The Law of The Sabbath
Why have the overwhelming number of "Christian" churches adopted the sanctification of Sunday? We should know how this belief came into being. There is recorded evidence that it didn't take long for the doctrine that Jesus gave to the church to be corrupted. Gnosticism, at the earliest beginning of the church, began to rise up under the influence of philosophers who sought to reconcile Christianity with Paganism. A proper definition of the word is useful.
Gnosticism "having knowledge") is a collection of ancient religious ideas and systems which originated in the first century AD among early Christian and Jewish sects.[1] These various groups emphasised personal spiritual knowledge (gnosis) over orthodox teachings, traditions, and ecclesiastical authority.
It is so important to understand that at the same time, a strong anti-Jewish sentiment became more widespread. Also, at that time Mithraism or sun-worship was the official religion of the Roman Empire. It stood as the greatest competitor to the new Christian religion. It had its own organization, temples, priesthood, robes—it was complete. Their worship day was given to the sun. That day was called “The Venerable Day of the Sun.” It was the first day of the week, and from it we get our name Sunday.
Emperor Constantine ruled from 306 to 337 and during that time he had a vision. He saw a cross in the sky and under it were the words “In this sign conquer.” He then proceeded with his army in the name of Christianity.
Emperor Constantine then legalized Christianity and made the first "Sunday-keeping" law. That law reads as follows:
“On the venerable Day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed.”
This Emperor and his subjects were rooted in pagan practices. As has been noted, one of the practices used the first day of the week for worshiping the sun. Yet, he did have a certain affinity for Christianity because of his vision. Although, he determined that it would be very prudent to place Jesus, the son of God, as a replacement for the "sun god" on the commonly used "Day of the Sun".
That is the beginnings of the problems that confronted the true early church. And an "official" Sunday worship and history is complete in documenting its growth from there. But, and it is a very big but, the word of the Creator God sees otherwise as documented in the Word of God. I was surprised to so easily find a web site that listed a very large number of religions that understood that the Bible has instructed us to worship God on the seventh day of the week.
What follows is taken from the Bible Sabbath Association.
Roman Catholic
James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of our Fathers, 88th ed., pp. 89.
"But 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."
John Laux, A Course in Religion for Catholic High Schools and Academies (1 936), vol. 1, P. 51.
"Some theologians have held that God likewise directly determined the Sunday as the day of worship in the New Law, that He Himself has explicitly substituted the Sunday for the Sabbath. But this theory is now entirely abandoned. It is now commonly held that God simply gave His Church the power to set aside whatever day or days she would deem suitable as Holy Days. The Church chose Sunday, the first day of the week, and in the course of time added other days as holy days."
Peter Geiermann, C.S.S.R., The Converts Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (1957), p. 50.
"Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
"Answer. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday."
Chancellor Albert Smith for Cardinal of Baltimore Archdiocese, letter dated February 10, 1920:
If Protestants would follow the Bible, they should worship God on the Sabbath day by God is Saturday. In keeping the Sunday, they are following a law of the Catholic Church.
Anglican/Episcopa
Isaac Williams, Plain Sermons on the Catechism , vol. 1, pp.334, 336.
"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."
Baptist
Dr. Edward T. Hiscox, a paper read before a New York ministers' conference, Nov. 13, 1893, reported in New York Examiner , Nov.16, 1893.
"There was and is a commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not Sunday. It will be said, however, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week .... Where can the record of such a transaction be found? Not in the New Testament absolutely not.
Alexander Campbell, The Christian Baptist, Feb. 2, 1824,vol. 1. no. 7, p. 164.
"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 from Saturday to Sunday. There is not in any place in the Bible any intimation of such a change."
Lutheran
Augsburg Confession of Faith art. 28; written by Melanchthon, approved by Martin Luther, 1530; as published in The Book of Concord of the Evangelical Lutheran Church Henry Jacobs, ed. (1 91 1), p. 63.
"They [Roman Catholics] refer to the Sabbath Day, a shaving been changed into the Lord's Day, contrary to the Decalogue, as it seems. Neither is there any example whereof they make more than concerning the changing of the Sabbath Day. Great, say they, is the power of the Church, since it has dispensed with one of the Ten Commandments!"
Presbyterian
T. C. Blake, D.D., Theology Condensed, pp.474, 475.
"The Sabbath is a part of the decalogue - the Ten Commandments. This alone forever 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."
What you have just read is the quintessential example of how mankind has rebuffed truth and is subject to vanity and its effect on ones "spiritual inertia".
This is what the creator God has to say, through John and Paul concerning the last days and His law which included the Sabbath and Holy Days. .
1Jn 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
2Ti 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
2Ti 4:4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
Act 24:10 Then Paul, after that the governor had beckoned unto him to speak, answered, Forasmuch as I know that thou hast been of many years a judge unto this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself:
Act 24:14 But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets: