The Lord's Day from the Catholic's point of view...
[Under : Catholic Doctrines and Practices] Source
On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread... Acts 20 :7
Recently we received an
80-page booklet entitled "What's Behind The New World Order ?" It
admits to be a collection of excerpts from the book, Will America Survive ?,
which was originally published 100 years ago under the title, The Great Controversy. This book was written by E.G. White, foundress of the Seventh Day
Adventists. It claims that the Catholic Church is behind the New World Order.
The booklet claims that this is true, since the Church is the beast of
Revelation (Rev 17). It accuses the Church of many evil things and attempts to
prove that the Church is the beast by exposing the "marks of the
beast." Due to limited space only one charge will be considered here.
[Under : Catholic Doctrines and Practices] Source
On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread... Acts 20 :7
Recently we received an
80-page booklet entitled "What's Behind The New World Order ?" It
admits to be a collection of excerpts from the book, Will America Survive ?,
which was originally published 100 years ago under the title, The Great Controversy. This book was written by E.G. White, foundress of the Seventh Day
Adventists. It claims that the Catholic Church is behind the New World Order.
The booklet claims that this is true, since the Church is the beast of
Revelation (Rev 17). It accuses the Church of many evil things and attempts to
prove that the Church is the beast by exposing the "marks of the
beast." Due to limited space only one charge will be considered here.
According to the
booklet, one "mark of the beast" is not observing the Sabbath on
Saturday. It is alleged that in the fourth century the
Church and Emperor Constantine replaced the Sabbath with the pagan "DAY OF
THE SUN", i.e. Sunday. Now it is true that the Old Testament says the
"seventh day" but assigning that to Saturday is Hebrew tradition. As
Christians, we must consider this in the light of the New Testament and the
teachings of Christ. If this is a "mark of the beast", almost all
Christian churches today bear the mark too.
It is ironic that Jesus
and His disciples were harassed by the Pharisees over the Sabbath (John 5 :18). Jesus spoke out against the Pharisee's merciless observance of the
Sabbath (Matt. 12 :1-8 ; Luke 13 :10-16). Jesus also defended Himself and His disciples on this issue by saying :
"The Sabbath was
made for man, not man for the Sabbath ; so the Son of man is Lord even of the
Sabbath." [Mark 2 :27-28 ; RSV].
And claiming authority over it
It is true that the Catholic Church through
the authority of Christ replaced the Hebrew Sabbath (Saturday) with the Lord's
Day (Sunday) ; however, this occurred very early - well before the time of
Emperor Constantine in the fourth century. For Christians two important events
happened on Sunday. First, the Resurrection of Christ occurred on Easter Sunday
(John 20 :1ff). Secondly, the Holy Spirit descended upon the Church on Pentecost
Sunday (Acts 2 :1ff). Also after His Resurrection, Jesus appeared to the
Apostles twice, each on Sunday (John 20 :19 & 26). As a result, Sunday
became known as the Lord's Day for Christians.
The booklet claims that
there is no evidence in the Bible for the shift to Sunday. However in the fourth century, St. John Chrysostom cited Acts 20 :7
as testimony. According to this
verse in the Bible, at least some of the disciples assembled together on
Sunday, the first day of the week, to celebrate the Lord’s Supper :
On the
first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul
talked with them... [Acts 20 :7]
It is interesting to note that St. Paul had
spent a week with the community in Troas (Acts 20 :6), and this is the only
reported time that he celebrated the "breaking of bread" with them.
Also no remarks are made later in this passage that St. Paul disapproved of
their worship on Sunday. One would expect St. Paul to object to this practice,
if it were rooted in paganism.
Already in the Old
Testament, God expresses disappointment over the Hebrew Sabbath (Isa. 1 :13ff)
In the New Testament, St. Paul
writes :
Therefore let no one pass judgement on you
in questions of food or 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. [Col. 2 :16-17]
According to these
verses, the Hebrew diet, festivals and Sabbaths are no longer obligations for
Christians. These were only a foreshadowing of things
to come in Christ. The focus now is Christ (2Cor. 3 :7-17). Elsewhere St. Paul
told the Corinthians to contribute money to the Church each Sunday (1Cor. 16 :1-2). This would be a strange request, if Christians assembled on Saturdays.
Hebrews 4 :8 speaks of "another day" because the former Sabbath was
not obeyed. If Saturday were truly "craved in stone", then it would
be strange to speak of another day. According to Rev. 1 :10, St. John "was
in the Spirit on the Lord's day." This is the only place in the Bible
where the phrase "the Lord’s day" occurs. If his vision occurred on
Saturday, St. John would have written "the Sabbath" instead of using
a new phrase. Even though the disciples may have attended the synagogues on the
Sabbath to evangelize (Acts 18 :4), there is already a definite transition from
the Sabbath to the Lord's Day in the New Testament.
The early Christian
writers also bear witness to the observance of the Lord's Day (Sunday) over the
Hebrew Sabbath (Saturday). The booklet attempts to
discredit the historical writings of Eusebius in the fourth century by claiming
collusion with Emperor Constantine ; however, we have no need to rely on
Eusebius. We can directly cite the writings of Christians who lived in the
first century - centuries before Eusebius or Constantine. Even though these
writings do not have the same authority as the Bible, they are still reliable
historical sources - preserving the thoughts, beliefs and lifestyle of
Christians during the first century. These writings include the Didache (a
church manual written by the Apostles during the 1st century), the Epistle of
Barnabas (c. 100 A.D.) and the letters of St. Ignatius of Antioch who was
martyred in Rome before 110 A.D. Translations of these classic Christian
writings can be found at the local public or university library. The following
quotes were cited from Early Christian Writings (Penguin Classics, 1987).
According to the Didache, the Apostles wrote :
Assemble on the Lord's Day, and break bread
and offer the Eucharist ; but first make confession of your faults, so that your
sacrifice may be a pure one. [The Didache 14 :1]
This passage is very
similar to Acts 20 :7. Also note the connection between the breaking of bread
and the Eucharist (cf. Acts 2 :42 ; 1Cor 10 :16 ; 11 :23ff). St. Barnabas in his epistle devotes a whole chapter on the issue of
the Sabbath. He concluded by writing :
And we too rejoice in celebrating the eighth
day ; because that was when Jesus rose from the dead... [Epistle of Barnabas 15]
St. Barnabas in using
the phrase "the eighth day" was referring to Sunday. Perhaps the most powerful statement was made by St. Ignatius of
Antioch. Before 110 A.D., St.
Ignatius wrote to the Magnesians :
We have seen how former
adherents of the ancient customs have since attained to a new hope ; so that
they have given up keeping the Sabbath, and now order their lives by the Lord's
Day instead - the Day when life first dawned for us, thanks to Him (Jesus) and
His death. [Epistle to the Magnesians 9]
This passage indicates that early Christian
converts from Judaism began to observe the Lord's Day in honor of Christ's
Resurrection. From their writings it is clear that Christians already during
the first century were observing the Lord's Day on Sunday.
The booklet states that
the observance of Sunday was mandated by Emperor Constantine in 321 A.D.
(referring indirectly to the Edict of Laodicea). It
claims that this mandate was forced upon the people ; however, that statement is
not exactly true. Perhaps this edict was imposed upon pagan business men who
thought everyday should be a working day and perhaps those who thought
Christians must observe the entire Law of Moses, including circumcision (Gal.
5 :6-12 ; 6 :12-16 ; 1Cor. 7 :18-19). This Edict only made Sunday a civil holiday.
By doing so it secularized a practice that was already observed for centuries
by Christians. As shown above, this ancient practice is witnessed by the Bible
and in the writings of the Apostles, St. Barnabas (c. 100 A.D.), St. Ignatius
(107 A.D.), also St. Justin Martyr (c.150 A.D.) and St. Irenaeus (155-202
A.D.).
God in His wisdom knows
that we need to set one day a week special to Him. Otherwise
we would become so busy with our daily work that we may forget about Him and
lose our Faith. Now the essential point of the Third Commandment is that we set
one day a week holy to the Lord. But specifically observing Saturday as this
day is only ceremonial. As baptism replaced circumcision (Col. 2 :11-12) for
Christians, so does Sunday replace Saturday. Observance of the Lord's Day is
not a "mark of the beast" but the mark of being Christian.
(Printed with permission from A Catholic Response,
Inc.) Source
COMMENTAIRE :
Que l'église catholique prouve par les Écritures que Jésus et les apôtres ont changé le Jour de l'Éternel (du Sabbat/samedi au dimanche/premier jour), et je me convertirais au catholicisme romain.
COMMENTAIRE :
Que l'église catholique prouve par les Écritures que Jésus et les apôtres ont changé le Jour de l'Éternel (du Sabbat/samedi au dimanche/premier jour), et je me convertirais au catholicisme romain.
