Today, a vast number of Christians worship on Sunday, the first day of the week. However, there is no biblical evidence that Jesus or the apostles observed Sunday as a day of worship. In fact, the word “Sunday” does not even appear in the Bible. Why? Because it is a pagan name, referring to the day on which pagans worshiped the Sun God—first Baal, later Tammuz.
Sunday worship gradually entered Christianity, not in the first century, but in the 3rd and 4th centuries. In March of 321 AD, Roman Emperor Constantine issued a Sunday law prohibiting work on that day. This was a civil decree, not a religious one. However, in 364 AD, at the Council of Laodicea, the Roman Catholic Church officially declared Sunday as the day of worship for Christians under its influence. This practice continues to this day, and neither Martin Luther nor the early Protestant Reformers managed to separate themselves from this inherited tradition of Sunday worship.
Catholic Acknowledgment of the Change
Several Roman Catholic sources acknowledge that the Church, not the Bible, instituted the change from Sabbath to Sunday:
“Most Christians assume that Sunday is the biblically approved day of worship. The Catholic Church protests that it transferred Christian worship from the biblical Sabbath (Saturday) to Sunday, and that to try to argue that the change was made in the Bible is both dishonest and a denial of Catholic authority. If Protestantism wants to base its teachings only on the Bible, it should worship on Saturday.” — Rome’s Challenge, immaculateheart.com, Dec 2003.
“Question: How prove you that the Church had power to command feasts and holy days?
Answer: By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of, and therefore they fondly contradict themselves by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same Church.” — Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism, 3rd edition, Chapter 2, p. 174 (Imprimatur, John Cardinal McCloskey, Archbishop of New York, 1995).
“Nowhere in the Bible is it stated that worship should be changed from Saturday to Sunday… Now the Church… instituted, by God’s authority, Sunday as the day of worship. This same Church, by the same divine authority, taught the doctrine of Purgatory long before the Bible was made. We have, therefore, the same authority for Purgatory as we have for Sunday.” — Martin J. Scott, Things Catholics Are Asked About, 1927 edition, p. 136
The Biblical Significance of the Sabbath
The seventh-day Sabbath is a memorial of God’s creative power. Revelation 4 describes the elders before God’s throne declaring that worship belongs to God because He created all things. At Mount Sinai, God commanded:
“Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” — Exodus 20:9-10.
Notably, God did not call it the “Jewish Sabbath.” Why? Because when the Sabbath was instituted in Eden, there were no Jews—only Adam and Eve, the ancestors of all humanity.
God’s Test of Sabbath Faithfulness
When the Israelites were in the desert God tested them by sending manna each day for their food. If they gathered manna on any day during the six days and kept it overnight it would stink and breed worms. But if they kept it overnight on the 6th day so that they wouldn’t have to gather on the Sabbath the 7th day the Manna was fresh the next day and did not stink or breed worms. This miracle of God was designed to teach the people that the Sabbath was holy… the Lord’s Day.
God Himself calls the Sabbath “My holy day” (Isaiah 58:13). He even promises special blessings to Gentiles who observe it:
“Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord… to be his servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath… even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer.” — Isaiah 56:6-7.
Ezekiel further declares:
“Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.” — Ezekiel 20:12.
The Sabbath in the End Time
Revelation 7 describes God’s sealing of His faithful people with His mark. In contrast, Revelation 13 warns that the beast also has a mark—the mark of the beast. The battle in the last days centers on worship:
“Fear God and give glory to Him… and worship Him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the fountains of waters.” — Revelation 14:7.
This verse echoes the Sabbath commandment, which calls us to worship the Creator. Yet, nowhere in the Bible is Sunday worship commanded or sanctified.
The Choice Before Us
To settle this issue, ask yourself: Which day did Jesus and the apostles worship on—Sabbath or Sunday? The answer is clear: the seventh-day Sabbath, as established in the fourth commandment still applies to Christians today:
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” — Exodus 20:8-11:
Revelation 12:17 warns that Satan’s wrath is directed against those “who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus.”
In the final analysis, the question is simple: Will you obey God or follow man-made traditions? In view of the historical corruptions of Roman Catholicism, should your authority for worship be the Catholic church or the Bible/God’s word? The Lord our Creator still reminds us today:
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” — Exodus 20:8.
Questions or comments? Contact us at: reformationday.net@gmail.com
