Your ShelfYour Projects

THE BIBLE SABBATH

1%

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 18, 1868

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 32, No. 9.

Read the full edition

THE BIBLE SABBATH.

By J. M. MOSHER.

A DIALOGUE.

First-day observer. Why do you keep Saturday for Sunday?
Sabbath-keeper. I do not keep Saturday for Sunday, but I keep the seventh day of the week for the Sabbath.
F. Well, then, why do you keep the seventh day for the Sabbath, when almost everybody else keeps Sunday?
S. Because God commanded that it be so kept:
Ex. xx, 8–11. “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”
F. Yes, but the day has been changed.
S. I know the day has been changed, but by whom?
F. Why, by Christ, of course.
S. Pray tell me, when and why did he make the change?
F. At his resurrection; as he rose on the first day of the week, he changed the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day, that we might commemorate that day.
S. But, my dear friend, he has given us the institutions of baptism and the Lord’s Supper to commemorate his death and resurrection:
Rom. vi, 3–5. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was risen up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.”
Luke xxii, 19, 20. “And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you; this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood which is shed for you.” (See also 1 Cor. xi, 24, 25.)
The Sabbath was given to us to commemorate another event, viz., Creation:
Ex. xx, 11. “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”
F. I know that, but our minister says that we keep Sunday as the Sabbath because Christ rose on that day.
S. There is where your minister is mistaken, my friend. . . . There is nothing said about its being a Sabbath.
F. Well, he appeared to them while they were met together:
John xx, 19. “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst.”
S. This meeting could not have been to celebrate his resurrection, because they did not yet believe he had risen:
Mark xvi, 14. “Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.”
Then they had not met to celebrate his resurrection, but as they abode together there, (Acts i, 13,) they shut the doors for fear of the Jews.
F. The disciples met after that, on the first day of the week, to break bread and to hear Paul preach:
Acts xx, 7. “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.”
S. Now, this was an evening meeting; and if they counted the first day of the week from the evening after the Sabbath, which there is no doubt they did, (as they counted days from sunset to sunset, Mark i, 32,) this meeting was on our Saturday night, Paul preaching to them till midnight, ready to depart on Sunday morning. Or, if it was on our Sunday night, the breaking of bread having occurred after midnight, it would, according to the Roman mode of reckoning, be on Monday. So this meeting could not have been to celebrate the resurrection, whether it was on the one evening or the other. Besides, if the simple acts of preaching and breaking of bread constituted a Sabbath, then every day might be a Sabbath, for the disciples broke bread and preached daily, (Acts ii, 46; v, 42.) But, mind you, there is not anything said in the passage you quote about the day being a Sabbath.
F. Well, it must have been a custom to meet on the first day of the week, for the church was told to make a collection for the saints on that day:
1 Cor. xvi, 1, 2. “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.”
S. There is no reference here to a Sabbath; they are told to “let every one lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him,” &c. By him does not mean, certainly, in public collection, but by himself, at home. Mr. Morton gives eleven translations, showing that it signifies by himself, at home. In these he gives the testimony of nine languages, all having the same meaning, “with one’s self,” i. e., at home, and not in a public gathering.
F. Then we are told in the Psalms (cxviii, 24,) that this is the day of the Lord, in which we are to rejoice and be glad.
S. This, my friend, does not refer to the first day of the week, but to the day of the Lord, as we speak of the day of Washington, or Washington’s day—the age in which he lived. In the day (time, age, generation) of the Lord they rejoiced and were glad.
F. But John speaks of the Lord’s day:
Rev. i, 10. “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day,” &c.
S. If any day of the week is meant here, it is the seventh, and not the first, for God calls the Sabbath his day, (Lev. xix, 3; xxvi, 2, &c.,) and Christ says he is Lord of the Sabbath, (Mark ii, 28.)
F. Well, then, if the first day is not the Sabbath, there is none in the Christian dispensation; for the seventh day was given to the Jews, and therefore a Jewish institution, and not binding on us as Christians, for the Jewish institutions are done away in Christ:
Col. ii, 14–17. “Blotting out the hand-writing of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; and, having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days; which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”
S. Paul could not have meant the weekly Sabbath here, for he was speaking of meats, drinks, new moons, and other Jewish festivals, in this connection, which were a “shadow of things to come.” These he says were “blotted out,” “taken away,” “nailed to the cross.” Now, it would be absurd to speak of the tables of stone as nailed to the cross, or to speak of blotting out what was engraven in stone by the finger of God. When the Saviour died upon the cross, all that was typical, i. e., all that pointed forward to that event, expired with him, was nailed to the cross with him. The weekly Sabbath of the fourth commandment was not typical, because it pointed backward to creation. But why do they call the Sabbath of the decalogue a Jewish institution?
F. Because it was given to the Jews as a sign:
Eze. xx, 12. “I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.”
S. At that time the children of Israel were the only true worshipers of God, all other nations having turned from him to “the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth.” For this reason the memorial of the Creator (the Sabbath) was committed to the Hebrews, and it became a sign between God and themselves. Thus was the Sabbath a link uniting the Creator and his worshipers. God called himself their God, the God of Israel, &c., (Ex. xx, 2; xxix, 45, 46,) and as well might we claim that he is not our God, as to claim that the Sabbath was for the Jews alone.
F. Well, now, I begin to think that the seventh day may be the Sabbath after all; but do you suppose the day will make any difference, if we keep one day in seven, and are sincere?
S. The difference is that between obedience and disobedience. God says keep the seventh day as the Sabbath, and he tells us why we should keep it, viz., for he created the world in six days, and rested on the seventh day. He blessed and sanctified the seventh day, and no other, so no other can be the Sabbath.
F. Did God create the world in six natural days of twenty-four hours, or were they six long periods?
S. The Bible says they were days, divided by darkness and light, (Gen. i,) and we have no reason to question that they were days of twenty-four hours. But whether they were or not, that would make no difference in the days, as it was darkness and light that made the day.
F. But why was not the Sabbath kept before the giving of the law on Mount Sinai?
S. It was. God says he sanctified the day at creation—(sanctify means to set apart for a special purpose.) They kept the Sabbath in the wilderness, (Ex. xvi.) Now, my friend, I have proved to you that the seventh day was sanctified at creation, was kept from Adam to Moses, was given in the decalogue to be kept as a commemoration of the creative work, (and the day cannot be changed without changing the object, and if the object is changed, the institution is lost,) not typical of Christ, hence still in force. Let me now show you that Christ and the apostles kept the Sabbath (seventh day) before Christ’s death:
Luke iv, 16. “And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.”
Luke iv, 30, 31. (See also Mark i, 21.) “But he, passing through the midst of them, went his way, and came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath days.”
Luke xiii, 10. “And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.”
Mark iii, 1, 2. “And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. And they watched him whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day.”
Mark vi, 2. “And when the Sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue.”
And I want to show you, also, that his disciples kept it after the resurrection:
Acts xiii, 14. “But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and sat down.”
Acts xiii, 42, 44. “And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.” (That is, to hear Paul and Barnabas preach.)
Acts xiv, 1. “And it came to pass in Iconium, that they [Paul and Barnabas] went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude, both of the Jews and also of the Greeks, believed.”
Acts xvi, 13. “And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.”
Acts xvii, 2. “And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures.”
Acts xviii, 4. “And he [Paul] reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.”
So we follow the apostles up for about twenty-four years after Christ’s resurrection, and they are still keeping the Sabbath, and nothing is ever intimated of a change of day, but, on the contrary, the first day of the week was used by them as a secular day—preparing spices, traveling, &c., (Luke xxiv, 13; Acts xx, 7.)
F. Then how came the Sunday to be observed at all as the Sabbath?
S. As the Bible furnishes no clue to a change, I must refer you to secular history:
DR. CHAMBERS says: “It was Constantine the Great who first made a law for the observance of Sunday, and who, according to Eusebius, appointed that it should be regularly celebrated throughout the Roman Empire. By Constantine’s laws, made 321, it was decreed that for the future the Sunday should be kept a day of rest in all cities and towns; but he allowed the country people to follow their work. In 538 the council of Orleans prohibited this country labor.”
JOHN CALVIN says: “The Old Fathers put in the place of the Sabbath the day we now call Sunday.”
EDWARD BREREWOOD, Professor in Gresham College, London, in his work on the Sabbath, page 77, says: “It is commonly believed that the Jewish Sabbath was changed into the Lord’s day by Christian Emperors, but they know little who do not know that the ancient Sabbath did remain and was observed by the Eastern churches three hundred years and more after our Saviour’s passion.”
Another writer in commenting on Rev. i, 10, says: “The church made the first day a holy day, which was a common working day before, and the seventh day, that before was a holy day, now a common working day.”
F. Will those who keep Sunday be lost then?
S. That is not for me to say. I find, however, that the Scriptures give some significant hints on the subject of salvation, among which are the following:
Matt. xix, 17. . . . “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.”
Matt. xv, 9. “In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”
1 John iii, 4. “Sin is the transgression of the law.”
Rom. vi, 28. “The wages of sin is death.”
Ponder well these truths, and bear in mind, that if you would “enter in through the gates into the city,” and “have a right to the tree of life,” you must “obey God rather than man;” and God says, “Remember the Sabbath day (seventh day) to keep it holy.”
J. M. MOSHER.