In the history of Christianity when did the Jewish Sabbath move from Saturday to Sunday and why?

Answer 1

"Thought" makes some key points, that I'll enlarge on and make minor corrections/expansions to:

Most importantly, the "first day" observance was NOT borrowed from paganism, but pre-existed in Christian circles.

The dating is probably not correct. There is BIBLICAL (New Testament) evidence of first day evidence in the church (some places in Acts and the reference to "the Lord's Day" in Revelation 1 -- apparently referring to a specific day and using a form clearly distinct from "the Day of the Lord") as well as in early second century Christian writings.

This does not imply that it was at that time considered a replacement for the Sabbath (the eventual equation of the two is a much more complicated question). But it IS clear that the first-day as "the day of [Christ's] resurrection" AND of the key events of the Pentecost feast of Acts 2 made it prominent in the church.

Thus, whatever if deliberate movement away from Jewish practices in later centuries, this was NOT something brand new suddenly introduced to the church by someone's fiat (least of all Constantine, who was never regarded by Christians as having such authority). It was already observed (at least in Gentile circles, though again, NT evidence suggests SOME regard for it in Jewish-Christian churches).

On the related question of the Easter controversies -- yes, the calendar WAS adjusted to avoid Easter's falling at the same time as the Jewish Passover (though the Greek NAME for "Passover" --"Pascha" from Hebrew "Pesach"-- was still used for the Christian feast. But that was under the JULIAN Calendar. When the Gregorian calendar was introduced in the 16th century there was no such concern about Jewish practices, so no provision to avoid an overlap. Nowadays Easter DOES sometimes fall during or very near the Jewish Passover.

At any rate, there is STILL much debate in Christian churches about how the two days are related. If Sunday observance is a 'replacement' for Sabbath observance, is it proper to speak of Sunday as "the (Christian) Sabbath" (which might imply very similar ways of observing it)? Or is it more accurate to say that the church does NOT observe a "Sabbath day", because "the Lord's Day" (Sunday) is quite distinct?

That discussion may focus on 'laws'/rules for how Sunday should be observed. But a more basic point is the idea --running through the New Testament-- that the RESURRECTION of Christ to God's right hand was the pivot of history, the fulfillment of all the Old Testament promises and "shadows" (including the Temple system of sacrifice and ritual cleansing and of special feast days). In short, the death and especially the resurrection.. changed EVERYTHING. That is the final "why" of the shift to "Lord's Day" observance.

Those early "Easter controversies" underline this -- for the Passover feast is the root of the weekly "Lord's Supper" (Eucharist) which itself celebrates a NEW "exodus deliverance", as well as of "Easter" (that is "Christian Passover") as a celebration of the resurrection.

Answer 2

In both Old and New Testament there is not a shadow of variation in the doctrine of the Sabbath. The seventh day, Saturday, is the only day ever designated by the term Sabbath in the entire Bible. Not only was Jesus a perfect example in observing the weekly seventh-day Sabbath, but all His disciples followed the same pattern after Jesus had gone back to heaven. Yet no intimation of any change of the day is made. The apostle Paul, who wrote pages of counsel about lesser issues of Jewish and Gentile conflicts, had not one word to say about any controversy over the day of worship. Circumcision, foods offered to idols, and other Jewish customs were readily challenged by early Gentile Christians in the church, but the weightier matter of weekly worship never was an issue. Why? For the simple reason that no change was made from the historic seventh day of Old Testament times, and from creation itself. Had there been a switch from the Sabbath to the first day of the week, you can be sure the controversy would have been more explosive than any other to those Jewish Christians.

Answer 3

First, since it was brought up, neither Christian Worship on Sunday or the Christian observance of Christmas on December the 25th were taken from the worshipers of Sol Invictus or the cult of Mithras. Both traditions were well established before the practice of replacing (but never assimilating) pagan practices with Christian ones came into effect. For example, the earliest mentions of Christmas come from the second century. Inversely, the majority of records regarding the Cult of Mithras and Sol Invictus come from very late in the Roman Empire, after these cults were already dying out and their members were free enough to write about their experiences.

It wasn't until the Christian church made an intentional shift away from Jewish customs that the "Sabbath" switched from Saturday to Sunday. Saturday was right out since it was a Jewish holy day, so what was the next logical choice? Perhaps the day that Christ, the center of the religion, conquered death (aka, Sunday)?

Unfortunately the practice of the Sabbath in Christianity isn't terribly well documented, but Pascal calendars used for determining Easter were changed to exclude the Passover (thus, why the Christian holiday never syncs with the Jewish one) in the 3rd century, so in all likelihood the day of rest and worship was changed around then too.

Answer 4

In Hebrew your question might make approximately as lots sense as "am i able to maintain Monday on Tuesday" Shabbat skill Saturday. Sunday is "Yom Rishon" this question in basic terms exists in English by using a pair seventeenth and 18th century Protestant preachers complicated what have been consistently very sparkling matters. till now that element -- all Christian denominations knew that "the Sabbath" substitute into on Saturday yet that Christianity chosen to reject protecting the Sabbath (interior the direction of the concept that "Jesus fulfilled the previous covenant") -- they celebrated Sunday in view that fluctuate into the day Jesus is asserted to have resurected. however the later protestants in many circumstances had to "have their cake and eat it too"

Answer 5

Good question, because Biblical, Sunday was, and is, the "first day" of the week. The first day of the week should never be confused with the Sabbath. In Judaism, the Sabbath is Saturday.

Answer 6

I think it may stem from one of the Church councils that occurred in the early years of the Church, like the Nicene councils of the 4th century. The result of which was a series of "mission statements" such as the Nicene Creed that finally codified Christianity as a "separate religion" and not as a sect of Judaism. Therefore, circumcision and the move of the Sabbath occurred to differentiate the two faiths. So probably in the 4th - 9th centuries.

Answer 7

Hi,
Great question! The Sabbath has never changed, it's right where it always was. The problem is man has created another tradition that put it on Sunday. But of course....that's wrong, and nobody seems too bothered to change it back. It should start sundown Friday, and end at sundown Sat.

Answer 8

It comes from the assimilation of pagan Roman traditions into church doctrine as a way of appealing to a wider Roman audience. In this particular instance, it comes from the religious traditions of the temple of Sol Invictus; the Unconquerable Sun. By the time of the rise of Christianity in the late empire, most of the old gods, such as Jupiter or Mars, had been phased out. During these times, there were three major faiths in the empire; The Church of Sol Invictus, the Church of Mithras, and the Church of Christianity. As I said above, Sol Invictus was the worship of the Sun, and held Sunday (get it? "Son-day") as the holy day of the week. Christians retconned the Sabbath to be Sunday to appeal to the pagans. There is no record as to when this exactly happened, in reality, it probably wasn't a single event, but a slow evolution over time, from the 3rd century (when Christianity really began to become widespread) to the late 4th century, when Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the official religion of the empire.

Although impressive, this is not the most famous assimilation of pagan values into Christian ones. The most famous is the assimilation of the holiday of Sol Invictus, which was held on the winter equinox, December 25th. The Romans celebrated this day by feasting to the honor of the sun, whose strength would be returning from this day forward. They also celebrated by placing a pine tree in their house, adorning it with trimmings, and topping the tree with a bright star, representing the Sun's dominion over the Earth

Guess which holiday comes from that one?

EDIT:

Roman worship of the sun dates back to the primitive Roman worship of the god "sol Indiges", and the Romans had known December 25th was the winter equinox since at least as long back as the Julian calendar, written by Julius Caesar in the 1st century B.C, and had always been an important date to the sun worshippers. Later sun worship was introduced to the empire by the Emperor Elagabalus in 218 A.D. Emperor Aurelian made it the official state religion in 274 A.D, and it was he who christened December 25th as "dies natalis solis invicti", or "birthday of the unconquered sun." Emperor Constantine is famous for his toleration of Christianity, but he was also tolerant of Paganism too, declaring on March 7, 321 A.D to be the "dies solis", or the day of the sun, and the official day of rest in the Empire. Constantine had been a worshiper of Mars, then Apollo, and eventually Sol Invictus right up until his conversion to Christianity, and there is speculation that it was a political move (particularly when he christened statues of himself wearing the traditional garb of Sol Invictus well after his conversion to Christianity.)

The first mention of December 25 as being the birthdate of Jesus was in the Chronography of 354 A.D. Numerous Iconorgraphy of that era clearly depict Jesus represented as Helios/Sol Invictus, as riding a Chariot and wearing a radiant crown (which later evolved into the modern day halo.) Around this time was also when Jesus became known as "the sun of Justice." Religious cross-over was not an uncommon occurence, as there was also extensive cross-over between Mithraism and Sol Invictus worship as well. The battle for the souls of the Romans was a long and fierce one, Christianity's triumph was a hard won victory.

Answer 9

It never did, and Sunday is still considered the first day of the week. ~

Answer 10

they never moved to sunday. sunday worship started from Rome, when they ruled the world