IS THE Sabbath recognized in the New Testament? We ask this question because so many are apparently trying to make themselves believe there is no Sabbath day under the gospel. They say the believer rests in Christ, and that is all the rest he needs. But in the text, "I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28), the word "rest" is translated from anapausis, which here refers to rest or peace from a guilty conscience. Whereas sabbaton refers to the day on which ordinary business is to cease. In those passages which treat of comfort for a burdened soul, there is not the remotest hint that peace of mind in Christ is to supplant Sabbath observance. To suppose that forgiveness exempts from obedience to any of the commandments of God, is to deceive ourselves as to the conditions of forgiveness.
Had our Lord said, Come to me and I will be a Sabbath to you, there would have been some show of reason in claiming exemption from the observance of the seventh day. Except for the insistence of the objector, it would seem superfluous to say, Christ never represents himself as the Sabbath for his people.
Another contention is, that the apostle Paul sets aside the Sabbath. But a careful reading of Gal. 4:10, and its context, will show that the apostle fears that those converts from heathenism will turn again to the beggarly elements of pagan observances and festival days; and after the same manner does he warn the Colossian brethren against the festival sabbaths and new moons of Jewish national observance, which were well enough for that people, but were not designed for Gentile believers in Christ.
Now, to the question, Is the Sabbath recognized in the New Testament? there can be but an affirmative answer.
1. The custom of Jesus and the apostles was to resort to the synagogues for public worship on the Sabbath day. Of this custom there are no less than eighty-nine instances, expressed and implied. Examine Matt. 12; Luke 4; 23:56; Acts 13:5, 14, 42, 44; 16:13; 17:2; 18:4, 11.
2. The existence of the Sabbath and the lawfulness of Sabbath observance are emphatically indorsed by our Lord: "Wherefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day."—Revised N. T.
3. The object of the institution of the Sabbath is also stated by him: "The Sabbath was made for man,"—that is, for his use, for his good.
4. Jesus claims the Sabbath as his own: "The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath." As master and proprietor of the seventh day, it was proper for him to say what was lawful to be done on that day. By him the worlds were made (Heb. 1:2, 4); and therefore the order of evening and morning, the succession of seven days, and the special appointment of the seventh in remembrance of the Father's creative work, were all "by him." Hence in the days of his flesh it was right for him to claim lordship of the Sabbath. If he possessed it then, he possesses it now. There is not in the whole New Testament either jot or tittle to express that he has relinquished his dominion over the Sabbath.
5. Christ was careful to announce, near the beginning of his ministry, that he had not come into the world "to destroy the law, but to fulfill," by which we understand to honor and to confirm the law, at the same time affirming that it is a sin for any one to break that law, or to teach men to do so.
6. Besides the foregoing, there are certain passages which show obligation to the Sabbath on the part of the disciples: "Pray ye that your flight be not . . . on the Sabbath day." Matt. 24:20. They "rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." Luke 23:56. Hence Sabbath law was then in full force.
7. The claim that first-day, or Sunday, is the Sabbath under the gospel, rests upon the flimsiest pretext possible.
(a) In the New Testament it is called by no other name than first-day.
(b) It was not observed by the apostles either as the Sabbath, or as commemorative of the resurrection of Christ, or as a day on which to celebrate the communion.
(c) The observance of Sunday was brought into the Christian church as a heathen festival—"the venerable day of the sun"—and afterwards observed in honor of the resurrection. By order of the Council of Laodicea, Sabbath-keepers were cursed; and the whole power of a pagan Christian priesthood was necessary, during three or four centuries, to discourage Sabbath-keeping, and to establish the Sunday festival in its place. It is becoming more and more evident that the popular day is of man only, and its fame and power are justly waning. We view it as one of the works of Babylon, which must fall. When a Protestant claims Sunday as of Christ, the Roman Catholic replies that Sunday is an institution of his church. History supports him in this assertion, and the Protestant feels the weakness of his cause.
(d) On the other hand, there is everything about the Lord's Sabbath to make it honorable, agreeable, and joyful. Why should not every Christian celebrate it with delight, in remembrance of the Creator's work, and as his remedy for man against idolatry and atheism? We appeal to our fellow-Christians to awake from indifference to this oft-recurring question, and reject the Sunday tradition, to lay hold of the Lord's Sabbath, and rise to that consistency in Christian practice, the lack of which so greatly weakens the power of the gospel among men. They who love God, keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous. 1 John 5:2, 3.—Sabbath Memorial.