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Hi, Jennifer —
Sounds like you are wrapped up with
Seventh-Day Adventists. They believe
the Mark of the Beast is worshiping
on Sunday and that the Catholic Church
is the Whore of Babylon. Apparently,
they haven't read Colossians 2:16:
16 Therefore no one is to act
as your judge in regard to food
or drink or in respect to a festival
or a new moon or a Sabbath day.
Colossians 2:16
The Seventh Day Adventists are certainly
a tricky lot. The SDAs are correct
in that the day of worship was changed
by the early Church from Saturday
to Sunday.
Technically, the Sabbath is Saturday,
and Sunday is referred to as the
Lord's Day. The Jews always worshiped
on Saturday, the seventh day of the
week, and abstained from work on
that day.
The Christians changed worship to
the Lord's Day in honor of Christ's
Resurrection from the Dead, which
occurred on the eighth day
of the week, the day after
the Sabbath or seventh day.
(The early Christians saw eight as
a symbol of fulfillment.)
Actually to be technical, ever since
the early church, Christians have
worshiped daily, not only on
Sunday and Saturday; the question
only pertains to when the
primary day of worship is.
Ask your friends when they think
this change to Sunday happened. Then
give them a surprising fact:
it was
in the first century that the Christians
changed the date.
Here is a quote from St. Ignatius
of Antioch, who was thrown to the
lions and thus martyred for his Christian
faith in 107 A.D.:
"Consequently, if the people
who were given to obsolete practices
faced the hope of a new life,
and if these no longer observe
the Sabbath, but regulate their
calendar by the Lord's Day, the
day, too, on which our Life rose
by His power and through the medium
of His death..."
(Letter to the Magnesians, 9) |
Here is a quote from the Teaching
of the Twelve Apostles (or Didache),
which was written around 90 A.D.
(before the Apostle John died):
"And on the Lord's own day
gather yourselves together and
break bread and give thanks, first
confessing your transgressions,
that your sacrifice may be pure."
(Didache, 14, 1) |
Here we have three Catholic doctrines:
- the Lord's Day as the day of
worship
- the practice of confessing sins
and doing so before coming to
worship, and
- the Mass as the Sacrifice.
St. Justin Martyr, who explained
the Christian faith to hostile pagans,
was the first to describe Christian
worship. He lived and wrote in the
2nd century. He wrote:
"On the day called after
the sun [Sunday] there is a meeting
for which all those dwelling in
the cities or in the countryside
come together. The records of
the Apostles or the writings of
the prophets are read as long
as time allows. When the reader
has stopped, the one who is presiding
admonishes and encourages us by
a sermon to the imitation of those
good examples.
Then we all stand up together
and lift up our prayers and, as
I said previously, when we have
finished our prayer, bread is
brought forth and wine and water.
The one who is presiding offers
up prayers and thanksgiving according
to his ability and the people
acclaim their assent with "Amen".
There is the distribution of and
participation on the part of each
one in the gifts for which thanks
has been offered, and they are
sent to those who are not present
through the deacons.
We all come together on the day
of the sun since it is the first
day, on which God changed darkness
and matter and made the world.
On that day, Jesus Christ our
Savior arose from the dead. They
crucified him on the day preceding
that of Saturn [Saturday], and
on the day of the sun he appeared
to his Apostles and disciples
and taught them these things which
we have presented also to you
for inspection."
(Apology, I, Chapter 67, Weekly worship of the Christians.) |
So there is ample evidence that the early Christians worshipped on Sunday rather than Saturday. While there
is no direct biblical evidence that
they did, the Lord's Day is mentioned
in Revelation, where it is written,
10 On the Lord's Day I was
in the Spirit, and I heard behind
me a loud voice like a trumpet
. . . (Revelation 1:10)
Here we can see that there was a
recognition of the special character
of that day.
- Why did the Church change the
day on which we worship, and by
what authority did it do so?
As mentioned previously, as the Resurrection
of Jesus from the dead was the Primary
Truth proclaimed by the Christian
faith, and as He rose from the dead
on Sunday, celebration of the Resurrection
of Christ on Sunday became the dominant
day of worship. While liturgically
it is not very evident in the Latin
Rite, we are in fact celebrating
even today the Resurrection of Christ
in our Sunday liturgy. Every Sunday
is a little Easter, liturgically
speaking.
- By what authority did the Church
change it?
We could argue that could have been
a tradition Jesus established, but
it would be more cogent to point
out that Jesus gave the Apostles
the authority to bind and loose
(Matthew 16:19), which meant the
authority to do such things.
- Finally, let's ask whether strict
observance of the Sabbath according
to the old Law of Moses is essential
for Christians, given that Jesus
is the fulfillment of the Law,
and the Law of Moses is not
binding for Christians anymore.
- What does St. Paul say?
16 Therefore no one is to act
as your judge in regard to food
or drink or in respect to a festival
or a new moon or a Sabbath day.
Colossians 2:16
Clearly then, we should not allow
anyone to disturb on conscience on
account of whether we celebrate the
Sabbath the right way or not.
While the Scriptures never say "And
thus the Lord sayeth, Change thy
day of worship to the Lord's Day",
there are a lot of hints in the New
Testament that point to this. On
several occasions, reference is made:
Breaking bread is a reference
to the Eucharist (1 Corinthians 10:16).
- Why would they take up a collection
on the first day of the week when
they just met for worship the
day before?
- Did they meet again just for
the collection?
- Did someone go around and collect
it?
Obviously, the Christians worshiped
on Sunday, the first day of the week.
These articles provide even more Early
Church quotes and some background
on the Seventh-Day Adventists:
I advise you to get out of that Bible
study post-haste before you lose
your faith.
Eric
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