The Bible, Israel, and Antisemitism.Part 8: From Sabbath to Lord's Day
Judaism was a legally accepted religion in the Roman Empire and Christianity began as a sect within it. After the death of the apostles the growing separation between the two faiths opened the door for the birth of an antisemitic streak in Christianity.
The gradual shift of worship from the Sabbath to Sunday (the Lord’s Day) was a key division between the two faiths. The resurrection occurred on “the first day of the week” (Matthew 28.1; Mark 16.2; Luke 24.1; John 20.1). John’s gospel records that the disciples were gathered “the first day of the week” when Jesus appeared to them (20.19) and then “eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them”, indicating a regular weekly cycle of the disciples gathering. Years later Christians continued to gather on the first day of the week (Acts 20.7; 1 Corinthians 16.2) and John explicitly makes reference to “the Lord’s Day” as a day of the week (Revelation 1.10).
The church fathers after the apostles mentioned Christian worship on the Lord’s Day. The earliest is in a book called “The Didache” (or “The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles”), written around AD 100.
“On the Lord’s own day, gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanks, having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure.” (Didache 14.1)
The Epistle of Barnabas, written around the same time, contrasts the Jewish Sabbath and the Christian Lord’s Day, alluding to God’s condemnation of the Sabbaths in Isaiah 1.13-14 and depicting Christianity as the worship on “the eighth day”, symbolizing the new creation.
“Further, He [God] says to them [the Jews], ‘Your present Sabbaths are not acceptable to Me, but that which I have made, in which, having brought all things to rest, I will make the beginning of the eighth day, that is, the beginning of another world.’ Wherefore, also, we [Christians] keep the eighth day with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose again from the dead.” (Epistle of Barnabas 15.8-9)
Finally, Ignatius, a bishop of the church in Antioch in Syria (where Peter and Paul had both spent time) who was martyred around AD 107 wrote aggressively about distinguishing Christianity and Judaism, the Lord’s Day and the Sabbath.
“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…” (Epistle to the Magnesians 9)
“Therefore, having become His [Jesus’] disciples, let us learn to live according to the principles of Christianity…Lay aside, therefore, the evil, the old, the sour leaven [i.e. Judaism], and be ye changed into the new leaven, which is Jesus Christ…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… It is absurd to speak of Jesus Christ with the tongue, and to cherish in the mind a Judaism which has now come to an end. For where there is Christianity there cannot be Judaism.” (Epistle to the Magnesians 10)
Characterizing Judaism as “the evil, the old, the sour leaven” was unlikely to endear Christianity to Jews! The tone reflects Christianity’s growing sense of superiority over Judaism, an expression of what is called “supersessionism” (aka “replacement theology”), a second factor in the growing division between the two faiths that led to antisemitism.
More on that in the next blog…
The gradual shift of worship from the Sabbath to Sunday (the Lord’s Day) was a key division between the two faiths. The resurrection occurred on “the first day of the week” (Matthew 28.1; Mark 16.2; Luke 24.1; John 20.1). John’s gospel records that the disciples were gathered “the first day of the week” when Jesus appeared to them (20.19) and then “eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them”, indicating a regular weekly cycle of the disciples gathering. Years later Christians continued to gather on the first day of the week (Acts 20.7; 1 Corinthians 16.2) and John explicitly makes reference to “the Lord’s Day” as a day of the week (Revelation 1.10).
The church fathers after the apostles mentioned Christian worship on the Lord’s Day. The earliest is in a book called “The Didache” (or “The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles”), written around AD 100.
“On the Lord’s own day, gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanks, having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure.” (Didache 14.1)
The Epistle of Barnabas, written around the same time, contrasts the Jewish Sabbath and the Christian Lord’s Day, alluding to God’s condemnation of the Sabbaths in Isaiah 1.13-14 and depicting Christianity as the worship on “the eighth day”, symbolizing the new creation.
“Further, He [God] says to them [the Jews], ‘Your present Sabbaths are not acceptable to Me, but that which I have made, in which, having brought all things to rest, I will make the beginning of the eighth day, that is, the beginning of another world.’ Wherefore, also, we [Christians] keep the eighth day with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose again from the dead.” (Epistle of Barnabas 15.8-9)
Finally, Ignatius, a bishop of the church in Antioch in Syria (where Peter and Paul had both spent time) who was martyred around AD 107 wrote aggressively about distinguishing Christianity and Judaism, the Lord’s Day and the Sabbath.
“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…” (Epistle to the Magnesians 9)
“Therefore, having become His [Jesus’] disciples, let us learn to live according to the principles of Christianity…Lay aside, therefore, the evil, the old, the sour leaven [i.e. Judaism], and be ye changed into the new leaven, which is Jesus Christ…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… It is absurd to speak of Jesus Christ with the tongue, and to cherish in the mind a Judaism which has now come to an end. For where there is Christianity there cannot be Judaism.” (Epistle to the Magnesians 10)
Characterizing Judaism as “the evil, the old, the sour leaven” was unlikely to endear Christianity to Jews! The tone reflects Christianity’s growing sense of superiority over Judaism, an expression of what is called “supersessionism” (aka “replacement theology”), a second factor in the growing division between the two faiths that led to antisemitism.
More on that in the next blog…