Appendix A: Complete Comparison Table
This appendix compares every major Sabbath and Sunday claim (Scripture, history, and authority) so the reader can weigh the evidence without interactive charts.
The following comprehensive table compares Sabbath truth versus Sunday tradition across fifteen categories.
| Category | Seventh-Day Sabbath (Saturday) | Sunday Observance (First Day) |
|---|---|---|
| Biblical Command |
EXPLICIT "Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy...the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God" (Exodus 20:8-11) Multiple commands: Exodus 20:8-11, Leviticus 23:3, Deuteronomy 5:12-15, Isaiah 58:13 |
NONE Zero verses commanding Sunday worship "You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday" - Cardinal Gibbons |
| Which Day of Week |
SEVENTH DAY Saturday on all calendars Every language confirms: Hebrew: Shabbat Arabic: As-Sabt Spanish: Sábado Russian: Subbota 100+ languages call it "Sabbath" |
FIRST DAY Sunday on all calendars Contradicts biblical command for "seventh day" God said "seventh" not "first" |
| Origin |
CREATION "And on the seventh day God ended his work...and rested...And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it" (Genesis 2:2-3) Established BEFORE: • Sin entered the world • Jews existed • Ten Commandments given • Moses was born |
POST-APOSTOLIC AD 100-200: Some churches in the city of Rome began meeting on Sunday in addition to Sabbath AD 321: Constantine's civil Sunday law AD 364: Council of Laodicea forbids Sabbath, mandates Sunday |
| Duration |
CREATION TO ETERNITY • Begins: Genesis 2:2-3 • Written in stone at Sinai: Exodus 20 • Continues in new earth: "From one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me" (Isaiah 66:22-23) |
TEMPORARY TRADITION Began ~300 years after apostles died Will end when Christ returns and restores all things |
| Who Changed It |
GOD NEVER CHANGED IT "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law" (Matthew 5:18) Heaven and earth still here = Law still binding |
CATHOLIC CHURCH "The Catholic Church for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday" - Catholic Mirror, 1893 |
| Authority Claimed |
GOD'S DIRECT COMMAND Written by God's own finger in stone (Exodus 31:18) "The seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God" - direct quote from Fourth Commandment |
CHURCH TRADITION Based on the authority of the church, not Scripture. |
| Jesus' Practice |
KEPT IT AS CUSTOM "And, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day" (Luke 4:16) Jesus = God in flesh If seventh day was wrong, He wouldn't have kept it |
NEVER MENTIONED IT No record of Jesus authorizing Sunday worship If Jesus intended Sunday to replace Sabbath, He would have mentioned it Silence = no change |
| Apostles' Practice |
CONTINUED SABBATH "Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures" (Acts 17:2) Paul kept Sabbath for 18 months in Corinth (Acts 18:4, 11) = ~78 Sabbaths Gentiles asked to hear Paul "the next sabbath" not next day (Acts 13:42) |
NO APOSTOLIC TEACHING Acts 20:7 - ONE meeting mentioned on "first day" (farewell service, Paul leaving next day) Not a command Not a weekly pattern Not a change of law Meanwhile Paul kept Sabbath regularly |
| Prophecy |
WOULD BE ATTACKED "And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws" (Daniel 7:25) God warned His law would be attacked - it was |
PROPHESIED COUNTERFEIT The "little horn" power (Daniel 7:8, 25) would: 1. "Speak great words against...High" ✓ 2. "Wear out the saints" ✓ 3. "Think to change times and laws" ✓ The Roman Catholic Church admits doing this |
| Enforcement History |
VOLUNTARY OBEDIENCE Biblical Sabbath never forced by civil law Kept by those who love God and choose to obey Persecution FOR keeping it (Dark Ages) |
FORCED BY LAW AD 321 - Constantine's Sunday law (civil) AD 364 - Council of Laodicea Canon 29: Sabbath-keepers declared "anathema from Christ" AD 400-1798 - Inquisition hunted Sabbath-keepers |
| Number of Adherents |
SMALL REMNANT (~75-100M) • Seventh-day Adventists (~21 million) • Ethiopian Orthodox (~50M, keeps both) • Seventh Day Baptists (~50,000) • Church of God 7th Day (~200,000) • Messianic Jews (hundreds of thousands) |
VAST MAJORITY (~2.3B) • Roman Catholic (1.3B) • Eastern Orthodox (220M) • Protestant denominations (~500M) "Narrow is the way...and few there be that find it" (Matthew 7:14) Majority ≠ Right |
| Catholic Church Admits |
BIBLE COMMANDS IT "The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify" - Cardinal Gibbons "Saturday is the Sabbath day...We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church...transferred the solemnity" - Convert's Catechism |
THEY CHANGED IT "The Catholic Church...changed the day from Saturday to Sunday" - Catholic Mirror "Sunday is a Catholic institution, and its claims to observance can be defended only on Catholic principles" - Catholic Mirror |
| Protestant Position |
ACKNOWLEDGE BUT DON'T KEEP Reformers admitted the truth but rationalized continuing Sunday Pattern: SEE THE TRUTH, ADMIT THE TRUTH, IGNORE THE TRUTH |
KEEP BUT CAN'T DEFEND Protestant claim: "Sola Scriptura!" (Bible alone) Protestant practice: Follow Catholic tradition with zero biblical support |
| Mark of Authority |
GOD'S SEAL Obedience to seventh-day Sabbath = acceptance of God's authority Remnant identified: "Here are they that keep the commandments of God" (Revelation 14:12) |
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH'S MARK The Catholic Church claims the change of day as a "mark" of its authority, proving the church is above the Bible. Every Sunday service = confession that tradition trumps Scripture |
| Final Destiny |
ETERNAL CONTINUITY "From one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me" (Isaiah 66:22-23) |
TEMPORARY TRADITION Will not continue in new earth - Sabbath restored (Isaiah 66:22-23) |
The Bottom Line
Seventh-Day Sabbath (Saturday)
- ✓ Commanded by God in stone
- ✓ Kept by Jesus as "custom"
- ✓ Practiced by apostles regularly
- ✓ Spans Creation to new earth
- ✓ Based on "Thus saith the Lord"
- ✓ Identifies remnant (Rev 14:12)
Sunday Observance
- ✗ Zero biblical commands
- ✗ Never mentioned by Jesus as new day
- ✗ Not taught by apostles
- ✗ Began 300 years after apostles
- ✗ Based on church tradition
- ✗ the Roman Catholic Church's "mark of authority"
Note: For detailed responses to common biblical objections to seventh-day Sabbath observance (Romans 14:5, Hebrews 4:9, Galatians 4:10, 1 Corinthians 16:2, Matthew 12:1-8, and others), see Appendix B: Common Objections Answered.
The Question That Cannot Be Avoided
When Cardinal Gibbons says you won't find "a single line" commanding Sunday in the entire Bible, and the Roman Catholic Church openly admits they changed it by their own authority, and 2.3 billion Christians keep it anyway...
Whose authority are you following?
Source Notes
- Council of Laodicea, Canon 29, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Vol. 14 (1890).
- James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers, 72nd ed. (Baltimore: Murphy & Co., 1917).
- Catholic Mirror, “The Christian Sabbath,” Sept. 2–23, 1893.
- J. N. Andrews, History of the Sabbath and the First Day of the Week (Battle Creek, MI: Review and Herald, 1873).
- Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 3 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1884).