The history of how Sunday worship came about.

[robycop3]

Thank you! So far it seems pretty active. Some boards seem to fade out.

This'n's stayed pretty active for years!

 

[rlvaughn]

So far it seems pretty active. Some boards seem to fade out.

This'n's stayed pretty active for years!

Yes, about 20 years with the current version. I recall there was something we had before this one -- maybe there was a change of hosts or something, but it was replaced by what we have currently. Anyway, we may come and go, but the Board itself seems to have stayed around for the long haul. I think that is a pretty good record, considering the other "social media" options that people have available today.

 

[atpollard]

I have never read in Hebrews 3-4 that Jesus is 'my' (or anyone's) "Sabbath". Could you point to a specific verse?

Here is my study on the subject - Hebrews 3-4 [KJB], the 7th Day the Sabbath of the LORD JEHOVAH - "my rest" "remaineth" to My people.

What is a sabbath?

 

[Salty]

What is a sabbath?

H7676 - šabāṯ - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (KJV)

 

[Alofa Atu]

What is a sabbath?

"a [indefinite article] sabbath" is a 'rest' or 'cessation' (from anything, usually labour). Did you read my study?

 

[Marooncat79]

It wasnt the apostles or from Christ, or any change in the Bible, so how did Sunday worship come from. Well history gives us a clue in this various descriptions I came across..

"On March 7, 321, Roman Emperor Constantine I decreed that dies Solis Invicti (‘sun-day,’ or Day of Sol Invictus, Roman God of the Sun) would be the Roman day of rest throughout the Roman Empire...

Though Sol Invictus (meaning ‘The unconquered Sun’) was indeed a pagan Roman God, and had been featured on Roman coins, Constantine coopted this pagan heritage along with the Judeo-Christian following of the 10 Commandments by granting a day to honor God and rest for man. As the Roman Empire gradually converted to Christianity, Sunday became the natural day for the Sabbath and rest since Romans were already accustomed to Sunday as their day off."March 7, 321: How Sunday Became the Christian Day of Rest - History and Headlines

"The early Romans initially adopted the earlier Greek Hellenistic religion that incorporated the worship of many deities, including Apollo and Helios—the sun god, who was known to the Romans as Sol. As time passed, Sol eventually took on the combined attributes of Apollo, Helios and Mithra. The early Roman Emperors promoted the rising cult of Sol Invictus with the addition of numerous new temples, statues, rites and festivals created in Sol's name. Like earlier solar deities, Sol's tasks included steering the sun-chariot across the sky each day, a reminder that this cult was a blending of monotheism and earlier paganism.

By promoting the cult and the consolidation of divine power into Sol, Roman emperors were able to please the military and also enhance their own power by identifying Sol as the source of imperial legitimacy; in some cases the emperors were able to promote themselves as the personification of Solon earth.

Constantine in the early 4th century advanced the pagan cult of Sol Invictus to the height of its popularity. Among his efforts was the minting of this special coin dedicated to Sol. Constantine also built his famous Arch in Rome, inscribed with several references to Sol Invictus, and positioned it carefully to align with the colossal 100' bronze statue of Sol that adjoined the Coliseum at the time. The rising popularity Christianity in Rome's rural areas was a factor in Constantine’s later adoption of Christianity as the Empire's official religious—a transition arguably made easier by the preceding, well accepted ideas embodied in and popularized by the cult of Sol Invictus." ..Biblical Artifacts Ancient Coins and Artifacts from the Holy Land

"Sol Invictus played a prominent role in the Mithraic mysteries and was portrayed as being equated with, allied with, or an epithet of Mithras, although the relationship between the public cults themselves is controversial. The New Testament scholar Helmut Koester, in his book, Introduction to the New Testament, says “Although Mithras appeared to be the most oriental god among the new deities, and although his cult was essentially celebrated in exclusive mystery associations—the Mithras cult was a “mystery religion” in the strict sense of the word—this god was received by the Romans without resistance, and at the end of the 3d century CE, as Sol Invictus he became the official god of the Roman state.” ..The Dying-and-Rising Gods: Sol Invictus

The text of Constantine's Sunday Law of 321 A.D.:
First Sunday Law enacted by Emperor Constantine -
March, 321 A.D.
On the venerable Day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain-sowing or for vine-planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost. (Given the 7th day of March, Crispus and Constantine being consuls each of them for the second time [A.D. 321].)
Source: Codex Justinianus, lib. 3, tit. 12, 3; trans. in Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 3 (5th ed.; New York: Scribner, 1902), p. 380, note 1. ...Was The Seven-Day Weekly Cycle Created By Man?

The early believers kept Saturday as the Sabbath until March 7, 321 CE when Constantine passed his law requiring believers to worship on Sunday, the day the pagans worshiped the sun-god, Sol Invictus. Believers continued to keep Saturday as the Sabbath but gradually were swept aside as the day of the sun took root in the empire, and we see the start of serious oppression for the day of worship, and many believers began to be persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church for keeping the Sabbath.

Rome had been the center of many of the pagan festivals and cults, and it was held that Mithras was born on what we now call Christmas day, and his followers celebrated the spring equinox. The Sol Invictus, associated with Mithras, was one the main pagan cult the church faced and rather than reject it let it come into the church with its sun worship. The Cybele cult also flourished in Rome on today's Vatican Hill. They held that Cybele's lover Attis, was born of a virgin, died and was reborn annually. This spring festival began as a day of blood on Black Friday, rising to a crescendo after three days, in rejoicing over the resurrection. There was violent conflict on Vatican Hill in the early days of Christianity between the Jesus worshipers and pagans who quarreled over whose God was the true, and whose the imitation. Christianity came to an accommodation with the pagan Spring festival and used it to bring in unconverted pagans.

History clearly shows how the Pagan worship of Sol Invictus and festivals got into the early church and it was never sanctioned by scripture or given by Christ and the Apostles.

Transition from Pagan to Christian

'This legislation by Constantine probably bore no relation to Christianity; it appears, on the contrary, that the emperor, in his capacity of Pontifex Maximus, was only adding the day of the Sun, the worship of which was then firmly [p. 123] established in the Roman Empire, to the other ferial days of the sacred calendar…
[p. 270] What began, however, as a pagan ordinance, ended as a Christian regulation; and a long series of imperial decrees, during the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries, enjoined with increasing stringency abstinence from labor on Sunday.' - Source: Hutton Webster, Rest Days, pp. 122, 123, 270. Copyright 1916 by The Macmillan Company, New York.

'The Church made a sacred day of Sunday … largely because it was the weekly festival of the sun; for it was a definite Christian policy to take over the pagan festivals endeared to the people by tradition, and to give them a Christian significance.' Source: Arthur Weigall, The Paganism in Our Christianity, p. 145. Copyright 1928 by G. p. Putnams Sons, New York. ...Sunday Worship

Didn’t he just make it legal?

I thought Xian’s had always worshipped on Sunday which is not a big deal. The idea is 1 in 7

 

[Alofa Atu]

Didn’t he just make it legal?

I thought Xian’s had always worshipped on Sunday which is not a big deal. The idea is 1 in 7

Have you seen these materials on the historical account of Christianity (along with the book of Acts 13-20? carefully):

Jeff Dowell - 206 Sunday, the First Day of the Week in the Bible

(there are currently 43 presentations, but only watch the ones you need to).

Jeff Dowell - 209 History of the Sabbath 1st to the 15th Century

Jeff Dowell - 210 History of the Sabbath 16th to the 19th Century

Jeff Dowell - 211 History of the Sabbath 20th and 21st Century

 

[Alofa Atu]

Didn’t he just make it legal?

I thought Xian’s had always worshipped on Sunday which is not a big deal. The idea is 1 in 7

Constantine was being pressured (by the other Emperors politically, and needed the support of the Military, Money and Religion), and there was argumentation amongst the already corrupt, compromised and heretical bishops, etc (arians, etc), and needed solidity, even as his own religion (pagan sun worship) was being affected. You can read that history here:

The Two Republics, by A.T. Jones.

https://ia601901.us.archive.org/13/items/sda-a-t-jones-the-two-republics/SDA - A T Jones - The Two Republics.pdf

I cannot find "1 in 7" in scripture, in regards "sabbath", implicitly or explicitly. Where do you get the idea from?

As for "big deal", isn't Creation (Genesis1-2) & Redemption (Jesus resting in tomb), of which the "sabbath" is tied to, a "big deal"?

 

[atpollard]

"a [indefinite article] sabbath" is a 'rest' or 'cessation' (from anything, usually labour). Did you read my study?

No, I didn't read your study. I wanted to answer your question about Hebrews rather than debate "sabbaths", but wanted to make sure that we were not going to just talk past one another. I needed to be certain that we both understood "sabbath" to mean the same thing.

 

[atpollard]

I have never read in Hebrews 3-4 that Jesus is 'my' (or anyone's) "Sabbath". Could you point to a specific verse?

"a [indefinite article] sabbath" is a 'rest' or 'cessation' (from anything, usually labour). Did you read my study?

Hebrews 3 [NKJV]

1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, 2 who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. 3 For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. 5 And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, 6 but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.

7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,

8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
In the day of trial in the wilderness,
9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,
And saw My works forty years.
10 Therefore I was angry with that generation,
And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
And they have not known My ways.’
11 So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”
12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, 15 while it is said:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,

Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
16 For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? 17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.​

Hebrews 3 sets up a discussion on "entering into My rest" and a series of warnings for the people of God (holy brethern) based on the example from those led by Moses. It concludes with a statement that they could not enter in because of unbelief, that is immediately preceded by a statement that they would not enter into God's rest. Thus one cannot enter into God's rest because of unbelief.

 

[atpollard]

I have never read in Hebrews 3-4 that Jesus is 'my' (or anyone's) "Sabbath". Could you point to a specific verse?

"a [indefinite article] sabbath" is a 'rest' or 'cessation' (from anything, usually labour). Did you read my study?

Hebrews 4 [NKJV]

1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. 3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said:
“So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ”[fn]
although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; 5 and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.”
6 Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, 7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,

Do not harden your hearts.”
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.

Hebrews 4 turns to the fulfillment of the promise. The REST OF GOD was finished from the foundation of the world (where have we heard that before) and those that enter into the rest of God, rest from their works (shades of Ephesians 2). Jesus is our rest from the labor of self-sanctification (and the bulls and lambs breathed a sigh of relief).

As you said ... sabbath IS 'rest' or 'cessation from labor' ... so Jesus is our REST / SABBATH.

[That was my guess. JonC will have to answer for himself if he had a different verse in mind.]

 

[Alofa Atu]

@atpollard I didn't read your study. I will wait until you read mine first. Thanks. That way I can know we are on the same page. Let me know when you are serious (Psalms 18:26 KJB).

 

[atpollard]

@atpollard I didn't read your study. I will wait until you read mine first. Thanks. That way I can know we are on the same page. Let me know when you are serious (Psalms 18:26 KJB).

There was nothing to discuss. You asked where Hebrews 3 and 4 talked about Jesus as our sabbath (Rest), so I highlighted the verses that talk about entering the Rest of God. You are free to reject all of it, I was simply suggesting verses that JonC might have been thinking of in his reference to Jesus as our sabbath.

I got no dog in this fight.

 

[Alofa Atu]

There was nothing to discuss.

So be it. I am satisfied with the Bible texts provided to you.

 

[Alofa Atu]

I got no dog in this fight.

I do not believe you for one moment.

 

[atpollard]

I do not believe you for one moment.

Good grief! I looked at your link (which isn't even by Alofa Atu).

Here is our conversation:

I can't find that teaching anywhere in scripture (KJB). Where are you quoting specifically from?

Hebrews Chapter 3 and Chapter 4?

I have never read in Hebrews 3-4 that Jesus is 'my' (or anyone's) "Sabbath". Could you point to a specific verse?

Here is my study on the subject - Hebrews 3-4 [KJB], the 7th Day the Sabbath of the LORD JEHOVAH - "my rest" "remaineth" to My people.

So you require that I read a 4 page, 70 post wall of text to earn the right to answer a simple question about where JonC might see "Jesus is our sabbath" or to point out which specific verse in Hebrews 3 or 4 I was referring to?

No thank you!
It is not I that have a hidden agenda here.
You have asked disingenuous questions and made unreasonable requests.

 

[Alofa Atu]

I looked at your link (which isn't even by Alofa Atu).

I have literally hundreds of names online. I have been banned from Christian Forums over 50 times. I lost count a long time ago. I simply show up when I want to. I am the 7th Colporteur, among many others there.

I didn't bother to take the time to read the rest of your post. It was disingenuous ('looked at'; Prov. 26:5) from the beginning.

 

[atpollard]

I have been banned from Christian Forums over 50 times.

Talk to the hand, TROLL. [engage ignore]

 

[Walter]

I have literally hundreds of names online. I have been banned from Christian Forums over 50 times. I lost count a long time ago. I simply show up when I want to. I am the 7th Colporteur, among many others there.

I didn't bother to take the time to read the rest of your post. It was disingenuous ('looked at'; Prov. 26:5) from the beginning.

I'm surprised you have lasted here as long as you have. The fact that you have been banned by 50 Christian Forums is very telling. This board is has been ver patient with you, but your constant proselytizing is usually not tolerated for very long here. I suspect you have been banned here before as your posts are very similar to another poster that crossed the line. Several other members have messaged me suspecting that you have been banned here before and just the rules disregard the boards rules.

At least you don't engage in 'Cut & Paste' apologetics like some of your other SDA 'brethren'.

 

[Alofa Atu]

Since the question, "What is a sabbath?" has been answered, perhaps now another question can be answered.

I have repeatedly asked where the teaching "Jesus is my sabbath." is in scripture, and I get no definitive answers, only vague assertions and no following evidences for corroboration. I have repeatedly shown that Hebrews 3-4; Romans 14 and Colossians 2 shows no such thing either, though even a basic reading of the text ought to have been plain to anyone serious of knowing and practicing the truth in this matter. I do not even find the concept of "my sabbath" (human perspective) anywhere in scripture (KJB), unless someone can provide that also?

Jeff Dowell - 205 Jesus is My Sabbath