Sunday Law

Sunday Law was an edict issued by Roman Emperor Constantine I in 321. It made Sunday, the day of the sun, the official day of rest. Before the Sunday law was declared, only the Church in Rome and some churches under its influence kept Sunday worship from the 2nd century. After 321, however, all churches came to keep Sunday worship. Sunday law issued by the emperor’s authority resulted in the establishment of Sunday worship, abolishing the Sabbath worship, which Jesus Christ and the apostles had kept.

Constantine implemented preferential policies for Christianity, but it was not because he believed in Christianity purely but because of his political intention. Sunday law, too, was to combine the sun-god religion that regarded Sunday as sacred and Christianity (Western Churches) which had left the teachings of God and kept Sunday worship.

Declaration of Sunday as an Official Day of Rest

Emperor Constantine officially recognized Christianity as one of the legitimate religions of the empire through the Edict of Milan in 313, and subsequently implemented preferential policies for Christianity. He exempted Christian clergies from the obligation to pay taxes and military service, and legalized inheritances to Christian churches. Since pagan priests already had these rights, they were not a privilege only for Christianity. Constantine declared Sunday as an official day of rest on March 7, 321, and this law was passed down through the Code of Justinianus compiled in the sixth century.

“	“All judges, city-people and craftsmen shall rest on the venerable day of the Sun [Sunday]. But countrymen may without hindrance attend to agriculture, since it often happens that this is the most suitable day for sowing grain or planting vines, . . . 7 March 321.” CONSTANTINE'S Edict (Code of Justinianus III xii 3)	“
— Tim Dowley, The History of Christianity (A Lion Handbook), Lion Publishing, 1994, p. 152

The expression the “venerable day of the Sun” shows that Constantine regarded Sunday as a day of worshiping the sun-god rather than a day of Christian worship. At that time, the most influential religion in Rome was Mithraism, which worshiped Mithra, the sun god. Mithraism considered Sunday a holy day. Sunday law was issued to be considerate of not only Christians in Rome, who had been worshiping on Sundays since the 2nd century, but also the followers of Mithra, who made up the majority of the Romans at that time.

Constantine’s Intention

Constantine’s Thoughts

Some Christians insist that Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and had a sincere faith in God. However, he delayed being baptized until the end of his life and deliberately identified his favorite sun-god with Christian Christ.

“	Constantine did, indeed, retain the pagan high priest’s title of Pontifex Maximus, and for a decade his coins continued to feature some of the pagan gods, notably his own favorite deity, the Unconquered Sun . . . It is important to understand Constantine’s previous religion, the worship of the Unconquered Sun . . . Constantine continued to identify the sun with the Christian God in some way—a belief made easier by the tendency of Christian writers and artists to use sun imagery in portraying Christ. For them Christ is the source of light and salvation, and a mosaic from a third-century tomb found under St Peter's, Rome, even shows him as the sun god in his chariot. When in 321 Constantine made the first day of the week a holiday, he called it ‘the venerable day of the Sun’ (Sunday).	“
— Tim Dowley, The History of Christianity (A Lion Handbook), Lion Publishing, 1994, p. 140

Pontifex Maximus is a Latin name for the highest priest who belongs to the college of pontifices. Constantine retained this title until the end of his life. He also circulated solidus, a gold coin of the Roman Empire, on which the image of the sun god was engraved.

Means for Unifying the Empire

Constantine chose Christianity with political intent to consolidate his power and unite the Roman Empire. When Constantine became junior emperor, the Roman Empire was ruled by the Tetrarchy, which consisted of two senior emperors and two junior emperors. Constantine wanted to unite the Roman Empire, which had been in conflict, and not to lose his power. He considered that Christianity, believing in one God, was suitable for his purpose. A Japanese historian, an authority on the history of the Byzantine Empire, quoted Romans 13 and said, “The union of the Roman Empire and Christianity is taken for granted,” and “It is hard to find another teaching that works so well for the ruler.” The Bible teaches that the ruler’s authorities have been established by God and that everyone should submit to the authorities. This teaching satisfied Constantine’s need for something that would give the emperor unshakable power.

“	It is probable that Constantine set out with a deliberate intention to favour the Church, but even if that were so, it was necessary to placate the pagans. Consequently the policy agreed upon at Milan was a recognition of the complete parity of religions. But as the reign progressed Constantine supported the Christians more and more, and one can only conclude that his aim was to make of Christianity the cement that was to bind together the whole Empire.	“
— A History of the Early Church to A.D. 500, J. W. C. Wand, Routledge, 2006, p. 131

Instead of persecuting the increasing Christians in the Roman Empire, Constantine tried to unite the existing polytheistic forces ‍on the basis of Christianity by making Christians support him. Sunday law was also a result of the same intention. Constantine cleverly combined the sun-god religion that regarded Sunday as sacred, and Christianity (Western Churches) which had left the teachings of God and kept Sunday worship.

Influence of Sunday Law

Establishment of Sunday Worship

In the early 2nd century, the Western Churches, centered on Rome, mainly consisted of Gentile believers. They intensely disliked the Jews because they crucified Jesus and constantly persecuted the Christians. After the two Jewish-Roman Wars broke out and the Roman Empire carried out policies of persecuting the Jews, the Western Churches came to think that they didn’t need to be persecuted any more by the Roman Empire by keeping the Sabbath on the same day as Judaism. Furthermore, they thought that if they worshiped on Sunday, the holy day of the sun god that was the most popular in Rome at that time, it would ease the persecution by gaining the favor of the Romans and make it easier to convert the Romans to Christianity. The Church in Rome began to observe Sunday worship instead of the Sabbath from the early 2nd century.

The Western Churches have come up with various reasons to justify Sunday worship. Justinus, an apologist who converted to Christianity, wrote his First Apology to the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius (r. 138–161) to support Christianity around A.D.150. He explained that the day God began to create the world and the day Jesus Christ was resurrected was the first day of the week, the day of the sun, so Christians worshiped on this day.

In this way, the Western Churches had left the New Covenant Sabbath and worshiped on Sunday, but the Eastern Churches, following the example of Jesus and the apostles, kept Saturday as the Sabbath until Sunday law was issued.

“	We always find in ancient writers frequent mention made of religious assemblies on the Saturday, or seventh day of the week, which was the Jewish Sabbath . . . For Athanasius, who is one of the first that mentions it, says, “they met on the Sabbath, not that they were infected with Judaism, but to worship Jesus the Lord of the Sabbath.	“
— Joseph Bingham, The Antiquities of the Christian Church, Book 13, Chap. 9, Sect. 3

“	. . . it has been supposed that their predecessors, the ancient sabbatarians, feeling themselves aggrieved by the edict of Constantine, which strictly enforced the observance of the first day of the week . . . it is certain that the practice of observing Saturday as a festival, was very common in the Eastern churches, at the close of the fourth century . . .	“
— Henry Bannerman, The Modern Sabbath Examined, London: Whittaker, Treacher and Arnot, 2012, p. 274

However, as the Sunday law was issued by the authority of the emperor and everyone in the empire was forced to rest on Sunday, the Eastern Churches had no choice but to worship on Sunday.

“	“But perhaps the most significant evidence of this policy is to be found in the decree of 321 regulating Sunday observance. That ordinance puts the Lord’s Day on the same level of observance as the pagan festivals and marks it by the cessation of work. It is noteworthy, however, that the day is described by no Christian appellation but simply as dies venerabilis solis, and no pagan could well object to that.”	“
— J. W. C. Wand, A History of the Early Church to A.D. 500, Routledge, 2006, p. 132

The Sunday law became an opportunity for Christians to officially establish Sunday worship. When Christianity was persecuted, they adhered to the truth such as the Sabbath, but when the persecution ceased and they were given preferential treatment, even the Eastern Churches, which had held fast to the Sabbath, surrendered to the Roman sun-god religion. Sunday worship is not the teaching of Jesus or the apostles, but a man-made rule established by the authority of the emperor.

For details, refer to: Lord’s Day Worship (Sunday Worship)

Spread of Sunday as a Public Holiday

After Constantine, Christianity became more firmly established in the Roman Empire. In 392, Emperor Theodosius declared Christianity (Catholicism following the Nicene Creed) as the state religion throughout the Roman Empire, and completely forbade the worship service of other religions. As Roman Catholicism became central, the regulations on Sunday became stricter. At the Council of Orléans in 538, farming on Sunday was forbidden, and at the Council of Narbonne in 589, labor on Sunday was forbidden.

The Sunday holiday system was also widespread in Western European countries that actively adopted Roman Catholicism. Charles the Great (Charlemagne) of the Franks issued a decree in 789 that designated Sunday as the day of worship and rest, and forbade all manual labor.

In the 16th century, the religious reformers criticized the Roman Catholic Church and shouted for freedom of faith, but they could not restore the Sabbath of the new covenant and Sunday worship was maintained as it was. The Sunday holiday system was carried over by the Puritans who succeeded the religious reformers. In the 17th century, Puritans migrated from England to the United States in search of religious freedom, and enforced the law that prohibited activities such as trade, travel, plays, and festivals on Sunday while strictly observing worship on Sunday. ‍This law is called “Sunday law‍s” or “blue laws.” In some regions in the U.S., where this tradition still remains, people cannot buy alcohol or some products on Sunday.

As years passed, the Sunday laws gradually weakened in the United States; however, due to the expansion of the British colony, and the overseas mission work carried out by the U.K. and U.S., the system of resting on Sunday has spread throughout the world, including Asia and Africa. Except for some of the Islamic countries that worship on Friday and Israel that rest on Saturday according to the Jewish Sabbath, most countries designate Sunday as a holiday.

See also

• Sabbath
• Lord’s Day Worship (Sunday Worship)

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