FIRST-DAY OBSERVANCE by F. C. Gilbert

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 13, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 28.

FIRST-DAY OBSERVANCE.

By F. C. Gilbert

BY F. C. GILBERT (a Converted Jew).

It is difficult to understand how people first conceived the idea that first-day observance was taught in the New Testament. It is evident that Christ did not and could not teach it; for, according to the flesh, He was of the seed of Abraham and the family of David (Matt. 1: 1; Gal. 3: 16; Rom. 1: 3); and to the Israelites was given the Sabbath “according to the commandment” which plainly says that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. Luke 23: 56; Ex. 20: 8–11. It was, therefore, perfectly natural that it should be the Saviour’s custom to enter the synagog on the Sabbath day. Luke 4: 16. Since He was the Author of the Sabbath (because He was the Creator of the world) He could most emphatically assert that He was Lord of the Sabbath. John 1: 10; Mark 2: 27, 28.

The twelve apostles could not have taught any other day than the seventh day as the Sabbath, for that was the day they were brought up to observe, and the Saviour told them to keep it at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. Luke 23: 56; Matt. 24: 20.

But it is said that when Saul of Tarsus was called of the Lord Jesus and was converted to the Gospel of Christ, he was raised up to teach the church that the Sabbath of the Lord and customs of the Jews were forever past, and that a new era and dispensation had dawned upon the world and upon the church. It certainly is sad that such ideas were ever advanced, and such beliefs entertained. It should be remembered that Paul was a Jew. He was born a Jew; he was reared a Jew; he was taught in Jewish schools and academies by Jewish teachers. All his friends and relatives were Jews; and one of the last testimonies he gave to the Jewish people before he left for his long voyage to Rome, was that he was still a Jew. 2 Cor. 11: 22; Phil. 3: 5, 6; Acts 22: 3.

We must, therefore, study the life and teachings of Saul, after his conversion, from the standpoint of the Jew. Did Paul ever intimate in his teaching that he had done otherwise? Did he ever infer that he was raised up to do any other work than to teach and preach the truth of Christ as God revealed it to the Jews? Nay, never; for he plainly says that he taught none other things only what were written in the law of Moses, in the prophets, in the Psalms, and according to the customs of the people. Acts 24: 14; 26: 22; 25: 8; 28: 17. Therefore, there could be nothing in the Gospel of Jesus Christ whereby Paul could teach the church, save that which was manifest in the oracles of the Bible.

It is sometimes claimed, nevertheless, that Paul observed the first day of the week; that he taught the Gentile churches to observe that day, and held religious services upon it. One of the chief texts used to prove these claims is 1 Cor. 16: 1, 2, which reads as follows: “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.”

It should be remembered that these churches of Galatia, of Corinth, and of all other Gentile extractions, were based upon Jewish models. It is generally recognized that the first letters Paul wrote to any Gentiles were those to the Thessalonians. In the first epistle to that church he says: “For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thess. 2: 14. Consequently, the Judean churches were the models after which the Gentile churches were patterned.

There had arisen a custom among the Jews some time before Christ, to support poor Jews at Jerusalem, and on this wise: as is known from the Scriptures, some sixty thousand Jews returned from captivity to Jerusalem in the days of Ezra. During the next few centuries the numbers kept increasing so that there came to be hundreds, if not thousands, of Jews in Jerusalem who were dependent upon their brethren in other lands. In order to assist these Jews, the following systematic method for relief was adopted: Every first day morning the head of the household would lay aside a certain amount of his previous week’s earnings for these Jews, which would be gathered occasionally, and be sent up to Jerusalem by some special person or persons. The custom was largely in vogue at the time of Christ and of Paul, and is still followed among orthodox Jews at the present time.

In every strictly orthodox Jewish home there is found a small tin box with a slot at the top, in which money is deposited. On the outside of this box there are a number of Hebrew words which say in substance: “This box contains money, or alms, for the poor Jews in Jerusalem.” After the man of the house completes his week’s labors, he lays down his burdens and observes the Sabbath, the seventh day. After the Sabbath is past, the first item of business he does on first day morning is to take count of the amount of his prosperity for the past week. When this is finished, he will lay aside a certain amount of his earnings and place it in this box, and this for these reasons: (1) He recognizes that his prosperity came from God. (2) That he believes the Lord will continue to prosper him if he shows this benevolence. (3) Since the Lord has prospered him, he must divide his blessings with the poor brethren in Jerusalem who have no means to support themselves. This, I repeat, is, to this day, observed by strictly orthodox Jews the world over.

This was and is the first item of business to be transacted on first day morning. Paul, knowing this, and knowing the need of the poor Jews in Jerusalem who would accept the truth of the Gospel, inaugurated this same method among the Gentile churches. When the Jews in Jerusalem accepted Christ they would no longer be supported by their Jewish brethren; hence, some means would have to be provided for their support. Especially was this true when the famine arose in the days of Claudius Cæsar. John 9: 22; Acts 11: 27, 29.

So Paul, in giving instruction to the Gentile churches, told them that the custom the Jews had for supporting their poorer brethren was a good one for them to adopt and follow everywhere. That was what he desired to establish among them, not the observance of another day in place of the Sabbath.

They were to remember these poor brethren by their alms, after they had begun to perform their usual weekly labor. It is evident that this is what Paul had in mind when writing to the church at Corinth. A little later, when he visited this church, as well as other churches, he gathered up this money, and took it with him when he went to Jerusalem. Acts 24: 17.

God did not raise Paul up to do away with the divinely-ordained oracles, but He would have Paul teach the church the uselessness of the traditions that the Jews had heaped up. He would have them see the real spiritual meaning there was in the oracles that Israel had, when viewed in the light of the Gospel of Christ. This is what the church needs to see to-day.