THE LAW OF WORKS IS SUBSTITUTED FOR THE LAW OF FAITH IN MODERN BABYLON.
By W. W. P.
In the great apostasy, which began before the death of the apostles, and in its complete development resulted in the papacy, the gospel was so perverted that man's way was substituted for God's way; and a counterfeit gospel was proclaimed in the place of the true. The works of the law superseded the hearing of faith. The forgiveness of sin was made chiefly dependent upon the absolution of the priest, rather than simply upon the faith of the individual. The power and authority of the church were substituted for the power and authority of God. Tradition was exalted above the Bible, and the simplicity of the gospel was corrupted by changing the law of faith into the law of works.
Through that period which is rightly designated in history as the Dark Ages, men groped in darkness, shut away from the word of God, the lamp to the feet and the light to the path. They were held in the bondage of superstition and error, and their consciences were ruled over by priests and popes, and their salvation was oftentimes made a matter of mere merchandise. In the Reformation of the sixteenth century, under the leadership of Luther and his associates, a protest was made against all this reversal of the gospel, and men asserted their privilege to be guided by the word of God rather than by tradition, to have communion with God through Jesus Christ without the intervention of popes or priests, and to receive forgiveness of sins through their own repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus was the foundation of Protestantism laid; and the very essence of the gospel, justification by faith in the saving power of God, brought into the life of each individual through the gift of Christ, was again taught to the people.
But back of the organization known as the papacy is “the god of this world,” seeking to overthrow the kingdom of God in the earth, and to establish his own in its place. Having insinuated himself into the very midst of the professed church of God by substituting worldly principles for the divine, he has made his crowning effort by striking directly at the foundation of the whole gospel, and attempting to cut off man from the direct working of the creative power of God in his soul, through the union of the divine life with human flesh.
On the one hand, in order to cut off man from direct communion with God, the pope, the priests, and the church were made to take the place that belongs to God himself; the law of works took the place of the law of faith; and forgiveness of sin was asserted to be under the control of the human agent.
On the other hand, in order to cut off God from his work in behalf of man, the revealing of his creative power to create anew in Christ Jesus, the law of God, as expressed in the ten commandments, was so changed through the instrumentality of the papacy as to hide from men the knowledge of God as the Creator.
This was simply the natural outgrowth of the first step. Having made man his own savior through an outward observance of the traditions and ordinances of the church, the way was easily opened for the next step, which was to remove as far as possible any reminder of that genuine saving power which alone could accomplish salvation.
The plan of redemption is simply the carrying out of the original plan of creation, that man should be in the image of God. And so David prayed, “Create in me a clean heart.” And so, “if any man is in Christ, there is a new creation.” “For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” Therefore, in the experience of the genuine gospel, God in Christ must be known as the10Creator, and the work that he has accomplished in the flesh of Christ must be accepted through faith, and thus the fruits of that life will again appear in the flesh.
All this is found in the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, as embodied in God's law, and as declared by him to be the sign of his saving power. The fourth commandment of the decalogue sets forth God as the Creator of all things, thus showing his power and his right to reign as Lord over all, and establishes the seventh day of the week, now commonly called Saturday, to be observed as the weekly day of rest. This day, blessed and sanctified by the Creator, was given to man before sin entered into the world (Gen. 2:2, 3), that man might share with God in the joy of a perfect creation.
After sin had marred the image of God in man, this same Sabbath was continued to man as the sign and the seal of God's creative power to restore man to his place in a perfect creation. “Moreover also 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.” “Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.”
Thus the seventh-day Sabbath, as given to man in the gospel, stands for justification by faith, and the real experience of the observance of this Sabbath is the experience of justification by faith. It is the sign of the creative power of God as revealed in Jesus Christ and trusted in for salvation.
In the effort to defeat God's plan for the salvation of man, the enemy of the truth first set forth a false gospel, in which the power of man and man's works take the place of the power of God and the work which he wrought in Christ, and then, logically enough, substituted another day as the sign of the new power that was to be trusted in for salvation. Thus Sunday was brought into the professed Christian church to take the place of the Sabbath of the Lord. For ages it had been observed among the heathen, even in Babylon of old, in honor of the sun-god; and now that modern Babylon has usurped the place of the church, it was only natural that this chief sign of heathenism should take its place as the universal power of this Babylon to rule in things spiritual.
Thus in this perversion of the gospel, the Sunday sabbath, which has no foundation in the word of God but rests wholly upon human tradition, stands for justification by works, and to hold to its observance after its origin and meaning are made clear is simply to choose justification by the works of the flesh instead of by faith,—to trust in man for salvation, rather than in the living God.
A few simple facts will serve to connect the papacy directly with the statement of the prophecy that he would “think to change the times and the law.” Any standard Roman Catholic catechism will show how the ten commandments have been so changed that the fourth is numbered as the third, the larger part of the commandment being omitted, and what is left being made to apply directly to Sunday, the first day of the week, instead of to the seventh day.
Having exalted tradition above the written word of God, the Catholic Church is consistent in its teaching, and does not claim to rest the observance of Sunday upon any Bible authority. Thus Cardinal Gibbons says: “You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify.”
And further, the general observance of Sunday, contrary to the plain teaching of the Bible, is appealed to by Catholics as a proof of the authority of the church even over Protestants. One Catholic writer puts it in this way: “It was the Catholic Church which, by the authority of Jesus Christ, has transferred this rest to the Sunday, in remembrance of the resurrection of our Lord. Thus the observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the church.”
Is it not high time for every true Protestant to stand upon the Protestant platform of the Bible, and the Bible alone, and cease to worship according to the command of this modern Babylon?
