Why Worship on Sunday?
A Saturday vs Sunday Comparison
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By A.D. 320, confusion
and compromise had taken a heavy toll
on early Christian doctrine.
Christians had been scattered by
persecution to every province
throughout the Roman Empire.
Christians in Alexandria, Egypt (the
South) were beginning to defend views
that were different from those in
Rome (the North).
Church authority was discussed,
debated, and argued. Most church
leaders agreed that church doctrine
needed to be more clearly defined and
controlled, but who was going to be
in control? Many questions and issues
were raised for which there was
little agreement.
Distance, culture, education,
language, and social factors were
beginning to define Christendom
according to geography. Thoughtful
men anticipated the result would be a
highly fractured church. Christianity
needed a strong leader and the
emperor, Constantine, soon concluded
he was it! He believed he had been
divinely appointed to lead the
universal Christian Church.
When Constantine ascended to the
throne as sole ruler of the empire
about A.D. 312, he had transformed
himself into a Christian solely for
political advantage. Constantine was
cunning and he saw Christianity as a
means of unifying the Roman Empire.
When he endorsed the “Roman
version” of Christianity,
Constantine set a powerful sequence
of events into motion that he could
not begin to imagine. In future
years, the church in Rome would
eventually dominate Christianity.
I hope that this historical
information will help you understand
how Sunday observance began in Rome.
The Romans were the first to merge
Sunday observance into Christianity.
Strange as it may seem, early
advocates of Sunday observance never
claimed or used divine authority for
this action. In fact, the early Roman
Christians did not consider Sunday
labor as sinful or contrary to
God’s will.
Of course, this attitude stands in
stark contrast to the fourth
commandment which forbids work on the
“Jewish” Sabbath. Sunday in
Rome had been regarded as a holiday
long before Christianity arrived in
Rome and merging the worship of
Mithra and the worship of God on
Sunday became a matter of
convenience. Therefore, Sunday was
not a day of rest or deep spiritual
reflection when Christians adopted it
as their day of worship.
When Constantine became “a
defender of the faith,” he had
his army baptized into Christianity
by marching them through a river. To
promote the universal acceptance of a
day of rest, Constantine implemented
a Sunday law in March, A.D. 321. This
law was a clever compromise.
Constantine patronized Christians and
pagans alike by declaring a national
day of rest.
The political benefit of this law was
well received by all Romans.
Constantine endorsed the desire of
the Christian church in Rome by
setting Sunday aside as a day of rest
and this law also favored a large
population in Rome who worshiped the
pagan god of Mithra on Sunday. So,
the Sunday law meshed with customary
Roman practice and it aligned the
desires of the church at Rome and
everyone in Rome was quite happy with
a national day of rest. Notice that
the decree issued by Constantine does
not mandate worship on Sunday:
“Let all judges and all city
people and all tradesmen, rest upon
the venerable day of the Sun. But let
those dwelling in the country freely
and with full liberty attend to the
culture of their fields; since it
frequently happens, that no other day
is so fit for the sowing of grain, or
the planting of vines; hence the
favorable time should not be allowed
to pass, lest the provision of heaven
be lost.” (Cod. Justin, III Tit
12, L.3., March 7, A.D. 321)
Although Christians in Rome were
already meeting on Sunday when
Constantine sent out his decree,
other Christians in other locations
were not. Most Christians were still
observing the seventh day Sabbath.
Socrates writes near the turn of the
fourth century:
“Such is the difference in the
churches on the subject of fasts. Nor
is there less variation in regard to
religious assemblies. For although
almost all churches through the world
celebrate the sacred mysteries on the
Sabbath of every week, yet the
Christians of Rome and Alexandria
have ceased to do this.”
(Socrates, Ecclesiastical History,
Book V, chap 22, Ante-Nicean
Christian Library, Vol II, (Boston,
1887) p, 132)
Even Constantine's decree did not
shut out the importance of the
seventh day Sabbath. Something else
would have to occur before that could
be accomplished. The leaders from the
church in Rome needed an elaborate
doctrine that dealt directly with the
issue of the “Lord's Day”
to present a strong case before a
divided body of Christians. Eusebius,
another apologist of the era, was a
Christian confidant and advisor of
Constantine. He masterminded a
doctrine for Sunday observance that
remains largely intact today.
Carefully notice his anti-Semitic
argument for the observance of
Sunday:
“Wherefore as they [the Jews]
rejected it [the Sabbath law], the
Word [Christ] by the new covenant,
translated and transferred the feast
of the Sabbath to the morning light,
and gave us the symbol of true rest,
viz., the saving Lord's day, the
first [day] of light, in which the
Savior of the world, after all his
labors among men, obtained the
victory over death, and passed the
portals of heaven, having achieved a
work superior to the six-days
creation.
On this day, which is the first [day]
of light and of the true Sun, we
assemble, after an interval of six
days, and celebrate holy and
spiritual Sabbaths, even all nations
redeemed by him throughout the world,
and do those things according to the
spiritual law, which were decreed for
the priests to do on the Sabbath. And
all things whatsoever that it was the
duty to do on the Sabbath, these we
have transferred to the Lord's day,
as more appropriately belong to it,
because it has a precedence and is
first in rank, and more honorable
than the Jewish Sabbath.
All things whatsoever that it was
duty to do on the Sabbath, these we
have transferred to the Lord's
Day.” (Eusebius's Commentary on
the Psalms 92, quoted in Coxe's
Sabbath literature, Vol I, page 361
insertions mine)
Did you notice the last sentence in
Eusebius’ argument?
Eusebius is the first man to claim in
writing that Christ changed the day
of worship. However, Eusebius then
testifies that he (and others, namely
Constantine) had “transferred
all things, whatsoever that it was
duty to do on the Sabbath” to
Sunday. Also notice that Eusebius
offered no Scriptural authority for
this change. Further, no church
father or authority from that time
period seconded the claims of
Eusebius and notice that Eusebius did
not quote from any other source.
As it turned out, Eusebius took the
thorny problem of worship in hand and
became the father of a false doctrine
which favored the apostate practice
of the church in Rome. If a mortal
can declare on his own authority that
the law of the eternal Almighty God
is null and void, the mortal is both
delusional and evil.
Who has higher authority – God
or man; the Creator or the created?
It is my observation that corporately
speaking, Christians have repeated
the failure of the Jews. As a body we
have dismissed and altered “thus
saith the Lord.” If Jesus were
on Earth today, He would say of
Christians the same thing He said of
the Jews, “They worship me in
vain; their teachings are but rules
taught by men.'” (Matthew 15:9)
History
and Logic Do Not Support Sunday
Worship
We have examined seven arguments
offered by Mr. Olson in the Baptist
Bulletin. History and logic verify
that none of the arguments are valid.
When it comes to Sabbath versus
Sunday, Christians face three general
obstacles:
1.. Christian Culture
Ever since the second century,
apostate Christians have been
advocating for Sunday worship. Today,
1.3 billion Catholics and Protestants
worship on Sunday, carelessly
regarding Sunday as “the
Lord’s day” when there is
no support for the sacredness of
Sunday in Scripture or early church
history. Going against the flow,
Christian culture, and the wisdom of
“the experts” who hold
advanced degrees from seminaries is
difficult for an ordinary person to
do.
2. Lack of Education
Since Catholics and a large majority
of Protestants worship on Sunday,
very few Christians have a good
reason to examine the roots of Sunday
worship. Moreover, many people
worshiping on Sunday do not regard
Sunday as a “sacred day.”
For them, Sunday is a day for going
to church, but other than that, it is
a day for recreation, working, or
doing whatever a person wants to do.
This disconnect between the
sacredness of Sunday and worshiping
on Sunday has created the following
thought: “It doesn’t really
matter which day of the week we
worship on as long as we maintain a
close relationship with the
Lord.”
I would agree that one can (and
should) worship the Lord every day of
the week, but the requirement stated
in the fourth commandment is
altogether another matter. The fourth
commandment demands that we cease
from our labors and rest on the
seventh day. God also commands that
we include those who are within our
gates. The fourth commandment is not
about a weekly holiday, it is about
spending time with God. Is God’s
Sabbath a day of denial? See for
yourself: “If you keep your feet
from breaking the Sabbath and from
doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight and
the Lord's holy day honorable, and if
you honor it by not going your own
way and not doing as you please or
speaking idle words, then you will
find your joy in the Lord, and I will
cause you to ride on the heights of
the land and to feast on the
inheritance of your father
Jacob." The mouth of the Lord
has spoken.” (Isaiah 58:13, 14)
Most of us who observe the seventh
day as a holy day find it awkward and
difficult to overcome Christian
culture and heritage. When you add
the pressure of social stigma and
consequences that often come with
being different (weird), some
Christians think that it is best to
leave the Sabbath question alone.
It’s easier to go along with a
world in rebellion than to be an
outcast from your own family and/or
church family.
3. Sinful nature
The biggest hurdle militating against
obeying God’s law is our own
sinful nature. We are naturally
opposed to doing whatever God
commands. Paul wrote, “Those who
live according to the sinful nature
have their minds set on what that
nature desires; but those who live in
accordance with the Spirit have their
minds set on what the Spirit desires.
The mind of sinful man is death, but
the mind controlled by the Spirit is
life and peace; the sinful mind is
hostile to God. It does not submit to
God's law, nor can it do so.” (Romans 8:5-7, italics
mine)
When these three obstacles are
combined and if we go along with the
seven superficial arguments Olson
presented in the Baptist Bulletin, it
becomes easy to see why Sunday
remains a holy day for most
Christians. For 20 centuries this
rebellion has been ongoing –
even though God clearly declares
otherwise in the Ten Commandments.
If you have read this far and would
like a free book titled,
“Warning! Revelation is about to
be fulfilled,” please go
to Free Book on
Revelation.
(https://www.wake-up.org/free-book-offer-from-wuas/)
Watch an in-depth
video seminar series on the Sabbath
and its significance today
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