Sabbath and Sunday among the Earliest Christians Second Edition: When Was the Day of Public Worship?

According to Christian sources from before the middle of the third century AD the ancient evidence is unanimous that although there were a few slight differences as to how weekends should be observed one thing is certain and was uncontroversial: the main day of the week for early Christians to gather and worship was not the seventh-day Saturday Sabbath but Sunday which they sometimes called the first day or the eighth day or the Lords Day. The booklet also considers (1) whether the Lords Day replaces the Sabbath (2) whether the Sabbath was abolished (3) whether Sabbath-keeping is forbidden (4) whether the Roman Catholic church changed the Sabbath to Sunday (5) whether Sunday is to be a day of rest as well as the chief day of public worship (6) a critique of sources and authorities on which Sabbatarians rely in advancing their contentions (7) whether some Christians before Constantine observed Sunday rather than Saturday to prevent the Roman government from considering them to be Jews who were allegedly persecuted before his reign and (8) where readers can find translations of the sources for themselves. Focusing on pagan Roman and Jewish sources this second edition considers whether Sunday-keeping began as a result of the Jewish revolts of AD 66-70 and/or AD 132-135 and examines the work of Samuele Bacchiocchi. David Brattston covers much of the material in several of my writings and reaches the same conclusions. The uniform and overwhelming testimony of early Christian writings is that Christians distinguished the Sabbath from the Lords day did not keep the Sabbath as a matter of obligation and met for worship on the first day of the week (Sunday). Sabbath and Lords day were two different kinds of days--a day of rest versus a day of Christian assembly. --Everett Ferguson Professor Emeritus Abilene Christian University This booklet which traces available evidence for attitudes towards Sunday and Sabbath in early Christianity is packed with detail and careful argument and warrants a place on the shelf for all who want to address the issues seriously. --William Loader Emeritus Professor Murdoch University Western Australia David W.T. Brattston is a retired lawyer residing in Lunenburg Nova Scotia Canada a UNESCO World Heritage Site. He holds degrees from three universities. His articles on early and contemporary Christianity have been published by a wide variety of denominations in every major English-speaking country. He is the author of the four-volume Traditional Christian Ethics (2014).