Historical evidence to show Sunday worship was a universal practice of all the church’s outside the land of Israel by the beginning of the 2nd century.
Take note that every day of our week has a reference to a pagan name since these words come from an ancient culture and time period, but! Could we also apply their example of Sun worship to Saturday which is named after the Roman god Saturn?Like every day of the week it has a reference to a pagan name since many of these words come from that time period.
The point is, is it fair by those who motivate others by guilt to apply their example of Sun worship to us and not to also apply the similar example to themselves as participating in a form of idolatry of Saturn worship.
We don’t worship the day or the name of that day (which would be idolatry) we worship the maker of days, of that day and every day. God made all the days of the week and does not expect us to only worship on one day.
It was called the Lords day, and upon it the primitive church assembled to break bread. No regulations for its observance are laid down in the New Testament nor, indeed, is its observance even enjoined. Yet Christian feeling led to the universal adoption of the day, in imitation of the apostolic precedence. In the second century its observance was universal."
Ignatius 110 A.D. wrote in his epistle to the Magnesians 9…" If they who were concerned in old things, arrived at a newness of hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living according to the Lord’s day, by which our life sprung from him and by his death (whom certain persons deny)…we have been made his disciples, let us live according to Christianity."
Barnabas 120A..D. "Wherefore, also, we keep the eighth day with joyfulness, the day, also, on which Jesus rose again from the dead"
Justin Martyr 140 A..D. "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, made the world; and Jesus Christ our savior , on the same day rose from the dead."
Didache 80-90 A.D. "And on the day of our lords resurrection, which is the Lord’s day meet more diligently."
The quotes given here are only a few in comparison to numerous others available. We do not formulate our doctrine from history in and of itself however! Their quotes do show what took place in history. These are quotes from those who kept the canon of scripture, built churches and defended the faith among the pagans long before 361 A.D.
Saturday, is not the real sabbath. It never was, and it is not now. It is a picture or a reminder of the real sabbath. The true sabbath is a rest; the Jewish sabbath is a shadow, a picture of that rest. All the Old Testament shadows pointed to Christ. They were predictions, fore views, of the coming of the One who would fulfill all these remarkable things. Every lamb that was brought as an offering was a shadow of the work of Christ. Every burnt offering, every bit of incense that was offered, was a picture of the fragrance of Jesus Christ. The tabernacle was a shadow of him. The high priest, in his garments and his office, was a shadow of Christ as our High Priest. Read the book of Hebrews and you will see how beautifully all this is brought out. These Old Testament shadows were looking forward to the coming of the One who would fulfill these and thus end them. When the work of Jesus Christ was finished the shadows were no longer needed.
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation. (Genesis 2:1-3)
It is obvious from this passage that the supreme meaning of sabbath is rest. In fact, the word "seven," the word "sabbath," and the word "rest," are all the same basic word in Hebrew, Shabat, seven, sabbath, rest. Therefore, the heart of the meaning of sabbath is rest. That is its primary significance.
When the Lord came, and his work was ended, making possible the true fulfillment of God's intention in the Sabbath, the picture was no longer needed. The weekly sabbath ended at the cross.
Paul specifically says this. In the letter to the Colossians he confirms it to us. In Chapter 2, beginning with Verse 13, he says,
And you, who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, having canceled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it [not him; it, the cross].
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)
Hebrews 4:9-10 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
9 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.
I whole heartily agree that issue is not one that is a base of salvation. But it is one that goes to the core of understanding who Jesus is. We both agree that few know the vastness the Torah “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is these that bear witness of me . . . For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me (John 5:39,46).” should be recognized as much John 3:16. The entire Old Testament was looking forward to the coming of the Messiah. Everything was pointing toward Him. The New Testament writings were never presented as something entirely new. On the contrary, they attest their root in the long religious experience of the people of Israel, an experience recorded in diverse forms in the sacred books which comprise the Jewish Scriptures. The New Testament recognizes its divine authority. This recognition manifests itself in different ways, with different degrees of explicitness.
Most evangelicals “know” these verses Matthew 28:19-20 J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)
18-20 But Jesus came and spoke these words to them, “All power in Heaven and on earth has been given to me. You, then, are to go and make disciples of all the nations and baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to observe all that I have commanded you and, remember, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.” I do question how effective “are to go and make disciples “ has been done. I do not profess to be “guru” of discipleship but it is the core of why set up the Rock Ministry. Every post I do here is to that end. No post has ever been intended to be exhaustive to any topic it presents and is always open to discussion. Of course, I will defend the primary intent of each posting. It is my hope that all that read them are Bereans and examine the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. I encourage any or all to respond with supportive reasoning as to why or why not agree or wish to post more on the topic.
The following is biographical primarily to my Sister Shirley that I was not in contact for apx 25 years. But it may be of benefit to others to understand something about me and why I have the beliefs I have.
Sunday School and even the Old Testament survey I took at OBU prepared to respond with clarity to the various Jewish and Jewish “Root” type groups that I have been engaged in over the last few years. Thankfully while I was in my 3 years “Arabian desert” while homeless I questioned everything I was taught. It was after I met a young man was an Orthodox Jew and who came to Christ after someone spent a long time just using the Old Testament to show him The Messiah. I realized I could not do that more than just marginally. I knew I was not even aware of most of the answers he was taught of why the Messiah had not come yet. That was 8 years ago and studied at least 10 hours a day the scriptures and reading some inspirational books. Then I started to read doctrinal books by various denominational authors and the most beneficial were those that I disagreed with. It encouraged me to exam their interpretation of a text. Later I became embroiled a dispute between some of my friends over Calvinism. Interestingly the word Calvinism was never used for months. Then one of my close friends called me a Calvinist as a derogatory term. Any way I vehemently denied that anything I was saying was based on him as I just recognized him as one of the reformers and did not recall reading anything he had written and was just giving answers in depth from my own study. That started my intense study of the Reformation and early church history along with the myriad doctrinal issues. I no longer looked at it as historical events but the very reasons the issues were important for them at that time and why we think the way we do today. My involvement with the Black Hebrew Israelites is a continual debate of most issues that were central to the early church and in the reformation which concerned the primary issue of who God is and all that entailed.
The most puzzling issue I have is how to encourage people to realize what the early church thought about Christianity; that it was not separate from Judaism. As we have not spoken in detail on your conceptions and practices, I do hope you share those with me and that we both feel conformable discussing them.
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