Sabbath or Sunday—WHICH???

This factoid was prepared by poster “KoeyKoala” in 2006 on Mark Tabladillo’s Jesus Loves Fellowship message board based on a discussion of what I Corinthians 16:2 really meant:

We see examples in the NT of both Saturday and Sunday observance.  What we don’t see is a command for either day.  Even the Catholic Encyclopedia mentions “The express teaching of Christ and St. Paul prevented the early Christians from falling into the excesses of Jewish Sabbatarianism in the observance of the Sunday…”

sunset“The obligation of rest from work on Sunday remained somewhat indefinite for several centuries.”  It was St. Caesarius at the beginning of the 6th century, who insisted upon observing Sunday like the Saturday Sabbath.  However, “The Council held at Orleans in 538 reprobated this tendency as Jewish and non-Christian.”

Sunday as a Sabbath has had a checkered history and the simplistic accusation from Saturday Sabbatarians is not entirely correct.  We can thank the Puritans for the strictness of Sunday Sabbatarianism among Protestants.