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Could you tell me why the Sunday-Law of Constantine is ignored as if Sunday is mentioned in the Greek Scriptures. Is this not a turning point of the history of the apostasy of the church as prophesied in 2nd Thessalonians 2?February 2010
I assume that you are referring to the law Constantine passed in 321 AD that closed all courts of law on Sunday and placed restrictions on the use of slave labor except for certain farming activities. He also changed the market day for farmers to Sunday, encouraging Romans not to work everyday of the week. These two changes pushed the culture into observing some kind of "sabbath" day of rest. This was not an enforced law, but a way to encourage Sunday as a day for worship. When he passed these laws he recognized them as "the day of the sun," and was not forcing anyone to attend Christian church.
I realize that many will contest what I have just written, but there are numerous examples from church fathers in the first and second centuries which make it clear that Christians met on the eighth day to commemorate the resurrection day of Jesus. There was a clear anti-Jewish strain in the early Gentile church - I am not saying this is good, but it is historically true.
Finally He says to them; "Your new moons and your Sabbaths I cannot endure."
You can perceive His meaning: it is not your present Sabbaths that are acceptable, but the Sabbath which I have made...when I have set all things at rest, I will make the beginning of the eighth day which is the beginning of another world. Therefore, we keep the eighth day for rejoicing, in which
Jesus rose from the dead, and having been manifested ascended into the heavens. Moreover I will tell you likewise concerning the temple, how these wretched men, being led astray, set their hope on the building, and not on their God that made them, as being a house of God. - Barnabas 15:8-16:1
You can see the promtion of Sunday AND the anti-Jewish sentiment in this text.
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 - whom some deny, by which mystery we have obtained faith....Let us not, therefore, be insensible to His kindness...Therefore, having become His disciples, let us learn to live according to the principles of Christianity. For whosoever is called by any other name besides this, is not of God. Lay aside, therefore, the evil, the old, the sour leaven....It is absurd to profess Christ Jesus, and to Judaize. For Christianity did not embrace Judaism, but Judaism Christianity... Ignatius - To the Magnesians 9-10
Greetings ! Thank you for your kind reply and I need to listen to you fully when you can fully explain Scripturally, in due course. Thanking you, Yours in His service, Comment Here: |
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