The Sabbath

[Chuckt]

Sabbath and Sunday in Early Christianity

Part 3: Irenaeus, and "the Lord's Day"

Irenaeus

Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons in the last half of the second century, also gives us lengthy comments on the Sabbath, and his views probably reflect those of Asia Minor, since that is where he was from. He had also been in Rome and may have been influenced by Justin Martyr. Irenaeus, commenting on the grainfield incident (Matt. 12), notes that Jesus did not break the Sabbath, but Irenaeus gives a rationale that applies to Christians, too:

The Lord...did not make void, but fulfilled the law, by performing the offices of the high priest...justifying His disciples by the words of the law, and pointing out that it was lawful for the priests to act freely [Mt 12:5]. For David had been appointed a priest by God, although Saul still persecuted him. For all the righteous possess the sacerdotal rank. And all the apostles of the Lord are priests.[1]

The implication is that, since all believers are priests, and priests are free to work on the Sabbath serving God, then Christians are free to work on the Sabbath. Regardless of the validity of his reasoning, he obviously did not believe that Christians had to keep the Sabbath. Just as circumcision was symbolic, he says, the Sabbath command was, too, typifying both morality and eschatology:

The Sabbaths taught that we should continue day by day in God's service...ministering continually to our faith, and persevering in it, and abstaining from all avarice, and not acquiring or possessing treasures upon earth. Moreover, the Sabbath of God, that is, the kingdom, was, as it were, indicated by created things; in which [kingdom], the man who shall have persevered in serving God shall, in a state of rest, partake of God's table.[2]

Irenaeus, like Justin, said that the patriarchs before Moses did not keep the Sabbath.[3] But he also said that they kept the Decalogue and that Christians also had to![4] This discrepancy can be explained in two ways. Bauckham suggests that Irenaeus used the term “Decalogue” loosely, as synonymous with the natural law, as suggested in 4.16.3.[5] Another possibility, which I prefer, is that Irenaeus considered a moral person to be de facto keeping the Sabbath command, as suggested in 4.16.1 and in another work: “Nor will he be commanded to leave idle one day of rest, who is constantly keeping sabbath, that is, giving homage to God in the temple of God, which is man's body, and at all times doing the works of justice.”[6]

As another item of evidence probably from the second century, let us consider the Gospel of Thomas 27: “If you do not fast as regards the world, you will not find the kingdom. If you do not observe the Sabbath as a Sabbath, you will not see the father.”[7] The meaning here is debatable, since Gnostics often gave words unusual meanings. Everything needed an “interpretation.”[8] This can be seen in Thomas 27. Fasting “as regards the world” does not mean ordinary fasting, but avoiding worldly sins. Similarly, it was not sufficient to say, “observe the Sabbath.” The words “as a Sabbath” may suggest an esoteric meaning, such as cessation of sin.[9]

Tertullian wrote in both the second century and in the third. Space does not permit a detailed evaluation of his works, nor is it necessary, since he agrees completely with Ignatius, Barnabas, Justin and Irenaeus. He rejected the literal Sabbath,[10] said that the Patriarchs did not observe it,[11] interpreted it in terms of morals [12]and worshipped on Sunday.[13] He gives yet more evidence that second-century Christians had abandoned the Sabbath and observed Sunday as the day for Christian worship.

The Lord's day

Almost all second-century Christians observed Sunday as a day of worship (not a day of required rest), rather than the Sabbath.[14] No matter what the original reason(s) may have been for meeting on the first day of the week, Christians could have easily seen a biblical significance to that day: It was the day on which the risen Lord appeared to the disciples.[15] Of all the days of the week, only the first and the seventh were ever considered, and Sunday was quickly understood as the day for Christian worship.

Although a few Christians observed the Sabbath, Sunday was more distinctively Christian. It became the day on which believers worshiped the Lord, and the day became known in the second century as “the Lord's day [kuriake hemera].”[16] The term was so well known that the word for “day” became unnecessary — if a Christian wrote about the kuriake, readers would understand that Sunday was meant. This term therefore gives additional evidence that Sunday was the Christian day of worship in the second century.[17] Let us survey the evidence for this term.

In the late first century, John used kuriake hemera in Rev 1:10, but the meaning there is debated. In the early second century, Ignatius used kuriake alone, and textual variants cause the meaning to be debatable.[18] The Gospel of Peter 35 and 50 (middle second century) used kuriake to designate the day of Jesus' resurrection.[19] Eusebius reports that Dionysius of Corinth (c. 170) wrote, “Today we have kept the Lord's holy day [kuriake hagia hemera], on which we have read your letter.”[20] The Acts of Peter (last half of the second century) “clearly identifies dies dominica (`the Lord's Day') with `the next day after the Sabbath,' and the Acts of Paul [also last half of the second century] represents the apostle as praying `on the sabbath as the Lord's Day [kuriake alone] drew near' “[21] — both clearly referring to Sunday. Didache 14, which may date from the second half of the second century, referred to “the Lord's [day] of the Lord [kuriake de kuriou].”[22]

Clement of Alexandria (c. 190) also gives clear evidence that kuriake meant the eighth day, Sunday,[23] and he spoke of “keeping” the Lord's day.[24] He quoted a Valentinian Gnostic who equated the kuriake with the ogdoad, the eighth heaven.[25] “The same identification of kuriake, the eighth day, with the ogdoad, the eighth heaven, is found in the antignostic Epistula Apostolorum [also second century].”[26]

In summary, evidence for the use of “Lord's day” is clear for the latter half of the second century, but it is less clear for the first half. The terminology, however, is a secondary issue. The actual day observed by Christians is clear: Throughout the second century, all written evidence shows Christians rejecting the literal Sabbath and observing Sunday as the day for Christian worship.[27] Even in the early second century, Sunday-keeping was the norm throughout Christendom (except for Jewish sects) — with no trace of controversy or any evidence that the custom was a recent innovation. The church that began as a Sabbath-keeping group became a Sunday-keeping group that rejected literal Sabbath-keeping. Now let us explore how this change could have come about.


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[1] Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 4.8.2-3; ANF 1:471.

[2] Ibid., 4.16.1; ANF 1:481. He called the future kingdom “the seventh day...the true Sabbath of the righteous” in 5.33.2 (ANF 1:562).

[3] Ibid., 4.16.2; ANF 1:481.

[4] “If any one does not observe [the Decalogue], he has no salvation” (4.15.1; ANF 1:479). “The righteous fathers had the meaning of the Decalogue written in their hearts and souls, that is, they loved the God who made them, and did no injury to their neighbor. There was therefore no occasion that they should be cautioned by prohibitory mandates, because they had the righteousness of the law in themselves” (4.16.3; ANF 1:481).

[5] “Extant example of early Christian paraenesis based on the Decalogue show that it was used with considerable selectiveness and flexibility, and normally with reference only to the second table.... The Decalogue is a less precise term than we expect it to be. It may be that Irenaeus and Ptolemaeus were so used to the flexible and selective use of the Decalogue in Christian paraenesis that the term suggested to them not so much ten individual commandments to be mentally listed, but simply the moral law” (Bauckham, pp. 267-9).

[6] Irenaeus, Proof of the Apostolic Preaching 96 (Joseph P. Smith, trans. Ancient Christian Writers [Westminster, Md.: Newman Press, 1952], vol. 16, p. 105). This passage in Proof of the Apostolic Preaching illustrates Irenaeus' understanding of the law:

He does not wish those who are to be redeemed to be brought again under the Mosaic legislation ‑‑‑ for the law has been fulfilled by Christ ‑‑‑ but to go free in newness by the Word, through faith and love towards the Son of God.... We have no need of the law as pedagogue.... For no more shall the law say: “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” to him who has not even conceived the desire of another man's wife; or “thou shalt not kill,” to him who has put away from himself all anger and enmity.... Nor will it demand tithes of him who has vowed to God all his possessions, and who leaves father and mother and all his kindred, and follows the Word of God. Nor will he be commanded to leave idle one day of rest, who is constantly keeping sabbath, that is giving homage to God in the temple of God, which is man's body, and at all times doing the works of justice. (89, 95-96; ACW 16:103, 105)

The point it that if a man does not lust, he does not need a command about adultery because he is already obeying it. Likewise, in Irenaeus' thought, if a man is always acting justly, he does not need a command about the Sabbath, because he is always obeying it.

[7] James Robinson, ed. The Nag Hammadi Library in English (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988), p. 129.

[8] Thomas 1; Robinson, p. 126.

[9] “The metaphorical sense of the logion in its surviving version depends entirely on the words ton kosmou [as regards the world].... By means of this emendation an originally literal requirement to keep the Jewish Sabbath has become a metaphorical command to keep some form of spiritual Sabbath” (Bauckham, p. 265).

[10] Apology 21; ANF 3:36 and Against Marcion 1:20; 5.19; ANF 3:285, 471.

[11] An Answer to the Jews 2; ANF 3:153.

[12] An Answer to the Jews 4; ANF 3:155.

[13] Apology 16; ANF 3:31; and On Idolatry 14; ANF 3:70.

[14] The Ebionites and Nazarenes were the primary exceptions. But they were clearly heterodox ‑‑‑ they rejected Jesus' virgin birth and the apostle Paul, and they required circumcision and other laws of Moses. The New Testament shows the early church fighting on two broad fronts: libertine antinomianism on one side and legalistic Judaizing on the other. In the second century, these groups are represented by Gnostics on the libertine side, and Ebionites on the Judaistic side. The Ebionites were spiritual, if not genetic, descendants of the Pharisee Christians who wanted Gentile believers to be circumcised and to keep the law of Moses (Ac 15:5). The Sunday-keeping majority cannot be called libertine. If anything, they tended to be strict.

[15] Bauckham writes: “Whether the choice of Sunday was originally a matter of mere convenience or whether it was initially chosen as the day of the Resurrection, there can be no doubt that it was soon associated with the Resurrection, and only this can really account for the fact that worship on Sunday acquired normative status throughout the Christian world” (p. 240).

[16] The genitive form, “day of the Lord [h_mera tou kuriou],” could not be used because it already had a different technical meaning in the Septuagint (cf. Bauckham, p. 225).

[17] “Another evidence of the early observance of Sunday is the fact that Christians frequently referred to it as the Lord's day during the second century.... The designation `eighth day' was very popular among Christians in the second and third centuries; however, the most common Christian term for Sunday was `Lord's day.' The term `Lord's day' was in wide use by the end of the second century and may also have been in use near the beginning of it” (Maxwell, p. 139).

[18] Neither Barnabas nor Justin use the term Lord's day, “but they use instead the designations `eighth day' and `Sunday' for the first day of the week.... Their specific Sunday statements are in [apologetic] contexts that would preclude their use of this term even if they were acquainted with it” (Strand, p. 347).

[19] Bauckham, as with other texts, is cautious: “It is clear that kuriak_ is already an accepted technical term and refers to a day, but the nature of the context makes impossible a final decision between Sunday and Easter” (p. 229). Irenaeus may have used kuriak_ in fragment 7, but it may not be his word, and it may refer to Easter (“Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenaeus” 7, ANF 1:569-70; Strand, p. 346-7).

[20] Bauckham is again cautious: “A reference to weekly Sunday worship seems very probable but not certain” (p. 229, citing Eusebius' History 4.23.11).

[21] Bauckham, p. 229, citing Act. Verc. 29.

[22] Maxwell, pp. 106-8, and Bauckham, p. 227-8.

[23] Miscellanies 5:14; ANF 2:469.

[24] Ibid., 7:12; ANF 2:545.

[25] Exc. ex Theod. 63:1, quoted in Bauckham, p. 230; Irenaeus mentioned the Gnostic ogdoad in Against Heresies 1.5.3 (ANF 1:323). It is difficult to interpret their numerology: “The eighth may possibly turn out to be properly the seventh, and the seventh manifestly the sixth, and the latter properly the Sabbath, and the seventh a day of work” (Miscellanies 6:16; ANF 2:512).

Clement explained the “rest” of the Fourth Commandment as “abstraction from ills” and as impassibility in preparation for the eschaton (ibid.). In this, he agreed with his Gnostic opponents. Epiphanius said that the Valentinian Ptolemaeus taught that Jesus rejected the literal Sabbath and that Ptolemaeus interpreted the Sabbath as commanding “us to be idle with reference to evil actions' “ (Bauckham, pp. 265-6, citing Epiphanius, Pan. 33:3:5:1-13). Clement also used a similar interpretation for the Lord's day: “He...keeps the Lord's day when he abandons an evil disposition” (Miscellanies 7:12; ANF 2:545).

[26] Bauckham, p. 274. On p. 223, Bauckham cites Epistula Apostolorum 18. He also cites “Melito of Sardis, ap. Eusebius HE 4:23:12,” but I could not find this in an English translation of Eusebius 4:23:12, nor did Bauckham discuss this text in his chapter.

[27] Bauckham writes:

All second-century references to the Sabbath commandment either endorse the metaphorical interpretation or reject the literal interpretation as Judaistic or do both.... For all these writers the literal commandment to rest one day in seven was a temporary ordinance for Israel alone. The Christian fulfills the commandment by devoting all his time to God.... No writer of the period betrays any thought of its being a provision for needed physical rest (pp. 269, 266).

A Seventh-day Adventist agrees with this historical assessment:

It is unhistorical to say that the early fathers were `silent' about the Sabbath. They were not silent about it, and what they had to say was hostile to literal Sabbath keeping.... A careful analysis of the four most noteworthy authors who dealt with the Sabbath in the second and early third centuries, Barnabas, Justin, Irenaeus, and Tertullian, reveals a great unanimity of attitude toward the literal Sabbath. To a man, they opposed it. This is very significant, partly because Barnabas and Justin represented Christian attitudes as early as the 130s, and partly because these four writers encircled the Mediterranean basin: Barnabas in Alexandria, Justin first in Asia and then in Rome, Irenaeus first in Asia and then in Gaul, Tertullian for a while in Rome and then in Carthage (Maxwell, pp. 154-7).

To part 4 of this article

Copyright 1999 Michael Morrison

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Sabbath and Sunday in Early Christianity, part 3

[weareisaac]

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.


Exodus 20;8-11

[ProphecyKid]

http://www.tagnet.org/llt/sabcen.htm

1st Century Sabbath Observance
JOSEPHUS
"There is not any city of the Grecians, nor any of the Barbarians, nor any nation whatsoever, whither our custom of resting on the seventh day hath not come!" M'Clatchie, "Notes and Queries on China and Japan" (edited by Dennys), Vol 4, Nos 7, 8, p.100.

PHILO
Declares the seventh day to be a festival, not of this or of that city, but of the universe. M'Clatchie, "Notes and Queries," Vol. 4, 99
2nd Century Sabbath Observance

EARLY CHRISTIANS
"The primitive Christians had a great veneration for the Sabbath, and spent the day in devotion and sermons. And it is not to be doubted but they derived this practice from the Apostles themselves, as appears by several scriptures to the purpose." "Dialogues on the Lord's Day," p. 189. London: 1701, By Dr. T.H. Morer (A Church of England divine).

EARLY CHRISTIANS
"...The Sabbath was a strong tie which united them with the life of the whole people, and in keeping the Sabbath holy they followed not only the example but also the command of Jesus." "Geschichte des Sonntags," pp.13, 14

2ND CENTURY CHRISTIANS
"The Gentile Christians observed also the Sabbath," Gieseler's "Church History," Vol.1, ch. 2, par. 30, 93.

EARLY CHRISTIANS
"The primitive Christians did keep the Sabbath of the Jews;...therefore the Christians, for a long time together, did keep their conventions upon the Sabbath, in which some portions of the law were read: and this continued till the time of the Laodicean council." "The Whole Works" of Jeremy Taylor, Vol. IX,p. 416 (R. Heber's Edition, Vol XII, p. 416).

EARLY CHURCH
"It is certain that the ancient Sabbath did remain and was observed (together with the celebration of the Lord's day) by the Christians of the East Church, above three hundred years after our Saviour's death." "A Learned Treatise of the Sabbath," p. 77
Note: By the "Lord's day" here the writer means Sunday and not the true Sabbath," which the Bible says is the Sabbath. This quotation shows Sunday coming into use in the early centuries soon after the death of the Apostles. Paul the Apostle foretold a great "falling away" from the Truth that would take place soon after his death.

2ND, 3RD, 4TH CENTURIES
"From the apostles' time until the council of Laodicea, which was about the year 364, the holy observance of the Jews' Sabbath continued, as may be proved out of many authors: yea, notwithstanding the decree of the council against it." "Sunday a Sabbath." John Ley, p.163. London: 1640.

3rd Century Sabbath Observance
EGYPT (OXYRHYNCHUS PAPYRUS) (200-250 A.D.)
"Except ye make the sabbath a real sabbath (sabbatize the Sabbath," Greek), ye shall not see the Father." "The oxyrhynchus Papyri," pt,1, p.3, Logion 2, verso 4-11 (London Offices of the Egypt Exploration Fund, 1898).

EARLY CHRISTIANS-C 3rd
"Thou shalt observe the Sabbath, on account of Him who ceased from His work of creation, but ceased not from His work of providence: it is a rest for meditation of the law, not for idleness of the hands." "The Anti-Nicene Fathers," Vol 7,p. 413. From "Constitutions of the Holy Apostles," a document of the 3rd and 4th Centuries.

AFRICA (ALEXANDRIA) ORIGEN
"After the festival of the unceasing sacrifice (the crucifixion) is put the second festival of the Sabbath, and it is fitting for whoever is righteous among the saints to keep also the festival of the Sabbath. There remaineth therefore a sabbatismus, that is, a keeping of the Sabbath, to the people of God (Hebrews 4:9)." "Homily on Numbers 23," par.4, in Migne, "Patrologia Graeca," Vol. 12,cols. 749, 750.

PALESTINE TO INDIA (CHURCH OF THE EAST)
As early as A.D. 225 there existed lallrge bishoprics or conferences of the Church of the East (Sabbath-keeping) stretching from Palestine to India. Mingana, "Early Spread of Christianity." Vol.10, p. 460.

INDIA (BUDDHIST CONTROVERSY), 220 A.D.)
The Kushan Dynasty of North India called a famous council of Buddhist priests at Vaisalia to bring uniformity among the Buddhist monks on the observance of their weekly Sabbath. Some had been so impressed by the writings of the Old Testament that they had begun to keep holy the Sabbath. Lloyd, "The Creed of Half Japan," p. 23.

EARLY CHRISTIANS
"The seventh-day Sabbath was...solemnised by Christ, the Apostles, and primitive Christians, till the Laodicean Council did in manner quite abolish the observations of it." "Dissertation on the Lord's Day," pp. 33, 34
4th Century Sabbath Observance

[ProphecyKid]

ITALY AND EAST-C 4th
"It was the practice generally of the Easterne Churches; and some churches of the west...For in the Church of Millaine (Milan);...it seems the Saturday was held in a farre esteeme... Not that the Easterne Churches, or any of the rest which observed that day, were inclined to Iudaisme (Judaism); but that they came together on the Sabbath day, to worship Iesus (Jesus) Christ the Lord of the Sabbath." "History of the Sabbath" (original spelling retained), Part 2, par. 5, pp.73, 74. London: 1636. Dr. Heylyn.

ORIENT AND MOST OF WORLD
"The ancient Christians were very careful in the observance of Saturday, or the seventh day...It is plain that all the Oriental churches, and the greatest part of the world, observed the Sabbath as a festival...Athanasius likewise tells us that they held religious assembles on the Sabbath, not because they were infected with Judaism, but to worship Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, Epiphanius says the same." "Antiquities of the Christian Church," Vol.II Book XX, chap. 3, sec.1, 66. 1137,1138.

ABYSSINIA
"In the last half of that century St. Ambrose of Milan stated officially that the Abyssinian bishop, Museus, had 'traveled almost everywhere in the country of the Seres' (China). For more than seventeen centuries the Abyssinian Church continued to sanctify Saturday as the holy day of the fourth commandment." Ambrose, DeMoribus, Brachmanorium Opera Ominia, 1132, found in Migne, Patrologia Latima, Vol.17, pp.1131,1132.

ARABIA, PERSIA, INDIA, CHINA
"Mingana proves that in 370 A.D. Abyssinian Christianity (a Sabbath keeping church) was so popular that its famous director, Musacus, travelled extensively in the East promoting the church in Arabia, Persia, India and China." "Truth Triumphanat,"p.308 (Footnote 27).

ITALY-MILAN
"Ambrose, the celebrated bishop of Milan, said that when he was in Milan he observed Saturday, but when in Rome observed Sunday. This gave rise to the proverb, 'When you are in Rome, do as Rome does.'" Heylyn, "The History of the Sabbath" (1612)

SPAIN-COUNCIL ELVIRA (A.D.305)
Canon 26 of the Council of Elvira reveals that the Church of Spain at that time kept Saturday, the seventh day. "As to fasting every Sabbath: Resolved, that the error be corrected of fasting every Sabbath." This resolution of the council is in direct opposition to the policy the church at Rome had inaugurated, that of commanding Sabbath as a fast day in order to humiliate it and make it repugnant to the people.
It is a point of further interest to note that in north-eastern Spain near the city of Barcelona is a city called Sabadell, in a district originaly inhabited. By a people called both "Valldenses" and Sabbatati."

PERSIA-A.D. 335-375 (40 YEARS PERSECUTION UNDER SHAPUR II)
The popular complaint against the Christians-"They despise our sungod, they have divine services on Saturday, they desecrate the sacred the earth by burying their dead in it." Truth Triumphant," p.170.

PERSIA-A.D.335-375
"They despise our sun-god. Did not Zorcaster, the sainted founder of our divine beliefs, institute Sunday one thousand years ago in honour of the sun and supplant the Sabbath of the Old Testament. Yet these Christians have divine services on Saturday." O'Leary, "The Syriac Church and Fathers," pp.83, 84.

COUNCIL LAODICEA-A.D.365
"Canon 16-On Saturday the Gospels and other portions of the Scripture shall be read aloud." "Canon 29-Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday, but shall work on that day; but the Lord's day they shall especially honor, and as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day." Hefele's "Councils," Vol. 2, b. 6.
5th Century Sabbath Observance

THE WORLD
"For although almost all churches throughout the world celebrated the sacred mysteries (the Lord's Supper) on the Sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Allexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, refuse to do this." The footnote which accompanies the foregoing quotation explains the use of the word "Sabbath." It says: "That is, upon the Saturday. It should be observed, that Sunday is never called "the Sabbath' by the ancient Fathers and historians." Sacrates, "Ecclestical History," Book 5, chap. 22, p. 289.

CONSTANTINOPLE
"The people of Constantinople, and almost everywhere, assemble together on the Sabbath, as well as on the first day of the week, which custom is never observed at Rome or at Alexandria." Socrates, "Ecclesiastical History," Book 7, chap.19.

THE WORLD-AUGUSTINE, BISHOP OF HIPPO (NORTH AFRICA)
Augustine shows here that the Sabbath was observed in his day "in the greater part of the Christian world," and his testimony in this respect is all the more valuable because he himself was an earnest and consistent Sunday-keeper. See "Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers," 1st Series, Vol.1, pp. 353, 354.

POPE INNOCENT (402-417)
Pope Sylvester (314-335) was the first to order the churches to fast on Saturday, and Pope Innocent (402-417) made it a binding law in the churches that obeyed him, (In order to bring the Sabbath into disfavour.) "Innocentius did ordain the Saturday or Sabbath to be always fasted." Dr. Peter Heylyn, "History of the Sabbath, Part 2, p. 44.

5TH CENTURY CHRISTIANS
Down even to the fifth century the observance of the Jewish Sabbath was continued in the Christian church. "Ancient Christianity Exemplified," Lyman Coleman, ch. 26, sec. 2, p. 527.
In Jerome's day (420 A.D.) the devoutest Christians did ordinary work on Sunday. "Treatise of the Sabbath Day," by Dr. White, Lord Bishop of Ely, p. 219.

FRANCE
"Wherefore, except Vespers and Nocturns, there are no public services among them in the day except on Saturday (Sabbath) and Sunday." John Cassian, A French monk, "Institutes," Book 3, ch. 2.

AFRICA
"Augustine deplored the fact that in two neighbouring churches in Africa one observes the seventh-day Sabbath, another fasted on it." Dr. Peter Heylyn, "The History of the Sabbath." p. 416.

SPAIN (400 A.D.)
"Ambrose sanctified the seventh day as the Sabbath (as he himself says). Ambrose had great influence in Spain, which was also observing the Saturday Sabbath." Truth Triumphant, p. 68.

SIDONIUS (SPEAKING OF KING THEODORIC OF THE GOTHS, A.D. 454-526)
"It is a fact that it was formerly the custom in the East to keep the Sabbath in the same manner as the Lord's day and to hold sacred assemblies: while on the other hand, the people of the West, contending for the Lord's day have neglected the celebration of the Sabbath." "Apollinaries Sidonli Epistolae," lib.1, 2; Migne, 57.

CHURCH OF THE EAST
"Mingana proves that in 410 Isaac, supreme director of the Church of the East, held a world council,-stimulated, some think, by the trip of Musacus,-attended by eastern delegates from forty grand metrop olitan divisions. In 411 he appointed a metropolitan director for China. These churches were sanctifying the seventh day."

EGYPT
"There are several cities and villages in Egypt where, contrary to the usage established elsewhere, the people meet together on Sabbath evenings, and, although they have dined previously, partake of the mysteries." Sozomen. "Ecclesiastical History Book 7, ch. 119

[ProphecyKid]

Paul did say that after he left there would be a falling away and that ravenous wolves shall enter the church not sparing the flock. Obviously you would expect some change after the Apostles death but this change is not correct or biblical.

The fact of the matter is that one the 7th day of creation God blessed, sanctified and hallowed the Sabbath. The 7th day is the one thing that God blessed and sanctified and hardly anyone is paying attention to.

[Chuckt]

Paul did say that after he left there would be a falling away and that ravenous wolves shall enter the church not sparing the flock. Obviously you would expect some change after the Apostles death but this change is not correct or biblical.

I found some quotes from brother Drew:

There was no order from God for Noah to observe the Sabbath, according to the Word.

There was no observance of the Sabbath by the Patriarchs, according to the Word.

The Sabbath was not established by God for man until the Children of Israel left Egypt.

There was no order from the Jerusalem council for the Gentile converts to observe the Sabbath:

Acts 15:
28: For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;
29: That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.

Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a sabbath. These are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. (Colossians 2:13-17)

Just as the sacrificial lamb was the foreshadow of the Lamb of God, so too is the Sabbath a foreshadow of the true rest in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So then, there remains a sabbath rest for the people of God; for whoever enters God's rest also ceases from his labors as God did from his. (Hebrews 4:9-10)

[ProphecyKid]

There was no order from God for Noah to observe the Sabbath, according to the Word.

There was no observance of the Sabbath by the Patriarchs, according to the Word.

When did God tell Noah which animals were clean and which were not? What were the laws and statutes and judgments that the Lord said that Abraham kept? Where did God say before the 10 commandments that it was wrong to covet your neighbours goods? The point is that the bible does not tell us those things. Abraham did keep laws. Which laws? The bible does not tell us. But if we think about it logically, here is God in the garden of Eden, blessing and sanctifying the 7th day, and then here is God saying to Adam, "Well this day is just for me to rest, don't mind me". And God blessed this say and everytime is comes by before the Children of Israel it has no significance to anyone? Please. God does not do things for show. We see no command to honor mother and father before the 10 commandments was given but it existed the same as the Sabbath.

The Sabbath was not established by God for man until the Children of Israel left Egypt.

So in the garden of Eden it was only for himself because he needed to rest? Did God make the Sabbath because he was tired? So Adam and eve weren't told anything about the Sabbath because it was just Gods thing?

There was no order from the Jerusalem council for the Gentile converts to observe the Sabbath:

Acts 15:
28: For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;
29: That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.

If people understand the reason for this command it is very simple. From the background that the gentiles came from, these things were the weakest areas for them. But if we use your argument to say that they werent told to keep the Sabbath therefore we should not keep it then we should also kill and steal and covet as long as we dont eat meat offered to idols, and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication.

Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a sabbath. These are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. (Colossians 2:13-17)

Just as the sacrificial lamb was the foreshadow of the Lamb of God, so too is the Sabbath a foreshadow of the true rest in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And what is the meats and drinks and new moon a shadow of? Although you say 13 - 17 you only quote 16 and 17 in a simplified form but verse 14 tells you exactly why those things in verse 16 are shadows. There were apart of the handwriting of ordinances that was blotted out. The ordinances and the sacrifices apart of that system is what the shadows were centered around. The handwriting of ordinances has NOTHING to do with rest. The sabbaths apart of that system were says set apart for those special feasts which were apart from the weekly Sabbath.

So then, there remains a sabbath rest for the people of God; for whoever enters God's rest also ceases from his labors as God did from his. (Hebrews 4:9-10)

So if we cease from out works as God did from his the question is, "how did God cease from his works"? Verse 4 tells us that God rested on the 7th day from his work. How do we rest?

[Onesiphorus]

We rest because Christ was our propitiation ,we rest in the Grace of God ,we rest because we have the assurances and promises of God ,we rest because we are born again a new creation "in Christ "

We do not rest as the Jews rest on the Sabbath ,where all it means is that you are forbidden to work ,it is simply a rest day

Hebrews is similarly a prophetic promise to the Hebrews that they too will have the rest ,but not yet

[DeaconDan]

Christians should follow the Law of Moses. Christians should fallow the Ten Commandments. For 2000 years, Christians have observed the Sabbath, albeit on Sunday.

Two things seem to confuse a lot of people. One, Paul's statement that we are not under the Law but under Grace. If we are not under the Law, then murder is okay (should you sin so that God can show more grace?). Yet, murder is not okay. Paul said he followed the Law. Why would he do that if the Law does not apply? When Paul says we are not under the law, he means we are free from the penalty of the Law, eternal death. Our sins are not counted against us. He does not mean we can ignore the Law.

Next, how do you follow the Law? The Pharisees followed the law superficially. "Do no work on Saturday, not even so little work as picking some food in a field to fill an empty stomach." Jesus pointed out that "the Sabbath is for man, not man for the Sabbath" (notice, Jesus said "man", not "Jews"). The purpose of the Sabbath is not to be a burden upon us, but to help us. It is a day of rest, for our sake. If you are suffering to follow it, then you are missing the point. Likewise, it does not have to be on Saturday. Christians observe the Sabbath every seventh day, Sunday. The spirit of the law is kept.

[Onesiphorus]

Do you Know, Deacon Dan ,that argument, and Ive heard it many times ,that you can go out and murder someone really is one of the strangest arguments I hear from christians

I would no more go out and murder someone now than I would have before I was saved ,

And ,if you truly understood the love of Christ and the Grace of God you would not bring out such statements ,because it is not the Law that stops you committing murder, its the love that has been birthed in you .

The law never saved anyone ,the blood did and Paul did say that the lawis the power of sin .

Really