The
Change of the Sabbath
Lesson
16
Marking
Code: CS
Marking Color: Black
Key Text: Ecclesiastes 3:14
Note:
There was no question in the time of
Christ and the apostles as to which
day was the Sabbath. Since the Bible plainly
states that the seventh day, Saturday, is the
Sabbath, why do the majority of Christians
keep the first day of the week? How did it
change?
1.
Ecclesiastes 3:14. When God does
something, it stands forever. Psalm 89:34;
Isaiah 40:8; Malachi 3:6; Matthew 5:17-19.
2.
Daniel 7:25. Bible prophecy predicts
that a power would arise that would intend to
change times and laws. The Sabbath
commandment is the only one of the Ten
Commandments that deals with time.
Note:
Since the New Testament gives no hint of
a change from the seventh-day Sabbath to
Sunday, we must turn to history and prophecy.
Note in outline form these steps in apostasy
resulting in the change of the Sabbath from
the seventh day of the week to the first day.
·
A.D. 132-135. Jews were discredited and
persecuted by Rome as a result of the Bar
Kochba revolt. Christians became increasingly
sensitive to any identification of themselves
with Jews. The seventh-day Sabbath was one
thing both Jews and Christians had in common.
·
Christians began to minimize Sabbath keeping.
Many Christians had been pagan’s
sun-worshipers before their conversion to
Christ. They had honored the first day of the
week-the “sun day.” They began to
reason that if they adopted some of the pagan
customs, Christianity would have more appeal
to pagans.
·
Sunday first came into the Christian church
as a holiday, not as a day of worship. Then
for centuries, both the first day and the
seventh day were observed. However, under the
influence of paganism and persecution, Sunday
became emphasized, and the seventh-day
Sabbath was minimized.
·
A.D. 321. Emperor Constantine decreed that
all government offices, courts, and
artisans’ shops be closed on the first
day of the week-the “venerable day of
the sun.”
·
A.D. 364. The council of Laodicea (Canon 29)
stipulated that the Church had changed the
day of the rest from the seventh day to the
first day of the week.
Note:
Both Protestants and Catholics
acknowledge this change:
·
Roman Catholic. “The church…
substituted the observance of Sunday…for
the observance of Saturday…a change for
which there is no Scriptural authority”
(Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism, p.
174).
·
Roman Catholic. “You may read the
Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you
will not find a single line authorizing the
sanctification of Sunday. The scriptures
enforce the religious observance of Saturday,
a day which we never sanctify? (Cardinal
Gibbon, The Faith of Our Fathers, p. 89).
·
Lutheran. “They (Roman Catholic)
allege the Sabbath changed into Sunday, the
Lord’s day, contrary to the Decalogue,
as it appears … The Church dispensed
with one of the Ten
Commandments”(Augsburg Confession,
article XXVIII).
·
Methodist. “There is no positive
command… for keeping holy the first day
of the week” (Amos Binney, Theological
Compendium, pp. 180, 181).
·
Congregationalist: “It is quite
clear that however rigidly or devoutly we may
spend Sunday, we are not keeping the
Sabbath” (R.W. Dale, The Ten
commandments, pp. 106, 107).
·
Presbyterian. “The moral law doth
forever bind us all…. Neither doth
Christ in the gospel any way dissolve, but
much strengthens this obligation” (The
Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in
the USA).
·
Church of England. “There is no
word, no hint in the New Testament about
abstaining from work on Sunday…. Into
the rest of Sunday no divine law enters”
(Canon Eyton, The Ten Commandments).
3.
Matthew 15:9. Jesus warns of worship
that follows human traditions rather than the
doctrines of God. He says that such worship
is in vain.
4.
Isaiah 58:12-14. The Bible speaks of
those who would bring about a restoration of
God’s holy Sabbath.
5.
John 9:41. God does not condemn us when
we break His commandments in ignorance or
unknowingly.
6.
Acts 5:29. When we understand the issues,
we should obey God rather than the
commandments of men.
Romans
6:16.
CS-End.
