occupied with preaching, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus”
(Acts 18:3-5).
However, in St. Luke 23 the resurrection of Christ had not yet occurred and
therefore the significance of the
Lord’s day was not yet a reality. In any
case, the Jewish authorities would have prohibited work on Christ’s body
even if the holy women had wanted to do some. Furthermore, from a closer
reading of Acts it should be obvious that St. Paul went to the Synagogues
on the Sabbath not to actually worship but because the gatherings of Jews
there provided ideal forum in which to preach Christ. These synagogue
gatherings only occurred on the Sabbath and were solely for Jews who had
not yet accepted Christ.
Finally, it is important to note that, in changing the Sabbath law, the
Church did not make a change in the divine law obliging men to worship
God but merely a change in the day on which it was to be offered. That is,
only a change in the positive ceremonial law. The law obliging men to
worship God is a law based both on God’s own nature and ours, as Creator
and creature respectively. As natures cannot change, natural laws are
irrevocable. Not even God can alter them. On the other hand, all divine
positive laws are based not on God’s nature but on God’s will, and hence
can be altered or revoked by God directly or through His Church according
to changes in time, circumstance or place.
The Fathers
The Didache 14, 1 (c. 90-150 AD)
“On the Lord’s Day of the Lord gather together, break bread and give
thanks, after confessing your transgressions so that your sacrifice may be
pure...”
St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Magnesians 9, 1 (110 AD)
“Those who lived according to the old order of things have come to a new
hope, no longer keeping the Sabbath, but the Lord’s Day, in which our life
is blessed by Him and by His death.”
Letter to Diognetus 4, 1 (inter 125-200 AD)
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