When Was the Sabbath Abolished?
By R. F. Cottrell
If the original Sabbath has been abolished, there was a time when it was abolished. Its law was binding up to that time, since then it has not been obligatory. When did its obligation cease? 1. Did Christ in his ministry on earth set aside the law? Hear his answer: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Then Christ did not abolish the law entire, neither did he change it a single jot or tittle. Thus in his teaching he speaks directly to the point in question, most emphatically declaring that this was not his missionary work, and at the same time affirming the perpetuity of the entire code, of which the Sabbath commandment was a part, till the passing away of the present heavens and earth, when the heavens shall melt with fervent heat. 2 Pet. 3:7, 10. But did not Jesus break the Sabbath law during his ministry? If he broke an existing law, he became a sinner; for the transgression of the law is sin. His testimony on this point is, “I have kept my Father’s commandments.” But his enemies accused him of breaking the Sabbath. It is no wonder that open infidels of the present day should reiterate this charge; but it is passing strange that professed Christians should do the same. Yet they do. Such, I ask, Did Christ break the Sabbath before its law was abolished? When was its law abolished? You say, he “took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.” Then this law was binding till the crucifixion, and to break it before that would be sin. This view contradicts the plain testimony of the Scriptures, that He that was offered for our sins, was himself without sin. Christ did not violate an existing law. Hence, if he did not keep the Sabbath “according to the commandment” (as his followers did after his crucifixion), the law for Sabbath-keeping must have ceased before that event. In that case the Sabbath is not included in the list of ordinances that were nailed to the cross. If the Sabbath was abolished before, it is certain that it was not abolished at the cross. 2. Was the Sabbath abolished at the cross? Then it was not abolished before; and hence it is certain that Christ did not break the Sabbath; but he was falsely accused of doing so. One or the other of these two positions must be given up. Both cannot be true. Yet, contradictory as they are, the same persons hold and contend for them both. Proof is so scarce on their part, that they cannot spare either of them. In this they proclaim their own weakness, and the weakness of their position, that the Sabbath law has been abolished. Once instituting the Sabbath is enough; and that holds good until it is abolished. And so to have the Sabbath abolished once is enough. If the Sabbath law had ceased when Jesus and his disciples went to the synagogue on that day, it could not be abolished after that; for when a law is abolished it is law no longer. The law once slain could not be slain again. Yet our friends are so anxious to get it out of the way, they would have it dead during the ministry of Christ, slain a second time at the cross, and then have the apostles endued with power from on high, after the ascension of their Lord, to slay it again. Truth once told is enough; but one falsehood needs a thousand others to make it truth; and yet they all fail, because the more there are, the more evident it is that the very foundation and superstructure are false. “No lie is of the truth.” The truth needs no lie to sustain it. But lies must perish, with all that can be invented to sustain them.