Victor R. Claveau, MJ
The following italicized statements are from Seventh-day Adventists Believe … A Biblical Exposition of 27 Fundamental Doctrines, 1988, p. 259:
“There is no evidence of Christian weekly Sunday worship before the second century, but the evidence indicates that by the middle of that century some Christians were voluntarily observing Sunday as a day of worship, not a day of rest.”
There is historical evidence that “The Lord’s Day” was celebrated during the first century. Not only do we have St. John (Rev. 1:10) speaking of “The Lord’s Day,” we have the evidence of the Didache: –
“But every Lord’s Day[i] gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure. But let no one who is at odds with his fellow come together with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be profaned. For this is that which was spoken by the Lord: “In every place and time offer to me a pure sacrifice; for I am a great King, says the Lord, and my name is wonderful among the nations” (Didache, 14, 1).[ii]
“The Teaching of the Lord to the Gentiles by the Twelve Apostles, or The Teaching of the (Twelve) Apostles, as it was known in ancient times, or simply the Didache. The Didache may have been put into its present form as late as 150, though a date considerably closer to the end of the first century seems more probable. The materials from which it was composed, however, reflect the state of the church at an even earlier time. In his very thorough commentary[iii] J. P. Audet suggests about A.D. 70, and he is not likely to be off by more than a decade in either direction.” Johannes Quasten attests that the Didache “must have originated between 100 A.D. and 150 A.D.” [iv]
St. Ignatius of Antioch, in his Letter to the Magnesians [ca. A.D. 110], wrote, “The prophets, who were men of God, lived according to Jesus Christ. For that reason, they were persecuted, inspired as they were by His grace to convince the disobedient that there is one God, who manifested himself through His Son, Jesus Christ, who is His Word proceeding from silence, and who was in all respects pleasing to Him who sent Him. If then, those who walked in ancient customs came to a new hope, no longer sabbathing but living by the Lord’s Day, on which we came to life through Him….”
“Why did those who were turning from worship on the seventh day choose Sunday and not another day of the week? A major reason was that Christ was resurrected on Sunday, it was alleged that He had authorized worship on that day. ‘But strange as it may seem, not one writer of the second and third centuries ever cited a single Bible verse as authority for the observance of Sunday in the place of the Sabbath. Neither Barnabas, nor Ignatius, nor Justin, nor Irenaeus, nor Tertullian, nor Clement of Rome, nor Clement of Alexandria, nor Origin, nor Cyprian, nor Victorinus, nor any other author who lived near to the time when Jesus lived knew of any such instruction from Jesus or from any part of the Bible.”
This statement is patently misleading. Essentially, it is a true statement that can easily be accepted by those who have little or no background in Church history. For example: “not one writer of the second and third centuries ever cited a single Bible verse as authority.” However, the Bible did not exist in the form we now have it until the end of the fourth century, when Catholic Church selected and codified the 27 books of the New Testament Canon from the hundreds of manuscripts existing at the time. How could the authors cited above quote from a Bible that did not exist? Secondarily, each of them worshipped on Sunday and many of them cited Sunday worship in their writings.
These are prime example of how the Seventh-day Adventist authorities are willing to twist the Scriptures and rewrite Church history to bolster their erroneous doctrines.
[i] The term “Lord’s Day had already become a common usage for Sunday, so much so that it is now used as a distinct term apart from its root meaning.
[ii] J. B. Lightfoot and J. R. Harmer, The Apostolic Fathers, Second Edition, (Grand Rapids, MI., Baker Book House, 1989), p. 146.
[iii] J. P. Audet, La Didachè; Instructions des Apótes [Paris: Gabalda, 1958)
[iv] Johannes Quasten, Patrology, (Westminister, MD: Christian Classics, 1986), vol. 1, p. 37.