Posted on 05/12/2013 5:55:26 PM PDT by narses
Full Question
Until recently, I always thought Catholics worshiped on the Sabbath, and that the early Church moved the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. Is this true? Answer
This is a common misunderstanding. Catholics do not worship on the Sabbath, which according to Jewish law is the last day of the week (Saturday), when God rested from all the work he had done in creation (Gen. 2:2-3). Catholics worship on the Lord’s Day, the first day of the week (Sunday, the eighth day); the day when God said "Let there be light" (Gen. 1:3); the day when Christ rose from the dead; the day when the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles (Day of Pentecost). The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: "The Church celebrates the day of Christ’s Resurrection on the ‘eighth day,’ Sunday, which is rightly called the Lord’s Day" (CCC 2191).
The early Church did not move the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. Instead "The Sabbath, which represented the completion of the first creation, has been replaced by Sunday, which recalls the new creation inaugurated by the Resurrection of Christ" (CCC 2190). Sunday is the day Catholics are bound to keep, not Saturday.
We see evidence of this in Scripture:
On the first day of the week when we gathered to break bread, Paul spoke to them because he was going to leave on the next day, and he kept on speaking until midnight (Acts 20:7). On the first day of the week each of you should set aside and save whatever one can afford, so that collections will not be going on when I come (1 Cor. 16:2). Let no one, then, pass judgment on you in matters of food and drink or with regard to a festival or new moon or Sabbath (Col. 2:16). The Catechism also says:
By a tradition handed down from the apostles which took its origin from the very day of Christ’s Resurrection, the Church celebrates the Paschal mystery every seventh day, which day is appropriately called the Lord’s Day or Sunday. The day of Christ’s Resurrection is both the first day of the week, the memorial of the first day of creation, and the "eighth day," on which Christ after his "rest" on the great Sabbath inaugurates the "day that the Lord has made," the "day that knows no evening." (CCC 1166)
Other CCC references to the Lord’s Day: 349, 2174, 2175, 2191
Answered by: Peggy Frye
In Romans 15:5 Paul was addressing Romans who had converted to Christianity. He was talking about the Jewish ceremonial sabbaths or holy days that came on a yearly basis. The newly converted Roman Christians were not required to keep them. As for Acts 15 I have no idea how you can get Sunday worship out of that.
“Christians are to worship on the Lord’s day, Sunday, instead.”
Hm...I do not see this command in Scripture, do you? It is an option - no problem with that - but not a command.
“Over one hundred years ago the Catholic Mirror ran a series of articles discussing the right of the Protestant churches to worship on Sunday. The articles stressed that unless one was willing to accept the authority of the Catholic Church to designate the day of worship, the Christian should observe Saturday. Those articles are presented here in their entirety.”
Wow - so Catholicism really thinks it has the authority to tell all Christians when to worship? Unbelievable. For the record, I do not “accept the authority of the Catholic Church...” Scripture, yes...Catholic Church, no.
Actually the Church does not claim what B’s post says it claims. Firstly, it’s from a dubious website and secondly, even if true, it’s a newspaper, not some official pronouncement
You and I are on the same page.
I am not sure what that has to do with my post. I struggled with the understanding of “Sabbath” all my life, until I observed a real Sabbath with a Messianic congregation and THEN it became clear to me what is the purpose of the Sabbath.
The Lord does not care so much about the legalism of counting days. He gave us Leviticus so we could see what Legalism is about.
Jesus told us to apply the spirit of law to the letter of the law- and love Him with all our heart.mind and soul.
So- see what the Spirit of the Sabbath is all about. The letter of the Sabbath is not going to bring you any joy.
Shalom.
Nah...
It's easier for an EXISTING religion to ignore it's own Scripture.
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
Therefore; the OTHER 6 days were NOT 'holy'; right?
Night cometh when NO man can work...
HMMmm...
Who changed the START of a day to MIDNIGHT???
I didn't do it.
The DEVIL made me!!
"Then God said to Abraham, 'As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner -- those who are not your offspring. Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.'" (17:9-14)
JESUS said...
John 6:28-29
Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
Ah!
You're gettin' it!!
It was most assuredly not sunday, but saturday night, which is biblically the first day of the week, and the only time that any disciple of Yeshua met “on the first day of the week!”
How can you insist that? It is has been shown you multiple times when they did, as the eleven disciples on the evening of the Resurrection (Mark 16:14-18; Luke 24:36-44; John 20:19-23) and Eight days later (John 20:26-29) and on Pentecost (cf. Leviticus 23:15) And 1Cor. 16:2 indicates a meeting, nor just a gathering of money with no meeting.
And Acts 20:7 does not say on "upon the last day of the week" that "Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight," but upon the first day of the week, Sat. evening, after the Sabbath ended.
If it says “on the first day of the week” in God’s word, it was saturday night by pagan measure.
Exactly, and the 1st day began then!
Havdalah, on saturday night, was a part of the closing of their day of worship, and often lasted into the wee hours if Paul was present.
You are simply admitting what you denied, that the disciples met on the 1st day of the week, as Scripture says, which was Sat night.
The fact is that the Holy Spirit choose to use the "first" of the week and not on the Sabbath that they had their meeting, and . nowhere shows the NT church specifically having their meeting on the 7th day, as He does on the 1st, nor reiterates or repeats the 4th commandment while the rest are, and the only teaching under the new cov. regarding Christian observance of the 7th day is that which makes it part of the ceremonial laws, and a shadow of the rest that believers are given in Christ.
If you cannot see warrant for our position then goodbye.
well...
The MORMONs wanted a STATE...
That is DAMNED aggravating when it's found!!
5 Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”
6 The apostles and elders met to consider this question. 7 After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9 He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? 11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”
12 The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. 13 When they finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. 14 Simon[a] has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. 15 The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:
16 “‘After this I will return
and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild,
and I will restore it,
17 that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
even all the Gentiles who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things’[b]—
18 things known from long ago.[c]
19 “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. 21 For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”
The apostles and elders, your brothers,
To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:
Greetings.
24 We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. 25 So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. 28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.
Farewell.
30 So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter. 31 The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message. 32 Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the believers. 33 After spending some time there, they were sent off by the believers with the blessing of peace to return to those who had sent them. [34] [d] 35 But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, where they and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord.
More importantly, Christ appeared to Mary Magdalene on the first day (Mark 16:2,9) and on the next Sunday after that, behind shut doors (John 20:19); that is what established the patter of meeting Christ in the Eucharist on Sunday.
Here St. Paul expressly discusses both Jewish Sabbath and the Christian Sunday and explains the difference:
[3] For we, who have believed, shall enter into rest; as he said: As I have sworn in my wrath; If they shall enter into my rest; and this indeed when the works from the foundation of the world were finished. [4] For in a certain place he spoke of the seventh day thus: And God rested the seventh day from all his works. [5] And in this place again: If they shall enter into my rest.[6] Seeing then it remaineth that some are to enter into it, and they, to whom it was first preached, did not enter because of unbelief: [7] Again he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, Today, after so long a time, as it is above said: Today if you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts. [8] For if Jesus had given them rest, he would never have afterwards spoken of another day. [9] There remaineth therefore a day of rest for the people of God. [10] For he that is entered into his rest, the same also hath rested from his works, as God did from his.
(Hebrews 4)
1 John 3:21-24
Dear friends,
if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
You are, of course right.
You ALSO don't get SATURDAY worship from it either.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.