Expert: Sal - 8/29/2009

Question
Hi Sal,

First as I understand it:
When did Sunday Replace the Sabbath?

In 364 CE.

As the Catechism of Catholic Doctrine says on page 50 (3rd edition):

Question: Which is the Sabbath day?
Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath day.
Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
Answer: We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodecea (A.D. 364), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.

So Here's My Question:

Where does God's word tell Christians to adopt Sunday and cease honoring the Fourth Commandment, Genesis 2:3 and scores of other verses about Shabbat?

And a Follow-up Question:

If the Bible does not teach that Sunday is the Holy Day and does not teach that Shabbat has been negated...

Then... on what grounds did the Church do away with the biblical Sabbath and are not Christians guilty of violating the Fourth Commandment?

Thank you. I look forward to your reply.

~ John

Answer
Dear Brother John:

Christians were observing Sunday as the Lord’s Day well before the Council of Laodicea occurred in 364 AD. The following quotes taken from the writings of Christians living before 364 AD proves this point.

“Wherefore, also we keep the 8th day with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose from the dead” (Epistle of Barnabas, 75-100 AD).

“Be not deceived with strange doctrines, nor with old fables, which are unprofitable. For if we still live according to the Jewish Law, we acknowledge that we have not received grace…If, therefore, those who brought up in the ancient order of things have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord's Day, on which also our life has sprung up again by him and by his death” (Ignatius of Antioch, 107 AD).

"Furthermore, I do not suppose that you need to learn from me how ridiculous and unworthy of any argument are their scruples about food, their superstition about the Sabbath, their pride in circumcision, and their shame in fasting" (Letter to Diognetus, 125 AD).

“On the day called Sunday all who live in the cities or in the country gather together in one place, and the memoirs of the Apostles of the writings of the prophets are read…But Sunday is the day on which we all hold a common assembly, because it is the first day of the week on which God…made the world; and Jesus Christ our Savior on the same day rose from the dead” (Justin Martyr, 145 AD).

“We solemnize the day after Saturday in contradistinction to those who call this day their Sabbath”(Tertullian, 200 AD).

“The Apostles further appointed: On the first day of the week let there be services and reading of the holy Scriptures and the oblation, because on the first day of the week our Lord rose from the place of the dead” (The Didascalia, 225 AD).

“The day of the light…was the day of his Resurrection from the dead, which they say as being the one and only truly holyday and the Lord's Day” (Eusebius of Caesarea, 319 AD).

The Sabbath was negated by God when He established a New Covenant.  “When He said, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear” (Hebrews 8:13 NIV). “Then he said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will.’ He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect’” (Hebrews 10:9 NLV).

So you see that the Council of Laodicea did not replace the Sabbath because it was already rendered obsolete by God. It was also already the usual day of worship for Christians beginning well before the council.

Thanks for the question.

God Be With You,
Sal