A False Argument Answered
Those who teach the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath according to the plain statement of the fourth commandment are often confronted with the claim that the translation of Matt. 28: 1 is incorrect, and that the proper rendering would show a change of the Sabbath at that time. The passage, as given in the Authorized Version, reads as follows: “In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week,” etc. As found in the American Revised Version it reads: “Now late on the Sabbath day, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week,” etc. When observers of the seventh day declare that these translations are correct, and that no justifiable translation of the original will give any countenance to the idea of two sabbaths coming together, the old and the new, with the resurrection between them, their assertion is generally discounted on the ground that they are interested parties testifying in their own behalf. It never seems to occur to those who take this view of the case that those who make an unwarranted translation of this passage may be attempting to establish their own belief by wresting the original. Under these circumstances we are pleased to be able to present to our readers the candid treatment of this disputed text by Dr. Walter Quincy Scott, who is one of the instructors in the Bible Teachers’ Training-school of New York City, and an observer of the first day of the week. In the January number of The Bible Record, published by the training-school, there appeared the following question:— Is it allowable to translate the Greek of Matt. 28: 1, “At the end of the sabbaths, as it began to dawn towards the first of the sabbaths”? It seems to me as if we might, and it would be quite an argument in favor of a change of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week, because the resurrection4morning stood between the two classes of sabbaths. In reply to this question, Dr. Scott addressed the following letter to Dr. W. W. White, the editor of the Bible Record:— MY DEAR DR. WHITE: Your correspondent asks, “Is it allowable to translate the Greek of Matt. 28: 1 [the Greek text is here inserted], ‘At the end of the sabbaths, as it began to dawn towards the first of the sabbaths’?” Such a rendering is impossible. 1. Mian is feminine, and sabbaton is neuter. Mian agrees with hameran, understood. Your inquirer remarks on this point (as made by writer in Sunday School Times), “Neither do they [mian and sabbaton] agree in number.” Of course not; a substantive followed by a partitive genitive can not agree with it numerically. 2. It seems idle to add anything to the foregoing grammatical prohibition of the rendering proposed. But I may add that mian sabbaton is a Hebraism corresponding to the rabbinical designation of the days of the week. They called each day of the festal week a “sabbath,” and indicated each day by its proper ordinal prefixed to “sabbath.” And in Greek eis is commonly used (as here) instead of protos. LXX and N. T. alike use ta sabbata in sense of singular—“the Sabbath day,” and also in the meaning “week.” Mian sabbaton in Matt. 28: 1 can not mean anything else than “first day of the week.” The R. V. correctly translates the verse. Your correspondent will find ample scholarly notes in Lange’s Matthew, by Schaff. This is the straightforward statement of the truth concerning this text, made by one who is capable of dealing with the original, and who will not pervert the Scripture in order to provide “quite an argument in favor of a change of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week.” These same facts have already been stated in our own publications, but we thought it worth the while to present the testimony of one who could not possibly be charged with expounding the passage in such a way as to favor his own views on the Sabbath question. We have given the letter in full, with the name and date of the publication in which it appeared, together with the circumstances which gave rise to it, in order that any of our workers who desire to make use of it can give an intelligent and authoritative statement concerning it. We are quite sure that many of our readers will preserve this whole article permanently for future reference. It may serve a good purpose in answering a false argument based upon an unwarranted translation of the text under consideration.