There is a claim that the Catholic Church changed the Sabbath day from Saturday to Sunday in the 4th century AD, and, even more interesting, that this is a sign that they are the Antichrist. Let’s consider these claims in this article.
To start with, did the Catholic Church change the Sabbath from Saturday (starting Friday at dusk) to Sunday? If this were so, it would have been done at the Council of Laodicea in 363 AD; however the church itself says this is not the case. The records of the council seem to explain the confusion. Specifically the records say they, “…outlawed the keeping of the Sabbath (Saturday), and encouraged rest on Sunday.” (See here) Why would outlawing the keeping of the Sabbath for Catholics be necessary? The Church sought to differentiate itself from Judaism; if members kept it, they could be confused as being Jewish.
Perhaps it’s presumptuous to assume what people have in mind when they think of observing the Sabbath. The modern misconception was that it was a nice day of rest and reflection. While it may have been restful, the fact that the punishment for violating any of the Sabbath laws was stoning (Exo 31:15). This put a person in a predicament if an emergency of some sort occurred on the Sabbath, for instance, your son or ox falling in a well as Jesus brings up in Luke 14:5.
Presently, the Catholic Church says they did not change the Sabbath day, but instead made the day of celebrating Christ “the eighth day”. Naturally the eighth day is just the first day, but from the perspective of the seven days of creation, the eighth day is the start of the first week after the creation, and celebrates the first day, the day on which God created light. According the Catholic Church, Jesus rose on the first/eighth day because it was the day God created light.
Regarding the claim that the Catholic Church itself is the Antichrist, even though I do not have any allegiance to the church, I do not think they are the Antichrist. The idea comes from an interpretation of Revelation 13:1–8, 16–18, and 14:9–12. The interpretation is explained in detail here [https://www.sabbathtruth.com/faq/advanced-topics/the-sabbath-and-the-mark-of-the-beast]. They do a good job of going through the various components of the prophecy; however, they string together eleven prophecies all of which need to be correct interpretations of the heavily symbolic text in order to prove that the Catholic Church itself is the Antichrist. For the sake of brevity, let’s consider five of the main claims:
- Beast out of the sea = Catholic Church out of Western Europe where the papacy arose.
- The 10-horned beast = Rome = the Catholic Church since it’s headquartered in what used to be Rome.
- The deadly wound the beast received = Napoleon’s general captured Pope Pius VI.
- The 42 month (1260 days) rule = 1260 years the papacy ruled from 538 AD to 1798 AD.
- 666 = “Vicarius Filii Dei” which is the Latin title of the papacy. If you assign Roman numeral value to each letter or zero if it’s not a Roman numeral; then you sum the values (this is a method called Gematria [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gematria]).
These are highly specific claims that are individually difficult to substantiate—yet all must be correct for the interpretation to be true. This is the precarious nature of interpreting the Apocalyptic symbols and references of Revelation.
It is definitely true that most Christian churches have church on Sunday, but does that mean Sunday is the new Sabbath? The simple answer is no, because the Law of Moses is no longer in effect and therefore there is no Sabbath law left. If an individual or a church believes the Law of Moses is still in effect, this is an entirely different issue, as one would have to follow all of the laws all of the time—something the Jews were never able to accomplish themselves.
How can one know the Law is no longer in effect? In Mat 5:17-20, near the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus seems to indicate the Law will go on forever. “Until heaven and earth disappear” are the first condition, but the second condition is, “until everything is accomplished.”. This means that the Law would be fulfilled before heaven and earth ended once everything in it was accomplished.
Were it up to human effort, this never would have happened—but it was the Messiah’s mission to end the Law by fulfilling it. How? By living a perfect life with respect to the Law and by fulfilling all the prophecies about the coming of the Kingdom through the work of the Messiah. Read Jesus’ dialog with the disciples in Luke 24:44-49. He had to open their minds (v45) to take it all in and realize that, “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms”, had just occurred.
Hebrews 8:13 says, “By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.” What could this mean? “Obsolete” means “available but to be discontinued” while “disappear” means “cease to exist”. Why doesn’t Hebrews just say the Law ceased? I believe it’s because the two covenants overlapped for a short period while God gave the Jews time to realize the Messiah had come.
This gave time for the Gospel message to sink and spread. During this period, strange things happened at the Temple, and I believe God gave these as signs to the Jews to hopefully nudge them towards the Gospel. The Mishnah records in Tractate Yoma 39a and 39b several omens that occurred in the 40 or so years prior to the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 AD:
1. On Yom Kippur, “the lot for God” (the token of the goat to be sacrificed) always came up I n the left hand of the high priest. The probability of this happening approaches zero (1/2^40). In addition, it was preferable for the lot for God to come up in the right hand (I’m not sure why)—this made the omen far worse.
2. Also on Yom Kippur, the scarlet wool scarf tied to the horns of the scapegoat did not turn white. The scarf turning white indicated that God had forgiven their sins; therefore this was also a very concerning omen.
3. The western candle of the Menorah would sometimes go out. It was meant to burn continuously 24 hours a day and the priests went through great lengths to ensures this.
4. The two loaves bread of the Omer offering became very small and not nearly enough to split amongst all the priests. Before this, the bread was enough to satisfy every priest with some leftover.
5. “And the doors of the Sanctuary opened by themselves as a sign that they would soon be opened by enemies”.
The Jewish priests of this period interpreted these signs that God was highly displeased with them and that the community as a whole must be in sin, which was true from a certain perspective. Unfortunately, they did not interpret the signs as trying to tell the Jews that the Old Covenant “would soon disappear”.
After the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, the Law could no longer be followed. Sacrifices for atonement could only be done in the Temple of God—they could not perform sacrifices at just any place. With the cessation of the daily sacrifice and the yearly Yom Kippur, any violation of the Law could no longer be atoned. And there are many other things that could only be done at the Temple—rituals, tithing, celebrations, holidays, etc.
Therefore the Law could not be followed once the Temple was destroyed. It has never been rebuilt and thus the Law still cannot be followed as written in the Old Testament. Even if it were rebuilt, the temple artifacts (the Ark of the Covenant, Lampstands, offering table, etc.) are lost and the Levitical priesthood is gone. The Old Covenant has disappeared and has been replaced with the incomparably better New Covenant ushered in by the Messiah.
Daniel 9:24 prophesied, “Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place.” This verse and many others prophesy that the Messiah would come and put an end to sin, as sin is only possible when there is a Law to break. As stated in Rom 5:13, “To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law.”
Is everyone saved then? No, there is but one unforgivable sin: the direct or indirect rejection of God’s indwelling Holy Spirit. As Jesus says in:
And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
Matthew 12:31-32
In summary, Christianity did not change the day on which the Sabbath occurred. It did, from the perspective of Christianity as presented in this article, alleviate the Sabbath because it ended the Old Covenant. With no Sabbath possible as ordained by the Law of Moses anymore—there is no Law now except to believe in the Messiah and to receive his Holy Spirit.