One of the persistent questions of the day, which still arouses considerable discussion, is the origin of Sunday observance in the Christian church. The great majority of people who observe Sunday seem to think that it was introduced by Jesus or His disciples, while most Seventh-day Adventists believe that this observance was introduced into the church by Roman Catholics. Yet just when and how is still a conundrum to most people. We who have considerable to say on this question should know more than the fact that Catholics acknowledge that they changed the day of worship. For, although they acknowledge that fact, they do not acknowledge that it was done through the introduction of heathenism and an apostasy in the church. Therefore, we should be intelligent on the question of when and how this was done.
Now, everyone who has given this matter more than casual consideration knows that the day set apart for rest and worship among the Jews was the seventh day of the week. They also know that Jesus and His disciples were all Jews, and followed the practice and custom of that nation in observing the Sabbath the entire time He was here upon earth. They know, too, that Jesus while He was here never gave a hint or a suggestion to anyone that there should be a change in this practice after He left. Again, they know that the Christian church during the time of the apostles was made up almost entirely of Jews, who were, as Paul says, "all zealous of the law" (Acts 21:20, which included the Sabbath.
Further, we should remember that Paul, as long as he lived, remained a loyal Jew. For when he was in Rome, where he was tried and finally executed, he said, "I have committed nothing against the people, or customs of our fathers." Acts 28:17. Consequently Paul and his associates never changed the day. More than that, the evidence clearly shows that the Sabbath was still observed, not only through the first century, but also for many years after that century closed.
The first event that seems to have effected any substantial change in Christian worship and in the attitude toward the Jews and their practices was the Jewish war. This war began by a revolt in Egypt about 115 A.D. and continued intermittently until 135, when the Jews were defeated, driven from Jerusalem, and forbidden to return, and their worship and ritualistic services were suppressed. This war practically paralleled the reign of Hadrian, which continued from 117 to 138 A.D.
Now notice the changes that took place at this time. Before the war, the headquarters of the work was in Jerusalem, the center of Judaism. The church was made up almost entirely of Jewish nationals, was under the leadership of Jews, and was dominated by Jewish ideas and ideals. This is confirmed by Eusebius, who said: "Their whole church consisted then of believing Hebrews [Jews] who continued from the days of the apostles until the siege [of Jerusalem] which took place at that time."' With a situation like that, there was no chance for changes to take place in the practices of the Christian church, or for the introduction of Sunday observance, a heathen practice, to take the place of the Sabbath the Jews considered so sacred and important.
However, with the Jewish war and its conclusion, an entirely different situation ensued. Then all Jews were driven from Jerusalem, their sacred city, and forbidden to return. Most of the Christians there up to that time were Jews. They were obliged to depart, too, leaving only a small constituency made up of Gentiles. Eusebius describes this as follows:
"When the siege had lasted a long time, and the rebels had been driven to the last extremity by hunger and thirst, and the instigator of the rebellion had suffered his just punishment, the whole nation [of the Jews] was prohibited from this time on, by a decree and by the command of Hadrian, from ever going up to the country about Jerusalem. For the emperor gave orders that they should not even see from a distance the land of their fathers."
Doctor Rainy, in his "Ancient Catholic Church," says of this:
"Palestine was laid waste; Jerusalem under the name of Aelia Capitolina became a Gentile city, equipped with all the pomp of pagan worship. Circumcision, Sahbathkeeping, and instruction in the law, were prohibited everywhere; and no Jew might enter Jerusalem." 3
Surely an attitude like that toward everything Jewish would have considerable effect upon the church at Jerusalem and its practices, whose leadership had been Jewish and whose religion was based upon their Scriptures. Now as this sacred city became Gentile, and was "equipped with pomp of pagan worship," there would naturally be an inclination toward pagan practices. Then, add to that fact that a hatred toward everything Jewish had developed, and we can see that the tendency would be greatly enhanced.
With the driving out of all Jews from Jerusalem, Christian Jews were driven out as well. Eusebius showed this, in describing the church after the Jewish war, when he said:
"The church was collected there [at Jerusalem] of the Gentiles : the first bishop after those of the circumcision [the Jews] was Marcus." 4
So now we have a new situation and a new type of church believer at Jerusalem. Soon, spreading out to other sections of the country, Christians everywhere began to differentiate as much as possible between themselves and the Jews, so as not to be classified as such. This whole situation brought about a strong anti-Jewish feeling, and there followed such expressions as, "Whoever loveth the Jews . . . should not enter in amongst them [Christians] and minister."' As time went on this bitterness increased until we hear men say, "Let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd."' And they passed a law that "Christians must not marry with Jews,' nor even eat with them,' and that "Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday [Sabbath, original]." So we see that the Jewish war brought on a strong anti-Jewish feeling which continued to increase until, on the basis of that feeling, Christians were forbidden to observe the Sabbath of the Jews.
The changes in the ritual took place during the second century and mostly at the time of the reign of the emperor Hadrian, while the Jewish war was in progress. Doctor Harnack says: "More than any before it, the second century is the century of religious fusion." "The first stage of any real influx of definite Greek thought and Greek life is to be fixed at about the year I30."9 This, it will be observed, was during the latter part of the reign of Hadrian and during the Jewish war. Now notice what the historian Mosheim says about the changes during this reign:
"Among the many sects which divided the Christian church during this century, it is natural to mention, in the first place, that which an attachment to the Mosaic law separated from the rest of their Christian brethren. The first rise of this sect is placed under the reign of Adrian. For when this emperor had at length razed Jerusalem, entirely destroyed even its very foundations, and enacted laws of the severest kind against the whole body of the Jewish people; the greatest part of the Christians, who lived in Palestine, to prevent their being confounded with the Jews, abandoned entirely the Mosaic rites, and chose a bishop named Mark, a foreigner by nation, and consequently an alien from the commonwealth of Israel. This step was highly shocking to those whose attachment to the Mosaic rites was violent and invincible; and such was the case of many. . . .
"The Oriental doctors, who, before this century, had lived in the greatest obscurity, came forth from their retreat under the reign of Adrian, exposed themselves to public view, and gathered together, in various provinces, assemblies whose numbers were very considerable." "
II
There is another situation in the early church which is often overlooked in considering this question; that is, there are two types of theology among the early Christians. One was centered in Jerusalem and followed the practices of the early apostles; the other was centered at the great educational city of Alexandria, with a liberal attitude toward Greek learning, heathen practices, and Gnostic sentiments. So long as the apostles lived, the orthOdox elements from Jerusalem held sway. This same element still was in ascendancy in the early part of the second century, especially in Asia Minor and in Jerusalem, while it stood. The Alexandrian group was numerically small and had little outward influence at first; yet they were laying a foundation that later greatly influenced the church. At first they were bitterly opposed by the orthodox, later they were tolerated, and finally they became the predominating influence in the church.
It will be observed that there was no agitation of the Sunday question until the Jewish war, not even among so-called Christian Gnostics. The first Gnostics in the church were Jews who were observers of the Sabbath. However, by the close of the war, and following that time, Sunday observance appeared among them, especially at Alexandria. And from there it extended to other places as well. It then also began to be observed among Christians with semi-Gnostic sentiments—Barnabas, Justin Martyr, Clement, and Origen. Doctor Rainy says, "The author of the epistle ascribed to Barnabas, Justin Martyr, Clement, Origen, are all conspicuous instances." " But these are the men who spiritualized away Sabbath observance, advocated Sunday observance, and were tinged with Gnosticism. More than that, all the advocates of Sunday observance during this time showed these tendencies, and were to some extent under Alexandrian influence. Barnabas, the first on our list, says of the Sabbath:
"'God made in six days the works of His hands and made an end on the seventh day, and rested on it, and sanctified it.' Attend, my children, to the meaning of this expression, 'He finished in six days.' This implieth that the Lord will finish all things in six thousand years... Therefore, my children, in six days, that is, in six thousand years, all things will be finished. 'And He rested on the seventh day.' This meaneth: When His Son coming [again] shall destroy the time of the wicked man and judge the ungodly, and change the sun and the moon and the stars, then shall he truly rest on the seventh day, . . when, giving rest to all things, I shall make a beginning of the eighth day, that is, a beginning of another world. Wherefore also we keep the eighth day with joyfulness." "
Justin Martyr was a heathen philosopher at the time of his conversion to Christianity. He continued to wear the heathen philosopher's robe throughout his entire life. Philip Schaff says of him, "He may be called in a loose sense, a Christian Platonist. . . . From the time of Justin Martyr [about 150 A.D.], the platonic philosophy continued to exercise a direct and indirect influence upon Christian theology. . . . We can trace it especially in Clement of Alexandria, and Origen." la Justin Martyr himself wrote:
"Do you see that the elements are not idle, and keep no Sabbaths ? Remain as you were born. For if there was no need of circumcision before Abraham, or of the observance of Sabbaths, of feasts, and sacrifices before Moses; no more need is there of them now." 14
"The new law requires you to keep perpetual Sabbath, and you, because you are idle for one day, suppose you are pious." 15
"Now, sirs, I said, it is possible for us to show how the eighth day possessed a certain mysterious import which the seventh day did not possess, and which was promulgated by God through these rites." "The command of circumcision, again, bidding [them] always circumcise the children on the eighth day, was a type of true circumcision, by which we are circumcised from deceit and iniquity through Him who rose from the dead on the first day after the Sabbath [namely, through] our Lord Jesus Christ. For the first day after the Sabbath remaining the first of all the days; is called, however, the eighth, , . . and [yet] remains the first." 16
Clement, another in this line, was a professor in the school at Alexandria following Pantaenus, its founder. "He is the first to bring all the culture of the Greeks and all the speculations of the Christian heretics to bear on the exposition of Christian truth.' Clement said:
"The fourth word is that which intimates that the world was created by God, and that He gave us the seventh day as a rest, on account of the trouble that there is in life. . . The seventh day, therefore, is proclaimed a rest—abstraction from ills—preparing for the primal day, our true rest ; which in truth is the first creation of light, in which all things are viewed and possessed. . . . The eighth may possibly turn out to be properly the seventh, and the seventh manifestly the sixth, and the latter properly the Sabbath, and the seventh a day of work. For the creation of the world was concluded in six days." 18
Origen was Clement's successor in the school at Alexandria. He also attended the school of Ammonius Saccas, the founder of Neoplatonism, and is said to have taught his pupils all the philosophies of the heathen. At least when his pupil, Gregory, went to Pontus and "perceived that the ignorant multitude persisted in their idolatry, on account of the pleasures and sensual gratifications which they enjoyed at the pagan festivals, he granted them a permission to indulge themselves in the like pleasures.""
Before this, so far as is known, Asia remained constantly orthodox, while Alexandria was steeped in heathen sentiments and attitudes. W. R. Inge says, "The school of Antioch led a revolt against the Alexandrian exegesis of Holy Scripture, and founded a more critical method.' Bigg adds: "The church of the second century rang with alarm, and the consequence was that all the Christian writers of that period except Justin Martyr and Clement of Alexandria, shrank with horror from the very name of philosophy." 21
after that time their students were scattered in all places, and these Gnostic and heathen tendencies were carried into all places as well. The Hastings Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics says :
"There was in the third and fourth centuries so much friendly interchange of ideas between Christians and pagans, especially at Alexandria, that, as Harnack has recently shown, there is very little difference between Porphyry [the heathen) and his Christian contemporaries in their general view of life and duty." "
III
Now notice the trends. The first Gnostics in the church, so tradition says, were Magus, Menander, and Cerinthus. But these were all observers of the Sabbath as represented by the middle line on the accompanying chart, and under the influence of the Alexandrian Judaism of Philo. Then came the Jewish war, ending in 135 A.D., with a strong anti-Jewish attitude. Just at that time there appeared three more Gnostics—Valentinus, Saturninus, and Basilides—and these all with stronger heathen tendencies than their predecessors, and all advocates of Sunday observance and sun worship. Then followed the great struggle with Gnosticism during the remainder of the century, of which Doctor Harnack says:
"The Catholic Church had its origin in the struggle with Gnosticism. It had to pay a heavy price for the victory which kept the tendency at bay ; we may almost say that the vanquished imposed their terms upon the victor." "
Let us next study the chart. It will be noted that Sabbath observance, represented by the dotted Gnostic line, ceased among the Gnostics by the time of the Jewish war. Then sun worship and Sunday observance of the thin "Sunday" line united with the Alexandrian philosophy, and the two continued on together from that time, as represented by the bottom line. The propounders of these ideas were Barnabas, Justin Martyr, Clement, and Origen.
It will be observed also that at the same time there remained in Asia loyal observers of the Sabbath, such as the apostle John, Poly-carp, Irenaeus, and Theophilus. These are represented by the heavy "Sabbath" top line. This observance continued throughout the first and second centuries. Then there is a letdown about the time of Tertullian, and the Sunday influence from Alexandria unites with it. And in the parts represented by the Sabbath line both days were observed. At the same time (see bottom line), there were men who bitterly opposed everything that had to do with the Sabbath.
IV
There is also the question of the "Lord's day," represented by the broken line, that has caused considerable discussion. When did this expression originate, who first used it, and to what did it refer ? The first one to use that expression was the apostle John. But he was a Jew and a companion of the other apostles who associated with Jesus and were faithful observers of the Sabbath. When he spoke of Sunday he always called it the first day of the week, the same as did the other disciples and the Jews. So there is no indication that he referred to Sunday when he used the expression "Lord's day." More than that, an epistle purporting to have been sent to this same John reads, "On the seventh day, it being the Lord's day, he said to them: 'Now it is time for me also to partake of food.'" " So here we have the seventh day called the Lord's day.
The next reference is that of Dionysius, which reads, "We have passed the Lord's holy day, in which we have read your epistle." " Dionysius does not explain what day was referred to, but he calls it the Lord's holy day. This expression is almost identical to that of Isaiah in which the Lord speaks of the Sabbath as "My holy day." The only day that was called the Lord's holy day during this time was the Sabbath. All through this period Sunday was called either "the eighth day," or "the first day," or "the day of the sun," or "the first day of the week," but never was it called a holy day. Even after Sunday began to be observed for worship in the churches, it was not considered a holy day. Rather, it was more like a heathen observance —religious ceremonies being celebrated part of the day, with the rest of the day being given over to labor or pleasure. This sentiment followed for three or four centuries. A few examples are given:
"On the Lord's day only they proceed to the church beside which they lived, each company following its own mother superior. Returning home in the same order, they then devoted themselves to their allotted tasks, and made garments either for themselves or else for others," a
"What else can I call these but preachers of antichrist, who, when he comes, will cause the Sabbath day as well as the Lord's day to be kept free from all work." 17
It is a Jewish superstition to say that "it is unlawful to ride or drive on Sunday, or do anything for the decoration of the house or person. But field labors are forbidden, so that people may be able to come to church and worship. If anyone acts otherwise he is to be punished." "
"Let the slaves work five days, but on the Sabbath day and the Lord's day let them have leisure to go to church for instruction and piety." '
So we must conclude that the day Dionysius referred to as being a holy day must have been the Sabbath day.
The "Didache" is another document that may or may not allude to a day of worship. But it will be observed that it says nothing about a holy day. Literally it reads, "On the Lord's of the Lord come together, break bread and hold eucharist." It refers to the Lord's something. What is understood is not clear. Many suppose it refers to the day, which may be possible. If so, still it is not clear to what day it refers, for that is not stated. Neither is it clear that Sunday has now become designated by the expression, "The Lord's day." However, it is possible that Sunday is alluded to here, for there is considerable in it that is very similar to the book of Barnabas. And it is also anti-Jewish, as is the book of Barnabas, a sentiment always against the Sabbath. If so, it was probably written the latter part of the second century by someone opposed to the Asiatic sentiment in the church.
The first sure reference we have to Sunday's being called the Lord's day is by Clement of Alexandria in the last of the second century. But he gets his authority for it, not from the Bible, but from the Greek philosopher Plato. This is what he says:
"The Lord's day Plato prophetically speaks of in the tenth book of the Republic, in these words, 'And when seven days have passed to each of them in the meadow, on the eighth day they set out and arrive in four days.' "°°
V
Let us refer again to the chart. It will be observed in résumé that the first ones to advocate Sunday observance in the church were Barnabas and Justin Martyr, just following the Jewish war. But they knew nothing about Sunday's being the "Lord's day." For it was known to them as the day of the sun, or the "eighth day." At the same time the men represented on the upper line were all observing the Sabbath, and sometimes alluded to it as the Lord's day. The first one we are sure of who united the idea of the Lord's day with Sunday observance was Clement of Alexandria, the semiheathen who got his authority from Plato. The first Sunday advocates, Barnabas and Justin Martyr, both alluded to Sunday as the eighth day. Then Clement continues that same expression, and adds to it the expression "Lord's day." From that time on these two expressions are used synonymously. Thenceforward Sunday and the Lord's day go hand in hand with the group that followed the Alexandrian sentiment, represented by the bottom line, and also with the group of Sabbathkeepers, represented by the top line. Those of the top line observe both days, while Sunday only was observed by those represented by the bottom line.
For some years both days continued to be observed in most of the churches. But when in the fourth and fifth centuries Alexandria and Rome gained the ascendancy over the other churches, their heathen practices and influence came into the church. During those years they were the most influential churches. Hence, we are told, "by the eighth century the Alexandrian theology was accepted by the whole Christian world; east and west.' With the coming of this theology, which was opposed to Jewish practices and the Sabbath, there would naturally also come in the observance of another day of worship. As Professor Sayce says :
"We are the religious heirs of the builders and founders of the Egyptian temples. Many of the theories of Egyptian religion, modified and transformed no doubt, have penetrated into the theology of Christian Europe, and form, as it were, part of the woof in the web of modern religious thought. Christian theology was largely organized and nurtured in the schools of Alexandria.""
1 Eusebius, "Ecclesiastical History," hook 4, chap. 5.
2 Id., book 4, chap. 6.
3 Robert Rainy, "The Ancient Catholic Church," p. 19.
4 "Ecclesiastical History," book 4, chap. 6.
5 Syriac Document, "The Teaching of the Apostles," art. 15.
6 Eusebius, "Life of Constantine," book 3, chap. 18.
7 The Third Synod of Orleans, canon 13.
8 "Council of Laodicea," canon 29.
9 Adolph Harnack, "What Is Christianity?" pp. 221, 215.
10 "Mosheim, "Ecclesiastical History," century 2, part I, chap. 5: pars. 1, 4.
11 Rainy, "The Ancient Catholic Church," p. 117. ""The Epistle of Barnabas," chap. 15.
12 Philip Schaff, "History of the Christian Church," Vol. II, pp. 722-725.
13 Justin Martyr, "Dialogue with Trypho," chap. 23.
14 Id., chap. 12.
15 Id., chap. 41.
16 Encyclopedia Britannica, 14th ed., art., "Clement of Alexandria."
17 Clement, "Miscellanies," book 6, chap. 16.
18 "Mosheim's "Ecclesiastical History," cent. 2, part 2, chap. 4, Par. 3, note.
19 "Hastings, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, art., "Alexandrian Theology."
20 Charles Bigg, "The Origins of Christianity," 9. 743.
21 Hastings, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics," art., "Neoplatonism."
22 Harnack, "What Is Christianity?" p. 222.
23 Acts of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John," Vol, XVI.
25 Eusebius, "Ecclesiastical History," book 4, chap. 23.
26 Jerome's letters to Eustochius, Letter 108. "Epistles of St. Gregory," book 13, Epistle I. "Hefele, "History of the Church Councils," Third Synod of Orleans, canon 28.
27 "The Apostolic Constitutions," book 8, chap. 33. "Clement, "Miscellanies," book 5, char). 14." "International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, art., "Alexandria."
28 A. H. Sayce, "Religions of the Ancient Egyptians and Babylonians," pp. 229, 230.
*For a discussion of the Ignatian question see the appendix of "Origin of Sunday Observance," by W. E. Straw, in the 1940 Ministerial Reading Course.—Editor.
