p. 10 | The Apostle Paul's Confession by I. Sanborn

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 4, 1909

The Apostle Paul's Confession

By I. Sanborn

I. SANBORN

“But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets.” Acts. 24:14.

The apostle defines this law: “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Thus he quotes four words of that the ten commandment law, and then describes the character of the law: “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. . . . For we know that the law is spiritual.” Rom. 7:7, 12, 14.

“Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Rom. 3:19, 20.

This proves that the ten commandments are binding upon all the world, and that it is only by the law that we can have a true knowledge of sin. “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.” Rom. 3:31. To establish the law is to obey it. “Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” Eccl. 12:13.

And as Paul believed all things written in the law, he believed that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, that it is holy, that all the world are commanded to remember it and keep it holy (Ex. 20:8-11); that Christ magnified the law, and made it honorable (Isa. 42:21); and that he said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath: therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27, 28. Christ himself made the Sabbath when he made the world; for “all things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.” John 1:3. God “created all things by Jesus Christ.” Eph. 3:9.

Christ tells us plainly that unless our righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, we can in no case enter into the kingdom of God. And to the Pharisees he said: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” John 8:44.

And still they claimed to be the children of Abraham, and were all the time making void the commandments of God by their traditions. Therefore the Lord says: “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” Col. 3:5. These were the sins which the scribes and Pharisees were continually committing. And as covetousness is idolatry, in what condition is the world to-day? See the professed people of God with their feet upon the Sabbath of their Lord, doing their pleasure upon his holy day, and professing to believe that the next day, Sunday, the first day of the week, is the Lord's day. All this array of scripture in this article, shows most clearly that the law is holy, just, good, and spiritual, and that Jesus made the seventh day holy, and commanded all the world to remember to keep it holy. Rom. 3:19, 20. But every one must first be converted and get rid of the carnal mind, which is enmity against God, ‘for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.’ Rom. 8:7. No one can keep the Sabbath holy with the carnal mind, therefore there is great opposition to the Sabbath.

St. Thomas, Ontario.