Five
Essential Bible Truths – Part 4
What
Happened to the Lord’s Day?
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Post
Apostolic Age
As Christianity spread
throughout the Roman Empire, certain
compromises and transformations
within Christianity were made for a
variety of reasons. Initially,
Christians in Rome were regarded as a
dangerous sect since they refused to
regard Caesar as a divine god. As
time passed, however, Christianity
began to appeal to the educated and
wealthy in Rome. These individuals
could afford manuscripts and they had
influence within the government of
Rome. By A.D. 150, the Roman
Christians and pagans had found areas
of mutual respect. About this time, a
well-educated man named Justin Martyr
became a Christian and tried to
soften the hostility existing between
Romans and Christians. One area of
compromise was religious meetings on
Sunday. The Romans regarded Sunday as
a holiday. As Christians in Rome
began to worship on Sunday, they
found that they met little
resistance, since the pagans regarded
Sunday as a holiday. Justin Martyr
writes:
“But Sunday is
the day on which we hold our common
assembly because it is the first day
on which God, having wrought change
in the darkness and matter, made the
world; and Jesus Christ our Savior on
the same day rose from the
dead.” (Justin Martyr, First
Apology of Justin Martyr, Ante-Nicean
Christian Library, (Boston 1887) p.
187 Chapter 67.)
Justin Martyr’s
justification for holding a common
assembly on Sunday is interesting. He
sited the separation of darkness and
light on the first day of Creation as
grounds for holding a common
assembly, and then, the resurrection
of Jesus. Martyr offers no Scriptural
authority for holding an assembly on
Sunday, but his remarks do support
the idea that Roman Christians were
anxious to divorce themselves from
the cradle of Judaism.
Christianity had no
“central office” in those
days and each geographical location
adjusted doctrine to meet their
needs. During the last part of the
second century A.D., Irenaeus, Bishop
of Lyons, became alarmed at a number
of heresies that had infiltrated the
Christian movement. He knew that
Christians in Rome were meeting on
Sunday and that they had abandoned
the seventh day Sabbath. He spoke
against the practice when he wrote:
“For He [Christ]
did not make void, but fulfilled the
law [Ten Commandments].”
(Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Vol 1
Ante-Nicean Christian Library,
(Boston, 1887) p. 471.)
Terullian, another
church father, wrote extensively
about Christian doctrine. He, like
Irenaeus, was alarmed by the
practices of certain Christians,
especially those in Rome. In regard
to the seventh day Sabbath he wrote:
“Thus Christ did
not all rescind the Sabbath. He kept
the law [Ten Commandments]
thereof….He restored to the
Sabbath the works for were proper for
it.” (Terullian, Book IV,
Chapter 12, Vol 3 Ante-Nicean
Christian Library, (Boston, 1887) p.
362.)
Many leaders
considered Sunday observance in those
early days. Bishop Archelaus wrote in
his disputation with Manes:
“Again as to the
assertion that the [seventh day]
Sabbath has been abolished we deny
that He [Christ] has abolished it
plainly. For He Himself was also Lord
of the Sabbath.” (Archelaus, The
Disputation with Manes, Vol 4
ante-Nicean Christian Library,
(Boston 1887), p. 217.)
By the time
Christianity reached the end of the
third century A.D., confusion was
taking a heavy toll on Christian
doctrine. Christians had spread to
every province within the Roman
Empire. Christians in Alexandria and
Egypt (the South) were beginning to
defend views different from those in
Rome (the North). The authority of
the Church was being discussed.
Church doctrine needed stronger and
clearer definition. Questions were
raised for which there was little
agreement. Cultural, linguistic and
social factors were beginning to
define Christendom according to
geography. The result, which could be
easily anticipated, was a highly
fractured church. A “central
office” for church leadership
was needed. The Christians in Rome
believed they were in the best
position to lead a universal
Christian Church, since the Roman
government was looking more favorably
toward Christianity. When Constantine
came to the throne, he used
Christianity for political advantage.
Constantine thought that Christianity
could unify the Roman Empire. By
endorsing a “Roman version”
of Christianity, Constantine set a
powerful sequence of events into
motion. In future years, the Church
of Rome would dominate all factions
of Christianity.
What do these events
have to do with Sunday observance?
The Roman Christians were the first
group to adopt Sunday observance.
Strange as it may seem, they never
claimed divine authority for this
action. Further, the Roman Christians
did not consider Sunday work as
sinful. Instead, Sunday was regarded
as a day of celebration and
rejoicing, not a day of fasting or
reflection.
Constantine was an
astute politician. When he ascended
to the throne, the Roman Empire was
fractured by ethnicity. Constantine
was looking for a way to unify the
empire and he saw Christianity as a
means to an end. Therefore, “he
got religion” and baptized his
army into Christianity by marching
them through a river. To further
promote his religion and political
interests, he implemented the first
Sunday law in A.D. 321:
“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 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.)
Of course, this decree
brought great pleasure to the bishop
of Rome since the aims of the Roman
church and the aims of the government
were on parallel courses. The
government wanted a stable empire and
the church wanted control over one
universal Christian church.
There
is a World Out There
Even though the Roman
church was meeting on Sunday when
Constantine issued his decree, most
Christians were still observing the
seventh day Sabbath. Socrates wrote
at 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 scared mysteries on Sabbath of
every week, yet the Christian of Rome
and Alexandria have ceased doing
this.” (Socrates, Ecclesiastical
History, Book V, Chap 22, Ante-Nicean
Christian Library, Vol II, (Boston p.
132.)
However,
Constantine’s decree did not
reduce the importance of the seventh
day Sabbath for most Christians
Something else would need to occur
before the importance of the seventh
day could be minimized. The church in
Rome needed an elaborate doctrine
that dealt directly with the issue of
the “Lord’s Day.”
Church leaders in Rome needed to
present a strong case to the
Christian body. Therefore, Eusebius,
a Christian confident and advisor to
Constantine masterminded the doctrine
of Sunday observance. Notice his
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
things according to the spiritual
law, which were decreed for the
priests to do on the Sabbath. And all
things whatsoever that is 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 the duty to do
on the Sabbath, these we have
transferred to the Lord’s
Day.” (Eusebius’s
Commentary on Psalms 92, quoted in
Cox’s Sabbath literature, Vol I,
p.361.)
Eusebius, who lived
three hundred years after Christ, is
the first man to be documented as
claiming that Christ changed the day
of worship. THEN, Eusebius testifies
that he (and others) “have
transferred all things, whatsoever
that it was the duty to do on the
Sabbath” to Sunday. Notice that
Eusebius offers no Scriptural
authority for the change. Further, no
church father or authority during
that time period seconded the claims
of Eusebius, nor did Eusebius quote
from another source. Eusebius just
took the thorny problem of worship in
hand and became the father of a false
doctrine that favored the Church of
Rome. Can mere mortals change the law
of Almighty God? In just three
hundred years, Christians repeated
the failures of the Jews. Christians
altered the plainest truths of
God’s Word. Jesus said of the
Jews, “They worship me in
vain; their teachings are but rules
taught by men.” (Matthew
15:9)
Even with
Constantine’s blessing upon
Eusebius’ writings, the seventh
day Sabbath did not die in Christian
churches. By the year A.D. 460,
Sozoman wrote: “Assemblies are
not held in all churches on the same
time or manner. The people of
Constantinople and almost everywhere
assemble on the [seventh day] Sabbath
as well as the first day of the week,
which custom is never observed at
Rome or Alexandria.”(Sozeman,
Ecclesiastical History, Book VII,
Chap 19, Ante-Nicean Christian
Library, Vol II, (Boston 1887) p.
390.)
Students of church
history know the Church of Rome
eventually dominated Christianity.
Eventually, the Roman Empire and the
bishop of Rome became the Bishop of
the Universal Christian Church. For
nearly 13 centuries, the kings and
queens of Europe were subservient to
the Bishop of Rome. This great time
period of church domination was
appropriately called the “Dark
Ages” because religious dominion
is a cruel master.
Summary
Sunday observance
started in Rome as a compromise with
the pagans. Most Christians were not
of Jewish descent so Judaism and its
seventh day Sabbath was not
considered a high priority issue. In
fact, early Christians in Rome did
not want to be identified with
Judaism since the Jews were hated in
Rome. The early Christians in Rome
were predisposed to meet on Sunday
for religious celebrations (since
this was the pagan practice in Rome)
and did not view their actions as
having serious ramifications in ages
to come. However, as centuries
passed, the church in Rome became the
world’s leading Christian
church. It was strategically located
close to the leaders of world
government. About the third century
A.D., the Lord’s Day became an
issue of significant concern.
Eusebius constructed a doctrine to
justify Sunday observance and
Constantine implemented a Sunday law
in A.D. 321 to unify the Roman
Empire. Today, almost all of
Christianity worships
on Sunday. Protestant denominations
still show allegiance to the Church
in Rome by worshiping on Sunday.
There is no biblical
basis for Sunday sacredness and no
Biblical basis for observing the
Lord’s Day on Sunday. The
support for Sunday observance and
sacredness as the Lord’s Day is
based on tradition and the arrogance
of man. God’s law has not
changed. The Ten Commandments stand
without impeachment. If ten thousand
men were to justify the change from
Sabbath to Sunday, this does not
change the law of God. The fourth
commandment still establishes the
seventh day of the week as God’s
holy day.
I would like to close
this part with three texts. The first
is written by King Solomon. “Now
all has been heard; here is the
conclusion of the matter: Fear God
and keep his commandments, for this
is the whole duty of man for God will
bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing, whether
it is good or evil.”
(Ecclesiastes 12:13,14) Jesus said, “If
you obey my commands, you will remain
in my love, just as I have obeyed my
Father’s commands and remain in
his love.” (John 15:10)
Surrendering your life to Jesus means
you resolve to obey God’s
commandments at any cost, which
includes His Sabbath. Think of it
this way: God offers you and me a
one-day vacation each week from the
cares of the world. He promises to
sustain everything we do until we
return to work, so that nothing will
be lost. Faith in God means being
willing to obey God. When you
consider His wonderful offer, what
could keep any intelligent person
from accepting it? Jesus says, “Come
to me, all you who are weary and
burdened, and I will give you
rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
