Is "Sunday" Christian Worship rooted in Paganism?

Welcome to the second episode of Misconceptions Clarified where this article will be answering the question on whether or not worshipping Jesus Christ, the God of all creation on Sunday was affiliated or influenced by Roman Mythology. Unfortunately, many critics of the Christian faith will go to the extreme by taking any single aspect of Christianity that may appear similar to another tradition and accuse the whole of Christianity as pagan, unauthentic, or plagiarized.

According to Arthur Weigall and others, the early Christian Church was influenced by Roman Mithraism; a tradition that revered the sun and considered Sunday a sacred day for Mithra. However, just because there is a similarity in one tradition to another does not mean it is a borrowed tradition. The worship of the "sun" and the worship of the "Son" of the Living God on Sunday are totally two different and separate traditions. That's like saying that the name "David" and the name "Davis" are the same name and the same person because of the similarity between the two names. NONSENSE! Just because there's a similarity, just because it sounds almost the same, and just because it appears at face value the same, does not mean it is the same. Just because the Babylonians worshipped the moon on Saturday does not mean that the Jews plagiarized this tradition and called it the Sabbath. Just because the months in the Hebrew calendar have Babylonian origins does not mean the Hebrew faith was borrowed from the Babylonians. And Just because the Emperor Constantine instituted Sunday as a day of rest, does not mean Christianity is rooted in Roman Paganism. Obviously, the mythological Roman god of Mithra who was born out of a rock is not the same as the historical Jesus of Nazareth who Christians worship. How these two are even compared side by side just shows the desperate attempts by opponents to discredit Christianity. But, how many people really know that there are a multitude of pagan traditions that uphold at least one day out of the week as sacred... In reality, there are only seven days in one week and over six thousand worldviews that are indirectly competing for one of those days. Nevertheless, just because one tradition worships on a day another tradition worships, does not mean any plagiarism has occurred.

In fact, a deeper investigation into the origins of Christian worship on Sunday reveals that the Lord's Day was instituted by the Lord Jesus himself, which can be proven by scripture and proven by the early history of the church. For instance, The Teaching of the Apostles also known as the Didache says in 14:1, "And on the Lord's own day gather yourselves together and break bread and give thanks, first confessing your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure." In Justin Martyr's Second Apology he says, "The weekly worship of the Christians, on the day called Sunday all who live in the country gather together to one place." And in Pliny the Younger's Epistle 10:96 to Emperor Trajan he says, "they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god." (*On a side note, these three sources mentioned above are very early sources dated in the first and the second century.)

Let's examine what the scripture says... In the Gospel of Matthew 5:17 Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount (the best sermon of all-time) that he did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill them. Now, before the incarnation of Jesus (God in the flesh) the Israelites were operating under the Old Covenant given to Moses at Mount Sinai in Exodus 19, Exodus 24, and inscribed on the new tablets in Exodus 34. Unfortunately, the Israelites were rebellious over and over again, and they violated the covenant of God to the extent that the Old Testament prophets began to speak of a "New" and "Everlasting Covenant" in Jeremiah 31:31-34, Jeremiah 32:40, Ezekiel 37:26, Isaiah 55:3, and Isaiah 61:8. Then during the Last Supper in Luke 22:20, Jesus quotes Moses in Exodus 24:8 and adds a new variation to Moses by saying, "this cup is the 'new' covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you." Meaning, when Moses sprinkled the blood of the bull on the people and said, "this is the blood of the covenant" Jesus fulfilled that Old Covenant with his own blood and established the "New and Everlasting Covenant" with his resurrection. 

In addition, when Jesus gave up his spirit in John 19:30, he said, "it is finished." Meaning, the Old Covenant in which the High Priest had to make atonement for the sin of the people over and over again was "paid in full" by the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. So, when Jesus finished/fulfilled the shadow of the Old Covenant, Jesus thus establishes his "New and Everlasting Covenant" with his resurrection from the dead on Sunday, which would be considered the Lord's Day according to Revelation 1:10. The primary reason why Christians worship the Son of the Living God (not the sun in the sky) on Sunday has nothing to do with Roman Mithraism, but it has everything to do with the resurrection of Jesus Christ early on Sunday morning according to Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:2, Mark 16:9, Luke 24:1, and John 20:1. 

Furthermore, there are two instances recorded in the Gospel of John 20:19 & verse 26 on the "first day of the week" where Jesus appeared to his disciples in his post-resurrected body. Another major factor for Christian worship on Sunday occurs at Pentecost, a fulfillment of the Feast of Weeks in Leviticus 23 that was celebrated fifty days after the Passover on a Sunday in which the disciples gathered in the upper room and received the gift of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 20:7, on the "first day of the week" they gathered together to break bread, and in 1 Corinthians 16:2 on the "first day of the week" they gathered to set aside a sum of money. So, there is plenty of scriptural evidence that supports the early church gathering together on the first day of the week to commemorate the most revolutionary event in all of human history, which occurred on Sunday the first day of the week; the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Lastly, back to the fulfillment of the Old Covenant/Old Testament by Jesus Christ, the book of Hebrews is where it gets real interesting regarding the "New Covenant." Just see for yourself the multitude of passages that refer to the "New Covenant." In Hebrews 7:18 it says, "The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless, and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God." In Hebrews 7:22 it says, "Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant." In Hebrews 8:6 it says, "But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises." In Hebrews 8:13 it says, "By calling this covenant new, he has made the first one obsolete (fulfilled); and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear," which included the old temple tradition. In Hebrews 9:1-10 it talks about the earthly tabernacle (the temple) and how it was in place only "applying until the time of the new order." In Hebrews 9:15 it says, "For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant." In Hebrews 10:1 it says that "the law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming, not the realities themselves." And finally in Hebrews 10:9 it says "He (Jesus) sets aside the first to establish the second."

So, whoever accuses Christianity of pagan plagiarism lacks a serious knowledge of early church history and the scriptures. And whoever accuses Christianity for worshipping God on Sunday instead of the Sabbath also fails to realize that Jesus Christ fulfilled the old order of things and established the new order of his New Covenant, in which anyone who accepts Jesus as their Lord and Savior by faith are not bound by the Law of Moses, a law that was unable to make anything perfect. The same instance can be found in the Council of Jerusalem in Acts chapter 15 that ultimately decided Gentile converts were not bound by the Law of Moses in regards to circumcision and dietary laws to become followers of Christ by faith. Christians across the spectrum are not bound by the old way of things, but only the new order of things established by the Lord Jesus himself through faith. How Christians commemorate the resurrection of Jesus on Sunday has nothing to do with Roman mythology and does not violate any Sabbath law.

The new order of things established by Jesus himself included the church, the Lord's day on Sunday the first day of the week (Revelation 1:10), the fulfillment of the temple where the Holy Spirit resides in those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:11), the fulfillment of the sacrificial system (Hebrews 10:11-12), the fulfillment of the Law of Moses (Matthew 5:17), the fulfillment of the festival of First Fruits which occurred the day after the Sabbath (1 Corinthians 15:20&23; Leviticus 23:9-14), and a fulfillment of the Old Covenant all together (Hebrews 7:18). The difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament is that the Old Testament was a temporary covenant established by God through Moses on Mount Sinai and the New Testament is a "New and Everlasting Covenant" established by God himself in the flesh through his Son Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 3:14 says, "We are not like Moses who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away." And it is our prayer that people will truly come to the saving knowledge of the "New Covenant" established by our Lord and savior Jesus Christ and stop grasping for straws in their desperate attempts to criticize every single angle of the Christian faith.

If you want more information on this particular topic, please visit the links below:

http://www.bible.ca/7-Mithraism.htm, https://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/sabbath.cfm, http://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/the-lords-day/, http://www.cgg.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Library.sr/CT/BQA/k/168/What-is-Lords-Day-Revelation-110.htm

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