Is Sabbath, Saturday or Sunday.

[hobie]

You don't get to do that..... you can't post an extended article and then simply shrug and say I need to take up disagreements with the authors of it. You posted it, stand by it.

For what it's worth I don't care what the Catholic church does.

If you insist, but as they say, 'be careful what you ask for'. We saw this in the article....

''The [Roman Catholic] Church changed the observance of the Sabbath to Sunday by right of the divine, infallible authority given to her by her founder, Jesus Christ. The Protestant claiming the Bible to be the only guide of faith, has no warrant for observing Sunday. In this matter the Seventh-day Adventist is the only consistent Protestant.'' The Catholic Universe Bulletin, August 14, 1942, p. 4.

But there is much more...

"The Church, on the other hand, after changing the day of rest from the Jewish Sabbath, or seventh day of the week, to the first, made the Third Commandment refer to Sunday as the day to be kept holy as the Lord's Day. The Council of Trent (Sess. VI, can. xix) condemns those who deny that the Ten Commandments are binding on Christians." The Catholic Encyclopedia, Commandments of God, Volume IV, © 1908 by Robert Appleton Company, Online Edition © 1999 by Kevin Knight, Nihil Obstat - Remy Lafort, Censor Imprimatur - +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York, page 153.

"All of us believe many things in regard to religion that we do not find in the Bible. For example, nowhere in the Bible do we find that Christ or the Apostles ordered that the Sabbath be changed from Saturday to Sunday. We have the commandment of God given to Moses to keep holy the Sabbath Day, that is the 7th day of the week, Saturday. Today most Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the Church outside the Bible." The Catholic Virginian, "To Tell You The Truth,” Vol. 22, No. 49 (Oct. 3, 1947).

"... 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 Faith of Our Fathers, by James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, 88th edition, page 89. Originally published in 1876, republished and Copyright 1980 by TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., pages 72-73.

'Deny the authority of the Church and you have no adequate or reasonable explanation or justification for the substitution of Sunday for Saturday in the Third - Protestant Fourth - Commandment of God... The Church is above the Bible, and this transference of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact.'' Catholic Record, September 1, 1923.

"But since Saturday, not Sunday, is specified in the Bible, isn't it curious that non-Catholics who profess to take their religion directly from the Bible and not the Church, observe Sunday instead of Saturday? Yes, of course, it is inconsistent; but this change was made about fifteen centuries before Protestantism was born, and by that time the custom was universally observed. They have continued the custom, even though it rests upon the authority of the Catholic Church and not upon an explicit text in the Bible. That observance remains as a reminder of the Mother Church from which the non-Catholic sects broke away - like a boy running away from home but still carrying in his pocket a picture of his mother or a lock of her hair." The Faith of Millions


"Perhaps the boldest thing, the most revolutionary change the Church ever did, happened in the first century. The holy day, the Sabbath, was changed from Saturday to Sunday. "The Day of the Lord" (dies Dominica) was chosen, not from any directions noted in the Scriptures, but from the Church's sense of its own power. The day of resurrection, the day of Pentecost, fifty days later, came on the first day of the week. So this would be the new Sabbath. People who think that the Scriptures should be the sole authority, should logically become 7th Day Adventists, and keep Saturday holy." Sentinel, Pastor's page, Saint Catherine Catholic Church, Algonac, Michigan, May 21, 1995

'If Protestants would follow the Bible, they would worship God on the Sabbath Day. In keeping the Sunday they are following a law of the Catholic Church.' Albert Smith, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, replying for the Cardinal, in a letter dated February 10, 1920.

'It is well to remind the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and all other Christians, that the Bible does not support them anywhere in their observance of Sunday. Sunday is an institution of the Roman Catholic Church, and those who observe the day observe a commandment of the Catholic Church.'Priest Brady, in an address, reported in the Elizabeth, NJ on March 18, 1903. This Rock


'Of course these .. quotations are exactly correct. The Catholic Church designated Sunday as the day for corporate worship and gets full credit – or blame ' This Rock,The Magazine of Catholic Apologetics and Evangelization, p.8, June 1997


'The observance of Sunday by the Protestants is homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] Church.' Monsignor Louis Segur, 'Plain Talk about the Protestantism of Today';, p. 213.

 

[hobie]

Now Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, John Wesley and other reformers were ordained by God to do a great work but, unfortunately, the church which arose after them, having restored lost Bible truths, was not willing to search for other lost truths or to include those found by others into their creeds. They locked down into their own creeds and refused to look any further. John Robinson summed it up in these words, as he charged the Pilgrim Fathers:

If God should reveal anything to you by any other instrument of His, be as ready to receive it as ever you were to receive any truth of my ministry; for I am very confident the Lord hath more truth and light yet, to break forth out of His holy Word. For my part, I cannot sufficiently bewail the condition of the reformed churches, who are come to a period in religion, and will go at present no further than the instrument of their reformation. The Lutherans cannot be drawn to go beyond what Luther says; . . . and the Calvinists, you see, stick fast where they were left by that great man of God, who yet saw not all things. This is a misery much to be lamented; for though they were burning and shining lights in their time, yet they penetrated not into the whole counsel of God, but were they now living, would be as willing to embrace further light as that which they first received.... take heed, I beseech you, what you receive for truth, and compare it and weigh it with other scriptures of truth before you accept it; for it is not possible the Christian would come so lately out of such thick antichristian darkness, and that full perfection of knowledge should break forth at once."..https://historyweblog.com/2015/10/pilgrims-charter-mayflower/

 

[hobie]

Now here from the Protestant churches:

Anglican:
"And where are we told in the Scriptures that we are 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 because the Church, has enjoined it." Isaac Williams, Plain Sermons on the Catechism, pages 334, 336.

Baptist:
There was and is a command to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not Sunday. It will however be readily said, 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. Dr. E. T. Hiscox, author of the Baptist Manual.
"To me it seems unaccountable that Jesus, during three years' discussion with His disciples, often conversing with them upon the Sabbath question, discussing it in some of its various aspects, freeing it from its false [Jewish traditional] glosses, never alluded to any transference of the day; also, that during the forty days of His resurrection life, no such thing was intimated. Nor, so far as we know, did the Spirit, which was given to bring to their remembrance all things whatsoever that He had said unto them, deal with this question. Nor yet did the inspired apostles, in preaching the gospel, founding churches, counseling and instructing those founded, discuss or approach the subject.

Of course I quite well know that Sunday did come into use in early Christian history as a religious day as we learn from the Christian Fathers and other sources. But what a pity that it comes branded with the mark of Paganism, and christened with the name of the sun-god, then adopted and sanctified by the Papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestantism." Dr. E. T. Hiscox, report of his sermon at the Baptist Minister's Convention, in 'New York Examiner,' November 16, 1893

"The Scriptures nowhere call the first day of the week the Sabbath. . .There is no Scriptural authority for so doing, nor of course, any Scriptural obligation." The Watchman.

"We believe that the law of God is the eternal and unchangeable rule of His moral government."-"Baptist Church Manual," Art. 12.

"There was never any formal or authoritative change from the Jewish seventh-day Sabbath to the Christian first-day observance." -WILLIAM OWEN CARVER, "The Lord's Day in Our Day," page 49.

"There is nothing in Scripture that requires us to keep Sunday rather than Saturday as a holy day." Harold Lindsell (editor), Christianity Today, Nov. 5, 1976

Church of Christ:
"But we do not find any direct command from God, or instruction from the risen Christ, or admonition from the early apostles, that the first day is to be substituted for the seventh day Sabbath." "Let us be clear on this point. Though to the Christian 'that day, the first day of the week' is the most memorable of all days ... there is no command or warrant in the New Testament for observing it as a holy day." "The Roman Church selected the first day of the week in honour of the resurrection of Christ. ..." Bible Standard, May, 1916, Auckland, New Zealand.

"... If the fourth command is binding upon us Gentiles by all means keep it. But let those who demand a strict observance of the Sabbath remember that the seventh day is the ONLY sabbath day commanded, and God never repealed that command. If you would keep the Sabbath, keep it; but Sunday is not the Sabbath. The argument of the 'Seventh-day Adventists' is on one point unassailable. It is the Seventh day not the first day that the command refers to." G. Alridge, Editor, The Bible Standard, April, 1916.
"There is no direct Scriptural authority for designating the first day the Lord's day."-DR. D. H. LUCAS, Christian Oracle, Jan. 23, 1890.

"The first day of the week is commonly called the Sabbath. This is a mistake. The Sabbath of the Bible was the day just preceding the first day of the week. The first day of the week is never called the Sabbath anywhere in the entire Scriptures. It is also an error to talk about the change of the Sabbath. There never was any change of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. There is not in any place in the Bible any intimation of such a change."-"First-Day Observance," pages 17, 19.
"It has reversed the fourth commandment by doing away with the Sabbath of God's Word, and instituting Sunday as a holiday." DR. N. SUMMERBELL, "History of the Christian Church," Third Edition, page 4I5.
"To command...men...to observe...the Lord's day...is contrary to the gospel." - "Memoirs of Alexander Campbell," Vol. 1, page 528.

"It is clearly proved that the pastors of the churches have struck out one of God's ten words, which, not only in the Old Testament, but in all revelation, are the most emphatically regarded as the synopsis of all religion and morality."-ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, "Debate With Purcell," page 214.

"I do not believe that the Lord's day came in the room of the Jewish Sabbath, or that the Sabbath was changed from the seventh to the first day, for this plain reason, where there is no testimony, there can be no faith. Now there is no testimony in all the oracles of heaven that the Sabbath was changed, or that the Lord's day came in the room of it."-ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, Washington Reporter, Oct. 8, 1821.

Episcopalian:
"We have made the change from the seventh day to the first day, from Saturday to Sunday, on the authority of the one holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church of Christ." Bishop Symour, Why We keep Sunday.
"The Bible commandment says on the seventh-day thou shalt rest. That is Saturday. Nowhere in the Bible is it laid down that worship should be done on Sunday." Phillip Carrington, quoted in Toronto Daily Star, Oct 26, 1949 [Carrington (1892-), Anglican archbishop of Quebec

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

"They [the Catholics] allege the Sabbath changed into Sunday, the Lord's day, contrary to the Decalogue, as it appears, neither is there any example more boasted of than the changing of the Sabbath day. Great, say they, is the power and authority of the church, since it dispensed with one of the Ten Commandments." -Augsburg Confession of Faith, Art. 28, par. 9.

"They [Roman Catholics] allege the change of the Sabbath into the Lord's day, as it seemeth, to the Decalogue [the ten commandments]; and they have no example more in their mouths than they change of the Sabbath. They will needs have the Church's power to be very great, because it hath dispensed with the precept of the Decalogue." The Augsburg Confession, 1530 A.D. (Lutheran), part 2, art 7, in Philip Schaff, the Creeds of Christiandom, 4th Edition, vol 3, p64 [this important statement was made by the Lutherans and written by Melanchthon, only thirteen years after Luther nailed his theses to the door and began the Reformation].

"For up to this day mankind has absolutely trifled with the original and most special revelation of the Holy God, the ten words written upon the tables of the Law from Sinai."-"Crown Theological Library," page I78.

"The Christians in the ancient church very soon distinguished the first day of the week, Sunday; however, not as a Sabbath, but as an assembly day of the church, to study the Word of God together, and to celebrate the ordinances one with another: without a shadow of doubt, this took place as early as the first part of the second century."-Bishop GRIMELUND, "History of the Sabbath," page 60.

"The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always only a human ordinance."- AUGUSTUS NEANDER, "History of the Christian Religion and Church," Vol. 1, page 186.

"I wonder exceedingly how it came to be imputed to me that I should reject the law of Ten Commandments...Whosoever abrogates the law must of necessity abrogate sin also."-MARTIN LUTHER, Spiritual Antichrist," pages 71, 72.

"We have seen how gradually the impression of the Jewish Sabbath faded from the mind of the Christian church, and how completely the newer thought underlying the observance of the first day took possession of the church. We have seen that the Christian of the first three centuries never confused one with the other, but for a time celebrated both." The Sunday Problem, a study book by the Lutheran Church (1923) p.36
"But they err in teaching that Sunday has taken the place of the Old Testament Sabbath and therefore must be kept as the seventh day had to be kept by the children of Israel .... These churches err in their teaching, for scripture has in no way ordained the first day of the week in place of the Sabbath. There is simply no law in the New Testament to that effect" John Theodore Mueller, Sabbath or Sunday, pp.15, 16

 

[hobie]

Methodist:
"This 'handwriting of ordinances' our Lord did blot out, take away, and nail to His cross. (Colossians 2: 14.) But the moral law contained in the Ten Commandments, and enforced by the prophets, He did not take away.... The moral law stands on an entirely different foundation from the ceremonial or ritual law. ...Every part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind and in all ages."-JOHN WESLEY, "Sermons on Several Occasions," 2-Vol. Edition, Vol. I, pages 221, 222.

"No Christian whatsoever is free from the obedience of the commandments which are called moral."-"Methodist Church Discipline," (I904), page 23.

"The Sabbath was made for MAN; not for the Hebrews, but for all men."-E.O. HAVEN, "Pillars of Truth," page 88.

"The reason we observe the first day instead of the seventh is based on no positive command. One will search the Scriptures in vain for authority for changing from the seventh day to the first. The early Christians began to worship on the first day of the week because Jesus rose from the dead on that day. By and by, this day of worship was made also a day of rest, a legal holiday. This took place in the year 321.
"The reason we observe the first day instead of the seventh is based on no positive command. One will search the Scriptures in vain for authority for changing from the seventh day to the first... Our Christian Sabbath, therefore, is not a matter of positive command. It is a gift of the church... "-CLOVIS G. CHAPPELL, "Ten Rules for Living," page 61.

"Sabbath in the Hebrew language signifies rest, and is the seventh day of the week... and it must be confessed that there is no law in the New Testament concerning the first day." Charles Buck, A Theological Dictionary, "Sabbath"

"In the days of very long ago the people of the world began to give names to everything, and they turned the sounds of the lips into words, so that the lips could speak a thought. In those days the people worshipped the sun because many words were made to tell of many thoughts about many things. The people became Christians and were ruled by an emperor whose name was Constantine. This emperor made Sunday the Christian Sabbath, because of the blessing of light and heat which came from the sun. So our Sunday is a sun-day, isn't it?"-Sunday School Advocate, Dec. 31, 1921.

"The moral law contained in the Ten Commandments, and enforced by the prophets, He [Christ] did not take away. It was not the design of His coming to revoke any part of this. This is a law which never can be broken... Every part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind and in all ages; as not depending either on time or place, or any other circumstances liable to change, but on the nature of God and the nature of man, and their un­changeable relation to each other."-JOHN WESLEY, "Sermons on Several Occasions," Vol. I, Sermon XXV.

It is true that there is no positive command for infant baptism. Nor is there any for the keeping of the first day of the week. Many believe that Christ changed the Sabbath. But, from His own words, we see that He came for no such purpose. Those who believe that Jesus changed the Sabbath base it only on a supposition. Amos Binney, Theological Compendium, p. 180-181

"The Sabbath instituted in the beginning, and confirmed again and again by Moses and the prophets, has never been abrogated. A part of the moral law, not a jot or a tittle of its sanctity has been taken away." Bishops Pastoral.

 

[hobie]

Moody Bible Institute:
"The Sabbath was binding in Eden, and it has been in force ever since. This fourth commandment begins with the word 'remember,' showing that the Sabbath already existed when God wrote the law on the tables of stone at Sinai. How can men claim that this one commandment has been done away with when they will admit that the other nine are still binding?"- D.L. MOODY, "Weighed and Wanting," page 47.
"I honestly believe that this commandment [the fourth, or Sabbath commandment] is just as binding today as it ever was. I have talked with men who have said that it has been abrogated, but they have never been able to point to any place in the Bible where God repealed it. When Christ was on earth, He did nothing to set it aside; He freed it from the traces under which the scribes and Pharisees had put it, and gave it its true place. 'The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.' It is just as practicable and as necessary for men today as it ever was-in fact, more than ever, because we live in such an intense age.' - Id., page 46.

"This Fourth is not a commandment for one place, or one time, but for all places and times." D.L. Moody, at San Francisco, Jan. 1st, 1881.

Presbyterian:
"The Christian Sabbath (Sunday) is not in the Scriptures, and was not by the primitive church called the Sabbath." Dwight's Theology, Vol. 14, p. 401. "A further argument for the perpetuity of the Sabbath we have in Matthew 24:20, Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter neither on the Sabbath day. But the final destruction of Jerusalem was after the Christian dispensation was fully set up (AD 70). Yet it is plainly implied in these words of the Lord that even then Christians were bound to strict observation of the Sabbath." Works of Jonathon Edwards, (Presby.) Vol. 4, p. 621.

"We must not imagine that the coming of Christ has freed us from the authority of the law; for it is the eternal rule of a devout and holy life, and must therefore be as unchangeable as the justice of God, which it embraced, is constant and uniform." JOHN CALVIN, "Commentary on a Harmony of the Gospels," Vol. 1, page 277.

"God instituted the Sabbath at the creation of man, setting apart the seventh day for the purpose, and imposed its observance as a universal and perpetual moral obligation upon the race." ­American Presbyterian Board of Publication, Tract No. 175.

"The observance of the seventh-day Sabbath did not cease till it was abolished after the [Roman] empire became Christian," American Presbyterian Board of Publication, Tract No. 118.

"The moral law doth for ever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof; and that not only in regard to the matter contained in it, but also in respect of the authority of God the Creator who gave it. Neither doth Christ in the gospel in any way dissolve, but much strengthen this obligation." "Westminster Confession of Faith," Chap. 19, Art. 5.

"The Sabbath is a part of the Decalogue-the Ten Commandments. This alone for ever settles the question as to the perpetuity of the institution ... Until, therefore, it can be shown that the whole moral law has been repealed, the Sabbath will stand...The teaching of Christ confirms the perpetuity of the Sabbath."- T.C. BLAKE, D.D., "Theology Condensed," pages 474, 475.

"Sunday being the first day of which the Gentiles solemnly adored that planet and called it Sunday, partly from its influence on that day especially, and partly in respect to its divine body (as they conceived it) the Christians thought fit to keep the same day and the same name of it, that they might not appear carelessly peevish, and by that means hinder the conversion of the Gentiles, and bring a greater prejudice that might be otherwise taken against the gospel" T.M. Morer, Dialogues on the Lord's Day

"There is no word, no hint in the New Testament about abstaining from work on Sunday. The observance of Ash Wednesday, or Lent, stands exactly on the same footing as the observance of Sunday. Into the rest of Sunday no Divine Law enters." Canon Eyton, in The Ten Commandments.

"Some have tried to build the observance of Sunday upon Apostolic command, whereas the Apostles gave no command on the matter at all.... The truth is, so soon as we appeal to the litera scripta [literal writing] of the Bible, the Sabbatarians have the best of the argument." The Christian at Work, April 19, 1883, and Jan. 1884

Southern Baptist:
The sacred name of the Seventh day is Sabbath. This fact is too clear to require argument [Exodus 20:10 quoted] on this point the plain teaching of the Word has been admitted in all ages Not once did the disciples apply the Sabbath law to the first day of the week, -- that folly was left for a later age, nor did they pretend that the first day supplanted the seventh. Joseph Hudson Taylor, The Sabbatic Question, p. 14-17, 41.

"The first four commandments set forth man's obligations directly toward God.... But when we keep the first four commandments, we are likely to keep the other six. . . . The fourth commandment sets forth God's claim on man's time and thought.... The six days of labour and the rest on the Sabbath are to be maintained as a witness to God's toil and rest in the creation. . . . No one of the ten words is of merely racial significance.... The Sabbath was established originally (long before Moses) in no special connection with the Hebrews, but as an institution for all mankind, in commemoration of God's rest after the six days of creation. It was designed for all the descendants of Adam."-Adult Quarterly, Southern Baptist Convention series, Aug. 15, 1937.....

We find it goes on and on from Bible scholars and teachers to famous ministers...

 

[tango]

Much of this looks like Christian tradition. Nothing really answers the objection that "the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" and the notion that the presence of rest is the key rather than exactly when it happens. You've quoted the opinions of lots of people and lots of history but I'm not seeing a simple answer to the question "why does it matter?"

If someone observed their Sabbath on Thursday and took their day of rest, what difference does it make?

I can't help thinking there's also a big difference between "worship" and "do no work". If we worship God collectively on a Sunday that's a different proposition from using Sunday as our day of rest. And then comes discussion over just what counts as "work", given Jesus healed people on the Sabbath even though the Pharisees thought he shouldn't.

Bonus points if you can answer a simple question in less then four pages of quotes from other people.

 

[Josiah]

If anyone wants to worship on some day other than Sunday, they are welcome to do so. Not one church on the planet forbids (or even discourages) that.

NO ONE claims that Saturday is not Saturday. They may disagree that the only (or even primary) meaning of "Sabbath" is a day of the week.

All the noise of this thread is just... well.... noise.




.

 

[Albion]

Please give the text...

Here are two translations of Acts 20:7, one more traditional and the other more of a "modern language" translation:

On the first day of the week, when we met to break bread, Paul began to speak to the people, and because he intended to leave the next day, he extended his message until midnight.

On the first day of the week, we gathered with the local believers to share in the Lord’s Supper. Paul was preaching to them, and since he was leaving the next day, he kept talking until midnight.

It's interesting how you offered me 5 different Bible verses in that post and not one of them was the one that is almost always cited to show that the NT Church worshipped on Sunday. In addition, the thread started with this: "If the Sabbath was abolished, there would be many verses and much text to show it, yet there is none."

However, the contention of the churches, both Catholic and Protestant, is not that the Sabbath has been abolished but that the principal day of worship would be Sunday, as the Bible shows us was done. You make a lot out of the claim that the church (taking at face the idea that it was the Church of Rome, as the SDA always insists when there is any doctrinal dispute) but we find the authorization for the change of day in God's own word and we do believe the Bible.

 

[hobie]

Here are two translations of Acts 20:7, one more traditional and the other more of a "modern language" translation:

On the first day of the week, when we met to break bread, Paul began to speak to the people, and because he intended to leave the next day, he extended his message until midnight.

On the first day of the week, we gathered with the local believers to share in the Lord’s Supper. Paul was preaching to them, and since he was leaving the next day, he kept talking until midnight.

It's interesting how you offered me 5 different Bible verses in that post and not one of them was the one that is almost always cited to show that the NT Church worshipped on Sunday. In addition, the thread started with this: "If the Sabbath was abolished, there would be many verses and much text to show it, yet there is none."

However, the contention of the churches, both Catholic and Protestant, is not that the Sabbath has been abolished but that the principal day of worship would be Sunday, as the Bible shows us was done. You make a lot out of the claim that the church (taking at face the idea that it was the Church of Rome, as the SDA always insists when there is any doctrinal dispute) but we find the authorization for the change of day in God's own word and we do believe the Bible.

You have to understand it was a Saturday night, and the Jews hold the end of Sabbath is sundown, so it would be the beginning of the next day, Here is a good explanation...
"According to the Bible, each day begins at sundown and ends at the next sundown (Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31; Leviticus 23:32) and the dark part of the day comes first. So Sabbath begins Friday night at sundown and ends Saturday night at sundown. This meeting discussed in Acts 20 was held on the dark part of Sunday, or on what we now call Saturday night. It was a Saturday night meeting, and it lasted until midnight. Paul was on a farewell tour and knew he would not see these people again (verse 25). No wonder he preached so long! (No regular weekly service would have lasted all night.) Paul was “ready to depart the next day” (verse 7). The breaking of bread has no particular significance here, because they broke bread daily (Acts 2:46). There is no indication in this passage that the first day is holy, nor that these early Christians considered it so. Nor is there any evidence that the Sabbath had been changed. (Incidentally, this meeting is probably mentioned only because of the miracle of raising Eutychus back to life after he fell to his death.) "...https://www.amazingfacts.org/media-library/study-guide/e/4984/t/the-lost-day-of-history

And more from my buddy Palehorse...
Acts 20:7 "And upon the first day of the week (yup, that's Sunday), when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight."

The disciples broke bread every day (see Acts 2:46) - that is not a reason for observing a different day of worship anyway and only shows lack of Biblical scholarship of someone using this argument. Furthermore, the term "breaking bread" here does not mean communion; otherwise the disciples were taking communion every single day. Does Acts 20:7 say that breaking bread constitutes a change to Gods day of rest? Nope.

Something that most miss is that if you read the story further you'll find that Paul starts out on Sunday morning for his trip; he travels about 30 km and then buys a boat ticket!

(Acts 20:11 When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed.)

Now, if Sunday had been any kind of holy day then Paul would not have been traveling nor purchasing anything on that day.

 

[hobie]

Now if you look in history, it makes it pretty plain, and scripture shows what was to happen. Paul, in his second letter to the Thessalonians, foretold this great apostasy which would come into the church. He declared that before the return of Christ would, "come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who exalteth himself above all that is called God;" Even at that early date he saw, creeping into the church, errors in belief that would prepare the way for the false teachings to come in.

Little by little, and then more openly as it increased in strength and gained control of believers, paganism and idol worship came into the church. The customs of heathenism began to find their way into the early Christian church and compromise and conformity to paganism was held back for a time by the fierce persecutions by the Roman Emperors. But as persecution ceased, and Christianity was accepted and entered the courts and palaces of the Emperors and Kings, the true church laid aside the humble simplicity of Christ for the pomp and pride of priests and pagan leaders and in place of the truth from God, it substituted human theories, rites and traditions.

It started slowly, a change here a compromise there, but the then with acceptance the gates to apostasy were fully opened by Emperor Constantine, who tried to politically not to leave out or alienate those who practiced paganism after he claim to convert to Christianity. He declared the bishop of Rome as the enforcer of truth and forced the merger of paganism into the church, and the heathen religion now cloaked with a form of righteousness, walked into the church. Paganism, while appearing to be vanquished by the church, became the conqueror. Pagan doctrines, ceremonies, and superstitions were incorporated into the faith and worship of the professed followers of Christ.

This compromise between paganism and Christianity resulted in the development of "the man of sin" foretold in prophecy as opposing and exalting himself above God.

In the early church, the bishop of Rome now became regarded as a Patriarchate, i.e. an autonomous diocese along with Alexandria and Antioch. Then the patriachates of Constantinople and Jerusalem was added in the fifth century. This group of five was regarded as leading the church as a whole. However, gaining political influence and claiming "historical events" ( using the tradition that Peter and Paul had been martyred in Rome) the Bishop of Rome made himself first among equals. To secure influence and more say in world events, the church was led to seek the favor and support of the political and secular leaders, and the church as a whole was forced to yield allegiance to the bishop of Rome.

 

[hobie]

What happened next can only be the "Great Apostasy" as we read from Wikipedia. "
The Great Apostasy is a term used by some religious groups to describe the perceived fallen state of traditional Christianity, especially the Roman Catholic Church, because they claim it allowed traditional Greco-Roman culture (i.e.Greco-Roman mysteries, deities of solar monism such as Mithras and Sol Invictus, pagan festivals and Mithraic sun worship and idol worship) into the church. That it is not representative of the faith founded by Jesus and promulgated through his twelve Apostles: in short, in their opinion, the church has fallen into apostasy.[1][2] They feel that to attract the pagans to nominal Christianity, the Catholic Church took measures to amalgamate the Christian and pagan festivals so pagans would join the church;[3] for example, bringing in the pagan festival of Easter as a substitute for the Pasch or Passover, although neither Jesus nor his Apostles enjoined the keeping of this or any other festival.[4][5]

They consider the Papacy to be in full-blown apostasy for allowing pagan rituals, the worship of Mary and idols[6], and pagan beliefs and ceremonies to come into the church, having those who pointed out its apostasy persecuted and killed and never repenting of or fully admitting the true extent of its actions.[7][8][9][10]"

Many pagans worshiped the sun and other pagan gods as they thought that their sun gods and fertility goddesses died at the winter solstice and came back to life at the spring equinox. Baal worship is sun worship, and Ashtoreth / Ishtar / Astarte is the queen of heaven. These pagan gods had spread through Egyptian/Greek influence and spread throughout the known Roman world.

Note what it says in Judges:
"Judges 2:13 And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth."

It is the apostasy of sun and idol worship of Baal and Ashtaroth that started to come into the church.
The pagans fashioned Madonna and child icons and placed them in sacred shrines. With the rise of Christianity it seemed that the goddess would slowly disappear and fade away. But instead the names and the images of the Madonna and child have changed, but we find them again, the blending of their ancient goddesses with christianized idols was a major part of what allowed the pagans to keep their pagan gods but get in the church.

 

[Lazy Suesun]

As I understand The Word , the Sabbath was created for us by God. Traditionally, it fell from sundown on Friday to sundown Saturday.

 

[Pilgrim]

If the Sabbath was abolished, there would be many verses and much text to show it, yet there is none.

Considering that the Gentiles do not keep the sabbath should provide you with the discernment for why there should be an emphasis on teaching it in all letters to the churches, but there is no such commandment, but I agree with you that the commandment was not abolished, BUT there is a reason why Christians are guiltless for profaning the sabbath day per Matthew 12:1-7.

What did Jesus say to the accusers of His disciples for profaning the sabbath by picking ears of corn in the field on the sabbath day?

Take note how He refers to 2 examples in the Old Testament on how the saints had profaned the sabbath day but were guiltless & why?

Then take note on why His disciples were guiltless because One greater than the Temple was here?

Matthew 12:1At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day. 3 But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him; 4 How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless? 6 But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. 7 But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.~ KJV

It is because Jesus Christ was with His disciples was why they were guiltless for profaning the sabbath day. Now note the new reality for the saints.

1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. ~ KJV

2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? ~ KJV

So Jesus fulfilled the law regarding the requirement to keep the sabbath in order to be saved as it is His righteousness apart from the law is how believing in Jesus Christ is how any one is saved.

Romans 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:..... 26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. 27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. ~ KJV

If you consider that it is also required of the Jews in how they keep the sabbath day holy & that is to punish any Jew breaking the sabbath day with death, & yet again, there is no teaching of keeping the sabbath day nor any careful instructions not to stone believers to death for breaking the sabbath day. But we do have Paul's words here about judging any brother for not keeping the sabbath day.

Romans 14:4 Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. 5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. 6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. 7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. 8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. ~ KJV

Colossians 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. 16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: 17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. ! KJV

Pray about this since no flesh can glory in His Presence so no man will glory in himself as being a Sabbath Day Keeper.

1 Corinthians 1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence. 30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: 31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. ~ KJV

So is your sole hope in Christ Jesus & His righteousness to bring you Home or is your hope on keeping the sabbath day for salvation?

 

[pinacled]

Shabbat was yesterday .
And is beyond tomorrow's memory.

Only a male child considers their brit of importance.

Do the supposed 7th yom keepers have a creed?

 

[pinacled]

As I understand The Word , the Sabbath was created for us by God. Traditionally, it fell from sundown on Friday to sundown Saturday.

Fell?
Now that's an interesting choice of word

 

[mailmandan]

Please give the text...

Acts 13:44
And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.

Acts 15:21
For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day.

Acts 16:13
And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.

Acts 17:2
And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,

Acts 18:4
And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.

Where else would you expect to find Jews and proselytes? In a synagogue on the sabbath. Paul's work here was evangelism and not sabbath worship. Notice these were "unbelievers" before Paul preached to them. Yes they believed in the Jewish system, but the Bible says in Acts 14:1, that they BECAME believers proving Paul's work there was evangelism and not sabbath worship.

The Greeks were Jewish converts to Judaism known as proselytes. They practiced the law of Moses and kept the sabbath. The only Greeks that were in the synagogue would be these proselytes. These Greeks were not yet Christians. Acts 13:43 "Now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and of the God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in the grace of God."

Acts 14:1 - "In Iconium they entered the synagogue of the Jews together, and spoke in such a manner that a large number of people believed, both of Jews and of Greeks."

Acts 17:4 - "And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large number of the God-fearing Greeks and a number of the leading women.

Acts 18:4 - "And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks."

 

[Stravinsk]

If you want to know which day Sabbath is, read Genesis 1 very carefully. A "sign" in scripture is something that can be seen. It is not invisible, like a virgin conception or a dark moon. Then look up and read carefully all (OT) passages that mention, or have to do with, the moon, and the new moon.

The SDA will argue that the Catholic church is the entity that sought to "change times and laws", and they are correct, partially. The RCC is partly responsible, but it is the whole Roman system that "moved in" here, naming days after heavenly bodies/pagan entities and fixing a 7 day continually cycling week, using a purely solar calendar that regards moon only for passover/Easter celebrations and not much else.

The Sabbath is both Saturday and Sunday and neither. If that doesn't make sense, you are right, because it only makes sense on another Calendar that fits with the observable creation. The clues are mostly in the OT, however there are hints in the NT as well that a different calendar was used. For example: 3 days and 3 nights do not fit into a Friday evening death/burial and a Sunday "while it was still dark" discovery of an empty tomb.

 

[tango]

The Sabbath is both Saturday and Sunday and neither. If that doesn't make sense, you are right, because it only makes sense on another Calendar that fits with the observable creation. The clues are mostly in the OT, however there are hints in the NT as well that a different calendar was used. For example: 3 days and 3 nights do not fit into a Friday evening death/burial and a Sunday "while it was still dark" discovery of an empty tomb.

The Friday-Sunday problem is also based on the assumption that the crucifixion took place on Friday. What seems to support this is the notion that the body was taken down before the Sabbath, but that assumes that the Sabbath in question was the weekly Sabbath rather than an annual Sabbath.

 

[pinacled]

The Friday-Sunday problem is also based on the assumption that the crucifixion took place on Friday. What seems to support this is the notion that the body was taken down before the Sabbath, but that assumes that the Sabbath in question was the weekly Sabbath rather than an annual Sabbath.

There are 2 distinct shabbat.
Weekly and Yearly.

The weekly shabbat is what is mentioned in the gospels.

yair(luke) 23
[ 54 It was Preparation Day, and a Shabbat was about to begin. 55 The women who had come with Yeshua from the Galil followed; they saw the tomb and how his body was placed in it. 56 Then they went back home to prepare spices and ointments.

On Shabbat the women rested, in obedience to the commandment;]

 

[pinacled]

The Friday-Sunday problem is also based on the assumption that the crucifixion took place on Friday. What seems to support this is the notion that the body was taken down before the Sabbath, but that assumes that the Sabbath in question was the weekly Sabbath rather than an annual Sabbath.

Do you know when a yearly shabbat begins?