Why was the Sabbath changed to Sunday?
So what made the mainstream Christian church change the day of rest and worship from Saturday to Sunday so long ago?
The major causes seem to be a combination of church authority overriding scriptural principles and the influences of sun worship and anti-Semitism.
The Catholic Church claimed authority to change scriptural principles
Around A.D. 400, Augustine, a respected Catholic theologian, proclaimed that “the holy doctors of the Church have decreed, that all glory of the Jewish Sabbath is transferred to it [Sunday]. Let us therefore keep the Lord’s Day as the ancients were commanded to do the Sabbath” (quoted by Robert Cox in Sabbath Laws and Sabbath Duties, 1853, p. 284).
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The Catholic Encyclopedia section on “Sunday” mentions St. Caesarius of Arles reinforcing this teaching in the sixth century as well. These men put the changing of the Sabbath in the hands of the doctors of the church (post-apostolic church officials).
In its section on the “Ten Commandments,” the Catholic Encyclopedia says: “The Church, on the other hand, after changing the day of rest from the Jewish Sabbath, or seventh day of the week, to the first, made the Third Commandment [we count it as the Fourth] refer to Sunday as the day to be kept holy as the Lord’s Day.”
Here is another instance in which Sunday worship was put into practice based on the Catholic Church’s claim of authority to change a scriptural principle. Again, mainstream church authorities will assume it is what the apostles wanted.
Other Catholic writers made it clear that Sunday services and worship are not endorsed by biblical teachings, but only by their church’s authority:
The Catholic Universe Bulletin said in 1942: “The Church changed the observance of the Sabbath to Sunday by right of the divine, infallible authority given to her by her Founder, Jesus Christ. The Protestant, claiming the Bible to be the only guide of faith, has no warrant for observing Sunday. In this matter the Seventh Day Adventist is the only consistent Protestant.”
The Catholic Virginian said in 1947: “All of us believe many things in regard to religion that we do not find in the Bible. For example, nowhere in the Bible do we find that Christ or the Apostles ordered that the Sabbath be changed from Saturday to Sunday. We have the commandment of God given to Moses to keep holy the
Sabbath Day, that is the 7th day of the week, Saturday. Today most Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the Church outside the Bible.”
Constantine made Sunday a day of rest , in his empire, over a decade before he converted.