Fatal Admissions Concerning Sunday Sacredness
By G. B. T.
It is noted in the Scriptures of truth that “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Ex. 20:10. This is the unanimous testimony of the Bible. This is what God says on this question. The One who made the Sabbath at creation, who spoke the Decalogue from the smoking summit of Sinai, declares this. In tones which shook the globe, He declared to quailing humanity that the “seventh day” is His day. It is not the Jews’ Sabbath, but the Sabbath of the Lord. Opposing Jehovah’s Statement
It seems strange that against the statement of Jehovah, men would seek to oppose their dicta on this question. Some do, nevertheless; and in their efforts to bolster up a counterfeit Sabbath, they are led to make some very strange statements. “Binney’s Theological Compend” (improved) contains a most astonishing example of this. We call attention to this particularly, as it is a standard work, endorsed and published by one of the large evangelical denominations. That the author is a scholar of note we may conclude from the preface, in which we are told that “the author’s increased knowledge of theology during his long Christian ministry, and especially his studies in the New Testament during the fifteen years in which his sole employment has been the preparation of a popular commentary, have qualified him to recast and enrich his ‘Compend,’ and fortify its statements by more abundant references to the word of God.” We will note some of the statements concerning the Sabbath question from this enriched and recast “Compend.” On page 169 the author says, “The day appointed of God, at the close of creation, to be observed by man as a day of rest from all secular employment, because that in it God Himself had rested from His work. Gen. 2:1-3.” In this statement, the learned doctor is evidently quite correct. Again on page 170 he says, “The original law of the Sabbath was renewed and made a prominent part of the moral law, or Ten Commandments, given through Moses at Sinai. Ex. 20:8-11.” In this also he is in harmony with the word of God. And let it be noted that this “original law of the Sabbath” clearly states, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord.” Continuing on the same page, the author says, “This seventh-day Sabbath was strictly observed by Christ and His apostles previous to His crucifixion.” We are led to wonder how one who makes such a clear and convincing argument for the perpetuity of the Bible Sabbath, the seventh day, even admitting that the example of Jesus and all the apostles is in favor of the seventh day, could himself keep another day, or produce any argument in favor of so doing. On pages 180, 181, he makes the following astonishing yet truthful statement: “It is true there is no positive command for infant baptism, nor is there any against it, as there should have been if Christ intended to abridge the rights of Jewish parents under the Abrahamic covenant. Nor is there any for keeping holy the first day of the week (italics mine), or for family devotion, or for women to receive the Lord’s Supper. The reasons are obvious; there was no controversy in either case that called for it.” Note he says that there is no command “for keeping holy the first day of the week.” Then why should a Protestant who takes the Bible as his sole guide, observe a day that the Bible nowhere tells him to observe? How does he arrive at the conclusion that he should keep it? There is no command for Sunday any more than for Wednesday or any other day of the week, the author says. One must be as holy as the other, then; for surely no day can be holy without a fiat of the Almighty. On page 171, however, he puts forth the claim that Jesus changed the Sabbath, and gives what he considers the evidence. I quote his exact words: “Jesus, after His resurrection, changed the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week; thus showing His authority as Lord even of the Sabbath (Matt. 12:8), not to abrogate or break it, but to preside over and modify, or give new form to it, so as to have it commemorate His resurrection when He ceased from His redeeming work as God did from His creation work. Heb. 4:10. “When Jesus gave instructions for this change we are not told, but very likely during the time when He spoke to His apostles of the things pertaining to His kingdom. Acts 1:3. This is probably one of the many unrecorded things which Jesus did. John 20:30; 21:25.” This is a most astounding confession. Think of a lawyer coming into court with such evidence to vindicate his client. “When Jesus gave instructions for this change we are not told.” Seeing we “are not told,” how are we to ascertain, in this century, that Jesus ever said anything about it? We surely “are not told” anything about it in the Bible, for the canon of inspiration is as silent as the tomb concerning any change. “This is probably one of the many unrecorded things which Jesus did.” Think of the trembling penitent facing the Judge of all the earth, standing on a probability. What a foundation! The command for Sunday one of the “unrecorded things”! The learned doctor is forced by candor to admit there is no record in all the book of God about any change in the Sabbatic institution. Surely those who revere the Bible, and desire to stand on the eternal rock of Scripture, will be glad to abandon an unscriptural institution, and take their stand for one for which there is a recorded command handed down by the God who made the world. See Ex. 20:8-11. “What says the Bible, the blessed Bible?
This should my only question be.
Teachings of men so often mislead us!
What says the book of God to me?”