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A Brief History: From Sabbath to Lord’s Day – Part Six

A Brief History: From Sabbath to Lord’s Day – Part Six

CHRISTIANS AND JEWS

“At first the Roman state did not distinguish between Jews and Christians. In fact, we may be sure that the Romans simply saw Christians as a group of Jews, or a group within the Jewish community. So when the Jews were expelled from Rome in the time of Claudius, we may be sure the expulsion included both Jews as well as Christians.” Shaye D. Cohen, Ph.D., Brown University

According to Suetonius, a Roman historian who wrote during the second century, this expulsion of the Jews from Rome took place in 49 AD. It seems that there was a significant population of Jews in Rome. Unrest and riots within that community prompted the emperor Claudius to banish all Jews from the city.

Christians living within the Jewish community were forced to leave as well. To Claudius and the other Romans, they looked like Jews. In one way, this close identity with the Jews was an advantage for Christians: Judaism was still a legal religion within the empire, while Christianity itself had no legal standing. On the other hand, when the Jews fell out of favor with the Romans, the Christians suffered the same fate.

“So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel…then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains” (Matthew 24:16 NIV).

Jesus Himself foresaw that His followers would be in danger when Rome turned its military might against the Jewish homeland. When He prophesied about the destruction of Jerusalem He told them,“Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath” (Matthew 24:20 NIV). Clearly He expected that Sabbath observance would continue long past His own crucifixion, resurrection and ascension to heaven. Jerusalem was not destroyed until 70 AD.

This series of posts is based on research for “The Seventh Day” documentary, a five-hour miniseries hosted by Hal Holbrook. For more information please visit www.theseventhday.tv.

A Brief History: From Sabbath to “Lord’s Day” – Part Five

A Brief History: From Sabbath to “Lord’s Day” – Part Five

EARLY CHRISTIAN SABBATH

“The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee…went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment” (Luke 23:55-56 NIV).We begin to get an idea about early Christian attitudes toward the Sabbath from the reports given by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. There we learn that after His crucifixion Jesus was laid in a tomb without the customary preparation.
Why?
Because His followers observed the Sabbath, which for them began at sunset Friday. Their plan was to return to the tomb with spices and perfumes after the Sabbath day.

Apparently, Jesus had given no instruction to His followers about canceling the Sabbath or transferring its sacred nature to another day.

Here are some conservative dates for the writing of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

  • Matthew: 60-70 AD

  • Mark: 55-70 AD

  • Luke: 55-61 AD

  • John: 90 AD >

Some liberal scholars prefer much later dates.

While there is uncertainty over exactly when these gospel narratives were written, it is clear that at the time of their writing the Sabbath was still part of Christian practice.

None of these New Testament books contains even the slightest suggestion that the first day of the week—the day we call Sunday—had replaced the seventh day as the Christian Sabbath.

For a look at the Sabbath practice of St. Paul see Acts 13:14-16, Acts 13:42-44, and Acts 18:1-4, 11.

There are only eight references to the first day of the week in the New Testament, and none of them contains any evidence that the significance of the Sabbath was ever transferred from one day to another. (See Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2, 9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19; Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2.)

This series of posts is based on research for “The Seventh Day” documentary, a five-hour miniseries hosted by Hal Holbrook. For more information please visit

www.theseventhday.tv.

A Brief History: From Sabbath to “Lord’s Day” – Part Four

A Brief History: From Sabbath to “Lord’s Day” – Part Four

LORD OF THE SABBATH

“The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” Mark 2:28 (NIV).

When He healed people on the Sabbath, Jesus showed the true spirit of the holy day. He kept the Sabbath according to the ancient Hebrew scriptures—the Old Testament.

By claiming that He was the “Lord of the Sabbath” Jesus challenged the authority of the Jewish priests and rabbis. This challenge eventually led to His infamous trial and death on the cross.

It’s important to notice that the Sabbath controversy in Jesus’ day was not about which day of the week to observe as a day of rest and worship. That issue never came up. The questions that Jesus addressed were NOT about WHEN to keep the Sabbath, but HOW to keep it.

That raises an interesting question: If He intended for His followers to switch from Sabbath observance to the veneration of Sunday, why did Jesus focus so much attention on reforming their understanding of the Sabbath?

This series of posts is based on research for “The Seventh Day” documentary, a five-hour miniseries hosted by Hal Holbrook. For more information please visit www.theseventhday.tv.

A Brief History: From Sabbath to “Lord’s Day” – Part One

A Brief History: From Sabbath to “Lord’s Day” – Part One

Have you ever wondered how the vast majority of devout Christians came to observe Sunday as “the Lord’s day” instead of the biblical Sabbath, or Saturday? This is not a theological question, but an historical one. What happened? When and where did it happen? Who started it, and why?

 This series of short posts will focus on the first three centuries Christianity and identify key factors in the Sabbath/Sunday controversy. The posts are based on research for “The Seventh Day: Revelations from the Lost Pages of History,” a documentary miniseries hosted by Hal Holbrook and featuring more than fifty historians and theologians. (Information at www.theseventhday.tv)

Let’s look back about nineteen hundred years to when an unknown Christian writer introduced a novel idea about the weekly holy day. The proper day for Christians to observe, he suggested, is not the seventh day, as the Ten Commandments have it. It is the eighth day, the day following the Sabbath—the day we know as Sunday—that should be kept holy.

It seems an irrational arithmetic that allows Sunday to be both the first day and the eighth day of a seven-day weekly cycle. If you throw logic to the wind, however, the message is simple: Sunday is superior to Sabbath (Saturday) just as eight is superior to seven.

This elevation of Sunday – which came to be called “the Lord’s day” – over the Old Testament Sabbath is just one small piece of the history of the Sabbath. Some Christians took it for granted that the church could properly transfer the sacred nature of the Sabbath from one day to another. Whether or not the church has ever had that kind of authority is another matter altogether. That’s a theological issue. Here we are dealing with history.