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S. Michael Houdmann
Supporter
In the year 321 A.D., Constantine decreed, "On the venerable day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed" (Codex Justinianus lib. 3, tit. ...
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gaddaparala kumar
God bless you, Constantine changed the worship from Sabbath to Sunday, because it has been prophesied so. Daniel 7:25 He will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time. Speaking against the most high means an evil act; it means Satan came after the apostolic age as king for a country, and changed the worship days so that people commit sin by disobeying God`s commandments. That king was born in a country where people worship the sun god or Mithra, the worshipers worshiped on Sunday (specifically allotted day for sun worship in their country), and the 25th December was the sun god`s birth day. When the gospel of Christ came to that country that king altered the apostles by hook or crook to change their almighty lord`s feasts to that country`s existing feasts.
Meluleki Maphosa
It is a matter of historical record that Constantine decreed that Sunday was to be a day of rest for everyone in the empire in AD321. The question to ask is why decree it? Why Sunday in particular? There is no dispute to the fact that the worshipers of God had worshiped on Saturday for millennia. It is also a matter of historical record that there was a rival religion in the Roman Empire that worshiped the sun on Sunday. Would it be speculation to conclude that the emperor had a religious motive behind the decree? The Encyclopedia Britannica's online version documents the gradual “conversion” of Constantine to “Christianity” where he was ascribing his victories and the growth of the empire to God. The culmination of this change was the decree of AD321. The wording of the decree itself doesn’t leave much to the imagination "On the venerable day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed". The motive is very clear, to venerate the day of the sun. If for sure the emperor had been converted from sun worship to Christianity how could he still seek to venerate the sun? When all things are considered it becomes clear that the emperor called himself a Christian but also stilled worshiped the sun god. The culmination of the decree was for Christians to force the Christians to abandon their day of worship as established by God and observed by the apostles and adopt the “venerable day pf the sun” through force of law. It is also interesting to note that historically the papacy gained power in the Roman Empire and established itself henceforth followed by the “Dark Ages”. A period in which those Christians who opted to follow conscience rather than a decree were persecuted by the church using state authority. My answer would be incomplete if I don’t mention the fact that Sunday worship by Christians has become a very contentious issue. Col 2:14-17, Rom 14:5-6, Acts 20:7 and 1 Cor 16:2 are quoted extensively in an effort to justify Sunday worship. In my view these are inferences rather than direct “thus says the Lord”. The truth is there is no such scripture that says the Sabbath was changed from Saturday (the 7th day of the week) to Sunday. A few verses have been taken and are made to say what they are really not saying. Paul the writer of these verses under inspiration kept the Sabbath. The 7th day Sabbath was introduced by God through proclamation in the bible. Any change shouldn’t be inferred or whispered, it should also be proclaimed. Christians need authoritative scripture that says God has changed His mind and blessed Sunday. Such scripture isn’t there. That is why the Roman Catholic Church hasn’t made it a secret that they moved worship from Saturday to Sunday by their own authority. It is also public record. For others to try and prove from scripture that Jesus and the disciples changed it does not stick. I think every Christian has a choice as to which day he worships on, but it must be on the basis of full and complete information. In Ezekiel 8:15 – 17 God makes His feelings about sun worship very clear, it is an abomination. Sunday maybe convenient for us to worship that doesn’t change God’s attitude. When Jesus died on the cross the end of the temple sacrificial system was clearly marked. The veil (as thick as a man's hand) that separated the two compartments of the temple was torn “from top to bottom”. This was a supernatural act which any priest serving in the temple that day would never miss. No human hand could have tron the veil starting at the top at that height. That was the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. We need the same with the Sabbath issue. Mat 27:51. If Jesus had taught His disciples that Sabbath was no longer an integral part of worship why would His own mother stop the crucial embalming process because the Sabbath hours had arrived Luke 23:56?
D W
Supporter
What Constantine did is of no importance. What God did in transitioning from Law to Grace is of utmost importance. Jesus fulfilled, completed, brought to completion the "Old." When one accepted Him as the Jewish Messiah, one acknowledged that. Jesus IS the Sabbath, the Ten Commandments, the 1,000 commandments, the 613 rules and regulations, the Law, and he ended in His coming the oral traditions dreamed up by the Jewish hierarchy. HE fulfilled ALL of that. YOU don't have to do it anymore!
Vincent Mercado
Supporter
Constantine didn't change the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. He made Sunday a public holiday because Christians are ALREADY worshiping on Sundays. Justin Martyr wrote his apology circa 150 A.D. describing that Christians worship on Sunday. Constantine was born almost 100 years later (272 A.D.)
Gene Waldenmaier
It is obvious that our Lord and Savior rose on a Sunday morning (Matt 28:1, Mark 16:2, 9 Luke 24:1, John 20:1). Jesus then appeared to his disciples that evening when they fearfully met in a shut room. Likewise it was on Pentecostal Sunday when the Holy Spirit filled the believers and emboldened about 120 of them while they were all praying. Subsequent to that date, we see in Act 20:7 “ upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them ” and in 1Co 16:2 “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him …” So it was the established practice of meeting on the first day in remembrance of Christ’s of resurrection and by Paul’s instructions from I Corinthians 16:2 … the practice was well established during the first century long by Constantine.
Dawn Irion
No one has the authority to change what God set as inviolate at Creation - Gen 2:3. He repeated the command to separate the 7th day so many times I don't understand how anyone could think that some vague reference in the New Testament could change that. Nor how could any man change it? God set it in stone, literally, in the Ten Words - Exo 20:8-11. Further, the myth that Yeshua was raised on a Sunday is perpetuated by bad English translations. He rose on Saturday - the "first of Sabbaths" meaning the first Sabbath after Passover. Young's Literal Translation will show this accurate translation from the Greek. The Greek language has words for first, day, week yet this phrase "first day of the week" is not found in the Greek but rather "first of Sabbaths". The other references in Acts 20:7 and 1 Corinthians 16:2 also reference the Sabbath not Sunday. There are so many resources to study the word in it's original language. Please don't take an English translation for absolute truth.
A Lamb
In the book of Acts we can read that Christians gathered on the first day of the week (Sunday) to break bread. (Acts 20:7,8) So we know that it is something stated in the Bible before Constantine.
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