Is Saturday or Sunday the Holy Day?
By Bro. Peter Dimond
-Why true Christians (i.e., Catholics)
dedicate Sunday specifically to God, rather than Saturday
Refuting Seventh-Day Adventists and
Seventh-Day Baptists from the Bible
Exodus 20:8-11- "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
of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your
daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who
stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the 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."
In
Exodus 20, we find the commandment to keep holy the Sabbath. In the Old Testament, Sabbath meant “rest” or
“cessation” on the seventh day of the Jewish week – Saturday. A sizable number of Protestants argue that
people are still bound by the commandment to set Saturday apart for God. They believe that Catholics break this
commandment by recognizing, in accordance with the Tradition of the Church and
the teaching of the New Testament, that the prerogatives of the Sabbath have
been transferred to Sunday in the New Covenant.
The following considerations should show any sincere person why
Seventh-Day Adventists and Seventh-Day Baptists are wrong. God Himself, through the Church He
established, transferred the prerogatives of the Sabbath to Sunday, in honor of
the day on which Jesus rose again.
THE COMMANDMENT TO KEEP
HOLY THE SABBATH IS DIFFERENT IN NATURE FROM THE OTHER COMMANDMENTS
Of
all the 10 commandments, the one to
keep holy the Sabbath is different in nature from the rest. This is a very important point. It’s different because it’s the only one of
the Ten Commandments that pertains to the ceremonial, not the natural law. For instance, man knows in his heart that he
should not murder, that he should not steal, etc. But the natural law itself doesn’t teach him
that he must worship God on a particular day as opposed to another day. That must come from external revelation and
precept.
In
fact, keeping holy the Sabbath or Seventh Day only started after the
Exodus. It wasn’t done before that or
from the very beginning. It’s part of
the ceremonial, not the natural law.
Since it’s a commandment of the
ceremonial law, not the natural law, God can change the day on which He is
to be specifically honored. Protestants
who contend that the Saturday Sabbath law remains in force do not follow other
aspects of the Old Testament ceremonial law.
They don’t consider circumcision or ritual sacrifices to be binding
anymore, but they consider the ceremonial Sabbath law to be binding. This is both unscriptural and illogical.
Just
as circumcision, the ritual sacrifices, and other parts of the ceremonial law
have ceased with the coming of Christ, the ceremonial requirement to set
Saturday apart for God has passed away.
It has been replaced by God and His Church with the requirement to specifically
honor Sunday.
THE APOSTLES AND THE
EARLY CHURCH CELEBRATED SUNDAY, NOT SATURDAY
The
Apostles clearly honored Sunday, not Saturday.
We read that they met for the Eucharist and the breaking of bread on the
first day of the week, Sunday, the day of the Lord’s Resurrection.
Acts 20:7- 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;
and continued his speech until midnight.”
We
see that the Christians came together to worship on Sunday. This day was set apart by the Apostles.
1 Corinthians 16:1-2- “Now concerning the
collections that are made for the saints, as I have given order to the churches
of Galatia, so do ye also. On the first day of the week let
every one of you put apart with himself, laying up what it shall well please
him; that when I come, the collections be not then to be made.”
This
next verse is particularly important.
Colossians 2:16-17- “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: Which are a
shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”
Here
we see St. Paul specifically teaching that the festival and ceremonial laws
(including the observance of the Sabbath!) pertained to the Old Testament
period and are no longer binding after the coming of Christ. How clear does it have to be?
GOD GAVE THE CHURCH
THE AUTHORITY TO TRANSFER THE SABBATH TO SUNDAY IN HONOR OF HIS RESURRECTION
Matthew 16:18-19- “And I say also unto thee,
That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it.
And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall
be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven.”
Matthew 18:17-18- “And if he shall neglect to
hear them, tell it unto the church:
but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man
and a publican. Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be
bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven.”
That’s
why the early Christians met on Sunday (the Lord’s Day) to celebrate the
Eucharist. That’s why the most ancient
fathers, such as St. Ignatius of Antioch writing about 110 A.D., recognized
that Sunday was the day, not Saturday.
St. Ignatius of Antioch ,
Epistle to the Magnesians, no. 9, 110
A.D.: “If then they who walked in ancient customs came to a new hope, no longer living for the Sabbath, but
for the Lord’s Day, on which also our life sprang up through him and
His death – though some deny Him – and by this mystery we received faith, and
for this reason also we suffer…”
This
is a clear proof that Seventh-Day Adventists and Seventh-Day Baptists are
following a man-made perversion of Scripture which was foreign not only to the
Apostles but to the most ancient Christians.
Many other fathers could be quoted.
THERE’S MORE: GOD’S
DAY OF REST IS CONNECTED WITH HIS CREATION;
HE RESTS AFTER HIS
WORK OF CREATION IS FINISHED
THE RESURRECTION
SIGNIFIES THE COMPLETION OF THE NEW CREATION,
AND THUS IT MARKS HIS
NEW DAY OF REST
Genesis 2:1-2- “So the heavens and the earth
were finished, and all the furniture of them.
And on the seventh day God ended
his work which he had made: and he rested on the seventh day from all his
work which he had done.”
We read that God’s rest is connected
with His completion of work. God
finished His work, and then He rested on the seventh day. But the entire creation was ruptured by the
sin of Adam. That’s why Romans 8 teaches
that all of creation was waiting in expectation for the Redemption of
Christ. His Redemption would repair the
creation that had been ruptured.
Romans 8:22-23- “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain
together until now. And not only
they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we
ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting
for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”
Christ’s
Redemption is, therefore, a new creation.
That’s why we read:
2 Corinthians 5:17- “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new
creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
Hebrews 9:11-12- “But Christ, being come an
high priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle not made with hand, that is, not of this creation: Neither by the
blood of goats, or of calves, but by his own blood, entered once into the
holies, having obtained eternal redemption.”
Christ’s
new work of creation – of repairing the creation that had been ruptured by Adam
– was accomplished on the Cross and it culminated with His Resurrection. That’s why we find the interesting subtle
identification of Jesus with the gardener.
When Mary Magdalene saw the risen Lord on the day of His Resurrection,
she mistook Him for the gardener. This
true event was also meant to indicate that Jesus was in the new garden – the
restored Garden of Eden (paradise) which had been previously forfeited by the
sin of Adam.
John 20:15- “Jesus saith to her: Woman, why
weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She,
thinking it was the gardener, saith to him: Sir, if thou hast taken him
hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.”
Genesis 2:8- “And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he
put the man whom he had formed.”
Jesus’
Redemption and Resurrection restored paradise and repaired the garden that had
been corrupted; for He is the new and greater Adam.
1
Corinthians 15:45- “And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living
soul; the last Adam [Christ] was
made a quickening spirit.”
Romans
5:14- “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had
not sinned after the similitude of Adam's
transgression, who is the figure [type]
of him that was to come [Jesus].”
Romans
5:19- “For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the
obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”
Thus, it
makes perfect sense that the Lord’s Day (Sunday, the day of His Resurrection) –
which marked the end of His new work of creation – would become the new day of
rest.
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