I was away from the computer yesterday and today, but it was brought to my attention that Bob Thiel posted a super-fast response to my post on First Century Christianity. I guess he didn’t like the real story about what happened in those early years of the Church! He wrote:
He followed that statement with some excerpts from the article. Then, he went on to say:
Although the above author claims to have used scripture and historical sources like the so-called Ante-Nicene Fathers (those are writings from men prior to Emperor Constantine’s Council of Nicea in 325 A.D.), he has missed many things and came to a historically inaccurate conclusion. The idea that the Bible and early church history point to Sunday as being universally kept instead of the seventh-day Sabbath by the end of the first century A.D. is totally wrong and historically inaccurate. (
cogwriter: The Sabbath in the First Centuries of the Christian Church)
Bob then proceeded to cite many of the passages which refer to Christ and his apostles keeping the Sabbath. My response: That’s great, Bob, and it doesn’t refute or contradict anything I wrote in my post. We would expect to find observant Jews keeping the Sabbath and observing the tenets of Torah, and we do! Next, he quoted extensively from the fourth chapter of the anonymous epistle to the Hebrews. And, as anyone with a background in Armstrongism would expect, he makes the claim that this passage also proves that Sabbath-observance continues to be a requirement from Christians. Bob, of course, completely ignores the context of the remarks and twists them to support his thesis.
The context of this passage, of course, is that the Israelites had failed to keep the commandments of Torah and had consequently failed to truly enter into God’s rest – the real one, the one that the Sabbath pointed to! We read there:
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. (Verses 8-10, ESV)
In the Gospel of Matthew, we read:
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
So, YES, a Sabbath rest remains for Christians – his name is Jesus of Nazareth!
As for the Ante-Nicene Fathers, Bob’s thesis does NOT hold water! The earliest Christian catechism (which was composed sometime in the First Century or very early in the Second), The Didache, has this to say about Christian worship:
Chapter 14. Christian Assembly on the Lord's Day. But every Lord's day gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure. But let no one who is at odds with his fellow come together with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be profaned. For this is that which was spoken by the Lord: "In every place and time offer to me a pure sacrifice; for I am a great King, says the Lord, and my name is wonderful among the nations. (See
Early Christian Writings: The Didache)
Notice this also from some of the epistles of Ignatius of Antioch (Late First, early Second Century): From his letter to the saints at Philadelphia:
But if any one preach the Jewish law unto you, listen not to him. For it is better to hearken to Christian doctrine from a man who has been circumcised, than to Judaism from one uncircumcised. But if either of such persons do not speak concerning Jesus Christ, they are in my judgment but as monuments and sepulchers of the dead, upon which are written only the names of men.
Likewise, in his epistle to the Magnesians, we read:
Be not deceived with strange doctrines, nor with old fables, which are unprofitable. For if we still live according to the Jewish law, we acknowledge that we have not received grace…If, therefore, those who were brought up in the ancient order of things have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord's Day, on which also our life has sprung up again by Him and by His death-whom some deny, by which mystery we have obtained faith, and therefore endure, that we may be found the disciples of Jesus Christ, our only Master-how shall we be able to live apart from Him, whose disciples the prophets themselves in the Spirit did wait for Him as their Teacher? And therefore He whom they rightly waited for, being come, raised them from the dead…Let us not, therefore, be insensible to His kindness. For were He to reward us according to our works, we should cease to be. Therefore, having become His disciples, let us learn to live according to the principles of Christianity. For whosoever is called by any other name besides this, is not of God. Lay aside, therefore, the evil, the old, the sour leaven, and be ye changed into the new leaven, which is Jesus Christ. Be ye salted in Him, lest any one among you should be corrupted, since by your savour ye shall be convicted. It is absurd to profess Christ Jesus, and to Judaize. For Christianity did not embrace Judaism, but Judaism Christianity, that so every tongue which believeth might be gathered together to God.
Finally, Justin Martyr (Second Century) wrote this about the manner of Christian worship common at that time:
“And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succors the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need. But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Savior on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration.
So, sorry Bob – your narrative about what happened in the First Century just does NOT hold up to scrutiny! Herbert Armstrong was no historian. In fact, he wasn’t much of a theologian either. Rather than trying to read your teaching about the Sabbath into history, you may want to re-examine the actual documents and histories related to that era!
Lonnie Hendrix
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