Sunday Worship. Did Constantine change the Sabbath?
It is often claimed that it was emperor Constantine that changed the sabbath from Saturday to Sunday in 321 AD.
It is true that the Catholic Church does recognise Sunday as the replacement for Sabbath.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:
“2190 The sabbath, which represented the completion of the first creation, has been replaced by Sunday which recalls the new creation inaugurated by the Resurrection of Christ.”
2193 “On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound . . . to abstain from those labors and business concerns which impede the worship to be rendered to God, the joy which is proper to the Lord’s Day, or the proper relaxation of mind and body”
While it is a false teaching by the Catholic Church regarding Sunday, Jesus is our Sabbath as outlined in Hebrews 4, it is also a false claim that it was Constatine that changed the Sabbath.
Lets’s look at what Constatine stated:
“On the venerable Day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain-sowing or for vine-planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost. (Given the 7th day of March, Crispus and Constantine being consuls each of them for the second time [A.D. 321].)” Source: Codex Justinianus, lib. 3, tit. 12, 3; trans. in Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol.3 (5th ed.; New York: Scribner, 1902), p.380, note 1.
Constantine did not, in fact, change the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. What he actually did was to decree Sunday as a civil day of rest. Constantine makes no mention of this being a “sabbath” or Sabbath for christians to observe in replacement of the Jewish sabbath.
The synod of Laodicea did assert that those keeping the Jewish Sabbath were to be Anethema.
Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord’s Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ.
Synod of Laodicea Canon 29 (363-364 AD Approx)
What is also important to note is that although the early church did not in any way decree sunday as the new sabbath, it is a FACT that the early church (prior to Constantine) DID reverence the Lords’s day (sunday) and did teach that the observance of the Jewish sabbath, which is by the way Friday evening to saturday evening and not simply saturday, was not for Christians. This was long before Constantine and long before the Catholic church would make its decree.
Below are a number of Early writings which demonstrate this fact.
1 And on the Lord’s Day [Sunday] come together, and break bread, and give thanks, having confessed your sins, that your sacrifice may be pure.
Didache Chapter XIV.11 —Christian Assembly on the Lord’s Day. 14 (late first century/early second)
(5) Further, He says to them, “Your new moons and your Sabbath I cannot endure.”(6) Ye perceive how He speaks: Your present Sabbaths are not acceptable to Me, but that is which I have made, [namely this,] when, giving rest to all things, I shall make a beginning of the eighth day, that is, a beginning of another world. Wherefore, also, we keep the eighth day with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose again from the dead.(7) And(8) when He had manifested Himself, He ascended into the heavens.
THE EPISTLE OF BARNABAS CHAP. XV.THE FALSE AND THE TRUE SABBATH (late first century/early second)
Justin Martyr 150-160 AD
And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen;
Justin Martyr first apology chapter 67
“But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration.
Justin Martyr first apology chapter 67
“Is there any other matter, my friends, in which we are blamed, than this, that we live not after the law, and are not circumcised in the flesh as your forefathers were, and do not observe sabbaths as you do? “
Justin Martyr dialogue with Trypho chapter 10
“Moreover, all those righteous men already mentioned, though they kept no Sabbaths, were pleasing to God; and after them Abraham with all his descendants until Moses, under whom your nation appeared unrighteous and ungrateful to God, making a calf in the wilderness: wherefore God, accommodating Himself to that nation, enjoined them also to offer sacrifices, as if to His name, in order that you might not serve idols. Which precept, however, you have not observed; nay, you sacrificed your children to demons. And you were commanded to keep Sabbaths, that you might retain the memorial of God. For His word makes this announcement, saying, ‘That you may know that I am God who redeemed you.’ Ezekiel 20:12”
The men mentioned were Adam, Abel, Enoch, Lot, Noah, Abraham,
Justin Martyr Dialogue with Trypho chapter 19
“Justin: But if we do not admit this, we shall be liable to fall into foolish opinions, as if it were not the same God who existed in the times of Enoch and all the rest, who neither were circumcised after the flesh, nor observed Sabbaths, nor any other rites, seeing that Moses enjoined such observances; or that God has not wished each race of mankind continually to perform the same righteous actions: to admit which, seems to be ridiculous and absurd. Therefore we must confess that He, who is ever the same, has commanded these and such like institutions on account of sinful men, and we must declare Him to be benevolent, foreknowing, needing nothing, righteous and good. But if this be not so, tell me, sir, what you think of those matters which we are investigating.”
Justin martyr Dialogue with Trypho chapter 23
“Justin: I do not say so; but those who have persecuted and do persecute Christ, if they do not repent, shall not inherit anything on the holy mountain. But the Gentiles, who have believed on Him, and have repented of the sins which they have committed, they shall receive the inheritance along with the patriarchs and the prophets, and the just men who are descended from Jacob, even although they neither keep the Sabbath, nor are circumcised, nor observe the feasts. Assuredly they shall receive the holy inheritance of God. For God speaks by Isaiah thus:”
Justin Martyr dialogue with Trypho chapter 26
Tertullian 197-220 AD
“But some of
you likewise out of an affectation of adoring some of the celestial
bodies wag your lips towards the rising sun; but if we, like them,
celebrate Sunday as a festival and day of rejoicing, it is for a reason
vastly distant from that of worshipping the sun; for we solemnize
the day after Saturday in contradistinction to those who call this
day their Sabbath, and devote it to ease and eating, deviating from
the old Jewish customs, which they are now very ignorant of.
Tertullian apology chapter 16
Ignatius (105-115AD)
“” On the day of the preparation, then, at the third hour, He received the sentence from Pilate, the Father permitting that to happen; at the sixth hour He was crucified; at the ninth hour He gave up the ghost; and before sunset He was buried. During the Sabbath He continued under the earth in the tomb in which Joseph of Arimathaea had laid Him. At the dawning of the Lord’s day He arose from the dead, according to what was spoken by Himself, “As Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, so shall the Son of man also be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” The day of the preparation, then, comprises the passion; the Sabbath embraces the burial; the Lord’s Day contains the resurrection.”
The Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallians chapter 9
“If, therefore, those who were 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-whom some deny, by which mystery we have obtained faith, and therefore endure, that we may be found the disciples of Jesus Christ, our only Master-how shall we be able to live apart from Him, whose disciples the prophets themselves in the Spirit did wait for Him as their Teacher? And therefore He whom they rightly waited for, being come, raised them from the dead.
If, then, those who were conversant with the ancient Scriptures came to newness of hope, expecting the coming of Christ, as the Lord teaches us when He says, “If ye had believed Moses, ye would have believed Me, for he wrote of Me;” and again, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it, and was glad; for before Abraham was, I am; ” how shall we be able to live without Him? The prophets were His servants, and foresaw Him by the Spirit, and waited for Him as their Teacher, and expected Him as their Lord and Saviour, saying, “He will come and save us.” Let us therefore no longer keep the Sabbath after the Jewish manner, and rejoice in days of idleness; for “he that does not work, let him not eat.” For say the [holy] oracles, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread.” But let every one of you keep the Sabbath after a spiritual manner, rejoicing in meditation on the law, not in relaxation of the body, admiring the workmanship of God, and not eating things prepared the day before, nor using lukewarm drinks, and walking within a prescribed space, nor finding delight in dancing and plaudits which have no sense in them. And after the observance of the Sabbath, let every friend of Christ keep the Lord’s Day as a festival, the resurrection-day, the queen and chief of all the days [of the week]. Looking forward to this, the prophet declared, “To the end, for the eighth day,” on which our life both sprang up again, and the victory over death was obtained in Christ, whom the children of perdition, the enemies of the Saviour, deny, “whose god is their belly, who mind earthly things,” who are “lovers of pleasure, and not lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” These make merchandise of Christ, corrupting His word, and giving up Jesus to sale: they are corrupters of women, and covetous of other men’s possessions, swallowing up wealth insatiably; from whom may ye be delivered by the mercy of God through our Lord Jesus Christ!”
The Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians chapter 9
“Let us not, therefore, be insensible to His kindness. For were He to reward us according to our works, we should cease to be. For “if Thou, Lord, shalt mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? ” Let us therefore prove ourselves worthy of that name which we have received. For whosoever is called by any other name besides this, he is not of God; for he has not received the prophecy which speaks thus concerning us: “The people shall be called by a new name, which the Lord shall name them, and shall be a holy people.” This was first fulfilled in Syria; for “the disciples were called Christians at Antioch,” when Paul and Peter were laying the foundations of the Church. Lay aside, therefore, the evil, the old, the corrupt leaven, and be ye changed into the new leaven of grace. Abide in Christ, that the stranger may not have dominion over you. It is absurd to speak of Jesus Christ with the tongue, and to cherish in the mind a Judaism which has now come to an end. For where there is Christianity there cannot be Judaism. For Christ is one, in whom every nation that believes, and every tongue that confesses, is gathered unto God. And those that were of a stony heart have become the children of Abraham, the friend of God; and in his seed all those have been blessed who were ordained to eternal life in Christ.”
The Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians chapter 10
Origen 203-250 AD
4:1 But again their scruples concerning meats, and
their superstition relating to the sabbath and the
vanity of their circumcision and the dissimulation of
their fasting and new moons, I do [not] suppose you
need to learn from me, are ridiculous and unworthy of
any consideration.
4:2 For of the things created by God for the use of
man to receive some as created well, but to decline
others as useless and superfluous, is not this
impious?
4:3 And again to lie against God, as if He forbad us
to do any good thing on the sabbath day, is not this
Profane?
The Epistle of Mathetes TO Diognetus chapter 4
Mathetes 130-200 AD
let the Jew of Celsus especially bring forward. Was it impious to abstain from corporeal circumcision, and from a literal Sabbath, and literal festivals, and literal new moons, and from clean and unclean meats, and to turn the mind to the good and true and spiritual law of God, while at the same time he who was an ambassador for Christ knew how to become to the Jews as a Jew, that he might gain the Jews, and to those who are under the law, as under the law, that he might gain those who are under the law?
Origen. Contra Celsus
BOOK II.
Eusebius
“They [the early saints of the Old Testament] did not care about circumcision of the body, neither do we [Christians]. They did not care about observing Sabbaths, nor do we. They did not avoid certain kinds of food, neither did they regard the other distinctions which Moses first delivered to their posterity to be observed as symbols; nor do Christians of the present day do such things”
(Church History 1:4:8 [A.D. 312]).
For as the name Christians is intended to indicate this very idea, that a man, by the knowledge and doctrine of Christ, is distinguished by modesty and justice, by patience and a virtuous fortitude, and by a profession of piety towards the one and only true and supreme God; all this no less studiously cultivated by them than by us. They did not, therefore, regard circumcision, nor observe the Sabbath, neither do we; neither do we abstain from certain foods, nor regard other injunctions, which Moses subsequently delivered to be observed in types and symbols, because such things as these do not belong to Christians.”
(Eusebius Ecclesiastical History, Book 1, Chapter 5 (c. 315 A.D.):)
Eusebius mentions that the Ebionites (early Christian sect ) Kept the Sabbath, because the kept the Law, but also kept the Lords day as a memorial of the resurrection.
5. The Sabbath and the rest of the discipline of the Jews they observed just like them, but at the same time, like us, they celebrated the Lord’s days as a memorial of the resurrection of the Saviour.
Eusebius Ecclesiastical History, Book 3, Chapter 27
But the Lord’s day we celebrate as a day of joy, because on it He rose again, on which day we have received it for a custom not even to bow the knee.
Peter, Archbishop of Alexandria The Canonical Epistle Canon XV (Born in the 3rd century and died early 4th)
For in respect of the observance of the eighth day in the Jewish circumcision of the flesh, a sacrament was given beforehand in shadow and in usage; but when Christ came, it was fulfilled in truth. For because the eighth day, that is, the first day after the Sabbath, was to be that on which the Lord should rise again, and should quicken us, and give us circumcision of the spirit, the eighth day, that is, the first day after the Sabbath, and the Lord’s day, went before in the figure; which figure ceased when by and by the truth came, and spiritual circumcision was given to us.
Cyprian Epistle LVIII.2 To Fidus, on the Baptism of Infants. 4
On the seventh day He rested from all His works, and blessed it, and sanctified it. On the former day we are accustomed to fast rigorously, that on the Lord’s day we may go forth to our bread with giving of thanks. And let the parasceve become a rigorous fast, lest we should appear to observe any Sabbath with the Jews, which Christ Himself, the Lord of the Sabbath, says by His prophets that His soul hates; Isaiah 1:13-14 which Sabbath He in His body abolished,
Victorinus ON THE CREATION OF THE WORLD 270-310 A.D
Epiphanius said that Ebion (Ebionites kept the Jewish Sabbath, but this was different than the other sects (Christian)
1,2 For it was as though someone were to collect a set of jewelry
from various precious stones and an outfi t of varicolored clothing and tog
himself up conspicuously. Ebion, in reverse, took any and every doctrine
which was dreadful, lethal, disgusting, ugly and unconvincing, thoroughly
contentious, from every sect, and patterned himself after them all. (3) For
he has the Samaritans’ unpleasantness but the Jews’ name, the opinion of
the Ossaeans, Nazoraeans and Nasaraeans, the form of the Cerinthians,
and the perversity of the Carpocratians. And he wants to have just the
Christians’ title—most certainly not their behavior, opinion and knowledge,
and the consensus as to faith of the Gospels and Apostles!
—I have already said that he agreed with the others in everything,
with this one difference, his adherence to Judaism’s Law of the Sabbath,
circumcision, and all the other Jewish and Samaritan observances
Panarion against the Ebionites 30
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