CHRIST AND THE SABBATH QUESTION
By R. C. P.
Did Christ Change the Sabbath?—The Record Will Reveal the Facts The making of the Sabbath at creation is plainly recorded in Gen. 2: 1-3. This record is further confirmed in the law, Ex. 20: 8-11. The institution of the Passover is also explicitly recorded in Exodus 12. The annual feast-day sabbaths are clearly set forth in Leviticus 23, and their repeal in Col. 2: 14-17; Eph. 2: 14-16. Therefore if Christ revised or repealed the law of the Sabbath, He has given us as plain information of that revision or repeal, as He has given of the repeal of the ceremonial sabbaths, which were abolished by His death upon the cross. Noted Protestant Finds No Change
From pages 2-4 of a tract entitled “Some Mistakes About the Sabbath,” by the Rev. James Russell, the following important statement is extracted: “The first mistake made by Christian people is in supposing that the Sabbath law, as laid down in the Old Testament, was abrogated by our Lord Jesus Christ. “Christ Himself affirmed that He came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. The ceremonial law, in its symbols and prophecies, was intended to point forward to the coming of Christ; and at His coming it passed away, because it was fulfilled in Him. So it is written, He nailed to His cross the handwriting of ordinances which was against us, taking it out of the way. But the moral law, as contained in the Decalogue, is as eternal as the constitution of man. It was written in the nerves and fibers of the human system before it was transcribed on tables of stone. The fact that it was thus written on stone, if it meant anything, meant that it was to abide forever. It is difficult to see how any one could suppose that Jesus would select one of the ten precepts thus recorded,—and the very one which was expressed in the most positive terms,—and, leaving the others intact, abrogate that one. At this point attention is called to the singular terms of the Sabbath law. Here it is: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work; thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” “The opening word is significant: ‘Remember!’ It is precisely as if God foresaw that the time would come when some of His people might say that this commandment was intended to be only234of temporary force, and thus forestalled it. Observe, also, the two illative conjunctions in which the rationale of the Sabbath is set forth: ‘For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.’ The Sabbath is thus established in the fact that God made the world in six creative days and then rested. This being so, is it not obvious that the law is of binding force so long as it continues to be true that God created the world in that way?” “If the Sabbath law, as thus formulated by God Himself, were to be abrogated, it surely would not be done by His only-begotten Son. Let me say it reverently, Christ would not have done this if He could, and, considering His relations with the Father, He could not if He would. He came into the world not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it.” Christ Tore Away the Rubbish
“The inquiry is pertinent, What did Jesus teach with respect to the fourth commandment? He had much to say about the Sabbath; what was the purport of it? He certainly did not approve the Sabbath law as taught and enforced by the religious leaders of His time. He tore away the Toldoth with which they had encumbered it, as barracks are cleared away from a vessel in dry-dock that she may sail free. He did for the Sabbath exactly what archaeologists have recently done for the pool of Siloam. It is known that Solomon built this reservoir for the purpose of bringing fresh water into the city. It was supplied by a subterranean aqueduct from a fountain gushing out of the rock of Ophel. The prophet Isaiah referred to it as ‘the waters of Shiloah that go softly.’ John Milton sang of ‘Shiloah brook that flows fast by the oracles of God.’ But in the successive calamities which befell the holy city, the fountain and its channel were blocked up with stone and rubbish, and Siloam became a stagnant pool. In 1881 the aqueduct was uncovered, the rubbish was cleared away, and the waters of Siloam again ‘flowed softly,’ so that to-day the wayfarer refreshes himself at the brook. Now this is what Jesus did with the Sabbath. Destroy it? Abrogate it?—O, no! He restored it to its primitive terms as a divine law.” There are twenty-three jots in the fourth commandment, and seventy-five words in the whole law, and Jesus says not one jot shall pass from the law till all things be accomplished. (See revised edition of the New Testament.) Wesley says, “The word ‘all’ does not mean all the law, but all things in the universe; as neither has the term ‘fulfilled,’ any reference to the law, but to all things in heaven and earth.”—Wesley’s “Sermons,” volume 1, page 223. “One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” The word “law” is translated from the Greek word nomos, which is in the masculine gender and the singular number. The word “all” is from the Greek word pas, and is in the neuter gender and the plural number, and therefore cannot agree with nomos, “law,” but with “things” understood. Thus Matt. 5:18 should be understood as follows: “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 things (in the universe) be fulfilled.” And as all things cannot be fulfilled while the world stands, neither can even one jot pass from the law while the world stands. It is necessary, in revising a civil statute, that a plain record of such a repeal or revision be kept. The revision or repeal of a law by the civil legislature, and the introduction of a new statute embracing the enforcement of a penalty for its violation, without a plain record of such an act, would be too ridiculous a procedure for any civil authority. Much less can we charge Christ with any such inconsistency. Did Christ Change or Repeal the Sabbath Statute?
It is assumed that Christ changed or repealed the Sabbath statute, and introduced Sunday, the first day of the week, instead of the seventh-day Sabbath. It is assumed that this was done at the time of His resurrection, and to commemorate that event. Where is there any record of such a transaction? There is no such record to be found in the New Testament. If such a revision had occurred, it would have been recorded in the Gospels, the Acts, or the Epistles. There could be no change made in the Sabbath statute from the seventh to the first day of the week, without a reference to it. The expression “the first day of the week” is used but eight times in the New Testament. It will therefore require but a short time to refer to each text where the expression “first day of the week” occurs, in order that we may know with certainty whether such a revision of the Sabbath statute has been made by Christ. The first passage is in Matt. 28:1: “In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher.” The Gospel of Matthew was written six years after the resurrection. He says at that time that the Sabbath was the day before the first day of the week. He makes no mention of a revision or repeal of the Sabbath statute. The second text is found in Mark 16:1, 2: “And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint Him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun.” This was written thirty-two years after the resurrection of Christ. Mark says the Sabbath was past when the first day of the week came. In verse 9 we have the third reference: “Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven devils.” This text merely mentions the first day of the week, but says nothing of the Sabbath or the Sabbath law. Mark recognizes the Sabbath to be the seventh day of the week as late as thirty-two years after the resurrection. He does not intimate any repeal or revision of the Sabbath statute. Convincing Statement of Luke
The fourth reference is found in Luke 23:56; 24:1: “And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment. Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.” This record was written twenty-four years after the resurrection. Luke, twenty-four years after the resurrection, recognises the original Sabbath as still binding according to the commandment. He does not give the slightest suggestion of any revision or repeal of the Sabbath commandment by Christ. His testimony emphatically enjoins the seventh day as the Sabbath, according to the original commandment. The fifth reference is John 20:1: “The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher.” John’s Gospel was written sixty-four years after the resurrection. Neither the Sabbath nor the Sabbath statute is mentioned in the reference. The sixth reference is verse 19: “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and said unto them, Peace be unto you.” Here, as in verse 1, no reference is made to the Sabbath statute. So John knew of no revision or repeal. John and the Christian Sabbath
In chapter 5, John says positively that the day the Jews observed as the Sabbath is the Christian Sabbath. Christ had healed a man on the Sabbath, and John records it thus: “Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the Sabbath.” Verses 8, 9. John does not say that it was the Jewish Sabbath, or the day that used to be the Sabbath, but is now changed; but, writing sixty-four years after the resurrection of Christ, he says that the man was healed on the Sabbath day. Thus, according to John’s record, the original Sabbath, instituted at creation, confirmed in the law given from Sinai, and customarily kept by Christ, is still the Sabbath day. The next verse says that the day which John says is the Sabbath, is the Sabbath day kept by the Jews: “The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the Sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.” Verse 10. There can be no doubt that John’s record, instead of teaching a repeal or a revision of the Sabbath statute, teaches that the original Sabbath day, which is still observed by the Jews, is the Sabbath of the New Testament. The two remaining texts in which the expression “first day of the week” is used, will be considered next week.