Editing Sabbath in Christianity (section)

===Day of rest===
A common theme in criticism Hebrew Shabbat rest was idleness, found not to be in the Christian spirit of rest.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} [[Irenaeus]] (late 2nd century), also citing continuous Sabbath observance, wrote that the Christian "will not be commanded to leave idle one day of rest, who is constantly keeping sabbath",<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Irenaeus |author-link=Irenaeus |title=Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching|volume=96}}</ref> and [[Tertullian]] (early 3rd century) argued "that we still more ought to observe a sabbath from all servile work always, and not only every seventh-day, but through all time".<ref>{{citation |last1=Tertullian |author-link1=Tertullian |title=Adv. Jud. 4:2 |url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf03.iv.ix.iv.html}}</ref> This early metaphorical interpretation of Sabbath applied it to the entire Christian life.<ref name=Bauckham>{{cite book|chapter=Sabbath and Sunday in the Post-Apostolic Church|first=R.J.|last=Bauckham|title=From Sabbath to Lord's Day|editor1-first=Don A|editor1-last=Carson|year=1982|publisher=Wipf & Stock Publishers/Zondervan|pages=252–98|editor-link=D. A. Carson|isbn=978-1-57910-307-1}}</ref>

[[Ignatius of Antioch|Ignatius]], cautioning against "[[Judaizers|Judaizing]]" in the [[Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians]],<ref>{{citation |last1=Ignatius of Antioch |author-link1=Ignatius of Antioch |title=The Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians, chapters 8,10 |url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0105.htm |publisher=New Advent }}</ref> contrasts the Jewish Shabbat practices with the Christian life which includes the Lord's Day:
{{blockquote|Let us therefore no longer keep the Sabbath after the Jewish manner, and rejoice in days of idleness. [...] But let every one of you keep the Sabbath after a spiritual manner, rejoicing in meditation on the law, not in relaxation of the body, admiring the workmanship of God, and not eating things prepared the day before, nor using lukewarm drinks, and walking within a prescribed space, nor finding delight in dancing and plaudits which have no sense in them. And after the observance of the Sabbath, let every friend of Christ keep the Lord's [Day, ''Dominicam''] as a festival, the resurrection-day, the queen and chief of all the days.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|author=Ignatius|title=Epistle to the Magnesians|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.v.iii.ix.html|volume=9|author-link=Ignatius of Antioch|publisher=Christian Classics Ethereal Library}}</ref>}}

The 2nd and 3rd centuries solidified the early church's emphasis upon Sunday worship and its rejection of a Jewish (Mosaic Law-based) observation of the Sabbath and manner of rest. Christian practice of following Sabbath after the manner of the Hebrews declined, prompting Tertullian to note "to [us] Sabbaths are strange" and unobserved.<ref>{{citation |last1=Tertullian |author-link1=Tertullian |title=On Idolatry |volume=14 |url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf03.iv.iv.xiv.html }}</ref> Even as late as the 4th century, Judaizing was still sometimes a problem within the Church, but by this time it was repudiated strongly as heresy.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/26027.htm|title=Ecclesiastical History, Book VII, Chapter 18|author=[[Sozomen]]}}</ref><ref>{{citation |editor1-last=Schaff |editor1-first=Philip |editor-link1=Philip Schaff |editor2-last=Wace |editor2-first=Henry |title=The Synodal Letter (of the First Council of Nicea) |work=[[Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers]] |series=Second Series (NPNF2, Vol 14) |publisher= Christian Classics Ethereal Library |url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf214.vii.x.html |ref=none }}</ref><ref name=Laodicea29>{{citation |editor1-last=Schaff |editor1-first=Philip |editor-link1=Philip Schaff |editor2-last=Wace |editor2-first=Henry |title=Synod of Laodicea, Canon 29 |work=[[Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers]] |series=Second Series (NPNF2, Vol 14) |url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf214.viii.vii.iii.xxxiv.html |access-date=25 Jun 2015 |ref=none }}</ref>

Sunday was another work day in the Roman Empire. On March 7, 321, however, [[Constantine the Great|Roman Emperor Constantine I]] issued a civil decree making Sunday a day of rest from labor, stating:<ref>{{cite book|first=Joseph Cullen|last=Ayer|title=A Source Book for Ancient Church History|location=[[New York City]]|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons|year=1913|volume=2.1.1.59g|pages=284–5}}</ref> {{blockquote|All judges and city people and the craftsmen shall rest upon the venerable day of the sun. Country people, however, may freely attend to the cultivation of the fields, because it frequently happens that no other days are better adapted for planting the grain in the furrows or the vines in trenches. So that the advantage given by heavenly providence may not for the occasion of a short time perish.}}

While established only in civil law rather than religious principle,{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} the Church welcomed the development as a means by which Christians could the more easily attend Sunday worship and observe Christian rest. At Laodicea also, the Church encouraged Christians to make use of the day for Christian rest where possible,<ref name=Laodicea29/> without ascribing to it any of the regulation of Mosaic Law, and indeed [[anathema]]tizing Hebrew observance on the Sabbath. The civil law and its effects made possible a pattern in Church life that has been imitated throughout the centuries in many places and cultures, wherever possible.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}