Dr. Zella Berry Case Ministries, Inc.

          From the Christian perspective, through Jesus Christ's righteous life and through His sacrifice for us, Jesus fulfilled all the requirements of the Law (Matthew 5:17-18). Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the Law so that we are free of the Law, but Jesus did not change the Law. Although, because of His death, shedding of His blood, and resurrection, we in the New Testament times are not required to fulfill the Law of Moses. But we who have been saved through all the above-stated must WORSHIP Jesus Christ by remembering what He did for all humankind, not just the saved, but also the unsaved - bringing us all through His sacrifice back into the presence of His Father.

​          In Colossians 2:16-17, the apostle Paul declares, “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.” Similarly, Romans 14:5 states, “One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.” These Scriptures make it clear that, for the Christian, Sabbath-keeping is a matter of spiritual freedom, not a command from God. Sabbath-keeping is an issue on which God’s Word instructs us not to judge each other. Sabbath-keeping is a matter about which each Christian needs to be fully convinced in his/her own mind.

Who changed the Sabbath day?

 

          Since the Bible did not change the Sabbath, who changed the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday? When did this change occur? The answer is below.

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          After the death of the original apostles, new ideas began to be introduced into Christianity. During the second century, Ignatius, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Clement of Alexandria attacked Sabbath observance. Tertullian followed in the third century.

          In A.D. 321, Roman Emperor Constantine established Sunday as a day of rest. Around 365, at the Council of Laodicea, the Catholic Church made it illegal to “Judaize” or be idle from work on the seventh-day Sabbath.

These changes were accepted by what had become the majority of Christianity. Still, scattered and persecuted groups of Christians continued to observe the seventh-day Sabbath and other teachings of the early New Testament Church.

The Catholic Church claimed authority to change scriptural principles

Disclaimer: The history presented for the reasons for the change of Saturday worship to Sunday worship is not exhibiting a belief in the right to judge, but is only giving the HISTORY of what happened, and the reason for the change. It's just the TRUTH.

         

          Around A.D. 400, Augustine, a respected Catholic theologian, proclaimed that “the holy doctors of the Church have decreed, that all glory of the Jewish Sabbath is transferred to it [Sunday]. Let us therefore keep the Lord’s Day as the ancients were commanded to do the Sabbath” (quoted by Robert Cox in Sabbath Laws and Sabbath Duties, 1853, p. 284).

          The Catholic Encyclopedia section on “Sunday” mentions St. Caesarius of Arles reinforcing this teaching in the sixth century as well. These men put the changing of the Sabbath in the hands of the doctors of the church (post-apostolic church officials).

In its section on the “Ten Commandments,” the Catholic Encyclopedia says: “The Church, on the other hand, after changing the day of rest from the Jewish Sabbath, or seventh day of the week, to the first, made the Third Commandment [we count it as the Fourth] refer to Sunday as the day to be kept holy as the Lord’s Day.”

          Here is another instance in which Sunday worship was put into practice based on the Catholic Church’s claim of authority to change a scriptural principle. Again, mainstream church authorities will assume it is what the apostles wanted.

Other Catholic writers made it clear that Sunday services and worship are not endorsed by biblical teachings, but only by their church’s authority:

          The Catholic Universe Bulletin said in 1942: “The Church changed the observance of the Sabbath to Sunday by right of the divine, infallible authority given to her by her Founder, Jesus Christ. The Protestant, claiming the Bible to be the only guide of faith, has no warrant for observing Sunday. In this matter, the Seventh Day Adventist is the only consistent Protestant.”

          The Catholic Virginian said in 1947: “All of us believe many things regarding religion that we do not find in the Bible. For example, nowhere in the Bible do we find that Christ or the Apostles ordered that the Sabbath be changed from Saturday to Sunday. We have the commandment of God given to Moses to keep holy the Sabbath Day, that is the 7th day of the week, Saturday. Today, most Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the Church outside the Bible.”

          Thomas Aquinas, a very influential theologian, wrote: “In the New Law the observance of the Lord’s day took the place of the observance of the Sabbath, not by virtue of the precept but by the institution of the Church and the custom of Christian people.”

          These examples make it clear that the Sabbath was not changed to Sunday by Jesus Christ or the apostles, but rather by those who believed they had the authority to change biblical principles. These examples make it clear that the Sabbath was not changed to Sunday by Jesus Christ or the apostles, but rather by those who believed they had the authority to alter biblical principles. Since Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever,” it is hard to understand why a change Christ never authorized was made.

Origin of Sunday worship: sun worship

          Constantine was the first so-called “Christian” Roman emperor. Though he stopped much of the persecution of Christians, he seems to have done more to introduce sun worship into Christianity than any before him.

          Historian Paul Johnson details some of this influence: “Constantine was almost certainly a Mithraic, and his triumphal arch, built after his ‘conversion’, testifies to the Sun-god, or ‘unconquered sun’. Constantine never abandoned sun worship and kept the sun on his coins. He made Sunday into a day of rest, closing the lawcourts and forbidding all work except agricultural labour” (A History of Christianity, 1976, pp. 67-68).

          So, the Roman emperor, a sun worshipper, made a royal decree to rest and worship on Sunday instead of Saturday. Now, thanks to Constantine, Christians celebrated the same day the Mithraics worshipped the sun. This is a blatant example of pagan influence in Christian practices.

          Christians, now holding services on the venerable day of the sun, became so confused in their worship that, during the reign of Emperor Julian, Johnson notes: “The Bishop of Troy told Julian he had always prayed secretly to the sun” (p. 67). Thus Christianity took on a significant facet of pagan sun worship that lives on today due to Constantine’s influence: worshipping on Sunday.

Do traditions of man nullify the Word of God?

          Again, Jesus Christ or the apostles never changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. Sunday became the day of rest and worship for mainstream Christianity through the Catholic Church claiming authority to overrule Scripture, through pagan influences, and through anti-Semitism.

          Those who try to base their Christianity upon the teachings of Christ and the apostles should know the history behind what happened to worshipping on Saturday and then ask one question based on Mark 7:8: Am I following Christ or the tradition of men?