Ten Arguments Against the Sabbath by G. R. T.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 11, 1916

Ten Arguments Against the Sabbath

By G. R. T.

In the Brethren Family Almanac for 1916, Rev. I. N. Beahm gives, what he is pleased to call, “ten arguments against the Seventh-day Sabbath for the Christian,” which he claims have been effective in demolishing the foundation on which seventh-day Sabbath keeping rests.

The statement that these so-called arguments are against the “Seventh-day Sabbath for the Christian,” implies that the Sabbath is not a Christian institution, and is not to be observed by Christians. By this statement, put forth without proof, he seeks to prejudice the conscientious Christian against observing the day the Lord made and blessed, on the grounds that Christian people are not to observe the day.

But was not the Sabbath kept by Christian people for four millenniums,—from creation till the first advent of Christ? It was observed through the patriarchal age. Were not Noah, Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob Christians? See Luke 13: 28. Moses was the Lord’s chosen leader, to deliver the people from the bondage of Egypt. Was not he through whom the Lord handed down the tables of the law, written by the Son of God himself, a Christian? Was not Joshua, who was chosen to take the leadership of Israel when Moses died, a Christian? What about David, and Samuel, and the prophets of God? What about those “who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens”? Are not such as these a respectable company of Christian Sabbath keepers? Can Reverend Beahm find in the ranks of those who keep Sunday a more consecrated, earnest company? Can he find among those who keep the first day of the week any having more faith in Christ than these heroes of faith? Was not Elijah, who went to heaven in a chariot of fire, a Christian? Were not the Hebrew worthies, who rather than transgress the law of God went into the furnace of fire, Christians? Also Daniel, who was cast

into the lions’ den? They were not of that spineless lot who, rather than change their practice and observe the day that was made holy by the acts of God himself, and placed in the bosom of his law, teach that the law in which it was placed has been abolished. Such teaching would abolish sin, and all need of a Saviour, for “sin is the transgression of the law.”

Then coming down to the time when Jesus made his advent as man’s redeemer. Jesus kept the Sabbath; so did all the apostles. Were they not Christians? And when we seek to stigmatize the Sabbath of Jehovah by stating that the Sabbath is not for Christians, do we not cast a reproach upon the noble band of Christians who kept the Sabbath in every age from creation, including the Son of God and his apostles? It is to be deplored that professed Christians, especially those who stand as watchmen, persist in teaching that which leads to such shocking conclusions.

In looking over the ten points which are given in the Almanac as a summary of the points made in a discussion on the Sabbath question, we find the usual arguments against the perpetuity of the law of God. The law having been abolished or changed, the Sabbath is therefore abolished or changed, is, in a nutshell, the argument adduced.

Reverend Beahm says the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. Gal. 3: 24. “The law ends,” he says, “where the Christ begins.” What does Reverend Beahm mean by the law ending? Evidently that the eternal code which defines sin has been abolished. If so, then there is no sin, for “where no law is, there is no transgression,” and “sin is not imputed when there is no law.” Rom. 4:15; 5:13. If the argument under review is correct, that the Sabbath is abolished because the law has been abolished, then not only is the Sabbath destroyed, but all sin is abrogated. The only knowledge we have of what is sin is by the law of God. Rom. 3:20. This law being abrogated, we have no standard of right and wrong, and sinful men, who must stand at the tribunal of God, are left to guess their way along the uncertain pathway of life, guided only by the dim candle of their own reason. It is to positions which lead to such monstrous conclusions that men are forced in their efforts to set aside the binding claims of the Sabbath.

Then if the law, which is the schoolmaster, or pedagogue, to lead us to Christ, is abolished, how are we to get to Christ? The law performs the office of the ancient pedagogue by leading us to Christ, the great Instructor. It restrains and rebukes; it shows us our danger; it points out sin. Like a mirror, which shows us we are in need of physical cleansing, it points out sin, the plague spots in our character. It convinces us of sin, and the need of pardon. It thus leads us to Christ, the Redeemer. Sinners are under the condemnation of the law. As preachers of righteousness we are to gather our congregations around the law spoken from Sinai, in order that their sins may be pointed out. But the law does not save; it condemns. Christ becomes the end, or object, of the law for righteousness. The penitent soul is led to see its need of a Saviour, and looking to Jesus, it confesses and forsakes its sin. Then as a saved, forgiven sinner, the man is no longer under the condemnation of the law, but under grace instead.

In the argument in the Almanac, Reverend Beahm makes the further blunder of confounding the law of the Sabbath with the law of ceremonies. He overlooks the fact that there are two laws brought to view in the Bible, one of which is changeless, the other temporary. The ceremonial law is typical. It was made necessary because of sin. But the Sabbath antelates sin. It was found in Eden, before sin entered. Had man never sinned, it would have been kept by sinless beings throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity. And when sin is destroyed, and Edenic beauty once more is found in the earth, it will be kept by the redeemed throughout eternity. “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.” Isa. 66:22, 23.

We would commend to the prayerful consideration of those who are inclined to stigmatize the Sabbath the thought that a Sabbath that was worthy of being observed in Eden by sinless beings, and that will be kept in the new earth by the redeemed, is worthy of being honored and kept holy by God’s people at the present time.

One other point in the Almanac is all we deem it worth while to notice, as the other positions are more or less a repetition of this point, and that is the reference made to the two covenants, the idea being of course that the law of ten commandments was the old covenant, and this being superseded by the new covenant, the Sabbath commandment dropped out. How blindly men sometimes err, and present strange arguments to bolster up some human tradition. The new covenant is the covenant of grace, and was made with man in Eden after the fall. It promises forgiveness of sin, and life on condition of obedience to God’s law. This covenant was renewed to Abraham, and through it all the patriarchs received the hope of salvation. The covenant was confirmed by both the promise and the oath of God.

This covenant was ratified by the death of Christ, and is called the second or new covenant because the blood was shed after the blood of the old covenant, a compact or arrangement entered into between God and Israel at Mt. Sinai.

Instead of the law of God being abolished in the new covenant ratified by the blood of Christ, it is written by the Spirit on the heart of every child of God. Notice this scripture carefully: “For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: and they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” Heb. 8:8-12.

That the Sabbath was kept by Christ and the apostles is admitted by all. Then how does Sunday become a part of the new covenant, which was ratified at the death of the Mediator? “Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.” Gal. 3:15.

Even if we could trace Sunday keeping back to the resurrection, which we cannot, it would then be too late for it to become a part of the new covenant, which had been already ratified.

Surely the Sabbath of Jehovah is established upon an immovable foundation.

G. R. T.