This topic traces the church’s transition from meeting on the 7th day sabbath to Sunday observance during the early centuries AD. What factors led to the change?
Ge.2:1-3 “God blessed the 7th day and made it holy.” He sanctified His 7th day cessation as holy time! The vast majority of people today are unaware that since Creation a specific day of holy time comes & goes each week. All things were created by Jesus the Word (Col.1:16, Jn.1:1-3, 14). Jesus said the weekly sabbath was made for man, and He as Creator is Lord of the sabbath (Mk.2:27-28)! Since Jesus said the sabbath rest was made for man, it is illogical to assume that God withheld knowledge of the sabbath day from man for millennia until the time of Moses! (see the “Sabbath 7th Day” series.)
We read in the New Testament (NT) that the saints of the apostolic church assembled together. Originally the NT church was a gathering of people…it wasn’t the building where they met! The Greek term rendered “church” is ekklésia, Strongs g1577; it occurs 118 times in the NT.
Lk.4:16 it was Jesus’ custom to attend the formal style of service of His day at synagogue (g4864) on the sabbath (g4521 sábbaton). This custom resulted from the instruction God gave to Moses in Le.23:3. “On the 7th day there is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. It is a sabbath to the Lord in all your dwellings.” “Sabbath” is a holy day/period of cessation from certain activities.
But Jesus said His followers would become persecuted in synagogues, and eventually would have to leave them to avoid persecution. Jn.16:2 “They will make you outcasts from the synagogue.”
Mt.18:15-20 Jesus authorized His own future assemblies or messianic Beit Din (‘House of Judgment’) with elders overseeing decisions…to “bind and loose” (forbid and permit), Mt.16:19. Two or three local elders helped resolve internal disputes and made legal decisions for each local congregation. Jewish synagogues were lay institutions with unpaid elders (zakén h2205, Hebrew). Some Jewish Christians would call their own assemblies “synagogues” g4864, as James wrote in Ja.2:2.
But Jesus said church leaders aren’t to be lords (Mt.20:25-28). Jesus is Lord (2Jn.1:3). He is the ‘architect’ of His assembly (Mt.16:18)! He died and rose again, and His NT church began in Acts 2.
All the earliest converts were Jewish Christians/Messianic Jews. Then Ac.8:1-5, there was persecution at Jerusalem and a scattering (to Judea & Samaria) in the aftermath of Stephen’s martyrdom.
Then in Acts 10, uncircumcised gentiles (Cornelius et al) received the Holy Spirit too.
In Acts 13, Paul (Saul) went out evangelizing with Barnabas. They went first to synagogues. Eight synagogues are named in the NT where Paul is at synagogue. Ac.13:14, 43-48 nearly all the people (Jews and gentiles) at Pisidían Antioch in Galatia went to synagogue on the sabbath day to hear Paul speak. Paul said the gospel should be preached to the Jew first (cf. Ac.1:8). Paul’s custom (and Jesus’ custom) was to attend synagogue on the sabbath day, ref Ac.17:1-2, 18:1, 4.
In Phílippi of Macedonia there were few Jews and no synagogue. Yet Paul and Luke still worshiped on the sabbath day by the riverside with a few people to whom they could share the gospel, Ac.16:12-15!
Again, Jesus Himself attended synagogue on the sabbath day. Lk.23:55-56 a few hours after Jesus died, the loyal Galilean women who witnessed His crucifixion “rested on the sabbath according to the commandment” (ref Ex.20:8-11). The Jewish people (including Paul) have perpetuated the sabbath time God ordained at Creation. The church emerged from this sabbath and synagogue background. see the topic “Synagogue Influence on the Church”.
The gospel is also for gentiles, non-Jews (e.g. Ac.15:7-8). Early-on these gentiles were God-fearers who frequented the synagogues (periphery of) on the sabbath day, Ac.13:14-16. These God-fearers had different social customs, but believed the God of the Jews really is God! (cf. Ac.10:1-2.)
Jesus said synagogue persecution would come. As Jewish Christians were forced out of synagogues, and the gospel spread into gentile areas, local assemblies with Jewish & gentile Christians together were raised up. For various reasons, many of them began meeting after the sabbath day ended at sunset (Saturday evening), or on Sunday. The reasons follow:
Earliest Christianity was viewed as another sect of Judaism. Ac.24:5 Paul was a leader in the sect of the Nazarenes, Jewish Christians. (see “Jewish Sects of the 1st Century”.)
But near the end of the 1st century, disbelieving Jews added a synagogue curse, the Bírkat HaMinim, upon Jewish Christian ‘heretics’ (so-called) in synagogues. Everett Ferguson Backgrounds of Early Christianity “Gamaliél’s grandson Gamaliel II (active 80–120 AD) introduced into the Eighteen Benedictions the curse, ‘Let the Nazarenes and the heretics perish as in a moment, let them be blotted out of the book of the living’, which effectively excommunicated Christians from synagogues and formalized the break.” Gary Morton Theological Vignettes “Around 100 years after the death of Christ, rabbis excommunicated the Christians, leaving them out of the synagogue and the Sabbath.”
Jewish Christians refused to recite the curse (against themselves), and quit the synagogues. Marriage and forms of commerce with Christians became prohibited by Jews!
After the Jerusalem temple was destroyed in 70 AD, the Jewish temple tax was replaced by the fiscus judaicus tax of Emperor Vespasian (69–79 AD). Jews paid it to the heathen temple of Jupiter Capitolinus! Emperor Domitian (81–96 AD) broadened the levy to include other people who observed Jewish customs or lived like Jews. (The tax continued until 360 AD.)
But if Christianity became a separate religion from Judaism…it wouldn’t be subject to the tax! That’s what occurred. Christianity became separate, no longer considered a sect of Judaism.
Lawrence Schiffman Christianity Parting of the Ways “The emperor Nerva (96–98 CE) freed the Christians (probably including the Jewish Christians) from paying the fiscus judaicus, the tax decreed as a punishment in the aftermath of the [Jewish] revolt of 66–73 CE. The Romans now regarded the Christians in general as a separate group.”
This discriminatory tax, paid to a pagan god, motivated gentile Christians to quit Jewish customs. The customs included meeting on God’s 7th day sabbath. Historically, there was racial bias & animosity between Jews and gentiles anyway (ref Ac.11:2, 21:28). Ingrained differences existed. In any event….
Jewish and gentile Christians began the practice of meeting after the sabbath ended at sunset, or on Sunday…distinguishing them from hostile disbelieving Jews who met in synagogues on the 7th day!
Also a factor in Sun-day meetings was the association of Jesus with the sun. In scripture, Jesus is the prophesied “Sun of Righteousness” (Mal.4:2), and the symbolic “Sunrise from on high” (Lk.1:78). Furthermore, Christ rose from the dead on a Sunday. Commemorating the day of the week on which Jesus was resurrected became a primary reason for traditional Sunday observance over the centuries.
However, the 1st day/Sunday isn’t referred to as ‘Resurrection Day’ in scripture. That doesn’t appear until later writings. Jesus didn’t designate worship of Him or rest on a Resurrection Day or Sundays! Rather, that’s man’s tradition. God never commanded in scripture Sunday/1st day observance as a sabbath. The leading NT apostles, Peter-John-Paul, didn’t try to change 7th day holy time to Sunday! Of note, Sunday isn’t mentioned in 1Clement, written from Rome to Corinth in the late 1st century.
The Epistle of Barnabas, of uncertain authorship, is dated ca 100 AD. It posits that the 7th millennium fulfills God’s 7th day sabbath rest. Barn.15:9-10 “The 8th day, that is, the beginning of the other world. In which cause we observe the 8th day with gladness, in which Jesus rose from the dead.” It advocates commemorating the eschatological 8th day on the 1st day of each week. However, this epistle contains bias against Jews. Graham Harter The ‘Letter of Barnabas’ “There is a definite undercurrent of hostility towards the Jewish people.” Joe Watts Thoughts on Barnabas’s Epistle “Barnabas is stating that everything from Moses to Jesus is simply wrong. Barnabas several times says the covenant is ours (i.e. Christians) and not the Jews.” Barnabas’ error contradicts Je.31:31 & He.8:8, which clearly states the New Covenant is with Israel/Judah. Regardless of bias, Barnabas indicates Sunday meetings had begun.
The gentile Justin Martyr (100–165 AD) noted to a Jew in Dialogue With Tryphon XVI, “Cursing in your synagogues them that believe in Christ”. Justin First Apology, Ch 68 (ca 150 AD) “But Sunday is the day on which we hold our common assembly, because it is the first day of the week and Jesus our savior on the same day rose from the dead.” Sunday meetings were becoming widespread by 150 AD.
Also Sun–day meetings attracted heathens from old sun–worship (ref Ezk.8:16, Jb.31:26-28, 2Ki.23:5, 11, De.4:19) and from Míthraism. Usage of the 7-day planetary week grew in the 1st century. (However, ancient Israelites and the Jews based their 7-day week on Ge.1:1–2:3 & Ex.16:22-30, and the Assyrians also had a 7-day week.) The good news that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world (Jn.4:42) was accepted by peoples who’d viewed blood sacrifices as pleasing to their many heathen gods, 1Co.8:5 & 10:20. (also see “Evangelism in the Apostolic Church”.)
The desire to attract pagans to Jesus led to more Sunday worship. But this isn’t to say that all heathen gentiles as Christians worshiped the sun on Sun-day. However, as these pagans came into the church, some of their past festive practices and art became assimilated…e.g. sun-disks, mistletoe, wass-ale-ing.
Pagan practices added to tensions between Jewish and gentile Christians, past idolators. Gentiles BC had been viewed as outsiders, distinct from Jews. (see “Gentiles’ in the Bible”.) Racism existed. The church gradually split into Jewish and gentile factions. Gentiles began to outnumber Jews in the church.
In addition to persecution from disbelieving Jews (in and out of synagogues), Christians suffered persecutions from the heathen Roman Empire on-and-off for approximately 300 years.
In 274 AD, Roman Emperor Aurélian made the ‘Invincible Sun’ the official protector of the Empire!
Then in 312 AD, Emperor Constantine accepted a form of Christianity! Christianity was formally recognized as a religion in 313 AD at Milan. As a political move, Constantine instituted Sunday rest in his edict of 321 AD. “On the venerable day of the sun let the magistrates and people in cities rest.” Although he was supposedly converted in 312 AD, Constantine still venerated the Sun/Sol in 321 AD. Wikipedia: Sol Invictus “Constantine’s official coinage continues to bear images of Sol until 325 AD. His triumphal arch was carefully positioned to align with the colossal statue of Sol by the Colosseum.”
Sylvester I was Pope (314–335 AD) during Constantine’s reign. “The same pope [Sylvester I] decreed that the rest of the sabbath should be transferred to the Lord’s Day [Sunday].” Quoted by Rábanus Máurus (776–856 AD), archbishop of Mainz, Germany in De Clericorum Institutione (On the Institution of the Clergy), bk. 2, chap. 46, in MPL, Vol. 107, col 361. Trans. from the Latin.
Eusebius (264–340 AD), bishop of Caesárea and court theologian for Constantine, wrote in his 338 AD Commentary on the Psalms, (Ps.92) Vol. 23, cols 1171-2. “All things whatsoever that it was the duty to do on the Sabbath, we have transferred to the Lord’s Day.” Rome and the church…men…made this change. Not God! Pressure from Rome and ‘the Church’ led to increased Sunday observance.
At the 363 AD Council of Laodicea, sabbath observance was officially banned. “Christians shall not Judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honoring the Lord’s Day, resting then.” To an increasing extent, the 7th day sabbath had become changed to Sunday!
In the Edict of Thessalonica of 380 AD, Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire.
Later, Pope Gregory 1 even associated sabbath day rest with Antichrist! He wrote in 597 AD, Letters 13:1 “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.”
And yet it was Christ…not Anti-christ…who’d revealed His 7th day sabbath rest to Moses/Israel! e.g. Ex.16:11-30 manna, 20:8-11 keep the sabbath day holy. (see “Jesus Was The Old Testament God”.)
{Sidelight: It appears the NT church government was more an oligarchy, not a hierarchy. As Peter, John & James went to the physically circumcised, Barnabas & Paul went to the uncircumcised gentiles (Ga.2:7-9). Php.1:1 this letter was addressed also to the overseers/bishops (plural) and deacons in Philippi. Plural bishops in one city. In the apostolic church, there was no Pope! The Holy Spirit is the ‘vicar of Christ’, so to speak. The apostolic church wasn’t an indolent, immoral, corrupt monopoly.}
But many Christians disregarded man’s attempt to change or ban meetings on God’s sabbath. The 5th century church historian Scholásticus wrote in Ecclesiastical History, Bk 5, Ch 22. “Although almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries [of the Lord’s Supper] on the sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome have ceased to do this.” Bk 6, Ch 8 “I mean Saturday and Lord’s Day of each week, on which assemblies are usually held in the churches.”
Furthermore, his contemporary Salmínius Sozómen wrote in Ecclesiastical History, Bk 7, Ch 19. “The people of Constantinople, and almost everywhere, assemble together on the sabbath, as well as on the first day of the week, which custom is never observed at Rome or at Alexandria.” Rome essentially changed the sabbath to Sunday! Others have followed suit.
Peter Heylyn, The History of the Sabbath, 1613. “Ambrose, the celebrated bishop of Milan, said that when he was in Milan he observed Saturday, but when in Rome observed Sunday. This gave rise to the proverb ‘When you are in Rome, do as Rome does.” (Ambrose lived in the latter 300s AD.)
History indicates that some Christian masters in the Roman Empire gave their slaves both Saturday and Sunday off from work. The late 4th century Apostolic Constitutions, Bk 8, Ch 33. “Let the slaves work five days; but on the Sabbath Day and the Lord’s day let them have leisure to go to church for instruction in piety….The Sabbath is on account of the creation, and the Lord’s day of the resurrection.”
Yet the 7th day as holy time/rest remains unchanged in scripture, regardless of other meeting days! Roman Catholic Archbishop James Gibbons admitted in The Faith of Our Fathers (1876). “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.” Albert Smith, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, replied for the cardinal in a letter of Feb 10, 1920. “If Protestants would follow the Bible, they should worship God on the Sabbath Day, that is, Saturday. In keeping Sunday they are following a law of the Catholic Church.” Not a law of God. (I’m not 7th Day Adventist.) Again, ref the “Sabbath 7th Day” series.
To recap, the main reasons behind the change from the 7th day sabbath rest/observance to Sunday:
#1 Jewish Christians were forced out of synagogues which kept the sabbath; the synagogue curse was added. #2 Rome levied the fiscus judaicus tax against those who observed Jewish customs (such as the sabbath). #3 Prejudice between Jews and gentiles. #4 Sunday meetings distinguished Christians from disbelieving Jews who met in synagogues on the 7th day. #5 Since Jesus rose on a Sunday, men began the tradition of observing Sundays. #6 Heathens accustomed to pagan sun-worship were attracted to Christianity by Sun-day meetings. #7 Roman Emperor Aurelius made the ‘Invincible Sun’ the official protector of the Empire; Emperor Constantine accepted Christianity and mandated “rest on the venerable day of the sun” in cities. #8 The institutional church council outlawed 7th day sabbath rest.
Thus Sunday meetings became prominent over the centuries, and through Roman Catholic Church influence. Yet man cannot change the actual 7th day holy time sanctified by God from the beginning! God’s word in the scriptures is authoritative, regardless of man’s traditional practices or decrees.
However, the word ‘sabbath’ means ‘cessation’…not ‘worship’, not ‘go to church’. (Though worship and church are done on the sabbath.) We may worship the Lord and attend church gatherings/events any or every day. But only the 7th day sabbath is holy time, ordained by God for man at Creation.
Bible Topic Exposition 