Have you ever stopped to ask yourself, “Why do Christians worship on Sunday?”? Or, have you asked yourself, “When did Sunday services begin?”. If you were like me, the thought never crossed your mind. Maybe your parents did it and, then, you just went along with their practice. Or, somehow, you got connected with the local church and you just went along with the “status quo”.

While Sunday worship seems natural and obvious, the reality is that there is no Biblical foundation for this practice. In fact, as far as I know, the first historical record of Christians setting aside Sunday as the day for rest and worship didn’t happen until after the fourth century. The first Christian churches were established in the first century by the disciples of Jesus.

So, how did Sunday worship actually begin? Who started it? And what did Christians do before Sunday worship began? We will seek to answer all these questions and more. If you prefer a video explanation of the topic… scroll all the way to the end or click here.

What did Christians do before Sunday worship began?

Let’s start with the last question, first, “What did Christians do before Sunday worship began?”. To answer this question properly, we must answer a deeper question, “What is the foundation of Christianity?”. Well, Christianity is founded and rooted in the Bible. This seems like an obvious answer but this answer involves much. First, the Bible is, among other things, a historical record that begins with the creation of the earth and ends with the destruction and recreation of it. For many, the period of time between the creation and when Jesus came on this earth to die for our sins isn’t well understood.

In order to understand, more deeply, the New Testament and Christ’s sacrifice for our sins, we must have an understanding of the Old Testament. The Old Testament isn’t obsolete, it’s a foreshadowing of the New Testament (especially concerning Jesus’ death for our sins and His resurrection).

For example, some of you may know about the Biblical character named Abraham. He was instructed to do a sacrificial offering of his son to God in Genesis chapter 22. However, right before he committed the act, he was stopped by a voice from heaven. This story was a foreshadowing of the true Father, God (Abraham’s name means father of a multitude1), who would sacrifice His true Son, Jesus, for our sins. This story is an appeal to fathers to consider the love that God, the true Father, has for humanity in that He would offer His only Son as a sacrifice for our sins.

Abraham wasn’t only known for being willing to sacrifice his son. He was also known for having “faith” by leaving his biological family behind to establish a nation in the, then unknown, land of Canaan (we might call it Israel or Palestine today). Essentially, Abraham is the first “spiritual” and biological father of the Jewish nation.

A lot of the famous characters that many people know (like Moses, King David whom slew Goliath, Samson, and even Jesus, Himself) were all biological descendants of Abraham. To this line of people was given the Bible, the Ten Commandments and the sacrificial system with all its ceremonial rites and rituals. In turn, the Israeli nation was to learn about the love of God, through the ceremonial sacrifices and offerings and reveal that love to the world. However, they failed at this and became, rather, a proud nation that treated outsiders as “unclean” by the time Jesus was on earth.

Just because the Jewish nation failed at their duty, it doesn’t mean that God’s system wasn’t valid. It had a purpose. The Ten Commandments, found in Exodus 20:1-17, explained the foundation of God’s government. In God’s kingdom, acts such as committing theft, murder and adultery is not lawful (Commandments 5-10). And, to a greater degree, true worship to God involves shunning all worship to anything or anyone else, being sincere in the worship of God and setting aside a particular day for group worship and rest (Commandments 1-4). And, the ceremonial services were to reveal the love of Christ and foreshadow the manner in which He would die, as an innocent man, for our sins.

“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

2 Corinthians 5:21, KJV

Now that we know that God established the Jewish nation for a Christian purpose, we can understand that it was not God’s will for the nation to be lost. He sent His Son to them to save them, as a nation, and work through them to save the world. With that being said, this helps us to understand that His government is still valid despite His new establishment being the church, rather than a nation. If His government is valid, then His laws are still valid too. Furthermore, the Bible says “For I am the LORD, I change not…” (Malachi 3:6, KJV). God claims to always work by the same principles even though His establishment may change.

Now, let’s focus on the question, “What did Christians do before Sunday worship began?”

We learn from Exodus 20:8-11, that God gave the Jewish nation a particular day of rest called the “sabbath” or the “seventh day”. Before we get into the details of what day that is, we must realize that this day of worship was not introduced to them first. It began in the creation of the world and the first reference to the “Sabbath” was in Genesis.

“And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.”

Genesis 2:2-3, KJV

There are many things we can learn from the first 2 chapters of Genesis about how God desires the world to be. For instance, there was no death and, since there was no death, man and beast ate plants only. Also, God desires man to have a companion, a woman, and He instituted heterosexual marriage before sin. However, our subject of focus is the seventh-day sabbath that God instituted during the first week after creating the world in 6 literal days.

Because it began in the Garden of Eden, it makes sense to believe that it was the established day of rest from that point on. However, we do not have to assume. Even in Exodus 16, before God gave the Israelites the 10 Commandments, Moses was instructed to reestablish the sabbath with them. In fact, there was an attempt made as early as Exodus 5 (while the Israelites were still in Egypt) but, because of slavery, the people were not afforded an opportunity to honor the sabbath properly.

Even in the commandments, there is a clue that the Sabbath was not instituted there and then. Notice how Exodus 20:8 begins, “Remember the sabbath…”. Presumably, through the many years of Egyptian slavery, the Israelites forgot the true sabbath worship.

Now, what day does the sabbath fall on? Well, based on historical records and the tradition of the Jews, we can safely establish that the Sabbath begins on Friday, Sunset, and ends on Saturday, Sunset. One interesting thing to note is that certain languages actually have a word similar to “sabbath” to name, what we would call, Saturday. One example is Spanish which calls Saturday “Sábado”.

But why does sabbath start at sunset_ Well, God started the days in the “evening” according to Genesis chapter 1.

This tradition, rooted in Scripture, lasted through the time of the Jews into the time of the “Apostles” and further. Even Jesus, Himself, acknowledge the Sabbath.

“And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.”

Mark 2:27-28, KJV

“And he [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.”

Luke 4:16, KJV

Jesus calls Himself the Lord of the Sabbath, and, while being LORD, humbly observes the sabbath day as He requires His followers to.

Lastly, we see that the newly converted “Gentiles” would also gather on the sabbath to worship and hear the Word of God.

“And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.”

Acts 13:42, KJV

From Adam, before sin, to the newly converted Gentiles, we see that the sabbath has been in effect and is the day Christians would observe as the day of rest. Hopefully, this section sufficiently answers the question, “What did Christians do before Sunday worship began?“.

Who started Sunday Worship?

We will not dwell too much on the tradition’s history as we have, clearly, established the true day of worship. However, for the sake of understanding Why do Christians worship on Sunday, we will, briefly, review how this malpractice began.

First, I’d like to start with a quote from the excellent book, “The Great Controversy”:

“In order for Satan to maintain his sway over men, and establish the authority of the papal usurper, he must keep them in ignorance of the Scriptures. The Bible would exalt God and place finite men in their true position; therefore its sacred truths must be concealed and suppressed. This logic was adopted by the Roman Church. For hundreds of years the circulation of the Bible was prohibited. The people were forbidden to read it or to have it in their houses, and unprincipled priests and prelates interpreted its teachings to sustain their pretensions. Thus the pope came to be almost universally acknowledged as the vicegerent of God on earth, endowed with authority over church and state.
The detector of error having been removed, Satan worked according to his will. Prophecy had declared that the papacy was to “think to change times and laws.” Daniel 7:25. This work it was not slow to attempt. … Satan, working through unconsecrated leaders of the church, tampered with the fourth commandment also, and essayed to set aside the ancient Sabbath, the day which God had blessed and sanctified (Genesis 2:2, 3), and in its stead to exalt the festival observed by the heathen as “the venerable day of the sun.” This change was not at first attempted openly. … with great subtlety Satan worked through his agents to bring about his object. That the attention of the people might be called to the Sunday, it was made a festival in honor of the resurrection of Christ. Religious services were held upon it…” – The Great Controversy, pages 51-52

To summarize, the author establishes some main points as follows:

  • In order for Satan to maintain power over the people, he kept the Scriptures concealed from the common people.
  • The Catholic church (the largest established church in the dark ages and the largest portion of Christianity, today) followed satan’s logic and kept the Scriptures concealed from its common members. Only the priests and high ranking members were allowed to “interpret” the Bible.
  • The Bible predicted this would happen in the book of Daniel. Daniel 7:25 specifically states that an organization would think to change “times and laws”.
  • Satan worked through unconverted leaders in the Catholic church changed the Sabbath of the fourth commandment to Sunday slowly.

For a more detailed explanation of “Who started Sunday Worship?” please visit this webpage and go to the section titled “Who changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday?”

To make a long story short, Sunday rest was introduced by the emperor Constantine in 321 AD and was made a religious observance by the Council of Laodicea around the year A.D. 364.

Conclusion

We have answered all three questions in 2 sections. Now, you should have a clear understanding of how Sunday worship began, who started it and what Christians did before Sunday Worship began. If you are a Christian who worships on Sunday, I encourage to seek more understanding of this topic until you are convinced that you should honor the true Sabbath (Friday Sunset to Saturday Sunset) and enjoy the blessings that God promises with sabbath worship.

“If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.”

Isaiah 58:13-14, KJV

P.S. If you prefer video, here is a documentary on the topic:

  1. Definition from Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries (published in 1890) ↩︎