Did Constantine Change the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday?
Many are asking did Constantine change the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. The short answer is No! Did Constantine's first Sunday law play a key part in the final change of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday? The answer is an unmistakable resounding Yes!
Did Constantine change the SabbathPlease consider carefully the following two questions. Does Satan hate God and His law? And since breaking the law of God is sin, would Satan attack and attempt to change God's law and deceive us on the truth of obedience to it? The wise will understand that he would and has attacked the Ten Commandment law of God and that there can be no doubt that he would do so. When did he first begin this attack on planet earth? In the very beginning in the Garden of Eden. See also the Catholic version of the Ten Commandments.
And while the second Commandment defines who and what we should not worship, the fourth Commandment defines who it is we do worship. Most are unaware of this fact and yet there is no shortage of scriptures both stating and demonstrating this. Satan wanted to be worshipped like the most High (Isaiah 14:12-14) and so instituted his own church and his own day of worship. And when did this begin? This can traced back as far as the tower of Babel around 2000 B.C. See the origin of Babylon and Sun worship first for a better understanding of this topic and the role of Emperor Constantine. See who changed the Sabbath to Sunday for more information.
It should come as no surprise that Satan has had no trouble in finding those he can deceive into posting false information about the Sabbath and hence attack any facts that prove there has been foul play with the fourth Commandment. So in an attempt to cover up the truth on the part Constantine played that resulted in the final change to the Sabbath, the proponents' whole argument is typically that Emperor Constantine did not change the Sabbath and only instituted the first Sunday law. That much in fact is true, but there is a lot more to the story which they very conveniently fail to mention like why and the major role Constantine did play in the change of the Sabbath to Sunday.
The deceived proponents usually say something like it is well documented that the early Church adopted Sunday as their day of worship. This statement is false and based on the abuse of two or three scriptures that refer to the first day of the week such as Acts 20:7 and 1 Corinthians 16:2. And if their statement was true, then there would have to be a very clear instruction from God as Jesus made it extremely clear that no change would occur to the law. This is the Ten Commandment law of God and something this important does not change on assumptions. There would always be very clear scriptures if there were to be so much as a jot or a tittle of a change. See Matthew 5:18 and Luke 16:17.
If the early Church really had changed to Sunday worship, the Apostles would have been instructed to do so by God and yet no such instruction exists. And absolutely all scriptures relating to worship in the Church would be on Sunday in the book of Acts if this were true, which would be many scriptures. So how many verses are there in the book of Acts showing Christians worshipping in the Synagogue (Church) on the first day of the week? Zero! There is not one single scripture! How many scriptures are there that show both Jew and Gentile worshipping in the synagogue on the Sabbath? Every single one of them and more than you can count on both hands! Not just those two or three scriptures that say “first day of the week” that do not even occur in a Church and are bad assumptions and deliberate attempts to bury a Commandment of God. Here are just a few examples of scriptures that are not assumptions unlike those trying to prove a fallacy: Mark 1:21, Mark 6:2, Luke 4:16, Luke 6:6, Luke 13:10, Acts 13:14, Acts 13:27, Acts 13:42, 44, Acts 15:21, Acts 17:1-2 and Acts 18:4. See who changed the Sabbath to Sunday and the Sabbath to Sunday change for full detail and all the proof.
These same people who are determined to squash the truth on the Sabbath day also typically quote Colossians 2:16, Galatians 4:10 and Romans 14:5. Are these scriptures all talking about the same thing? Yes! Are they talking about the Sabbath of the Lord? Not a chance! See Galatians and the law for a very misunderstood book.
Note what The People's New Testament (1891) by B. W. Johnson states in regards to these scriptures.
“Romans 14:5 – One man esteemeth one day above another. A second difference of opinion is now cited. Some, Jewish converts or Gentiles who did not understand that the old covenant was ended, believed that the Jewish sabbaths and new moons should be kept sacred. Compare Col_2:16, and Gal_4:10.”
This Bible commentary links all three passages but not with the Sabbath of the Lord thy God but the Mosaic Law with all the Jewish ceremonial sabbaths such as Passover and the Day of Atonement as well as the New Moon festivals etc. These were practiced because of sin and that is why they all ended at the cross.
Here is another from the Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge by Canne, Browne, Blayney, Scott on Romans 14:5.
“Romans 14:5 – esteemeth: Gal_4:9-10; Col_2:16-17”
Again we see that all three passages are connected. But with what? See the Ten Commandments and the ceremonial law or Colossians 2:16, Galatians 4:9-10 and Romans 14:5-6 for full detail. See also Adam Clarke and Albert Barnes Commentaries on Colossians 2:14-16, Albert Barnes and People's New Testament Commentaries on Galatians 4:9-10 and People's New Testament and Adam Clarke Commentaries on Romans 14:5.
There are many web sites out there claiming these scriptures end the fourth Commandment but how many really know that these scriptures are quoted in ignorance and do not refer to the Ten Commandments or the Sabbath at all, but to the sacrificial law that was practiced before the cross when the Ten Commandments were broken? I believe this shows one of two main things. Those erecting these erroneous web sites are either deceived by Satan or they just simply have no idea on the sanctuary service and just read these scriptures and decide what they think they mean when in fact they have no idea. If you study the real truth on these passages, you will know that when you encounter anyone quoting these scriptures that they do not understand Biblical truth and thus one cannot trust anything they do say.
One such site called got questions has truth mixed with error on every topic I read and yet so many are linking to their pages because what they write sounds good even though most of their material is seriously wrong. Don't just believe what tickles your ears but examine the scriptures daily as the Bereans did. (2 Timothy 4:3-4, Acts 17:11) Now is not the time to be apathetic as the return of Christ is imminent and so Satan is working harder than ever to spread lies on crucial topics. Below you can find the real truth on the very significant part that Emperor Constantine did play in the change to the Sabbath.
So how do those that oppose the Sabbath truth say this Commandment has ended? It was changed to Sunday in the Bible. Wrong! Colossians 2:16 says let no one judge you for keeping it. Wrong! Romans 14:5 says we can observe any day. Wrong! Galatians 4:9-10 says the day is bondage. Wrong! It is only nine Commandments now. Wrong! All Ten Commandments were nailed to the cross. Wrong! The Sabbath is a ceremonial law. Wrong! It does not matter what day we keep. Wrong! We do not know the true day so we should not bother. Wrong! We are under grace so the law is gone. Wrong! The calendar has changed and the day is lost. Wrong! Jesus broke the Sabbath so we can too. Wrong! Jesus is our Sabbath rest so the day is gone. Wrong! The Sabbath was only for the Jews. Wrong again! So which is it? It seems that all those who say the Sabbath is abolished cannot decide on why they say this Commandment is gone. Does anyone see a problem here? To begin with, many of these reasons contradict each other and so have to be wrong! If the Sabbath Commandment was really abolished then there would have to be one clear reason that everyone would agree on but not so! Why are there so many different reasons? Because they all have one thing in common. They are all excuses perpetuated by Satan! See should Christians keep the Sabbath or Sabbath and antichrist truth for the real truth on these excuses.
Did Constantine Change the Sabbath?
In 312 A.D., prior to his pivotal victory over his rival Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge, Constantine became a “Christian” after claiming to see in broad daylight a vision of “a cross above the sun” with these words emblazoned, “in hoc signo vinces” (by this sign conquer”). After defeating his enemies and becoming Emperor of Rome, Constantine presided in full royal pomp over the “First Council of Nicea” in 325 A.D.
As a shrewd political genius, his scheme was to unite Christianity and paganism in an effort to strengthen his disintegrating empire. Constantine knew that pagans throughout the empire worshiped the sun on “the first day of the week,” and he discovered that many Christians and especially in Rome and Alexandria also kept Sunday because Christ rose from the dead on that day. So Constantine developed a plan to unite both groups on the common platform of Sunday keeping. On March 7, 321 A.D., he passed his famous national Sunday law:
First Sunday Law enacted by Emperor Constantine - March, 321 A.D.
“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. (Given the 7th day of March, Crispus and Constantine being consuls each of them for the second time [A.D. 321].)” Source: Codex Justinianus, lib. 3, tit. 12, 3; trans. in Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol.3 (5th ed.; New York: Scribner, 1902), p.380, note 1.
Now a professed Christian, Constantine nevertheless remained a devout sun worshipper. “The sun was universally celebrated as the invincible guide and protector of Constantine,” notes Edward Gibbon in his classic Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. xx, par. 3.
Constantine even printed coins which “bore on the one side the letters of the name of Christ, on the other the figure of the sun god.” Arthur P. Stanley, History of the Eastern Church, lect. vi, par. 14.
Again, Constantine’s promotion of Sunday observance was part of his definite strategy to combine paganism with Christianity: “The retention of the old pagan name of dies Solis, or 'Sunday,' for the weekly Christian festival, is in great measure owing to the union of pagan and Christian sentiment with which the first day of the week was recommended by Constantine to his subjects, pagan and Christian alike, as the ‘venerable day of the Sun.’” – Stanley’s History of the Eastern Church, p. 184.
In spite of the rising popularity of Sunday sacredness, Church historian Socrates Scholasticus (5th century) wrote: “For although almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries [of the Lord's Supper] on the Sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, have ceased to do this.” – Socrates Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical History, Book 5, ch. 22.
Another historian also confirmed this by stating, “The people of Constantinople, and almost everywhere, assemble together on the Sabbath, as well as on the first day of the week, which custom is never observed at Rome or at Alexandria.” – Sozomen, Ecclesiastical History, Book 7, ch. 19. Thus even in the 5th century, Sabbath keeping was universally prevalent (except in Rome and Alexandria) along with Sunday keeping. Many Christians kept both days, but as the centuries wore on, Sunday keeping grew in prominence and especially within Roman Catholic territories.
In 330 A.D., Constantine moved his capital from Rome to Constantinople (modern Istanbul), thus preparing the way for the Roman Catholic Popes to reign in Rome as the successors of Constantine. As the Papal Church grew in power, it opposed Sabbath observance in favour of Sunday sacredness and made the day change official in the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 363-364). Constantine's law had now been fully integrated into the Papal Church and the final step of the Sabbath to Sunday change was complete.
So around the year A.D. 364, the Catholic Church outlawed Sabbath keeping in the Council of Laodicea when they decreed 59 Canon laws. The following is the relevant Canon law: Canon XXIX: “Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord's Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ.” (Percival Translation).
Four hundred years after the death of Christ and one hundred years after Constantine's linking of Church and State by his Sunday law edict, Rome and Alexandria were the only places in the world where many of the Christians kept only Sunday and not the true Sabbath. Why was it that Rome and Alexandria were also the first locations that Sunday worship began? Because this is where the pagan practices of Babylon eventually landed after it was conquered. And what was the dominant pagan practice that the Babylonian priests brought with them? Sun worship which was done on Sun-day! See the history of Sunday worship for more detail.
So one can understand why Rome and Alexandria did not bother to keep the true Sabbath as they had not done so for 200 years. Throughout the entire history of the changeover from Sabbath to Sunday, Rome and Alexandria had worked together. Alexandria provided the philosophical reasons for the changes and Rome provided the decrees and anathemas. Constantine's help was given only to the worldly Church leaders at Rome and those Christians that resisted the errors that were being introduced into the Church met with his opposition. “Unite with the bishop of Rome or be destroyed,” was Constantine's position.
“Great as were the favors which Constantine showed to the church, they were only for that strong, close-knit, hierarchically organized portion that called itself Catholic. The various [so-called] heretical sects could look for no bounty from his hands.” – Williston Walker, A History of the Christian Church, page 105.
The change of the Sabbath to Sunday was totally completed by the seventh century as the Popes consolidating their enormous power persecuted all who resisted their innovations. Did Satan use Constantine to play a key part in his plan to change the Sabbath to his day being Sunday? The answer is clear! From sun worship 2000 B.C., to Sunday worship in the Church. Satan infiltrated the Christian Church and most are oblivious to the fact that this has happened or understand the relevance. Sunday or “dies solis”, the day of the sun came from Satan worship and is his day. The mystery Babylonian religion went straight into the Church of Rome and that is why God calls her Babylon.
For more information on the Sabbath you may like to start with the Sabbath day truth. I pray that all you dear Catholics especially will read the page on Catholic Church error and was Peter the first Pope? See also who and what is the Antichrist.
The name form is "Shabbethai"[1] a name appearing three times in the Tanakh. The Talmud also contains a pun on shebeth, where it secondarily means "dill", a spice. Another related word is modern Hebrew shevita, a labor strike, with the same focus on active cessation of labor. And in over thirty languages other than English, the common name for Saturday is a cognate of "Sabbath".
A cognate Babylonian Sapattum or Sabattum is reconstructed from the lost fifth Enûma Eliš creation account, which is read as: "[Sa]bbatu shalt thou then encounter, mid[month]ly". It is regarded as a form of Sumerian sa-bat ("mid-rest"), rendered in Akkadian as um nuh libbi ("day of mid-repose").[2]
The dependent Greek cognate is Sabbaton, used in the New Testament 68 times. Two inflections, Hebrew Shabbathown and Greek "σαββατισμός" (Sabbatismós), also appear. The Hebrew form refers to High Sabbaths. The Greek form is cognate to the Septuagint verb sabbatizo (e.g., Ex. 16:30; Lev. 23:32; 26:34; 2 Chr. 36:21). In English, the concept of "Sabbatical" is cognate to these two forms.
The King James Bible uses the English form "sabbath(s)" 172 times. In the Old Testament, "sabbath(s)" translates Shabbath all 107 times (including 35 plurals), plus shebeth three times, shabath once, and the related mishbath once (plural). In the New Testament, "sabbath" translates Sabbaton 59 times and prosabbaton once (the day before Sabbath); Sabbaton is also translated as "week" nine times, by synecdoche.
Shmita
Further information: Shmita
Sabbath Year or Shmita (Hebrew: שמטה, Shemittah, literally "release"), also called Sabbatical Year, is the seventh (שביעי, shebiy'iy) year of the seven-year agricultural cycle mandated by Torah for the Land of Israel, relatively little observed in Biblical tradition, but still observed in contemporary Judaism. During Shmita, the land is left to lie fallow and all agricultural activity—including plowing, planting, pruning and harvesting—is forbidden by Torah and Jewish law.[3] By tradition, other cultivation techniques (such as watering, fertilizing, weeding, spraying, trimming and mowing) may be performed as preventative measures only, not to improve the growth of trees or plants; additionally, whatever fruits grow of their own accord during that year are deemed hefker (ownerless), not for the landowner but for the poor, the stranger, and the beasts of the field; these fruits may be picked by anyone. A variety of laws also apply to the sale, consumption and disposal of Shmita produce. When the year ended, all debts, except those of foreigners, were to be remitted (Deut. 15:1-11); in similar fashion, Torah requires a slave who had worked for six years to go free in the seventh year. Leviticus 25 promises bountiful harvests to those who observe Shmita, and describes its observance as a test of religious faith. The term Shmita is translated "release" five times in the Book of Deuteronomy (from the root שמט, shamat, "desist, remit").
Tanakh
Torah
Book of Genesis: In 1:1-2:4, God creates the heavens and earth in six days (each day is defined as evening and morning) and rests on the seventh day, which he thus confers with special status.
So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in Creation. —Gen. 2:3
This passage uses root form shabath, rather than intensified form Shabbath; neither the noun form nor a positive Sabbath command appears in Genesis. In 8:4, Noah's ark comes to "rest" in the seventh month (later revealed as the month of Shabbathown); here the word for "rest" is not shabath but its synonym nuwach, the root of Noah's name.
Book of Exodus: In 16:23-30, immediately after the Exodus from Egypt, Sabbath is revealed as the day upon which manna and manna gathering is to cease weekly; the first of many Sabbath commands is given, in both positive and negative forms.
Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none .... Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day. —Ex. 16:26, 16:29
In 20:8-11, one month later, it is enjoined to be remembered as a memorial of Creation, as one of the Ten Commandments, the covenant revealed after God liberated Israel from Egyptian bondage.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work .... For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. —Ex. 20:8-11
In 31:12-17, Sabbath is affirmed as a perpetual sign and covenant, and Sabbath-breakers are officially to be cut off from the assembly or potentially killed. Summarized again in 35:2-3, verse 3 also forbids lighting a fire on the Sabbath.
Part of a series on
The Ten Commandments
MCC-31231 Mozes toont de wetstafelen (1).tif
I am the LORD thy God
No other gods before me
No graven images or likenesses
Not take the LORD's name in vain
Remember the sabbath day
Honour thy father and thy mother
Thou shalt not kill
Thou shalt not commit adultery
Thou shalt not steal
Thou shalt not bear false witness
Thou shalt not covet
Related articles
Tablets of Stone
Ritual Decalogue
Finger of God
Moses
Ark of the Covenant
Catholic theology
vte
Book of Leviticus: In 16:31, Yom Kippur is stated to be "Sabbath of Sabbaths". In 19, many of the Ten Commandments are repeated, including Sabbath (19:3, 19:30). In 23, Moses defines weekly Sabbath, along with seven annual High Sabbaths, which do not necessarily occur on weekly Sabbath and are additional to the weekly "LORD's Sabbaths". One High Sabbath, Day of Atonement, is specifically defined as occurring from the evening of the prior day until the following evening. In 24:8, the showbread is to be laid out in the tabernacle every Sabbath. In 25:2-6, Shmita is given as a year of rest for land every seven years. In 26:2, 26:34-35, 26:43, Sabbath is again enjoined, and Moses warns of the curse that if Israel disobeys, it will go into exile while the land enjoys Sabbaths denied to it during the time of rebellion.
Book of Numbers: In 15:32-36, a man gathering firewood on Sabbath is put to death; the potential punishment for desecrating Sabbath (stoning) is the most severe in Jewish law. In 28-29, the offerings for Sabbath, new moon, and High Sabbaths are enjoined.
Book of Deuteronomy: In 5:12-15, the Ten Commandments are restated; instead of referring again to Creation, Sabbath is enjoined to be observed as a memorial or sign of The Exodus and Redemption of Israel from Egypt under God's protection.
Yemenite Jew blowing the shofar (ram's-horn trumpet) for Sabbath in the 1930s.
Prophets
2 Kings: In 4:23, when Elisha's patroness goes away suddenly to seek him, her husband questions why, since it was neither new moon nor Sabbath. In 11:5-9, Joash becomes king, protected from usurper Athaliah by the additional troops present for changing of duty on Sabbath. In 16, the colonnade built for Sabbath use and its royal entranceway are removed from the temple by King Ahaz.
Book of Isaiah: Isaiah mentions Sabbath repeatedly, including in its first and last chapters. In 1:13, he describes corrupted Sabbath tradition, called by God "your" assembly (as opposed to his own). In 56:1-8 and 58:13-14, Isaiah commends honoring the holiness of Sabbath, rather than using it to go one's own way or to do idly as one pleases. Because of this passage, it is customary, in Judaism, to avoid talk about money or business matters on Sabbath; and, among Latter-day Saints, to give full attention to spiritual matters, to perform only righteous activities, and to prepare only simple foods on Sabbath. In 66:22-23, he foresees what is understood as the Messianic Kingdom, in which new moons and Sabbaths are occasions for the righteous to worship in God's presence, and to meditate on the unquenched fire consuming the wicked.
Book of Jeremiah: In 17:19-27, Jeremiah declaims against carrying burdens out of houses or out of the city gates on Sabbath, as was commonly done by merchants in his day. Jeremiah also prophesies that Israel will be a desolation for seventy years (25:11), interpreted later as land Sabbaths as also prophesied by Moses.
Book of Ezekiel: In 20:12-26, Ezekiel records God's giving of laws, precepts, and Sabbaths, and Israel's rejecting them; Sabbaths are explicitly called a sign between God and Israel. In 22:8, 22:23-31, 23:38, he states that Israel has profaned and hidden its eyes from Sabbath. In 44:24, Ezekiel foresees a Messianic Temple, in which the priests keep Sabbath as truly holy. In 45:17, 46:1-12, he sees the east gate shut on the "six working days" and open on Sabbath and new moon, and a prince making burnt offerings on those festivals as well.
Book of Hosea: In 2:11, casting Israel as an adulterous wife, God vows to end "her" festivals, new moons, and Sabbaths.
Book of Amos: In 8:5, Amos objects to those who inquire when Sabbath or new moon will be over so that marketing can begin again, classifying this practice as comparable to that of dishonest weights.
"Der Samstug (Sabbath)", Frederich Campe, 1800: German Jews, wearing baretta hats, gather outside a synagogue on Sabbath.
Writings
Book of Psalms: 92 is a song specifically for Sabbath.
Book of Lamentations: In 1:7, Israel's enemies gloat over its "cessation" (mishbath), after the destruction of the first temple. In 2:6, this destruction and Israel's rejection is linked to Israel forgetting its appointed times and Sabbaths.
Book of Nehemiah: In 9:14, the Levites, who have called a public fast, thank God for Sabbath, the mitzvoth (commandments), and the Torah. In 10:31-33, the people respond by swearing not to buy on Sabbath or holy day. In 13:15-22, Nehemiah observes many kinds of business transacted on Sabbath, rejects it as profanation, locks the city gates for the whole of Sabbath and has them guarded, and threatens force against merchants who spend the night outside. Sabbath begins after evening shadows fall on the gates.
1 Chronicles: In 9:32, the task of preparing Sabbath showbread is shown to have been assigned to kinsmen of Korah from the clan of Kohath. In 23:31, King David assigns Levites to stand and sing thanks and praise whenever the burnt offerings are given for Sabbath, new moon, and the other designated days.
2 Chronicles: In 2:4 (2:3, Hebrew) and 8:12-13, Solomon dedicates the first temple for daily, weekly, monthly, and annual offerings. In 23:4-8, Joash becomes king, protected from usurper Athaliah by the additional troops present for changing of duty on Sabbath. In 31:3, Hezekiah rededicates the same offerings as Solomon. In the last chapter of the Tanakh in Hebrew order (at 36:21), the prophecies of Moses and Jeremiah are combined as having been fulfilled in seventy years of captivity in Babylon, during which the land kept its Sabbaths.
Oldest Sabbatarian Meeting House in America (Seventh Day Baptist), built in 1729 in Newport, Rhode Island, now owned by Newport Historical Society.
New Testament
Gospels
Matthew, Mark, and Luke contain several synoptic accounts, which John occasionally concurs in.
Exorcism in Capernaum (Mk. 1:21-39, Lk. 4:31-43): Jesus makes a practice of teaching in the Capernaum synagogue on Sabbath. One Sabbath he exorcises an unclean spirit, and also heals Peter's wife's mother. After sundown that day, he heals many people, and early in the morning of the first day, he goes out to pray alone.
Lord of the Sabbath (Mt. 12:1-8, Mk. 2:23-28, Lk. 6:1-5): When his disciples pick heads of wheat and eat them, Jesus tells objectors that, because Sabbath was made for man, the Son of Man is Lord of Sabbath. Sabbatarians believe that Sabbath-keeping is central to following Christ, and that he highly regarded Sabbath; some non-Sabbatarian Protestants and Catholics believe that Christ has power to abrogate Sabbath via a "better dispensation", and that he did so as with all ceremonial law.[4] The doctrine that Christ "made" all Creation (Jn. 1:3-10, Col. 1:16) implies that "Sabbath was made", and observed, by Christ (Mk. 2:27), during Creation; this is taken as earning him the identification "Lord of Sabbath".
Healing of the Withered Hand (Mt. 12:9-21, Mk. 3:1-6, Lk. 6:6-11): Knowing he is being watched, Jesus heals a man who had a withered hand, arguing that doing good and saving life is permitted and right on Sabbath. This passage follows his proclamation as Lord of Sabbath in Mark and Luke, but in Matthew follows his quotation of Jer. 6:16 that he would give rest for his disciples' souls; this is taken as indicating Matthew intended to teach that Sabbath's true or spiritual fulfillment is found in coming to Jesus.[5]
Rejection of Jesus (Mk. 6:1-6, Lk. 4:16-30): As is his custom, Jesus attends the Nazareth synagogue on Sabbath and stands to read. He preaches against skeptical demands for miracles and states that he is rejected there in his hometown.
Events unique to John: In 5:9-18, Jesus heals a paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda and tells him to carry his mat, spurring accusations of Sabbath-breaking. In 7:22-23, Jesus argues that healing in general is equivalent to permitted Sabbath activity of circumcision, regarded as a cleansing ritual. In 9, Jesus makes clay with spittle on Sabbath and heals a man born blind, and is investigated by Pharisees.
Events unique to Luke: In 13:10-17, Jesus heals a woman who had been bent over double for 18 years, arguing that setting her free is equivalent to permitted Sabbath activity of loosing one's animals to water them. In 14:1-6, Jesus heals a man with dropsy (swollen with fluid), arguing that this is equivalent to permitted Sabbath activity of rescuing an animal from a well. In 18:9-14, Jesus' parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, the Pharisee fasts twice a week, literally twice per Sabbath (the word Sabbaton means "week" by synecdoche).
Olivet Discourse, unique to Matthew: In 24, describing then-future apocalypses such as the Second Coming, Jesus requests prayer (at 24:20) that the coming time, when Judah must escape to the hills, not occur in winter or on Sabbath. Sabbatarians believe that Jesus based on this text expected Sabbath to be kept long after his death;[6] others believe Jesus foresaw a non-Sabbatarian future community hampered by surrounding Sabbatarianism.[7]
Crucifixion of Jesus (Mt. 27, Mk. 15, Lk. 23, Jn. 19): Jesus is crucified on Preparation Day, the day before Sabbath; differing chronologies interpret this either as Friday (before weekly Sabbath) or Nisan 14 (before High Sabbath) or both. Joseph of Arimathaea buries him before this Sabbath begins. The women who wished to prepare his body keep Sabbath rest according to the commandment, intending to finish their work on the first day of the week (the day after weekly Sabbath); one reading of the text permits "they rested" to include a hint that the body of Jesus rests on Sabbath as well. Seventh-day Sabbatarians see no change in God's law, regarding it as in force and affirmed by the evangelists after Jesus died on the cross.[8] Others regard Sabbath as changed by the cross, either to Lord's Day or to spiritual Sabbath.
Resurrection of Jesus (Mt. 28, Mk. 16, Lk. 24, Jn. 20): Jesus is raised from the dead by God and appears publicly on the first day of the week to several women. Jesus appears to Peter and again on the evening beginning the second day (i.e., after two disciples traveled seven miles from Emmaus, having begun when it was almost evening and getting dark, Lk. 24:28-36). The text stating that "Jesus rose early on the first day of the week" (Mk. 16:9) is often inferred as speaking indirectly of Sabbath change; this conclusion is not direct in any Scripture, and the verse is not found in the two most ancient manuscripts (the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus) and some other ancient manuscripts, though it appears in Irenaeus and Hippolytus in the second or third century.[9]
Epistles
Book of Acts 1-18: In 1:12, the distance from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem is called a "Sabbath journey", the distance Jewish law permitted one to walk on the Sabbath. In 2, the Spirit of God is given to the disciples of Christ on Pentecost, who baptize 3,000 people into the apostolic fellowship; though the weekday is not mentioned, this is usually calculated as falling on the day after Sabbath. In 13:13-45, 16:13, 17:2, and 18:4, as is his custom, Paul preaches on Sabbath to communal gatherings of Jewish and Gentile Christians, usually in synagogue, in Pisidian Antioch, Philippi, Thessalonica, and Corinth (the meeting of Philippians was a riverside women's prayer group, in Gentile territory). Seventh-day Sabbatarians believe that Luke's recording Paul's sitting down in the synagogue indicates they kept a rest day and affirmed the seventh day as Sabbath,[8] while others believe that Paul merely preached on days that the Jewish portion of his audience would be available. In 15:19-29, the Apostolic Decree, James proposes four limited rules for Gentile proselytes in response to the question of whether Gentiles should be directed to follow the Mosaic Law; the apostles then write that no greater burden is laid on the Gentiles. James also states that Moses is read every Sabbath, which can be construed either as discounting Moses as too unnecessary to promote (the Law being split into parts with Gentiles ordered to follow only Noachide Laws), or as supporting Moses as too ubiquitous to promote (the Law being a unity to grow into).
Acts 20: When the Christians meet to break bread, during an all-night worship service in Troas, Paul preaches and raises Eutychus from the dead, the night after Sabbath (i.e., Saturday night and Sunday morning); the first day had begun at sundown (cf. Judg. 14:17-18). Though Paul's special farewell service, this event is otherwise considered a regular Christian Eucharistic observance.[10][11] Paul then immediately walks eighteen miles from Troas to Assos, boards a boat, and continues to Mitylene. Seventh-day Sabbatarians state that Paul (as a lifelong Sabbath keeper) would not have done so on Sunday, if he had regarded Sunday as Sabbath. Non-Sabbatarians state that Paul did not keep any day of the week as Sabbath (citing his later passages) and that the early church met on the first day of the week but without rigor. First-day Sabbatarians state that he did not extend the travel prohibition to the first day.
Book of Romans: In 14:5-6, without mentioning Sabbath, Paul emphasizes being fully convinced of one's practice, whether esteeming one day above another, or esteeming every day alike. Each interpretative framework regards this passage as demonstrating that ritual observance of others' Sabbaths is not required, but is optional according to the conscience of each individual Christian.
1 Corinthians: In 11:1, Paul exhorts readers to follow his example in religious practice as he follows Christ's. In 16:1-2, Paul encourages the setting aside of money on the day after Sabbath for a collection for the Christians in Jerusalem; it is not stated whether this is in conjunction with a first-day group meeting. As in Acts 20, the word "week" translates Sabbaton in "the first day of the week".
Galatians: In 4:10-11, spiritual enslavement to special days, months, seasons, and years is rejected. In context, Paul speaks of enslavement to "the elemental things of the world" and "those weak and miserable principles" (4:3, 4:9), and allegorizes the Israelites as "children who are to be slaves" (4:24). The theme of 5 is freedom. Seventh-day Sabbatarians believe Paul was promoting freedom in Sabbath observance and rejecting either observance of non-Levitical Gnostic practices, or else legalistic observance of Biblical festivals (cf. Col. 2:9-17);[12] others believe Paul spoke about Judaizers and was rejecting seventh-day Sabbath as not prescribed in the New Covenant, represented by Mount Zion above and by freedom.
Colossians: In 2:9-17, the rule is laid down that no one should pass judgment on anyone else in regard to High Sabbaths, new moon, and Sabbath. Paul states that these yet remain as a shadow of Messianic events that are still coming as of his writing. The withholding of judgment has been interpreted variously as indicating either maintenance, transference, or abolition of Sabbath. First-day Sabbatarians and non-Sabbatarians often regard the Mosaic law as being the "record of debt" (ESV) nailed to the cross. Some seventh-day Sabbatarians regard only High Sabbaths as abolished due to their foreshadowing the cross, holding it impossible for weekly Sabbath (which preceded sin) to foreshadow deliverance from sin in the cross.[13] Others regard Sabbath, new moon, and High Sabbaths not as nailed to the cross but as foreshadowing the eternal plan of God.[14]
Book of Hebrews: In 4:1-11, Sabbath texts are analyzed with the conclusion that some form of Sabbath-keeping (sabbatismos) remains for God's people; the term generically means any literal or spiritual Sabbath-keeping.
Revelation: In 1:10, John the Beloved states that he was "in Spirit" in the "Lord's Day", a term apparently familiar to his readers, without mentioning Sabbath. First-day Sabbatarians hold that this means he was worshipping on Sunday, the day of Christ's resurrection (cf. Acts 20:7, 1 Cor. 16:2, later patristic writings). Seventh-day Sabbatarians hold that this means he was brought by the Spirit into a vision of the Day of the Lord (cf. Is. 58:13-14, etc.). Both lay claim to the name "Lord's Day" for Sabbath. In 20:1-10, the millennial reign of Christ is described, which is often interpreted as a seventh (Sabbatical) millennium.
Apocrypha
1 Esdras: 1:58 quotes 2 Chr. 36:21, relying on the prophecies of Jer. 25 and of Lev. 26. In 5:52, Joshua the High Priest and Zerubbabel lead the rededication of the altar for Sabbath, new moon, and (annual) holy feasts.
1 Maccabees: In 1:39-45, under Antiochus IV Epiphanes, Jerusalem's Sabbaths become a reproach and profanation. In 2:32-41, he wars against the Maccabees and followers on Sabbath, one thousand of whom are killed after refusing to come out; Mattathias and his friends decree they will battle on Sabbath in self-defense. In 9:34-49, Bacchides prepares to attack on Sabbath but is defeated by Jonathan Maccabeus. In 10:34, Demetrius I Soter declares that Jews will be free to celebrate feasts, Sabbaths, new moons, and solemn days, but is not received.
2 Maccabees: In 5:25-26, a Mysian captain named Apollonius attacks all those celebrating Sabbath. In 6:6-11, Antiochus criminalizes Sabbath and ancient fasts, and those keeping Sabbath secretly in caves are burned to death. In 8:26-28, after defeating Nicanor's army, the men of Judas Maccabeus leave off pursuit on Preparation Day, instead gathering spoil, occupying themselves about Sabbath, and praising and thanking God; after Sabbath they distribute the spoil to the maimed, widows, and orphans, and then themselves and their servants. In 12:38-39, Judas's men reach Adullam and purify themselves when the seventh day comes, according to custom, and keep Sabbath there, burying those dead in battle on the day after, according to custom (i.e., the first day). In 15:1-4, Nicanor resolves to attack Judas in Samaria on Sabbath but is entreated to forbear by the Jews accompanying him, who argue that the living Lord commanded the seventh day to be kept in holiness.
Judith: In 8:6, Judith fasts and lives in a tent for three years and four months, except for Sabbath eve, Sabbath, new moon eve, new moon, and feasts and solemn days. In 10:2, it is repeated that she only dwelt in her house for Sabbath and feast days.
Religious books not from biblical canon
Infancy Gospel of Thomas 2.1-5: The five-year-old Jesus forms twelve sparrows out of clay on Sabbath, which then fly away, chirping; he also gathers together flowing water into pure pools by his word at the same time, and pronounces an efficaceous curse on the child who disperses the pools. Jews object to Joseph about these things.
Gospel of Thomas 27: Jesus warns, "Fast as regards the world ... Observe the Sabbath as a Sabbath."
Gospel of Peter 2.5, 7.27: Herod commends the swift burial of Jesus because it is the day before Sabbath and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That day, after the ninth hour (3:00 p.m.), the disciples mourn and weep "night and day until the Sabbath" (sunset or 6:00 p.m.; the idiom "night and day" can import a portion of a day).
Gospel of Nicodemus (Acts of Pilate) 1.1, 2.6, 4.2, 6.1, 12.1-2, 15.6, 16.1-2: Annas, Caiaphas, and others accuse Jesus of polluting Sabbath and wanting to destroy Torah, because he healed on Sabbath. Joseph of Arimathea is arrested and sealed up in a room on the day of Jesus' death, the day before Sabbath; he is ordered by a council to be dishonored on the day after Sabbath, but is not found when the door is opened. Joseph later testifies (on the day before another Sabbath) that he had remained locked up all Sabbath but, on midnight the day after, beheld a lightning flash and was led outside by the risen Jesus.
Acts of Paul, in the latter half of the second century: Paul prays "on the Sabbath as the Lord's Day [kyriake] drew near."
Damascus Document, known from the Dead Sea Scrolls monastic community, as well as a previously found copy, contains some of the most detailed Sabbath regulations anywhere: Sabbath is said to begin from when the setting sun "is above the horizon by its diameter"; any discussion of business or commerce on Sabbath is specifically forbidden, as is housecleaning, opening a container, or taking anything in or out of one's house; and the limit for walking outside one's city is set at 1000 cubits, or 2000 cubits if following a herd animal. One may bathe and drink water directly from the river on Sabbath, but not fill a container with water. Also, it is permitted to rescue a human being who falls into a well on the Sabbath, but significantly, not permitted to rescue an animal from a well on the Sabbath.
Frameworks
Table set for Shabbat eve.
Three primary interpretative frameworks exist, with many subcategories. Interpretation is complicated by the differing meanings attributed to unambiguous seventh-day Sabbath prior to the resurrection of Jesus; the ambiguity of events after the resurrection, including first-day and seventh-day events (Acts 20:7, 1 Cor. 16:2, perhaps Rev. 1:10; Acts 1:12, 13:13-45, 15:19-29, 16:13, 17:2, and 18:4); and several early Christian observances being attested as daily or on nonspecific days (Mk. 2:1-2, Lk. 19:47-20:1, Acts 2:42-47). Early Christians also observed Jewish practices as a sect of Judaism (Acts 3:1, 5:27-42, 21:18-26, 24:5, 24:14, 28:22), and observed Tanakh feasts (Passover, Acts 12:3-4, 20:6, 1 Cor. 5:7-8, 15:20, Jude 12; Pentecost, Acts 2:1, 18:21, 20:16, 1 Cor. 16:8; Atonement, Acts 27:9). Interpreters of each framework consider the high regard for the New Covenant described in Jer. 31:31 (cf. Heb. 8:1-13) as supporting their Sabbath positions.
Seventh day
Main articles: Shabbat and Sabbath in seventh-day churches
Observing the Sabbath-closing havdalah ritual in 14th-century Spain.
At least two branches of Christianity keep a seventh-day Sabbath, though historically they are not derived one from the other: the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Seventh-day Sabbatarians. Of different outlooks in some respects, they share others. Just as in the Jewish calendar, the Orthodox begin and end every ecclesial day at sunset, including the Sabbath. Both branches thus observe the Sabbath from what the civil calendar identifies as Friday sunset until Saturday sunset. Both identify the Sabbath with the day of rest established by God as stated in Genesis 2, a day to be kept holy. Both identify Jesus Christ as the Lord of the Sabbath, and acknowledge that he faithfully kept the Sabbath throughout his life on earth. Both accept the admonitions of St. Ignatius on the keeping of the Sabbath.[15]
Seventh-day Sabbatarians
Seventh-day Sabbatarians rest on the seventh Hebrew day. Jewish Shabbat is observed from sundown on Friday until the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night; it is also observed by a minority of Christians. Thirty-nine activities prohibited on Shabbat are listed in Tractate Shabbat (Talmud). Customarily, Shabbat is ushered in by lighting candles shortly before sunset, at halakhically calculated times that change from week to week and from place to place. Observance in Hebrew Scriptures was universally from sixth-day evening to seventh-day evening (Neh. 13:19, cf. Lev. 23:32) on a seven-day week; Shabbat ends approximately one hour after sunset by rabbinical ordinance to extend the Tanakh's sunset-to-sunset Sabbath into the first day of the week. The Jewish interpretation usually states that the New Covenant (Jer. 31:31) refers to the future Messianic Kingdom.
Several Christian denominations (such as Seventh Day Baptist, Seventh-day Adventist, Sabbath Rest Advent Church, Church of God (Seventh Day), and other Churches of God) observe Sabbath similarly to or less rigorously than Judaism, but observance ends at Saturday sunset instead of Saturday nightfall. Like the Jews with Shabbat, they believe that keeping seventh-day Sabbath is a moral responsibility, equal to that of any of the Ten Commandments, that honors God as Creator and Deliverer. The Christian seventh-day interpretation usually states that Sabbath belongs inherently to all nations (Ex. 20:10, Is. 56:6-7, 66:22-23) and remains part of the New Covenant after the crucifixion of Jesus (Lk. 23:56, Mt. 24:20, Acts 16:13, Heb. 8:10).[8][16] Many seventh-day Sabbatarians also use "Lord's Day" to mean the seventh day, based on Scriptures in which God calls the day "my Sabbath" (Ex. 31:13) and "to the LORD" (16:23); some count Sunday separately as Lord's Day and many consider it appropriate for communal worship (but not for first-day rest, which would be considered breaking the Ten Commandments[17]).
In this way, St. Ignatius saw believers "no longer observing the [Jewish] Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord's Day", and amplified this point as follows: "Let us therefore no longer keep the Sabbath after the Jewish manner, and rejoice in days of idleness .... But let every one of you keep the Sabbath after a spiritual manner, rejoicing in meditation on the law, not in relaxation of the body, admiring the workmanship of God, and not eating things prepared the day before, nor using lukewarm drinks, and walking within a prescribed space, nor finding delight in dancing and plaudits which have no sense in them. And after the observance of the Sabbath, let every friend of Christ keep the Lord's Day as a festival, the resurrection-day, the queen and chief of all the days."[15]
The Seventh-day Adventist official 28 fundamental beliefs (at 20) state:
The beneficent Creator, after the six days of Creation, rested on the seventh day and instituted the Sabbath for all people as a memorial of Creation. The fourth commandment of God's unchangeable law requires the observance of this seventh-day Sabbath as the day of rest, worship, and ministry in harmony with the teaching and practice of Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a day of delightful communion with God and one another. It is a symbol of our redemption in Christ, a sign of our sanctification, a token of our allegiance, and a foretaste of our eternal future in God's kingdom. The Sabbath is God's perpetual sign of His eternal covenant between Him and His people. Joyful observance of this holy time from evening to evening, sunset to sunset, is a celebration of God's creative and redemptive acts. (Gen. 2:1-3; Ex. 20:8-11; Luke 4:16; Isa. 56:5, 6; 58:13, 14; Matt. 12:1-12; Ex. 31:13-17; Eze. 20:12, 20; Deut. 5:12-15; Heb. 4:1-11; Lev. 23:32; Mark 1:32.)[18]
The Doctrinal Points of the Church of God (7th day) (Salem Conference, at 17) state:
We should observe the seventh day of the week (Saturday), from even to even, as the Sabbath of the Lord our God. Evening is at sunset when day ends and another day begins. No other day has ever been sanctified as the day of rest. The Sabbath Day begins at sundown on Friday and ends at sundown on Saturday. Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 20:8-11; Isaiah 58:13-14; 56:1-8; Acts 17:2; Acts 18:4, 11; Luke 4:16; Mark 2:27-28; Matthew 12:10-12; Hebrews 4:1-11; Genesis 1:5, 13-14; Nehemiah 13:19.[19]
Both Jewish and Christian seventh-day interpretation usually state that Jesus' teachings relate to the Pharisaic position on Sabbath observance, and that Jesus kept seventh-day Sabbath throughout his life on earth.
Sunday law
Main article: Seventh-day Adventist eschatology
Noticing the rise of blue laws, the Seventh-day Adventist church in particular has traditionally taught that in the end time a coalition of religious and secular authorities will enforce an international Sunday law; church pioneers saw observance of seventh-day Sabbath as a "mark" or "seal" or test of God's people that seals them, even as those who do not observe Sunday rest will be persecuted and killed. Ellen G. White interpreted Dan. 7:25, Rev. 13:15, Rev. 7, Ezek. 20:12-20, and Ex. 31:13 in this way, describing the subject of persecution in prophecy as being about Sabbath commandments.
First day
Main articles: Sabbath in Christianity and Sabbatarianism § Sunday Sabbatarians
Most Christians worship communally on the first (Hebrew or Roman) day. In most Christian denominations (Roman Catholic, some[citation needed] Eastern Orthodox, and most Protestant), the "Lord's Day" (Sunday) is the fulfillment of the "Sabbath" (Catholic Catechism 2175), which is kept in commemoration of the resurrection of Christ, and often celebrated with the Eucharist (Catholic Catechism 2177).[20] It is often also the day of rest. Lord's Day is considered both the first day and the "eighth day" of the seven-day week, symbolizing both first creation and new creation (2174).[20] (Alternatively, in some calendars, Sunday is designated the seventh day of the week.) Relatively few Christians regard first-day observance as entailing all of the ordinances of Shabbat. This interpretation usually states that the Holy Spirit through the Apostles instituted the worship celebration of the first day to commemorate Jesus' resurrection, and that the New Covenant transfers Sabbath-keeping (whether defined as rest or communal worship or both) to the first day by implication.[21] In Roman Catholicism, the transfer is described as based on their church's authority and papal infallibility.[22]
Roman Catholics (and many Protestants) view the first day as a day for assembly for worship (2178, Heb. 10:25),[20] but consider a day of rigorous rest not obligatory on Christians (Rom. 14:5, Col. 2:16).[23] Catholics count the prohibition of servile work as transferred from seventh-day Sabbath to Sunday (2175-6),[20][24] but do not hinder participation in "ordinary and innocent occupations".[25] Similarly, second-century father Justin Martyr believed in keeping perpetual Sabbath by repentance,[26] holding that Gentile Christians need not rest as Jews were commanded;[27] but he accepted extant non-Judaizing seventh-day Sabbatarian Christians "in all things as kinsmen and brethren".[28]
In other Protestant denominations, Lord's Day is kept as a rest day with similar rigor as Jewish Sabbath. The Westminster Confession of Faith 21:7-8, a Reformed Sabbatarian creed, states:
As it is the law of nature, that, in general, a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God; so, in His Word, by a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages, He has particularly appointed one day in seven, for a Sabbath, to be kept holy unto him (Ex. 20:8, 20:10-11, Is. 56:2, 56:4, 56:6-7): which, from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week: and, from the resurrection of Christ, was changed into the first day of the week (Ge. 2:2-3, 1 Cor. 16:1-2, Ac. 20:7), which, in Scripture, is called the Lord's Day (Rev. 1:10), and is to be continued to the end of the world, as the Christian Sabbath (Ex. 20:8, 20:10, Mt. 5:17). This Sabbath is to be kept holy unto the Lord when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering of their common affairs beforehand, do not only observe an holy rest all the day from their own works, words, and thoughts about their worldly employments and recreations (Ex. 20:8, 16:23, 16:25-26, 16:29-30, 31:15-17, Is. 58:13, Neh. 13:15-19, 13:21-22), but also are taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of His worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy (Is. 58:13).[29]
Likewise, the General Rules of the Methodist Church required "attending upon all the ordinances of God" including "the public worship of God" and prohibited "profaning the day of the Lord, either by doing ordinary work therein or by buying or selling".[30]
Assemblies
Main article: Lord's Day
The following textual evidence for first-day assembly is usually combined with the notion that the rest day should follow the assembly day to support first-day Sabbatarianism. On the first day of the week (usually considered the day of Firstfruits), after Jesus has been raised from the dead (Mk. 16:9), he appears to Mary Magdalene, Peter, Cleopas, and others. "On the evening of that first day of the week" (Roman time), or the evening beginning the second day (Hebrew time), the resurrected Jesus appears at a meeting of ten apostles and other disciples (Jn. 20:19). The same time of the week "a week later" (NIV) or, more literally, "after eight days again" inclusive (KJV), Jesus appears to the eleven apostles and others (Jn. 20:26). After Jesus ascends (Acts 1:9), on the feast of Pentecost or Shavuot (the 50th day from Firstfruits and thus usually calculated as the first day of the week), the Spirit of God is given to the disciples, who baptize 3,000 people into the apostolic fellowship. Later, on one occasion in Troas, the early Christians meet on the first day (Hebrew) to break bread and to listen to Christian preaching (Acts 20:7). Paul also states that the churches of Corinth and Galatia should set aside donations on the first day for collection (1 Cor. 16:2). Didache 14:1 (AD 70-120?) contains an ambiguous text, translated by Roberts as, "But every Lord's day gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving";[31] the first clause in Greek, "κατά κυριακήν δέ κυρίου", literally means "On the Lord's of the Lord",[32] and translators supply the elided noun (e.g., "day", "commandment" (from 13:7), or "doctrine").[33] Gleason Archer regards this as clearly referring to Sunday.[34] Breaking bread may refer to Christian fellowship, agape feasts, or Eucharist (cf. Acts 2:42, 20:7). Other interpreters believe these references do not support the concept of transfer of the seventh-day rest, and some add that they do not sufficiently prove that Sunday observance was an established practice in the primitive New Testament church.
By the second century, Justin Martyr stated, "We all gather on the day of the sun" (recalling both the creation of light and the resurrection);[35] and the Epistle of Barnabas on Is. 1:13 stated the eighth-day assembly marks the resurrection and the new creation: "He is saying there: 'It is not these sabbaths of the present age that I find acceptable, but the one of my own appointment: the one that, after I have set all things at rest, is to usher in the Eighth Day, the commencement of a new world.' (And we too rejoice in celebrating the Eighth Day; because that was when Jesus rose from the dead, and showed Himself again, and ascended into heaven.)"[36]
Both days
Ethiopian Orthodox and Eritrean Orthodox Christians (both of which are branches of Oriental Orthodoxy) distinguish between the Sabbath (seventh day) and Lord's Day (first day) and observe both. Seventh-day Adventists in several islands of the Pacific (Tonga; Western Samoa; Tokelau; Wallis & Futuna; Phoenix & Line Islands) observe Sunday as the practice on ships in the Pacific had been to change days at the 180° meridian. The islands were well to the east of this line, so the missionaries observed the Sabbath on the day sequence of the Western Hemisphere. However, the Tonga islands used the same days as New Zealand and Australia, so the missionaries were observing the seventh-day Sabbath on the day the secular authorities called Sunday.[37][a]
The International Date Line (IDL) was placed east of Tonga to align its weekdays with New Zealand and Fiji. Consequently, Tonga's time zone is UTC+13 rather than UTC−12:00, as it would be if the Date Line ran along the 180° meridian.[38] However, the SDA church observes the Sabbath as though the IDL followed the 180° meridian.
When the International Date Line was moved, islanders who had been worshiping on Sabbath were suddenly worshiping on Sunday because of a man made international treaty. After much discussion within the church, it was decided that the islanders would continue to worship on the same day as they always had, even though the name of the day had been changed from Saturday to Sunday by decree. However this situation is not without conflict.[39]
Note:
Governments are free to select the time zone of their choice.
Unspecified day
Main article: Non-Sabbatarianism
Non-Sabbatarians affirm human liberty not to observe a weekly rest or worship day. While keepers of weekly days usually believe in religious liberty,[40] non-Sabbatarians are particularly free to uphold Sabbath principles, or not, without limiting observance to either Saturday or Sunday. Some advocate Sabbath rest on any chosen day of the week, and some advocate Sabbath as a symbolic metaphor for rest in Christ; the concept of "Lord's Day" is usually treated as synonymous with "Sabbath". The non-Sabbatarian interpretation usually states that Jesus' obedience and the New Covenant fulfilled the laws of Sabbath, which are thus often considered abolished or abrogated.
Some of Jesus' teachings are considered as redefining the Sabbath laws of the Pharisees (Lk. 13:10-17, Jn. 5:16-18, 9:13-16). Since Jesus is understood to have fulfilled Torah (Mk. 2:28, Mt. 5:17), non-Sabbatarian Christians believe that they are not bound by Sabbath as legalists consider themselves to be. Non-Sabbatarians can thus exhibit either Christian liberty or antinomianism. On principles of religious liberty, non-Sabbatarian Jews similarly affirm their freedom not to observe Shabbat as Orthodox Jews do.
Non-Sabbatarian Christians also cite 2 Cor. 3:2-3, in which believers are compared to "a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written ... not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts"; this interpretation states that Christians accordingly no longer follow the Ten Commandments with dead orthodoxy ("tablets of stone"), but follow a new law written upon "tablets of human hearts". 3:7-11 adds that "if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory ..., will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? .... And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!" This is interpreted as teaching that new-covenant Christians are not under the Mosaic law, and that Sabbath-keeping is not required. Further, because "love is the fulfillment of the law" (Rom. 13:10), the new-covenant "law" is considered to be based entirely upon love and to rescind Sabbath requirements.
Non-Sabbatarians who affirm that Sabbath-keeping remains for God's people (as in Heb. 4:9) often regard this as present spiritual rest and/or future heavenly rest rather than as physical weekly rest. For instance, Irenaeus saw Sabbath rest from secular affairs for one day each week as a sign of the way that Christians were called to permanently devote themselves to God[41] and an eschatological symbol.[42]
Interpretations
Genesis 2
Based on Genesis 2:1-4, Sabbath is considered by seventh-day Sabbatarians to be the first holy day mentioned in the Bible, with God, Adam, and Eve being the first to observe it. In order to reconcile an omnipotent God with a resting on the seventh day of Creation, the notion of active cessation from labor, rather than passive rest, has been regarded as a more consistent reading of God's activity in this passage. Non-Sabbatarians and many first-day Sabbatarians consider this passage not to have instituted observance of Sabbath, which they place as beginning with Moses and the manna. Walter Brueggemann emphasizes Sabbath is rooted in the history of the Book of Exodus.[43]
Matthew 5
Jesus' statement, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them," is highly debated. Some non-Sabbatarians and others such as Anabaptists believe Jesus greatly reformed the Law and thus that Sabbath could only be justified if it were reaffirmed by Jesus. Antinomianism, generally regarded as a heresy, holds that, because Jesus accomplished all that was required by the law, thus "fulfilling" it, he made it unnecessary for anyone to do anything further. Strict Sabbatarians follow or expand Augustine's statement in Reply to Faustus that Jesus empowered his people to obey the law and gave additional commands that furthered its true intentions. This passage is often related to Colossians 2, from which maintenance, transference, or abolition of Sabbath are variously taught.
Colossians 2
The English Standard Version at Col. 2:16-7 ("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 a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.") is taken as affirming non-Sabbatarian freedom from obligations to Sabbath, whether this means only annual Sabbaths (Lev. 23:4–44)[44] or specifically weekly Sabbath (Lev. 23:1–3).[45] This passage's threefold categorization of events is parallel to Num. 28-29, 1 Chr. 23:31, 2 Chr. 2:4, Is. 1:13, Ezek. 45:17 (Lev. 23 mentions Sabbaths and festivals but not new moons). Accordingly, non-Sabbatarians and some first-day Sabbatarians believe this passage indicates Sabbath-keeping is part of an Old Covenant that is not mandatory (cf. Heb. 8:13). Seventh-day Sabbatarians and strict first-day Sabbatarians believe this passage indicates that weekly Sabbath remains to be kept as a shadow of things future to Paul's day[46] and/or a memorial of creation past.[44]
Additionally, Col. 2:13-5 states, "And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him." The ESV footnote regards "in it (that is, the cross)" as equivalent to the closing in him (Christ). First-day Sabbatarians and non-Sabbatarians often regard Sabbath as changed, either to Lord's Day or to spiritual Sabbath, by the Mosaic law being the "record of debt" (ESV) nailed to the cross. Some seventh-day Sabbatarians regard only High Sabbaths as abolished due to their foreshadowing the cross, holding it impossible for weekly Sabbath (which preceded sin) to foreshadow deliverance from sin in the cross.[13] Others see the "record of debt" (accusations) as distinct from God's unchanging law, believing it to be in force and affirmed by the evangelists after Jesus died on the cross,[8] regarding Sabbath, new moon, and High Sabbaths not as nailed to the cross but as foreshadowing the eternal plan of God.[14]
Hebrews 4
The unique word sabbatismos in Hebrews 4:9 is translated "rest" in the Authorized Version and others; "Sabbath rest" in the New International Version and other modern translations; "Sabbatism" (a transliteration) in the Darby Bible; "Sabbath observance" in the Scriptures 98 Edition; and "Sabbath keeping" in the Bible in Basic English. The word also appears in Plutarch, De Superstitione 3 (Moralia 166A); Justin, Dialogue with Trypho 23:3; Epiphanius, Adversus Haereses 30:2:2; Martyrium Petri et Pauli 1; and Apostolic Constitutions 2:36:2. Andrew Lincoln states, "In each of these places the term denotes the observance or celebration of the Sabbath .... Thus the writer to the Hebrews is saying that since the time of Joshua an observance of the Sabbath rest has been outstanding."[47] Sabbatarians believe the primary abiding Christian duty intended is weekly Sabbath-keeping, while non-Sabbatarians believe it is spiritual or eschatological Sabbath-keeping; both meanings may be intended. Justin uses sabbatismos in Trypho 23:3 to mean weekly Sabbath-keeping.
However, Justin does not speak of Hebrews 4, instead holding that there is no longer any need for weekly Sabbath-keeping for anyone. Hippolytus of Rome, in the early third century, interpreted the term in Hebrews 4 to have special reference to a millennial Sabbath kingdom after six millennia of labor. St. Chrysostom interpreted the term as having reference to three rests: God's rest from His labor on the seventh day, the rest of the Israelites in arriving in Canaan, and the heavenly (eschatological) rest for the faithful. He argued that the "rest" that "has been outstanding" is the heavenly rest, since the first two rests had already been going on. He also interpreted weekly Sabbath as a symbol of this heavenly rest: "And well did he conclude the argument. For he said not rest but 'Sabbath-keeping'; calling the kingdom 'Sabbath-keeping,' by the appropriate name, and that which they rejoiced in and were attracted by. For as, on the Sabbath He commands to abstain from all evil things; and that those things only which relate to the Service of God should be done, which things the Priests were wont to accomplish, and whatsoever profits the soul, and nothing else; so also [will it be] then."[48]
Matthew Henry calls this "a rest of grace, and comfort, and holiness, in the gospel state. And a rest in glory, where the people of God shall enjoy the end of their faith, and the object of all their desires .... undoubtedly the heavenly rest, which remains to the people of God, and is opposed to a state of labour and trouble in this world. It is the rest they shall obtain when the Lord Jesus shall appear from heaven .... God has always declared man's rest to be in him, and his love to be the only real happiness of the soul."[49] This is taken to support the belief that Sabbath-keeping is a metaphor for the eternal "rest" that Christians enjoy in Christ, prefigured by the promised land of Canaan.
Hebrews 8
Non-Sabbatarians and some first-day Sabbatarians believe Hebrews 8 indicates Sabbath-keeping is not mandatory, because "in that he saith, a new covenant, he hath made the first old" (Heb. 8:13 KJV; or "obsolete" NIV). Seventh-day Sabbatarians and strict first-day Sabbatarians believe Hebrews 8 indicates the Law of God (including Sabbath) remains on the hearts of God's people to be kept, but not fallibly as in the older covenant (Heb. 8:9–10).
Sunday
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For other uses, see Sunday (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Sundae.
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Sunday is the day of the week between Saturday and Monday. Sunday is a day of rest in most Western countries, as a part of the weekend and weeknight.
For most observant Christians, Sunday is observed as a day of worship and rest, holding it as the Lord's Day and the day of Christ's resurrection. In some Muslim countries and Israel, Sunday is the first work day of the week. According to the Hebrew calendar and traditional Christian calendars, Sunday is the first day of the week.[1] But according to the International Organization for Standardization ISO 8601, Sunday is the seventh day of the week.[2]
Contents
1 Etymology
2 Position in the week
2.1 ISO 8601
2.2 Culture and languages
3 Sunday in Christianity
3.1 Pagan correspondence
3.2 Christian usage
3.3 Modern practices
4 Common occurrences on Sunday
4.1 In government and business
4.2 In media
4.3 In sports
5 Astrology
6 Named days
7 See also
8 Notes
9 Sources
10 Further reading
11 External links
Etymology
A depiction of Máni, the personified moon, and his sister Sól, the personified sun, from Norse mythology (1895) by Lorenz Frølich.
Sunday is named after the Sun
The name "Sunday", the day of the Sun, is derived from Hellenistic astrology, where the seven planets, known in English as Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury and the Moon, each had an hour of the day assigned to them, and the planet which was regent during the first hour of any day of the week gave its name to that day. During the 1st and 2nd century, the week of seven days was introduced into Rome from Egypt, and the Roman names of the planets were given to each successive day.
Germanic peoples seem to have adopted the week as a division of time from the Romans, but they changed the Roman names into those of corresponding Teutonic deities. Hence, the dies Solis became Sunday (German, Sonntag).
The English noun Sunday derived sometime before 1250 from sunedai, which itself developed from Old English (before 700) Sunnandæg (literally meaning "sun's day"), which is cognate to other Germanic languages, including Old Frisian sunnandei, Old Saxon sunnundag, Middle Dutch sonnendach (modern Dutch zondag), Old High German sunnun tag (modern German Sonntag), and Old Norse sunnudagr (Danish and Norwegian søndag, Icelandic sunnudagur and Swedish söndag). The Germanic term is a Germanic interpretation of Latin dies solis ("day of the sun"), which is a translation of the Ancient Greek heméra helíou.[3] The p-Celtic Welsh language also translates the Latin "day of the sun" as dydd Sul.
In most Indian languages, the word for Sunday is Ravivāra or Adityavāra or its derived forms — vāra meaning day, Aditya and Ravi both being a style (manner of address) for Surya i.e. the Sun and Suryadeva the chief solar deity and one of the Adityas. Ravivāra is first day cited in Jyotisha, which provides logical reason for giving the name of each week day. In the Thai solar calendar of Thailand, the name ("Waan Arthit") is derived from Aditya, and the associated colour is red.
In Russian the word for Sunday is Воскресенье (Voskreseniye) meaning "Resurrection".[4] In other Slavic languages the word means "no work", for example Polish: Niedziela, Ukrainian: Недiля, Belorussian: Нядзеля, Croatian: nedjelja, Serbian and Slovenian: Nedelja, Czech: Neděle, and Bulgarian: Неделя.
The Modern Greek word for Sunday, Greek: Κυριακή, is derived from Greek: Κύριος (Kyrios, Lord) also, due to its liturgical significance as the day commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, i.e. The Lord's Day.
In Korean, Sunday is called 일요일 Il-yo-Il, meaning "day of sun".
Position in the week
ISO 8601
The international standard ISO 8601 for representation of dates and times, states that Sunday is the seventh and last day of the week.[5] This method of representing dates and times unambiguously was first published in 1988.
Culture and languages
Main article: Names of the days of the week § Numbered days of the week
In the Judaic, some Christian, as well as in some Islamic tradition, Sunday has been considered the first day of the week. A number of languages express this position either by the name for the day or by the naming of the other days. In Hebrew it is called יום ראשון yom rishon, in Arabic الأحد al-ahad, in Persian and related languages یکشنبه yek-shanbe, all meaning "first".
In Greek, the names of the days Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday ("Δευτέρα", "Τρίτη", "Τετάρτη" and "Πέμπτη") mean "second", "third", "fourth", and "fifth" respectively. This leaves Sunday in the first position of the week count. The current Greek name for Sunday, Κυριακή (Kyriake), means "Lord's Day" coming from the word Κύριος (Kyrios), which is the Greek word for "Lord". Similarly in Portuguese, where the days from Monday to Friday are counted as "segunda-feira", "terça-feira", "quarta-feira", "quinta-feira" and "sexta-feira", while Sunday itself similar to Greek has the name of "Lord's Day" ("domingo"). In Vietnamese, the working days in the week are named as: "Thứ Hai" (second day), "Thứ Ba" (third day), "Thứ Tư" (fourth day), "Thứ Năm" (fifth day), "Thứ Sáu" (sixth day), "Thứ Bảy" (seventh day). Sunday is called "Chủ Nhật", a corrupted form of "Chúa Nhật" meaning "Lord's Day". Some colloquial text in the south of Vietnam and from the church may still use the old form to mean Sunday. In German, Wednesday is called "Mittwoch", literally "mid-week", implying that weeks run from Sunday to Saturday.
In Italian, Sunday is called "domenica", which also means "Lord's Day" (from Latin "Dies Dominica"). One finds similar cognates in French, where the name is "dimanche", as well as Romanian ("duminică") and Spanish and Portuguese ("domingo").
Slavic languages implicitly number Monday as day number one, not two.
Polish Slovak Czech Bulgarian Russian literal or derived meaning
Monday poniedziałek pondelok pondělí понеделник понедельник (day) after not working
Tuesday wtorek utorok úterý вторник вторник second (day)
Wednesday środa streda středa сряда среда middle (day)
Thursday czwartek štvrtok čtvrtek четвъртък четверг fourth (day)
Friday piątek piatok pátek петък пятница fifth (day)
Saturday sobota sobota sobota събота суббота sabbath
Sunday niedziela nedela neděle неделя воскресенье not working (day)
Russian воскресение (Sunday) means "resurrection (of Jesus)" (that is the day of a week which commemorates it). In Old Russian Sunday was also called неделя "free day" or "day with no work", but in the contemporary language this word means "week". Hungarian péntek (Friday) is a Slavic loanword, so the correlation with "five" is not evident to Hungarians. Hungarians use Vasárnap for Sunday, which means "market day".
In the Maltese language, due to its Siculo-Arabic origin, Sunday is called "Il-Ħadd", a corruption of "wieħed" meaning "one". Monday is "It-Tnejn" meaning "two". Similarly Tuesday is "It-Tlieta" (three), Wednesday is "L-Erbgħa" (four) and Thursday is "Il-Ħamis" (five).
In Armenian, Monday is (Yerkoushabti) literally meaning 2nd day of the week, Tuesday (Yerekshabti) 3rd day, Wednesday (Chorekshabti) 4th day, Thursday (Hingshabti) 5th day. Saturday is (Shabat) coming from the word Sabbath or Shabbath in Hebrew, and "Kiraki" coming from the word "Krak" meaning "fire" is Sunday, "Krak" describing the sun by fire. Apostle John also refers to the "Lord's Day" (in Greek, Κυριακή ἡμέρα, "kyriake hemera" i.e. the day of the Lord) in Rev. 1:10, which is another possible origin of the Armenian word for Sunday.
However, in many European countries calendars almost always show Monday as the first day of the week,[6] which follows the ISO 8601 standard.
In the Persian calendar, Sunday is the second day of the week. However, it is called "number one" as counting starts from zero; the first day - Saturday - is denoted as 00.
Sunday in Christianity
Pagan correspondence
In Roman culture, Sunday was the day of the Sun god. In paganism, the sun was a source of life, giving warmth and illumination to mankind. It was the center of a popular cult among Romans, who would stand at dawn to catch the first rays of sunshine as they prayed.[dubious – discuss]
The opportunity to spot in the nature-worship of their heathen neighbors a symbolism valid to their own faith was not lost on the Christians. One of the Church fathers, St. Jerome, would declare: "If pagans call [the Lord's Day] [...] the 'day of the sun,' we willingly agree, for today the light of the world is raised, today is revealed the sun of justice with healing in his rays."[7]
A similar consideration may have influenced the choice of the Christmas date on the day of the winter solstice, whose celebration was part of the Roman cult of the sun.[dubious – discuss][8] In the same vein, Christian churches have been built and are still being built (as far as possible) with an orientation so that the congregation faced toward the sunrise in the East. Much later, St. Francis would sing in his famous canticle: "Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures, especially through my lord Brother Sun, who brings the day; and you give light through him. And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendor! Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness."
Christian usage
See also: Sabbath in Christianity
The ancient Romans traditionally used the eight-day nundinal cycle, a market week, but in the time of Augustus in the 1st century AD, a seven-day week also came into use.
Justin Martyr, in the mid 2nd century, mentions "memoirs of the apostles" as being read on "the day called that of the sun" (Sunday) alongside the "writings of the prophets." [9]
On 7 March 321, Constantine I, Rome's first Christian Emperor (see Constantine I and Christianity), decreed that Sunday would be observed as the Roman day of rest:[10]
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 vine-planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost.[11]
Despite the official adoption of Sunday as a day of rest by Constantine, the seven-day week and the nundial cycle continued to be used side-by-side until at least the Calendar of 354 and probably later.[12]
In 363, Canon 29 of the Council of Laodicea prohibited observance of the Jewish Sabbath (Saturday), and encouraged Christians to work on the Saturday and rest on the Lord's Day (Sunday).[13] The fact that the canon had to be issued at all is an indication that adoption of Constantine's decree of 321 was still not universal, not even among Christians. It also indicates that Jews were observing the Sabbath on the Saturday.
Modern practices
Some Christian denominations, called "Sabbatarians", observe a Saturday Sabbath. The name "Sabbatarian" has also been claimed by Christians, especially Protestants, who believe Sunday must be observed with just the sort of rigorous abstinence from work associated with "Shabbat". Christians in the Seventh-day Adventist, Seventh Day Baptist, and Church of God (Seventh-Day) denominations, as well as many Messianic Jews, have maintained the practice of abstaining from work and gathering for worship on Saturdays (sunset to sunset) as did all of the followers of God in the Bible.
For most Christians the custom and obligation of Sunday rest is not as strict. A minority of Christians do not regard the day they attend church as important, so long as they attend. There is considerable variation in the observance of Sabbath rituals and restrictions, but some cessation of normal weekday activities is customary. Many Christians today observe Sunday as a day of church-attendance.
In Roman Catholic liturgy, Sunday begins on Saturday evening. The evening Mass on Saturday is liturgically a full Sunday Mass and fulfills the obligation of Sunday Mass attendance, and Vespers (evening prayer) on Saturday night is liturgically "first Vespers" of the Sunday. The same evening anticipation applies to other major solemnities and feasts, and is an echo of the Jewish practice of starting the new day at sunset. Those who work in the medical field, in law enforcement, and soldiers in a war zone are dispensed from the usual obligation to attend Church on Sunday. They are encouraged to combine their work with attending religious services if possible.
In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Sunday begins at the Little Entrance of Vespers (or All-Night Vigil) on Saturday evening and runs until "Vouchsafe, O Lord" (after the "prokeimenon") of Vespers on Sunday night. During this time, the dismissal at all services begin with the words, "May Christ our True God, who rose from the dead ...." Anyone who wishes to receive Holy Communion at Divine Liturgy on Sunday morning is required to attend Vespers the night before (see Eucharistic discipline). Among Orthodox Christians, Sunday is considered to be a "Little Pascha" (Easter), and because of the Paschal joy, the making of prostrations is forbidden, except in certain circumstances. Leisure activities and idleness, being secular and offensive to Christ as it is time-wasting, is prohibited[dubious – discuss].
Some languages lack separate words for "Saturday" and "Sabbath" (e. g. Italian, Portuguese). Outside the English-speaking world, Sabbath as a word, if it is used, refers to the Saturday (or the specific Jewish practices on it); Sunday is called the Lord's Day e. g. in Romance languages and Modern Greek. On the other hand, English-speaking Christians often refer to the Sunday as the Sabbath (other than Seventh-day Sabbatarians); a practice which, probably due to the international connections and the Latin tradition of the Roman Catholic Church, is more widespread among (but not limited to) Protestants. Quakers traditionally referred to Sunday as "First Day" eschewing the pagan origin of the English name, while referring to Saturday as the "Seventh day".[14]
The Russian word for Sunday is "Voskresenie," meaning "Resurrection day." The Greek word for Sunday is "Kyriake" (the "Lord's Day"). The Czech, Polish, Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian, Ukrainian and Belarusian words for Sunday ("neděle," "niedziela," "nedelja", "nedjelja," "недеља", "неділя" and "нядзеля" respectively) can be translated as "without acts (no work)."
Common occurrences on Sunday
In government and business
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Further information: Sunday shopping
In the United States and Canada, most government offices are closed on both Saturday and Sunday. The practice of offices closing on Sunday in government and in some rural areas of the United States stem from a system of blue laws. Blue laws were established in the early puritan days which forbade secular activities on Sunday and were rigidly enforced. Some public activities are still regulated by these blue laws in the 21st century.[15] In 1985 twenty-two states in which religious fundamentalism remained strong maintained general restrictions on Sunday behavior.[16] In Oklahoma, for example, it is stated: "Oklahoma's statutes state that "acts deemed useless and serious interruptions of the repose and religious liberty of the community," such as trades, manufacturing, mechanical employment, horse racing, and gaming are forbidden. Public selling of commodities other than necessary foods and drinks, medicine, ice, and surgical and burial equipment, and other necessities can legally be prohibited on Sunday. In Oklahoma a fine not to exceed twenty-five dollars may be imposed on individuals for each offense."[16] Because of these blue laws, many private sector retail businesses open later and close earlier on Sunday or don't open at all.
Many countries, particularly in Europe such as Sweden, France, Germany and Belgium, but also in other countries such as Peru, hold their national and local elections on a Sunday, either by law or by tradition.
In media
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Many American and British daily newspapers publish a larger edition on Sundays, which often includes color comic strips, a magazine, and a coupon section; may only publish on a Sunday, or may have a "sister-paper" with a different masthead that only publishes on a Sunday.
North American Radio stations often play specialty radio shows such as Casey Kasem's countdown or other nationally syndicated radio shows that may differ from their regular weekly music patterns on Sunday morning or Sunday evening. In the United Kingdom, there is a Sunday tradition of chart shows on BBC Radio 1 and commercial radio; this originates in the broadcast of chart shows and other populist material on Sundays by Radio Luxembourg when the Reithian BBC's Sunday output consisted largely of solemn and religious programmes. However, BBC Radio 1's chart show moved to Fridays in July 2015.[17]
Period or older-skewing television dramas, such as Downton Abbey, Call the Midwife, Lark Rise to Candleford and Heartbeat are commonly shown on Sunday evenings in the UK; the first of these was Dr Finlay's Casebook in the 1960s.[18] Similarly, Antiques Roadshow has been shown on Sundays on BBC1 since 1979[19] and Last of the Summer Wine was shown on Sundays for many years until it ended in 2010.[20]
Many American, Australian and British television networks and stations also broadcast their political interview shows on Sunday mornings.
In sports
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Major League Baseball usually schedules all Sunday games in the daytime except for the nationally televised Sunday Night Baseball matchup. Certain historically religious cities such as Boston and Baltimore among others will schedule games no earlier than 1:35 PM to ensure time for people who go to religious service in the morning can get to the game in time.
In the United States, professional American football is usually played on Sunday, although Saturday (via Saturday Night Football), Monday (via Monday Night Football), and Thursday (via Thursday Night Football or Thanksgiving) see some professional games. College football usually occurs on Saturday, and high-school football tends to take place on Friday night or Saturday afternoon.
In the UK, some club and Premier League football matches and tournaments usually take place on Sundays. Rugby matches and tournaments usually take place in club grounds or parks on Sunday mornings. It is not uncommon for church attendance to shift on days when a late morning or early afternoon game is anticipated by a local community.
One of the remains of religious segregation in the Netherlands is seen in amateur football: The Saturday-clubs are by and large Protestant Christian clubs, who were not allowed to play on Sunday. The Sunday-clubs were in general Catholic and working class clubs, whose players had to work on Saturday and therefore could only play on Sunday.
In Ireland, Gaelic football and hurling matches are predominantly played on Sundays, with the first (used to be second) and fourth (used to be third) Sundays in September always playing host to the All-Ireland hurling and football championship finals, respectively.
Professional golf tournaments traditionally end on Sunday.
In the United States and Canada, National Basketball Association and National Hockey League games, which are usually played at night during the week, are frequently played during daytime hours - often broadcast on national television.
Most NASCAR Sprint Cup and IndyCar events are held on Sundays. Formula One World Championship races are always held on Sundays regardless of timezone/country, while MotoGP holds most races on Sundays, with Middle Eastern races being the exception on Saturday. All Formula One events and MotoGP events with Sunday races involve qualifying taking place on Saturday.
Astrology
Sunday is associated with the Sun and is symbolized by ☉.
Named days
Advent Sunday
Black Sunday
Bloody Sunday
Cold Sunday
Easter Sunday represents the resurrection of Christ
Gaudete Sunday is the third Sunday of Advent.
Gloomy Sunday
Good Shepherd Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Easter.
Laetare Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Lent.
Low Sunday, first Sunday after Easter, is also known as the Octave of Easter, White Sunday, Quasimodo Sunday, Alb Sunday, Antipascha Sunday, and Divine Mercy Sunday.
Passion Sunday, the fifth Sunday of Lent as the beginning of Passiontide (since 1970 for Roman Catholics in the ordinary form of the rite, the term remains only official among the greater title of the Palm Sunday, which used to be also the "2nd Sunday of Passiontide")
Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter.
Selection Sunday
Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima Sunday are the last three Sundays before Lent. Quinquagesima ("fiftieth"), is the fiftieth day before Easter, reckoning inclusively; but Sexagesima is not the sixtieth day and Septuagesima is not the seventieth but is the sixty-fourth day prior. The use of these terms was abandoned by the Catholic Church in the 1970 calendar reforms (the Sundays before Lent are now simply "Sundays in ordinary time" with no special status). However, their use is still continued in Lutheran tradition: for example, "Septuagesimae".
Shavuot is the Jewish Pentecost, or 'Festival of Weeks'. For Karaite Jews it always falls on a Sunday.
Stir-up Sunday is the last Sunday before Advent.
Super Bowl Sunday
Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost.
Whitsunday "White Sunday" is the day of Pentecost.
See also
After Saturday Comes Sunday
Blue laws
Saint Kyriake
Sol Invictus
Sunday Christian
Sunday (computer virus)
Sunday Island
Sunday league football
Sunday Morning
Sunday night blues
Sunday roast
Sunday school
Sunday shopping
Surya
Notes
Cf., e.g., Matt. 28:1 at https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Bible_(King_James)/Matthew.
"Monday shall be identified as calendar day [1] of any calendar week, and subsequent calendar days of the same calendar week shall be numbered in ascending sequence to Sunday (calendar day [7])." Further discussion: UK National Physical Laboratory: "Which is the first day of the week? And which is week 1 of the year? (FAQ - Time)": |http://www.npl.co.uk/science-technology/time-frequency/time/faqs/which-is-the-first-day-of-the-week-and-which-is-week-1-of-the-year-(faq-time) (Archive here: https://archive.is/SMEAx)
Barnhart (1995:778).
"ДНИ НЕДЕЛИ - СЛАВЯНСКАЯ СЕДЬМИЦА". Retrieved 2013-06-19.
"Monday shall be identified as calendar day [1] of any calendar week, and subsequent calendar days of the same calendar week shall be numbered in ascending sequence to Sunday (calendar day [7])." Further discussion: UK National Physical Laboratory: "Which is the first day of the week? And which is week 1 of the year? (FAQ - Time)": |http://www.npl.co.uk/science-technology/time-frequency/time/faqs/which-is-the-first-day-of-the-week-and-which-is-week-1-of-the-year-(faq-time) (Archive here: https://archive.is/SMEAx)
J. R. Stockton. "Calendar Weeks". Retrieved 2010-01-05.
St. Jerome, Pasch.: CCL 78, 550, as quoted in: CCC 1166.
Owen Chadwick (1998). A History of Christianity. St. Martin's Press. p. 22.
Martyr, Justin, First Apology, 67.3.
Zerubavel, Eviatar (1989). The Seven Day Circle: The History and Meaning of the Week. University of Chicago Press. p. 45. ISBN 9780226981659.
Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church: Vol. II: From Constantine the Great to Gregory the Great A.D. 311–600 (New York: Charles Scribner, 1867) page 380 note 1.
The Chronography of 354, Part 6: The calendar of Philocalus A–G is the seven day week and A–H is the nundial cycle.
"Canon 29 of the Council of Laodicea". Ccel.org. 2005-06-01. Retrieved 2011-12-16.
"Guide to Quaker Calendar Names". Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Retrieved 30 March 2017. In the 20th Century, many Friends began accepting use of the common date names, feeling that any pagan meaning has been forgotten. The numerical names continue to be used, however, in many documents and more formal situations."
"Blue law | American history". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2018-10-20.
"Blue Laws | The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture". www.okhistory.org. Retrieved 2018-10-20.
Savage, Mark (24 March 2015). "Radio 1 chart show moving to Friday afternoons". Retrieved 30 December 2016 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
The Kaleidoscope British Independent Television Drama Research Guide 1955-2010 and The Kaleidoscope BBC Television Drama Research Guide 1936-2011, Kaleidoscope Publishing
"Search Results - BBC Genome". Retrieved 30 December 2016.
The British Television Comedy Research Guide 1936-2011, Kaleidoscope Publishing, 2011
Sources
Barnhart, Robert K. (1995). The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology. Harper Collins. ISBN 0-06-270084-7
Further reading
Bacchiocchi, Samuele. From Sabbath to Sunday: a historical investigation of the rise of Sunday observance in early Christianity (Pontifical Gregorian University, 1977)
Cotton, John Paul. From Sabbath to Sunday: a study in early Christianity (1933)
Kraft, Robert A. "Some Notes on Sabbath Observance in Early Christianity." Andrews University Seminary Studies (1965) 3: 18-33. online
Land, Gary. Historical Dictionary of the Seventh-day Adventists] (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014)
González, Justo. "A Brief History of Sunday: From the New Testament to the New Creation" (Eerdmans, 2017)
What day is the Sabbath, Saturday or Sunday? Do Christians have to observe the Sabbath day?
Sabbath Saturday SundayQuestion: "What day is the Sabbath, Saturday or Sunday? Do Christians have to observe the Sabbath day?"
Answer: It is often claimed that “God instituted the Sabbath in Eden” because of the connection between the Sabbath and creation in Exodus 20:11. Although God's rest on the seventh day (Genesis 2:3) did foreshadow a future Sabbath law, there is no biblical record of the Sabbath before the children of Israel left the land of Egypt. Nowhere in Scripture is there any hint that Sabbath-keeping was practiced from Adam to Moses.
The Word of God makes it quite clear that Sabbath observance was a special sign between God and Israel: “The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested” (Exodus 31:16–17).
In Deuteronomy 5, Moses restates the Ten Commandments to the next generation of Israelites. Here, after commanding Sabbath observance in verses 12–14, Moses gives the reason the Sabbath was given to the nation Israel: “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day” (Deuteronomy 5:15).
God's intent for giving the Sabbath to Israel was not that they would remember creation, but that they would remember their Egyptian slavery and the Lord's deliverance. Note the requirements for Sabbath-keeping: A person placed under that Sabbath law could not leave his home on the Sabbath (Exodus 16:29), he could not build a fire (Exodus 35:3), and he could not cause anyone else to work (Deuteronomy 5:14). A person breaking the Sabbath law was to be put to death (Exodus 31:15; Numbers 15:32–35).
An examination of New Testament passages shows us four important points: 1) Whenever Christ appears in His resurrected form and the day is mentioned, it is always the first day of the week (Matthew 28:1, 9, 10; Mark 16:9; Luke 24:1, 13, 15; John 20:19, 26). 2) The only times the Sabbath is mentioned from Acts through Revelation, the occasion is Jewish evangelism, and the setting is usually a synagogue (Acts chapters 13–18). Paul wrote, “To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews” (1 Corinthians 9:20). Paul did not go to the synagogue to fellowship with and edify the saints, but to convict and save the lost. 3) After Paul states, “From now on I will go to the Gentiles” (Acts 18:6), the Sabbath is never again mentioned. And 4) instead of suggesting adherence to the Sabbath day, the remainder of the New Testament implies the opposite (including the one exception to point 3, above, found in Colossians 2:16).
Looking more closely at point 4 above will reveal that there is no obligation for the New Testament believer to keep the Sabbath, and will also show that the idea of a Sunday “Christian Sabbath” is also unscriptural. As discussed above, there is one time the Sabbath is mentioned after Paul began to focus on the Gentiles, “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ” (Colossians 2:16–17). The Jewish Sabbath was abolished at the cross where Christ “canceled the written code, with its regulations” (Colossians 2:14).
This idea is repeated more than once in the New Testament: “One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord” (Romans 14:5–6a). “But now that you know God — or rather are known by God — how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years” (Galatians 4:9–10).
But some claim that a mandate by Constantine in A.D. 321 “changed” the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. On what day did the early church meet for worship? Scripture never mentions any Sabbath (Saturday) gatherings by believers for fellowship or worship. However, there are clear passages that mention the first day of the week. For instance, Acts 20:7 states that “on the first day of the week we came together to break bread.” In 1 Corinthians 16:2 Paul urges the Corinthian believers “on the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income.” Since Paul designates this offering as “service” in 2 Corinthians 9:12, this collection must have been linked with the Sunday worship service of the Christian assembly. Historically Sunday, not Saturday, was the normal meeting day for Christians in the church, and its practice dates back to the first century.
The Sabbath was given to Israel, not the church. The Sabbath is still Saturday, not Sunday, and has never been changed. But the Sabbath is part of the Old Testament Law, and Christians are free from the bondage of the Law (Galatians 4:1-26; Romans 6:14). Sabbath keeping is not required of the Christian—be it Saturday or Sunday. The first day of the week, Sunday, the Lord's Day (Revelation 1:10) celebrates the New Creation, with Christ as our resurrected Head. We are not obligated to follow the Mosaic Sabbath—resting, but are now free to follow the risen Christ—serving. The Apostle Paul said that each individual Christian should decide whether to observe a Sabbath rest, “One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind” (Romans 14:5). We are to worship God every day, not just on Saturday or Sunday.
