Did Jesus Change Sabbath Rest to Sunday?

Sunday Service

“You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we [Catholics] never sanctify.”-James Cardinal Gibbons, “The Faith of Our Fathers, 16th Edition” page 111.

“The Catholic Church for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday.”-The Catholic Mirror, Sept. 23, 1893.

This, as we will see is a rather accurate statement.

Many non-Catholic Christians who do not recognize papal authority are thus forced to rely on human reasoning and some rather unlikely verses to justify the Sunday tradition. In the rest of this post, we will examine a number of commonly accepted arguments used to justify Sunday observance.

1. Jesus Christ broke the Sabbath.

This is either a gross misunderstanding — or a big lie.
Christ Himself taught in the “sermon on the mount “ :

Think about it:

Would Christ be the first to break His own words?
Which of the commandment do you consider least?
Is Christ now the least in the “kingdom of heaven”?
If Christ broke the Sabbath or any of the commandments, could He be our Savior?

Contrary to this claim, Peter who personally interacted with Christ, testifies:

Paul himself writes:

Some say that Christ broke the Sabbath but was sinless. Well, by Bible definition that statement makes no sense.

How does one sin, anyway?

John wrote:

Paul has this to say:

In other words we sin if we break the law – in its letter or spirit. And frankly speaking, that inevitably means we sin if we break the Sabbath command.

Understand this:
If Christ broke the Sabbath then He was not sinless — and He can’t be our Savior, can He?

On the other hand if the Sabbath and the law had been abolished before He “broke” it, then there is no sin to save us from. What then did He die for?

It becomes ridiculous, isn’t it?

Another post titled Did Jesus Christ Break the Sabbath? examines scriptures used to prove that Christ break the Sabbath. Be sure to read it.

2. Sabbath was nailed to the cross.

This statement cannot be found in the Bible but is an interpretation of Colossians 2:14-16

This passage is more thoroughly discussed in a previous post titled “Colossians 2:14-16 — What Was Nailed to the Cross?”.

What this passage is actually saying is that our trespasses had been forgiven [see v.13] through the complete sacrifice of Christ. Paul merely used the metaphor of “nailing to the cross” to dramatize how God wrote off the record of our sins that Paul calls the “handwriting of ordinances” [or as better translated, “note of indebtedness”]. This “handwriting of ordinances” is what was “against us” and is what was nailed to the cross. It does not talk about Sabbath being nailed to the cross. Sabbath, as we read in Colossians 2:17 continues to foreshadow “things to come”. This “things to come”, which is mainly about God’s coming glorious kingdom – yet future – is to be fulfilled when Christ returns! So Sabbath keeping, as Hebrews 4:9 says remains for God’s people.

The prophet Isaiah actually foresaw “all flesh” [humans] worshipping God, from Sabbath to Sabbath in the “new heaven and new earth” [Isa.66:22-23] – which is well past our present time!

3. Sabbath is for Jews only, Sunday is for Christians.

As discussed in a previous post titled The Sabbath Rest, Sabbath was made when man was made. That was about two thousand years before any Jew was born! Christ, Himself the Lord of the Sabbath, states that the Sabbath was made for man – to serve and benefit man (Luke 2:27-28). God made the Sabbath by blessing and sanctifying [setting apart] the seventh day. No explicit or even implicit pronouncement in the entire Bible transferred this distinction to the first day of the week. No separate day of worship was given to the Gentiles.

Paul in fact makes no distinction between Jews and Gentiles, in manner of worship:

So there is no basis for differentiating Jewish and Christian day of rest.

4. Sunday is the day of the Lord.

This statement is not in the Bible. Rather, Christ Himself said that He is “the Lord of the Sabbath” [Mark 2:28]!

Sunday or the “first day of the week” was nowhere designated as a weekly day of rest or worship in the entire Bible. Paul had always preached on the Sabbath. On one such Sabbath, the congregation was so moved, “the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath” [Acts:13:42]…. And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God (.v.44)”

If the first day of the week was set aside as weekly day of worship, why did Paul and the church members pass up the next day [which was a Sunday] and the rest of the week to wait for him to speak the following Sabbath?

The one occasion where Paul appeared to be preaching on Sunday, was actually a kind of farewell gathering. It was actually Saturday evening [after the week-long Days of Unleavened Bread feast observance], rather than Sunday, by today’s reckoning. Notice from GNB:

It would be easier to find a pin in the middle of an ocean, than to find a verse sanctifying Sunday as day of rest or worship, simply because such verse does not exist!

5. Jesus was resurrected on Sunday and we must celebrate it.

This is a flimsy argument for substituting Sunday worship for the real Sabbath — for the following reason:

1. There is no Biblical command to celebrate the day of Christ’s resurrection.
2. Christ’s resurrection did not even happen on Sunday.

It seems innate in man to want to worship God in the way he deems right. But the prophet Jeremiah warned:

And through the Wise man God reveals:

Even the Jews themselves thought it was good and right to come up with their own commandments and traditions to please and worship God. But was Jesus elated with this kind of human initiative?

The ancient King Saul of Israel himself fell for this kind of mistake. Instead of simply obeying God he tried to do it his way:

It may feel good and holy to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ to honor Him — but God never commanded it. Only human reasoning is the basis for celebrating it. What is commanded rather is the commemoration of the death of Christ. [I Cor.11, Luke 22:19]. That is what God wants us to observe!

Unfortunately mainstream Christendom had dropped what God wants us to observe [Passover] in favor of human tradition [Easter and Sunday service].

The other problem with this argument is the fact that Christ was not even resurrected on Sunday [morning] but on Sabbath afternoon. But this discussion will require an entire post. But briefly, when Christ was asked by the Jews for a sign of His messiahship He answered:

Try to figure out 3 days and 3 nights from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning. It won’t fit, would it?
But I won’t take time and space to discuss it here now.

6. All days are alike.

This statement is inferred from Romans 14:5-6 which reads as follows:

What is this talking about?
Notice that there is no mention of Sabbath or day of rest in this passage or in the entirety of Romans 14!
The first three verses gives us a clue instead:

This chapter is clearly talking about vegetarianism. Paul is saying that a Christian does not sin if he ate vegetables only – or both meat and vegetables. The issue of “day” comes in only in connection with the eating -what not to eat on certain days. It has nothing to do with day in terms of rest or worship.

It is no secret that the Romans, to whom Paul addressed this epistle, had a practice of abstaining from meat on Fridays or certain days of the week. This practice continues to be followed in certain places such as the Philippines, by some folks steeped in Catholic traditions. That is what Paul was addressing here – not days of rest or worship.

Conclusion

Sabbath is so important to God that when the Israelites polluted it, He severely punished them. In fact God sent the Israelites to slavery for Sabbath-breaking. If God wanted to change the Sabbath, it is inconceivable that He would do so in an unclear, equivocal way. God would have issued a formal edict. But no such edict exists. So Evangelicals and Protestants are forced to dig up unlikely verses to “prove” that the Sabbath has been changed. But that won’t work.

The Catholic Church is more forthright — it admits that there is no Bible justification to change the Sabbath. The Catholic Church instead, boldly claim authority to change the day of rest from Sabbath to Sunday.

So clearly, the Catholic Church — not Christ — IS the authority for Sunday keeping. And that is the reason why the rest of Christianity keeps Sunday.

[This is Part 14 of the series Did Jesus Christ Abolish the Law?]

Related Posts:

• Are the Lord’s Sabbath and Feasts for Jews Only?
• Is the Sabbath Command Moral or Ceremonial?
• The Sabbath Rest
• Colossians 2:14-16 – What was Nailed to the Cross?
• Did Jesus Christ Break the Sabbath?

Tags: Sabbath, Sunday