H
Henry1
Guest
By what scriptural authority has the Catholic church changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday?
- Status
E
edward_george1
Guest
First you have to back up the claim that the Catholic Church “changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday,” and that this is somehow wrong.
-Fr ACEGC
-Fr ACEGC
G
Gertabelle
Guest
Try this:
By the way, these forums are part of the Catholic Answers website, which is where that link is from. Just saying, there’s a wealth of Catholic info available there.
By the way, these forums are part of the Catholic Answers website, which is where that link is from. Just saying, there’s a wealth of Catholic info available there.
T
Thom18
Guest
When did we change the Sabbath, as you claim- and are you sure you’re not confusing “the Lord’s day” with the Sabbath?
P
Pug
Guest
The sabbath has not moved. I think Henry1 might mean something more like why don’t we rest on the sabbath?
E
edward_george1
Guest
Henry identifies as a Seventh Day Adventist on his profile. The SDA Church believes that the day of worship for Christians is Saturday, and not Sunday, and that the Catholic Church changed the day of worship.
M
midori
Guest
Jewish people, for example, celebrate the Sabbath on Saturday, because it was the Seventh Day when God rested.
Christians celebrate the Sabbath on Sunday, because it was the day of the Resurrection.
So we both have Sabbaths— but we have differing reasons for honoring God with rest and worship on different days.
Christians celebrate the Sabbath on Sunday, because it was the day of the Resurrection.
So we both have Sabbaths— but we have differing reasons for honoring God with rest and worship on different days.
P
Pug
Guest
Indeed, but he said “changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday” which is not correct as written. Catholics have not done this. Sunday is the day after the sabbath.
2175 Sunday is expressly distinguished from the sabbath which it follows chronologically every week…
Rather, he is concerned with what we do on which day. (observance/resting)
2175 Sunday is expressly distinguished from the sabbath which it follows chronologically every week…
Rather, he is concerned with what we do on which day. (observance/resting)
E
edward_george1
Guest
I know that it’s not correct. That’s why I said he needed to back up the claim. If you ask a question that assumes a premise, you must establish the premise before an answer can be given.
To be precise, he claims we changed the Sabbath, which we did not. The Sabbath is and always remains Saturday. We do not observe the Sabbath. We observe the Lord’s Day.
The Sabbath was a mere foreshadowing, and for us Christians, Sunday points to eternity, which is why it is both the eighth day and the first day. The Sabbath is of no significance to us, except as a shadow of what was to come. The Third Commandment has a moral force: to render worship to God on a holy day, but none of the Jewish ceremonial law apply to us Christians, and that includes the observance of the Sabbath.
Some Catholics have the notion that Sunday is the Sabbath, but that is not correct. The Catechism makes the express distinction between the two. The Church still recognizes the existence of the Sabbath, and expressly states that we do not observe it.
SDA’s will twist themselves into knots to get around this, but St. Paul is explicitly clear that the Sabbath is something we Christians are not concerned about. Colossians 2:16.
Last edited:
E
edward_george1
Guest
I am aware of all of this. I was simply pointing out that the OP needs to back up the premise contained in his question before we can answer it.
H
Henry1
Guest
Sunday actually made very little headway as a Christian day of rest until the time of Constantine in the fourth century. Constantine was emperor of Rome from AD 306 to 337. He was a sun worshiper during the first years of his reign. Later, he professed conversion to Christianity, but at heart remained a devotee of the sun. Edward Gibbon says, “The Sun was universally celebrated as the invincible guide and protector of Constantine.”i
<img src=’//discourse-cloud-file-uploads.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/catholic/original/3X/f/9/f9491c46f33ed4e4791aefd23ffdc24a7401c364.jpeg’ alt=‘Constantine’s Conversion by Peter Paul Rubens Source: Wikimedia Commons.’>
Constantine’s Conversion by Peter Paul Rubens
Source: Wikimedia Commons…
Constantine created the earliest Sunday law known to history in AD 321. It says this:
On the venerable Day of the sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits: because it often happens that another Day is not so suitable for grain sowing or for vine planting: lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost.ii
Chamber’s Encyclopedia says this:
Unquestionably the first law, either ecclesiastical or civil, by which the Sabbatical observance of that Day is known to have been ordained, is the edict of Constantine, 321 A.D.iii
Following this initial legislation, both emperors and Popes in succeeding centuries added other laws to strengthen Sunday observance. What began as a pagan ordinance ended as a Christian regulation. Close on the heels of the Edict of Constantine followed the Catholic Church Council of Laodicea (circa 364 AD):
Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday (Sabbath), but shall work on that Day: but the Lord’s Day, they shall especially honour; and as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day. If however, they are found Judaizing, they shall be shut out from Christ.iv
<img src=’//discourse-cloud-file-uploads.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/catholic/original/3X/f/9/f9491c46f33ed4e4791aefd23ffdc24a7401c364.jpeg’ alt=‘Constantine’s Conversion by Peter Paul Rubens Source: Wikimedia Commons.’>
Constantine’s Conversion by Peter Paul Rubens
Source: Wikimedia Commons…
Constantine created the earliest Sunday law known to history in AD 321. It says this:
On the venerable Day of the sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits: because it often happens that another Day is not so suitable for grain sowing or for vine planting: lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost.ii
Chamber’s Encyclopedia says this:
Unquestionably the first law, either ecclesiastical or civil, by which the Sabbatical observance of that Day is known to have been ordained, is the edict of Constantine, 321 A.D.iii
Following this initial legislation, both emperors and Popes in succeeding centuries added other laws to strengthen Sunday observance. What began as a pagan ordinance ended as a Christian regulation. Close on the heels of the Edict of Constantine followed the Catholic Church Council of Laodicea (circa 364 AD):
Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday (Sabbath), but shall work on that Day: but the Lord’s Day, they shall especially honour; and as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day. If however, they are found Judaizing, they shall be shut out from Christ.iv
- Status