The week consists of seven days, distinguished from one another by their place in the week. They are called the first day, the second day, the third day, and so on to the seventh day, which is besides called "Shabbat" (Rest) or "Yom ha-Shabbat" (Day of Rest). As the Sabbath is the most important day of the week, the term "Shabbat" denotes also "week"—that is, the period from one Sabbath to the next; and a year of rest is also called "Shabbat" (or "shabu'a"). Friday, as the forerunner of Shabbat, is called "'Ereb Shabbat" (The Eve of Sabbath). The term "'ereb" admits of two meanings: "evening" and "admixture" (Ex. xii. 38); and "'Ereb Shabbat" accordingly denotes the day on the evening of which Sabbath begins, or the day on which food is prepared for both the current and the following days, which latter is Sabbath.
The rest day is and should be Saturday, not Sunday.
The change of Sabbath to Sunday is a human decision. The Bible did not say that the Sabbath was moved into Sunday. Yahweh is out of that decision. It was the 1st century Christians alone who change that because they just want to.
1st century Christians still observe the Sabbath on Saturday. But they also observe the Lord’s Day on Sunday, even though Lord Jesus never told them to do so. According to them Yeshua rose on the 1st day of the week (Mat28:1); which according to the Jewish calendar is Sunday. And so, they worship on Sunday to honor the new covenant with Jesus Christ.
Furthermore, the Sunday worship did not immediately replace the Sabbath. The practice developed gradually.
We are told that in the beginning, the Jews and Christians share a close bond, since Christianity originated from Judaism. Early Christians indeed observe Sabbath on Saturday; however, conflicts started to emerged between the Jews and Christians in the late 1st century CE, most especially when it comes to Lord Jesus’ identity and the circumcision. This is recorded in the Gospel of John, happen around 27–30 CE. John 9:22 tells us about the parents of the healed blind man that were afraid because “the Jews had already agreed that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue.” This suggests that Christians were already being expelled from Jewish synagogues by the 1st century.
Also in Acts 15, happened approximately around 30–62 CE, where the Council of Jerusalem, led by apostles addressed whether Gentile converts to Christianity needed to follow Jewish laws. Apostle Paul said that Gentiles did not need to follow the full Mosaic Law, which already created a distinction between Jews and Gentile Christians. And so, it shows that Christianity was beginning to form it’s own identity apart from Judaism even before 70 CE. The separation between Christians and Jews accelerated after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. At that time, Jews were facing persecution under Roman rule, and Christians, who were still largely seen as a Jewish sect, began to distinguish themselves more clearly. One way they did this was by shifting their main day of worship to Sunday, both to honor the resurrection of Christ and to avoid being identified with Jewish Sabbath practices under Roman suspicion.
It was 2nd century CE when the separation between Jews and Christians was formalized. And Sunday worship became the standard among Christians. This is seen in writings of Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr and more.
No comments:
Post a Comment