Sabbath Observance Through The Centuries - The First Century A.D.
INSTITUTION OF THE SABBATH
"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." (Genesis 2:1-3 )
JESUS
"And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read." (Luke 4:16)
JESUS
"And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." (Matthew 19:16,17)
JESUS
"But pray ye that your flight be not in winter, neither on the Sabbath day." (Matthew 24, 20).
NOTE: Jesus asked his disciples to pray that in the flight from the doomed city of Jerusalem they would not have to flee on the Sabbath day. This flight took place in 70 A.D. 40 years after the Jesus' crucifixion and we see here that Jesus fully expected His church to be observing His true seventh day Sabbath that He Himself proclaimed to be the Lord of.
JESUS' FOLLOWERS
"And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." (Luke 23:56.) Did these women make a mistake and keep the wrong sabbath or was it that Christ NEVER EVER hinted that there would be a change forthcoming???
PAUL
"And Paul, as his manner was went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures" (Acts 17:2) Did Christ fail to inform Paul on the road to Damascus that there's now a new sabbath? Or rather does the silence of Christ speak volumes against the papal sabbath???
PAUL AND THE GENTILES
"And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. And the next Sabbath came almost the whole city together to hear the Word of God." Acts 13:42, 44.
Here we find Gentiles in a Gentile city gathering on the Sabbath. It was not a synagogue meeting in verse 44, for it says almost the whole city came together, verse 42 says they asked to hear the message the "next Sabbath."
And get this: The Bible does not say it is the "old Jewish Sabbath that was passed away," but the Spirit of God, writing the Book of Acts some 30 years after the crucifixion, calls it "the next Sabbath."
JOHN
"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." Rev.1:10 (Matthew 12:6; Mark 2:28, Isa.58:13, Ex.20:10, Clearly show the Sabbath to be the Lord's day).
The term "Lord's day" in reference to Sunday came later. The Biblical meaning for Lord's day is the day that God calls "My holy day" and the day that Jesus said He is Lord of.
JOSEPHUS
"There is not any city of the Grecians, nor any of the Barbarians, nor any nation whatsoever, whither our custom of resting on the seventh day hath not come!" M'Clatchie, "Notes and Queries on China and Japan" (edited by Dennys), Vol 4, Nos 7, 8, p.100.
PHILO
Declares the seventh day to be a festival, not of this or of that city, but of the universe. M'Clatchie, "Notes and Queries," Vol. 4, 99
So we have incontrovertible proof that the observance of Sunday was NOT practiced by the apostolic church of the first century. Although the poison of apostasy had already begun, it did not reach the ascendancy until the passage of a few more centuries.
The next installment will show the historical record of the early Christians observing the true seventh day Sabbath in the second century A.D.
more to come...
Spurious letters of Ignatius (c. 108/140 AD)
"... 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 [of the week].—ch. 9. ..." ANF01 - The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, Chapter IX (9) - https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.v.iii.ix.html
Church Historians (3rd & 4th Centuries):
"... But keep the Sabbath, and the Lord’s day festival; because the former is the memorial of the creation, and the latter of the resurrection. But there is one only Sabbath to be observed by you in the whole year, which is that of our Lord’s burial, on which men ought to keep a fast, but not a festival. ..." - Apostolic Constitutions, Book VII (7), section XXIII (23), by Philip Schaff; ANF07. Fathers of the Third and Fourth Centuries: Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, Homily, and Liturgies; page 692 (PDF 712) - http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/03d/1819-1893,_Schaff._Philip,_1_Vol_07_Fathers_Of_The_Third_And_Fourth_Centuries,_EN.pdf
"... The people of Constantinople, and of several other cities, assemble together on the sabbath, as well as on the next day; which custom is never observed at Rome, or at Alexandria. There are several cities and villages in Egypt where, contrary to the usages established elsewhere, the people meet together on sabbath evenings; and although they have dined previously, partake of the mysteries. ..." - Salaminius Hermias Sozomenus (aka: "Sozomen"); The Ecclesiastical History of Sozomen, comprising a History of the Church, from A.D. 324 to A.D. 440; translated from the Greek: without a memoir of the Author; also The Ecclesiastical History of Philostorgus, as epitomised by Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople.; translated by Edward Walford, M.A.; late scholar of Balliol College, Oxford.; London: Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden. MDCCCLV (1855). page 344 (PDF 364) - The Ecclesiastical History Of Sozomen 1855 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive - https://archive.org/stream/TheEcclesiasticalHistoryOfSozomen1855/The%20Ecclesiastical%20History%20of%20Sozomen%201855#page/n364/mode/1up
See also Salaminius Hermias Sozomenus (aka: "Sozomen"); The Ecclesiastical History of Sozomen, comprising a History of the Church, from A.D. 323 to A.D. 425., translated from the Greek.; Revised by Chester D. Hartranft, Hartford Theological Seminary. (page 639-640 (PDF 315-316)) - http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/03d/0450-0450,_Salaminus_Hermias_Sozomenus,_The_Ecclesiastical_History_[Schaff],_EN.pdf
"... For although almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries on the sabbath of every week, [1] yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, refuse to do this. The Egyptians in the neighbourhood of Alexandria, and the inhabitants of Thebais, hold their religious meetings on the sabbath ..." - Socrates Scholasticus; The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates, surnamed Scholasticus, or the Advocate., comprising a History of the Church in Seven Books, from the accession of Constantine, A.D. 305, to the 38th Year of Theodosius II., including A period of 140 years.; translated from the Greek: with some account of the Author, and notes selected from Valesius.; London: Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden. MDCCCLIII (1853).; page 289-290 (PDF 313-314) - The ecclesiastical history of Socrates, surnamed Scholasticus, or the Advocate : comprising a history of the church, in seven books, from the accession of Constantine, A.D. 305, to the 38th year of Theodosius II., including a period of 140 years : Socrates, Scholasticus, approximately 379-approximately 440 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive - https://archive.org/stream/ecclesiasticalh00valogoog#page/n314/mode/1up/
The ecclesiastical history of Socrates, surnamed Scholasticus, or the Advocate : comprising a history of the church, in seven books, from the accession of Constantine, A.D. 305, to the 38th year of Theodosius II., including a period of 140 years : Socrates, Scholasticus, approximately 379-approximately 440 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive - https://archive.org/stream/ecclesiasticalh00valogoog#page/n315/mode/1up/
See also Socrates Scholasticus - Historia ecclesiastica - The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Scholasticus., Revised, with Notes, byThe Rev. A.C. Zenos, D.D.; Professor of New TEstament exegesis in the theological seminary at Hartford, Conn.; page 244 (PDF 244) - http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/03d/0380-0440,_Socrates_Scholasticus,_Historia_ecclesiastica_[Schaff],_EN.pdf
Council of Laodicea (AD 363–364):
Canon 16 -
"The Gospels are to be read on the Sabbath [i.e. Saturday], with the other Scriptures. ..." (notation, "... Among the Greeks the Sabbath was kept ...")
Canon 29 -
"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."
Canon 49 -
"During Lent the Bread must not be offered except on the Sabbath Day and on the Lord's Day only." (notation, Hefele stated, "This canon, which was repeated by the Trullan Synod [AD 692] in its fifty-second canon. ...")
Canon 51 -
"The nativities of Martyrs are not to be celebrated in Lent, but commemorations of the holy Martyrs are to be made on the Sabbaths and Lord's days." - CHURCH FATHERS: Synod of Laodicea (4th Century) - https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3806.htm
Patrick of Ireland (5th Century) - kept the 7th day - See Moffat, The Church in Scotland, p. 140 - https://archive.org/details/churchinscotla00moff/page/140/mode/1up
Skene, Celtic Scotland, Vol. II, p. 349. - https://archive.org/details/dli.granth.86825/page/349/mode/1up