The Third Commandment Lesson 6
The Jewish Sabbath Was Changed To Sunday By The Apostles
"The Apostles resolved to consecrate the first day of the week to the divine worship, and called it the Lord's day."- Catechism of the Council of Trent
"The Church of God has thought it well to transfer the celebration and observance of the Sabbath to Sunday.
For, as on that day light first shone in the world, so by the Resurrection of our Redeemer on the same day, by whom was thrown open to us the gate to eternal life, we were called out of darkness into light; and hence the Apostles would have it called the Lord's day.
We also learn from the Sacred Scriptures that the first day of the week was held sacred because on that day the work of creation commenced, and on that day the [power of the] Holy Ghost was given to the Apostles."-Catechism of the Council of Trent.
What does Scripture say concerning Sunday being our Sabbath Day?
But now, after that you have known God, or rather are known by God: how turn you again to the weak and needy elements, which you desire to serve again? You observe days, and months, and times, and years.
Saint Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians, reproves the observance of the Mosaic rites when he says, "You observe days, and months, and times, and years."
"Ye observe days," meaning the sabbath days. Pauls said to the Colossians, "Let no man therefore judge you in......respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or the sabbath days" (Colossians 2:16).
"Months" probably refers to the observance of the "new moon" practiced by the people of Israel in the time of the kings. The prophets warned them against it.
"Times" can be translated seasons, meaning feast. God had given Israel seven feasts, but they all had pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ.
"Years" of course would refer to the sabbatic years.
(1 Corinthians 16:2) On the first day of the week let every one of you put something aside and store it up,as God hath prospered you, so that there will be no collecting when I come.
Notice carefully that it does not say,- "On Seventh day of the week, (the Jewish sabbath day), let every one of you put something aside and store it up,as God hath prospered you, so that there will be no collecting when I come." What it actually says is, "on the first day of the week" When Saint Paul says to bring your offering on the first day of the week, this was the day on which the church came together to remember the Lord Jesus in His death and in His resurrection. He rose on the first day of the week, which is Sunday, not Saturday.
"let every one of you put something aside and store it up,as God hath prospered you,"
He says nothing about tithes and offerings. That's because tithes and offerings would have been brought on the Jewish Sabbath day. The New Testament does not teach tithing. It teaches to "put aside...as God hath prospered you."
(Romans 14:5-6) One man judgeth one day above another: another judgeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord.
"Fully persuaded" means to be convinced, to be assured in one's mind.
The problem is set in the context of tensions between the Jewish minority and Gentile majority in Rome (see Romans 11). The problem appears to have arisen because many Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians influenced by Jewish tradition regarded the continued observance of the Jewish sabbath and festival days as of continued importance because they viewed the new movement they were a part of as a fulfilled form of Judaism. Here, though, Paul speaks both of the freedom to keep or not to keep the sabbath.
(Colossians 2:16-17) Let no man therefore judge you in.........respect of a festival day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbaths. Which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ.
A believer is not to observe Jewish festival days, or new moons or the Jewish sabbaths of the Old Testament. Saint Paul explains that they were merely "shadow of things to come". We get our word photograph from the greek word for "shadow". All the rituals of the Law in the Old Testament were like a negative or a picture- they were just pictures of Christ. Now that Christ has come, we have the reality. We do not need the picture anymore.
Next, we will look at the sabbath controversies in the Gospels to see how the Gospel writers portrayed Jesus in reference to the sabbath. We will examine these texts to see whether Jesus is shown to have broken the sabbath command as given in the Torah or whether he simply broke the halakic interpretations of the sabbath. (Halakic interpretation: The Halakah was developed to guide the Jews in areas where the scriptural text was not explicit.)