day. That is not really in contention. The question is whether God has set apart a day for special rest and relationship with Him.
"God blessed the seventh day and made it holy" (Gn 2:3)
13. The Sabbath precept, which in the first Covenant prepares for the Sunday of the new and eternal Covenant, is therefore rooted in the depths of God's plan. This is why, unlike many other precepts, it is set not within the context of strictly cultic stipulations but within the Decalogue, the "ten words" which represent the very pillars of the moral life inscribed on the human heart. In setting this commandment within the context of the basic structure of ethics, Israel and then the Church declare that they consider it not just a matter of community religious discipline but a defining and indelible expression of our relationship with God, announced and expounded by biblical revelation. This is the perspective within which Christians need to rediscover this precept today. Although the precept may merge naturally with the human need for rest, it is faith alone which gives access to its deeper meaning and ensures that it will not become banal and trivialized.
First of all this shows that it is recognized that the moral root of the 4th commandment is still binding, though in the view of the Latin church , is redefined.
Growing distinction from the Sabbath
23. It was this newness which the catechesis of the first centuries stressed as it sought to show the prominence of Sunday relative to the Jewish Sabbath. It was on the Sabbath that the Jewish people had to gather in the synagogue and to rest in the way prescribed by the Law. The Apostles, and in particular Saint Paul, continued initially to attend the synagogue so that there they might proclaim Jesus Christ, commenting upon "the words of the prophets which are read every Sabbath" (Acts 13:27). Some communities observed the Sabbath while also celebrating Sunday. Soon, however, the two days began to be distinguished ever more clearly, in reaction chiefly to the insistence of those Christians whose origins in Judaism made them inclined to maintain the obligation of the old Law. Saint Ignatius of Antioch writes: "If those who were living in the former state of things have come to a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath but keeping the Lord's Day, the day on which our life has appeared through him and his death ..., that mystery from which we have received our faith and in which we persevere in order to be judged disciples of Christ, our only Master, how could we then live without him, given that the prophets too, as his disciples in the Spirit, awaited him as master?".(21) Saint Augustine notes in turn: "Therefore the Lord too has placed his seal on his day, which is the third after the Passion. In the weekly cycle, however, it is the eighth day after the seventh, that is after the Sabbath, and the first day of the week".(22) The distinction of Sunday from the Jewish Sabbath grew ever stronger in the mind of the Church, even though there have been times in history when, because the obligation of Sunday rest was so emphasized, the Lord's Day tended to become more like the Sabbath. Moreover, there have always been groups within Christianity which observe both the Sabbath and Sunday as "two brother days".(23)
The day of the new creation
24. A comparison of the Christian Sunday with the Old Testament vision of the Sabbath prompted theological insights of great interest. In particular, there emerged the unique connection between the Resurrection and Creation. Christian thought spontaneously linked the Resurrection, which took place on "the first day of the week", with the first day of that cosmic week (cf. Gn 1:1 - 2:4) which shapes the creation story in the Book of Genesis: the day of the creation of light (cf. 1:3-5). This link invited an understanding of the Resurrection as the beginning of a new creation, the first fruits of which is the glorious Christ, "the first born of all creation" (Col 1:15) and "the first born from the dead" (Col 1:18).
25. In effect, Sunday is the day above all other days which summons Christians to remember the salvation which was given to them in baptism and which has made them new in Christ. "You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead" (Col 2:12; cf. Rom 6:4-6). The liturgy underscores this baptismal dimension of Sunday, both in calling for the celebration of baptisms as well as at the Easter Vigil on the day of the week "when the Church commemorates the Lord's Resurrection",(24) and in suggesting as an appropriate penitential rite at the start of Mass the sprinkling of holy water, which recalls the moment of Baptism in which all Christian life is born.(25)
The eighth day: image of eternity
26. By contrast, the Sabbath's position as the seventh day of the week suggests for the Lord's Day a complementary symbolism, much loved by the Fathers. Sunday is not only the first day, it is also "the eighth day", set within the sevenfold succession of days in a unique and transcendent position which evokes not only the beginning of time but also its end in "the age to come". Saint Basil explains that Sunday symbolizes that truly singular day which will follow the present time, the day without end which will know neither evening nor morning, the imperishable age which will never grow old; Sunday is the ceaseless foretelling of life without end which renews the hope of Christians and encourages them on their way.(26) Looking towards the last day, which fulfils completely the eschatological symbolism of the Sabbath, Saint Augustine concludes the Confessions describing the Eschaton as "the peace of quietness, the peace of the Sabbath, a peace with no evening".(27) In celebrating Sunday, both the "first" and the "eighth" day, the Christian is led towards the goal of eternal life.(28)
Here we see evidence that both were kept for much of time, as well as the interesting insight that Basil saw Sunday as the fulfillment of the christian hope, foreshadowing salvation. However, please note that the canon sees the Sabbath as pointing to this, not Sunday, in the book of Hebrews.
64. For several centuries, Christians observed Sunday simply as a day of worship, without being able to give it the specific meaning of Sabbath rest. Only in the fourth century did the civil law of the Roman Empire recognize the weekly recurrence, determining that on "the day of the sun" the judges, the people of the cities and the various trade corporations would not work. (107) Christians rejoiced to see thus removed the obstacles which until then had sometimes made observance of the Lord's Day heroic. They could now devote themselves to prayer in common without hindrance. (108)
Here we see the last step, the allowance by civil law of a day of rest, which began to solidify the meaning of Sunday taking over the full meaning of Sabbath. It is a reference to the action of Constantine.
So it should be clear that
a. Some of this began before 130 AD
b. Constantine did not in fact change the day, though he did play a role in solidifying part of the meaning.
c. Most of the evidencde comes from the church fathers, with no explicit mention at all in the Canon of the switch. If anything the canon supports either Sabbath observance, or observance of no day, though those texts, as mentioned above, are often referring to feast sabbaths.
Once again it is a question of whether to accept tradition or the Scriptures. One would say the above is the unfolding of revelation, with truths taking on new meaning, the other would say it was falling away from the truth, corrupting it . Either way, you have to deal with the evidence that was there early on.
