90AD DIDACHE: “Christian Assembly on the Lord’s Day: 1. But every Lord’s day do ye gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure. 2. But let no one that is at variance with his fellow come together with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be profaned. 3. For this is that which was spoken by the Lord: In every place and time offer to me a pure sacrifice; for I am a great King, saith the Lord, and my name is wonderful among the nations.” (Didache: The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, Chapter XIV)
While some date this text as early as 60-130 AD it is often now seen to be a document from the early second century. There are no clear references to events that can be dated. Instead the information that it is dated by is the doctrine etc. The doctrine of the Didache seems to be less developed than some later texts in regards to church structure, etc. compared to Ignatius, which either favors an earlier date, or a different location. However, it also makes reference to some material that is regarded as later. Here is a discussion of the later date:
ccel.org/ccel/richardson/…html#viii.i.i
Since some see in it quotes from the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas they assign it to the second century.
14:1 But on the Lord’s day, after that ye have assembled together, break bread and give thanks, having in addition confessed your sins, that your sacrifice may be pure. But let not any one who hath a quarrel with his companion join with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be polluted, for it is that which is spoken of by the Lord. In every place and time offer unto me a pure sacrifice, for I am a great King, saith the Lord, and my name is wonderful among the Gentiles.
It says to assemble on the Lord’s Day. This is possibly the earliest reference to the Lord’s Day outside of Scripture. If you take the second century date then Ignatius’ letter to the Magnesians would come before it. It does not, as some later texts do, mention anything about a replacement of Sabbath with Sunday.
But here, as with Ignatius, there is also a translation issue. Here is the Greek text:
ccel.org/l/lake/fathers/didache.htm
The beginning of chapter 14 is the text in question. Notice that the reading is Kata Kuriakhn de kuriou.
This is the part rendered “but on the Lord’s day”, but again hmera does not occur. Nor in fact is it just left out, assumed to be substantival. Instead it literally says “but/and according to the Lord’s (missing or assumed word) of the Lord” This is, to say the least an obscure phrase. Here is a discussion of the texts in the B-Greek list that speaks about the issue:
He is quoting the Lord in his statement about leaving your sacrifice at the altar and going to be reconciled with your brother before worship. So perhaps the word is something related to the teaching or command of the Lord.
In any case it is not clear what is meant, nor does it associate the Lord’s Day with any calendar day. Some think it could be a reference to Pascha.
100 AD BARNABAS “We keep the eighth day [Sunday] with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose again from the dead” (The Epistle of Barnabas, 100 AD 15:6-8).
100 AD BARNABAS: Moreover God says to the Jews, ‘Your new moons and Sabbaths 1 cannot endure.’ You see how he says, ‘The present Sabbaths are not acceptable to me, but the Sabbath which I have made in which, when I have rested [heaven: Heb 4] from all things, I will make the beginning of the eighth day which is the beginning of another world.’ Wherefore we Christians keep the eighth day for joy, on which also Jesus arose from the dead and when he appeared ascended into heaven. (15:8f, The Epistle of Barnabas, 100 AD, Ante-Nicene Fathers , vol. 1, pg. 147)
"The Epistle of Barnabas, also known as Pseudo-Barnabas, is a Christian work of the late first or early second century, written to dissuade its readers from being influenced by Christian Judaism or even to consider the Jews as sharing in God’s covenant. It was written in Greek and currently contains 21 brief chapters, preserved complete in the fourth-century Codex Sinaiticus where it appears at the end of the New Testament.
The epistle goes farther in its anti-Jewish stance than earlier Christian works, by arguing that God’s covenant with Abraham and Moses was never established with the Jewish people as a whole, due to their sins. It was ultimately omitted from the New Testament canon, although and it was cited by several early Church Fathers as having scriptural authority. Today, it is included in most collections of the Apostolic Fathers."
…
“Internal evidence suggests that Barnabas was written after the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. and before the Bar Kochba Revolt of 132 C.E. …”
“Although the work is not Gnostic in a heterodox sense, the author intends to impart to his readers the type of perfect gnosis (special knowledge). His concern is that his audience must realize that the Christians, rather than Jews, are the only true people of God’s covenant. Like the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, “Barnabas” holds that the Jewish scriptures served to foreshadow Jesus and Christianity. He goes well beyond Hebrews, however, by arguing not that the God’s covenant with the Jews has been transferred to the Christians, but that the Jewish people had never actually established a covenant with God. He asserts that their sin of turning to the Golden Calf at Sinai blocked them from entering into the covenant with God and that thereafter they completely misunderstood the true meaning of the Mosaic Law. The promises of the covenant, he maintains, therefore belong only to the Christians (e.g. 4:6-8). The practice of circumcision and the entire Jewish sacrificial and ceremonial system are due to misunderstanding, as they were meant to be interpreted allegorically (chapters 9-10).”
found at
newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Epistle_of_Barnabas
Whenever you see a single date being ascribed to a work from that long ago that is your first clue that something is wrong.
Thanks for the mis-information; I’ll stick with the Bible.
