The Text:
Act 20:7 And on the first of the sabbaths, the disciples having been assembled to break bread, being about to depart on the morrow, Paul reasoned to them. And he continued his speech until midnight. (Literal Translation of the Holy Bible)
The Opening Post Challenge:
This is what Rome created, not Christianity, for it existed prior to Constantine, the one so many falsly claim created the religion named after it’s Christ in Acts 11:26.
Rome Admits the Truth
Catholic Record, London, Ontario, September 1, 1923.
Sunday is our mark of authority. The Church is above the Bible, and this transference of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact.
From the Catholic Record, September 17, 1893:
Sunday is founded, not of Scripture, but on tradition, and is distinctly a Catholic institution. As there is no Scripture for the transfer of the day of rest from the last to the first day of the week, Protestants ought to keep their Sabbath on Saturday and thus leave Catholics in full possession of Sunday.
My Response:
The Roman Catholic Church did not create Christianity. The Book of Acts records that the followers of our Lord Jesus Christ were first called Christians in Antioch:
Acts 11:26
26 And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.
King James Version
The Roman Catholic Church came along many centuries after that.
And as for the Sabbath, the Sabbath was never changed to Sunday. Jews who follow their Bible still worship on the Sabbath. Christians who know their Bible worship on the First Day of the week, our Sunday. Sunday worship began in the time of the New Testament and neither Constantine nor the Roman Catholic Church had anything to do with it.
Christians worship on the First Day of the week to commemorate the historical fact that our Lord Jesus Christ arose bodily from the grave on the First Day of the week, our Sunday.
OP Author Reply to Me (from supplied link):
Today I want to answer the question which so many listeners have been concerned about since our first broadcast on the Sabbath question. How did the change take place, substituting Sunday for Saturday as the day of worship? This is possibly one of the most disturbing religious questions among thinking Christians today. Unfortunately, the issue is not examined publicly very often for reasons that we’ll consider today. But multitudes have wondered when, how and why the change came about. We have established in previous broadcasts that the Bible itself speaks with absolute consistency on this subject.
No Change Documented in the Bible
In both Old and New Testament there is not a shadow of variation in the doctrine of the Sabbath. The seventh day, Saturday, is the only day ever designated by the term Sabbath in the entire Bible. Not only was Jesus a perfect example in observing the weekly seventh-day Sabbath, but all His disciples followed the same pattern after Jesus had gone back to heaven. Yet no intimation of any change of the day is made. The apostle Paul, who wrote pages of counsel about lesser issues of Jewish and Gentile conflicts, had not one word to say about any controversy over the day of worship. Circumcision, foods offered to idols, and other Jewish customs were readily challenged by early Gentile Christians in the church, but the weightier matter of weekly worship never was an issue. Why? For the simple reason that no change was made from the historic seventh day of Old Testament times, and from creation itself. Had there been a switch from the Sabbath to the first day of the week, you can be sure the controversy would have been more explosive than any other to those Jewish Christians.
MY RESPONSE:
The Biblical evidence does not correspond with your claims regarding Sabbath observance.
During the lifetime of our Lord Jesus Christ upon earth, Jesus and His followers, all of whom were practicing Jews in good standing, obviously kept the Seventh Day Sabbath in accordance with the Mosaic Law.
For Jews, as I mentioned, the Sabbath is still observed in this manner and the Fourth Commandment has never changed. That is to say, the Sabbath has never been changed to a day that differs from the day found in the Law of Moses.
But if you carefully read and study the New Testament, you will never find a single mention of the Fourth Commandment regarding Sabbath observance mentioned as a command for Christians to observe. Not once. Be very careful to read my statement carefully.
Christians worship on the First Day of the week to commemorate the historical fact that our Lord Jesus Christ arose bodily from the grave on the First Day of the week, our Sunday.
There are no provable examples in the New Testament record of Christians meeting for Christian worship (involving the celebration of the Lord’s Supper) on the Jewish Sabbath.
Christians worship on the First Day of the week to commemorate the historical fact that our Lord Jesus Christ arose bodily from the grave on the First Day of the week, our Sunday.
Post Author Reply to Me:
Then my question would be why did Jesus, as well as the disciples keep the Sabbath, which word itself denotes the 7th day?
Please read the link that was given you, because I fear you missed what Christ, as well as those who followed Him stood for. Christ is The Lord of the Sabbath, and as an expression describing Jesus which appears in all three Synoptic Gospels: Matthew 12:1–8, Mark 2:23–28 and Luke 6:1–5. As Lord of the Sabbath His custom was to worship on the 7th day, which He taught His disciples to follow. This Sabbath keeping is in keeping with the law of the 10 commandments, the 4th to be more specific.
The Disciples Kept the Sabbath 85 Times in the book of Acts, this was done after Christs death and resurrection. There is no mention in the NT of commemorating Sunday for Christs resurrection. One would think that Christ would have mentioned that prior to His ascension, and that the disciples would have mentioned the change as well. But there is not a single Bible verse to support Sunday as the day of worship.
If one follows Christ, they will remember that Sabbath was made for man, not the Jew. Biblically when given in Genesis there was no Jew nor was there Moses or Mosaic Law, there was the command that God gave to man to worship on this day, that God sanctified. This has not changed and the fact that Christ’s disciples never commemorated SUNday for the reason you and a major part of Christian’s say is the reason, doesn’t mean it is in accordance to God’s law.
My friend I have to humbly disagree with you and remind you that the Word is to be used as the authority for what we do as Christian’s. God’s word doesn’t support SUNDAY worship no matter the reason you and others give, the Bible is to have the final say!
My Reply:
I have read your link very carefully.
Unfortunately, the article is filled with inaccuracies which cannot be supported from the Bible itself.
I gave you two absolutes for you to attempt to refute.
If you can refute either or both of those absolutes by just one explicit New Testament example, you will have successfully refuted my claim.
My Claim 1: The New Testament NEVER states the Fourth Commandment regarding Sabbath observance as a command for Christians to follow.
My Claim 2: There is not so much as even ONE example of Christians meeting for specifically Christian worship (involving partaking of the Lord’s Supper) on the Jewish Sabbath.
Post Author Reply:
Number two is a claim with a condition of the Lord’s Supper attached to the Sabbath, the scriptures don’t even support that. The Lord’s supper has always been separate from the Sabbath. As well as a JEWISH sabbath which there is no such thing, supported by scripture. This was already mentioned and proved with the Genesis creation of the 7th day which is attached to the 4th commandment via creation.
So number two claim, based on how you have stated it, is an unfounded claim with no scripture to back it as you have stated it.
Now dealing with your first claim, let’s see if I’m following you:
1 are you saying that Christian’s not told to keep the 4th commandment?
Or
Are you saying the words 4th commandment are not used in commanding Christians to keep Sabbath?
2. Are you inferring the law of 10 commandments is no longer, meaning the 4th is no longer a command, therefor allowing for Sunday observance?