How Sunday and the Sabbath Became Intertwined

In the post entitled "Sunday Church--to go or not to go," I started with the beginning of the question "why do Christians attend church on Sunday." Unfortunately, the answer to that question just brings up more questions. Thus, I decided to continue discussing the history of this tradition.

History: Tradition vs. Truth

The subject of Christians migrating from Saturday to Sunday worship is a very hotly debated topic among theologians but generally most agree on the same point in history. In my research on the topic I've seen several explanations concerning implications and ramifications of this event, however none of them seem to have solid evidence or concrete proof that it is in fact how the tradition started. By solid evidence/proof, I mean I haven't been able to find what I consider a valid source (yet) to confirm the speculation, but let's take a look at the idea, shall we?

The Council of Laodicea

The general consensus is that the Sabbath was changed to Sunday during the Council of Laodicea in 321 AD. The Council of Laodicea was a meeting of clerics in which it is said that many of our current traditions were discussed, debated, and decided upon.  Sources NewAdvent.org and Reluctant-Messanger.com both claim to have the complete canons of the council--canons being the agreed upon terms/rules that came out of the council. Both of these lists appear to be the same, and almost every article I find about the Council of Laodicea either sites one of these sites or simply refers to the canons as though they are common knowledge. (As I said, concrete sources are hard to find--though I'm sure these canons are displayed in a library somewhere and probably written in Greek). Canon 29 (XXIX) from these sources states:

"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." 

This wording can be traced into modern times via the Catholic version of the ten commandments, which commands that the "Lord's Day" be kept holy and does not mention the Sabbath of the Bible.

Now there are three possibilities:

1. The Sabbath was changed to Sunday at the council by divine will
2. The Sabbath was changed to Sunday at the council by man
3. The Sabbath was not changed to Sunday at the council

By Divine Will?

Is it possible that these clergymen were moved by God to change the Sabbath after the first coming of Jesus Christ? Anything is possible, but let's look at the facts. In Matthew 5:17-19 (KJV) Jesus says

"¹⁷Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. ¹⁸For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.¹⁹Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach , the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."

Keeping the Sabbath--not the "Lord's Day"--is in fact a law and commandment and by Jesus' words in Matthew, this cannot change until "all be fulfilled." Now, if "all" that is supposed to be fulfilled is His death on the cross, it would be safe to assume that the law could change. However, Jesus references the end of the world several times through out the Bible, and in John 14:1-3 (KJV) Jesus says 

"¹Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. ²In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." 

From these passages it is obvious that Jesus knows and tells the disciples that He will return. This implies that part of His fulfillment is to return therefore "all" has not been fulfilled yet. Jesus also says "until heaven and earth pass" and we know that earth has not passed/ended. Thus, from Matthew 5:17-19 (KJV), I conclude that God did not change the law at the Council of Laodicea.

By Man?

Do we need to discuss the idea that this change was generated by man? Some people may inquire as to why men would change the Sabbath day, but if you believe the Word of God, it doesn't matter why man changed it. The only thing that would matter here is that God did not change it, thus making it a man-made tradition. If you are truly curious as to the motivations, a survey of the history during that time period may be of interest to you (it's far too much to include in a blog post). This was a time of great turbulence in the Middle East (is there a time that wasn't of great turbulence there?); the Romans as well as the Persians were fighting for territory, and the Jews were still the oppressed group of the region. Much would have been done to keep the Jews "in check," as well as to ensure that the growing Christian population did not become a threat to the ruling parties. With the wording of the 29^th Canon, it almost seems as though a goal at that time was to keep Jews and Christians divided to ensure that they did not rise up together. The division of Jews and Christians (note that many of the early Christians would be Jewish by blood and Christian by choice), would ensure two uncoordinated minorities as opposed to one force. A more modern equivalent would be the tactic employed during American slavery to divide the Black community based on skin color. This tactic weakens the minority group to give those in power a stronger rule. That is one of my theories on a possible motivation for changing the day, however as I stated earlier, any motivation other than God telling them to do so still brings up the question of validity.

Not at All?

What if it didn't change during the Council of Laodicea? It still brings us back to question of whether is was changed by Divine Will or by man. The only way to prove it was changed by Divine Will would be to find a passage in the Bible where Jesus condones an amendment to the commandment saying we must keep the Sabbath day holy. Obviously if we find that Jesus says the commandment changed or could change, that's a direct contradiction to His statement in Matthew--this would bring about more problems and questions than just whether you should celebrate the Sabbath on Saturday or Sunday. As of now, I have not found a passage where Jesus retracts or contradicts his statement about keeping the law. The closest passage is when Jesus asks if your ox fell in a ditch on the Sabbath, would you leave it there. Still, He doesn't suggest that you stop keeping the Sabbath or move the Sabbath to another day; he merely points out that sometimes it may be necessary to do work on the Sabbath.

From this, I come to the conclusion that the Sabbath was changed to Sunday by man and that brings us to the question, does it matter? God didn't change the Sabbath day, but if you aren't resting on His 7th day, does it matter as long as you rest on a 7th day?

(Click to read the next post in this series)