The Sabbath - Part II

The word Sabbath (Hebrew Shabbat) appears in at least one hundred thirteen verses of our Bible.  Fifty-two of these verses appear in the New Covenant.  Because of this frequency, we believe God is trying to convey to us the importance of this “appointed time.”  Therefore, as followers of Yeshua (Hebrew for Jesus) the Messiah, we must strive to understand what He is teaching us through His Shabbat.

The Shabbat is not superficial as some may think. As with all of God’s appointed times, the Shabbat is multi-dimensional in its meaning and teaches us not only about the past, but the future Messianic kingdom (see Isaiah 66:22-23).  At the present, it also teaches us how to rest for our spiritual and physical well-being.

The Shabbat is listed in Leviticus 23:1 as one of the “feasts of the Lord.”  There are seven other appointed times (Hebrew: Moedim) listed in this chapter.  We believe these holy days are also multi-dimensional and teach us many things.  At Yeshua’s first coming, His death occurred at the Passover season and His second coming will be in the fall feasts at the Feast of Trumpets (Hebrew: Yom Teruah).

The Shabbat is often referred to as the “Jewish Sabbath.”  This is a misnomer.  As we stated in The Sabbath – Part I, the Shabbat was given at the beginning of creation.  It is God’s gift to Israel and ALL of mankind.  Yeshua said that HE is “Lord of the Shabbat.”  And, we believe all authority concerning the Shabbat was placed upon Him as the Messiah and not conveyed to any other person or religious institution (John 1:1-3).

If God created the Shabbat for mankind as an eternal gift, then why does most of Christianity ignore it today?  There are numerous books written on this topic.  In this article, we will address what we feel are two main historical events that give us snapshots of early church history and their move away from God’s Shabbat.

The first event recorded from the second century C.E. in the Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, and “The Martyrdom of Polycarp” is described in the life of the Elder/Bishop Polycarp (66 C.E.-155 C.E.).  He was a direct disciple of the Jewish Apostle John and not of known Jewish descent.  Polycarp was the leader of the congregation at Smyrna (now modern Turkey).  Because he refused to change observance of the Scriptural Passover day to the Roman-instituted Easter Sunday; he was labeled a heretic and burned at the stake.  This is evidence of a move away from the apostolic teachings to a replacement system that forced itself on the early followers of Yeshua.

In his book, Sabbath to Sunday, Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi writes: “Ignatius, Barnabas, and Justin, whose writings constitute our major source of information for the first half of the second century, witnessed and participated in the process of separation from Judaism which led the majority of Christians to abandon the Sabbath and adopt Sunday as the new days of worship.”

By the middle of the 4th century, most assemblies associated with the church of Rome had already transferred their celebration of God’s Passover to Easter Sunday, the Sunday after Passover.   They also changed their weekly meeting times from the Sabbath to Sunday.  However, certain assemblies in Asian Minor still held to the practices of the Apostles and they were denounced as “Judaizing.”  We believe history has shown there was always a small remnant of believers in Yeshua that continued to follow His example by meeting on the Sabbath and His other appointed times.

The second event occurred when the Roman Council of Nicaea met in 325 C.E.  It resulted in a move away from God’s Sabbath and His holy days to traditional Roman holidays.   Near the end of the meeting, the Roman Emperor Constantine, wrote a letter to the congregations in the Roman empire that contained the statement:

“…Let there be nothing in common between you and the detestable mob of Jews!” (quote from Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea Maritima). 

Obviously, from this one sentence quote, we see that Constantine hated the Jewish people and their calendar.  Consequently, he formally established a separate Roman state-sanctioned religion, which later became the Roman Catholic church. 

The Book of Daniel warns us of a future world leader called the “fourth beast” whom most teachers believe represents Rome.  This person will intend to change God’s appointed times and Law.  We believe the Roman Emperor Constantine did just that with his decrees that changed the weekly Shabbat to Sunday and moved the observance of Passover to the Roman Easter Sunday:

“He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and Law. Then, the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time.” (Daniel 7: 25)

What political and social pressures inspired Constantine to make these decrees?  Did Rome already have a cultural and religious practice of Sunday observance?  We must look at a few historical facts.

David B. Loughran, founder of the Stewarton Bible School - Stewarton, Scotland, wrote:

“…Sunday observance is a product of paganism. It found its way into the Christian church many years after the original Apostles died. At that time, Sunday was the rest day of the pagan Roman Empire in which the popular religion was Mithraism, a form of sun-worship. In the course of time, (during the second, third and fourth centuries) multitudes of sun-worshipers joined the church. And when the Emperor Constantine ruled (AD 306-337)....they naturally didn't want to give up their pagan ways - and days - for anything which was at variance with their cherished heathen traditions...popular traditions of paganism were brought into the church and the truths of the Most High were slowly pushed aside...”

Below are quotes from both Catholic and Protestant denominations who discuss this move away from the weekly Shabbat to Sunday:

• William Tyndale (1494-1536), author of the Tyndale Bible, and the first person to translate and print the New Covenant in English in 1534 C.E., believed that man was made lord over the Sabbath, not Jesus.  At least Tyndale told the truth about why they changed to Sunday, “put a difference between us and the Jews”:

"And as for the Sabbath, a great matter, we be lords over the Sabbath, and may yet change it into the Monday, or any other day, as we see need; or may make every tenth day holy day, only if we see a cause why. We may make two every week, if it were expedient and one not enough to teach the people. Neither was there any cause to change it from the Saturday, than to put a difference between us and the Jews, and lest we should become servants of the day after their superstition. Neither needed we any holy day at all, if the people might be taught without it". (Tyndale's Answer to More, Book 1, Chapter XXV)

• The Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, Second Edition, 1910, page 50:

“We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church in the Council of Laodicea (AD 336) transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.”

• The Faith of our Fathers, Cardinal James Gibbons (Catholic), page 111:

"You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify.”

• The Catholic Mirror, September 23, 1893, Cardinal James Gibbons:

“The Catholic Church for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday.”

• Manual of Christian Doctrine (Protestant Episcopal), page 127:

“Is there any command in the New Testament to change the day of weekly rest from Saturday to Sunday? - None.”

• Ten Commandments, Dr. R. Dale (Congregationalist), pp. 127-129:

  
  

“It is quite clear that however rigidly or devoutly we may spend Sunday, we are not keeping the Sabbath ... The Sabbath was founded on a specific, divine command. We can plead no such command for the obligation to observe Sunday. There is not a single sentence in the New Testament to suggest that we incur any penalty by violating the supposed sanctity of Sunday.”

• Augsburg Confession of Faith (Lutheran):

"The observance of the Lord's Day (Sunday) is founded, not on any command of God, but on the authority of the Church."

• Plain sermons on the Catechism, Rev. Isaac Williams (Church of England), Volume 1, pp. 334-336:

“Where we are told in Scripture to keep the first day at all? We are commanded to keep the seventh; but we are nowhere commanded to keep the first day ... The reason why we keep the first day of the week holy instead of the seventh is for the same reason that we observe many other things, not because the Bible, but the church has enjoined it.”

• Baptist Manual, Dr. Edward T Hiscox:

“There was and is a command to keep holy the Sabbath day: but the Sabbath day was not Sunday. It will be said, however, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week, with all its duties, privileges and sanctions. Earnestly desiring information on this subject, which I have studied for many years, I ask: Where can the record of such a transaction be found? Not in the New Testament, absolutely not. There is no Scriptural evidence of the change of the Sabbath institution from the seventh to the first day of the week.”

• From Sabbath to Sunday, Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi:

“The expression ‘Lord’s day which first appeared as an undisputed Christian designation for Sunday near the end part of the second century...the sayings of Christ found in the Gospels do not contain the expression “Lord’s day”....In a passage....Epiphanius (ca. A.D. 315-403) suggests that until A.D. 135 Christians everywhere observed Passover on the Jewish date, namely, on Nisan 15, irrespective of the day of the week.....no necessity has been felt to institute a Sunday memorial (whether annual or weekly) to honor his resurrection.....the role that the Church of Rome played in causing the abandonment of the Sabbath and the adoption of Sunday has been underestimated, if not totally neglected, in recent studies.”

CHRISTIAN BASIS FOR SUNDAY

As mentioned in the above quote by Dr. Bacchiocchi, the phrase “Lord’s Day” was used by early Christianity as a title for Sunday.  This phrase is still being used today to designate Sunday as the day of the week for Christians to meet and worship, in lieu of the Sabbath.  The only place in scripture we find this exact phrase is in the Book of Revelation 1:10:

 “I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet.”

This verse does not describe Sunday or any particular day of the week.  However, we believe it does describe the Day of Atonement, which was one of God’s appointed times listed in Leviticus 23.  Traditionally on this day, a long final blast is blown on a ram’s horn signifying God’s judgement for the year is sealed.  This is most likely the sound that John heard and described as “a voice, as of a trumpet.”

In the New Covenant, the phrase “Day of the Lord” appears five times.  Most of these refer to God’s final judgment on the earth; clearly eschatological.  In fact, the end of the book of Revelation describes the second coming of Yeshua, which is also encapsulated in Zechariah 14.  Both of these describe what will occur on a Day of Atonement in the future.

FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK

Many theologians have used the phrase “first day of the week” from the New Covenant writings as proof that early followers of Yeshua assembled on Sundays as their new day of worship.  They did not. This phrase is found seven times in the New Covenant.  It is used five times to document Yeshua’s resurrection events.  The other two times involve the Apostle Paul.  One example is found in Acts 20:7-8, where Paul was in Troas, an ancient city located in modern northwestern Turkey:

“And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow...”

For context, Paul arrived in Troas right after the biblical days of Unleavened Bread.  After the first day of Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23), God instructs us to count off seven complete Sabbaths (weeks) to determine when to observe Pentecost (Hebrew: Shavuot).  We believe the phrase “first day of the week” is a mistranslation from the Greek, “mia ton Sabbaton.”

The Greek word “Mia” that has been mistranslated as “first,” is defined in the Strong’s Concordance #3391 as “only one, someone.”  If the author had intended to communicate “first,” they would have used the Greek word “protos,” meaning “first in time or place.”   It describes a sequence.

Also, the Greek word “sabbaton,” translated as “week,” is defined in the New Testament Greek Lexicon:

• “the seventh day of each week which was a sacred festival on which the Israelites were required to abstain from all work;

  
  

  • the institution of the sabbath, the Law for keeping holy every seventh day of the week;

  • a single sabbath, sabbath day;

    
    

• seven days, a week”

Also, the word “day” is NOT in the original Greek.  The King James Bible translators used italics to indicate it was added for clarity.  The literal translation of the phrase “first day of the week” is found Jay P. Green’s Interlinear Greek-English New Tesatment, 3^rd edition:

“One of the Sabbaths”

The phrase “one of the sabbaths” falls perfectly in line with the rest of scripture as Paul was using the Jewish calendar to mark his meetings with many assemblies.  The other time this phase was used, with respect to Paul, was in 1 Corinthians 16:2, where he instructs each one of them to “lay something aside.” This was most likely money collected in their homes that Paul could carry back to Jerusalem.  He was not changing God’s commandment concerning the Sabbath but was taking care of business.

The phrase “first day of the week” appears in the other five places in the New Covenant.  All of these took place during the Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread time period.  Obviously, the Biblical holidays were being counted by Yeshua’s followers as instructed in Leviticus 23.

RESURRECTION SUNDAY

Christianity teaches that one of the reasons they meet on Sunday is to “celebrate the resurrection of Christ” on the first day of the week.  As we learned above, this phrase really means “one of the Sabbaths” in the context of counting off the seven weeks (Sabbaths) from Passover to Pentecost.  So, did Yeshua resurrect on a Sunday?  We will further address this in another article.  Sadly, we believe these mistranslations have led to a complete replacement of God’s holy days found throughout the Bible.

CHANGE THE DAY OF REST

We believe no person or institution can change God’s day of rest or any other commandment in the Bible.  God clearly stated in Deuteronomy 4:2:

“You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.”

We also read in Deuteronomy 12:28, why it’s important to keep His Commandments exactly the way He gave them:

“Observe and obey all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.”

The Apostle Paul upheld the perfection of God’s Commandments.  He wrote in Romans 7:12:

“Therefore, the Law is holy, and the Commandment holy and just and good.”

Paul acknowledged that God’s Law is perfect, holy, and good, and would have understood that he did not have the authority to change any part of it.  However, this did not stop the misinterpretation of his letters. We find a warning in 2 Peter 3:15-16:

“…and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.”

In his conclusion, Peter addressed false prophets and false teachers with this warning about Paul’s letters.  He reminds them that Paul’s letters were hard to understand and the problem was with other teachers, not with Paul. 

We believe we have clearly shown that the Sabbath was a gift from the Creator to all mankind and His creation.  The commandment in Exodus 20 provides a day off for “you and your family, your servants, your cattle, and your foreigners in your gates.”  Why would anyone want to reject it, ignore it, or change it?  Our testimony of forty-plus years is - it truly is a delight!