Luther and Calvin’s Ideas of Church Authority and the Change of Sabbath to Sunday

Abstract

During the Reformation era, Catholics criticized Protestants for not being faithful to the sola scriptura principle by accepting Sunday as the day of worship instead of the Sabbath. The Council of Trent claimed that the change occurred not because of the Bible, but the authority of the church. This accusation generates an inquiry about the reason why Luther and Calvin chose Sunday over the Sabbath. To understand why Luther and Calvin accepted Sunday instead of the Sabbath, this study aims to explore their ideas regarding the shift from the Sabbath to Sunday. Based on their understanding of the church authority and the relationship between the law and the Sabbath, both theologians concluded that while the meaning of the Sabbath still prevailed, the day of the Sabbath in a week could be compromised. They also assumed that the change of the Sabbath to Sunday was not mandated by God’s command but by church authority.