Seventh-Day Keepers and the Teaching of the Apostles.
By Editor
THE above is the heading of a short article which appeared in the Advance not long ago, and which a subscriber wishes us to notice, as it is being circulated quite extensively, and is considered by many to be a fatal blow to the teachings of Seventh-day Adventists. It is, perhaps, unnecessary to state that the "Teaching of the Apostles" does not refer to that found in the New Testament, but to a recently discovered document bearing that title. We will give the Advance’s article entire, and then proceed to make such comments as may seem necessary. We will first say, however, by way of preface, that the number of Sabbath-keeping churches, ministers, and people, as given by the Advance is entirely too small. "The Seventh-day keepers in this country, composed of Adventists and Baptists, number 761 churches, 270 ministers, and 25,780 members; and they claim to be rapidly increasing. The Adventists are much the larger body. The recently discovered 'Teaching of the Twelve Apostles' will sooner or later weaken, or annihilate, the view that the seventh day is still the sacred one of the week. Its fourteenth chapter begins thus: 'But on the Lord’s day do ye assemble and break bread, and give thanks, after confessing your transgressions, in order that your sacrifice may be pure.' This is a direction to observe the Lord’s supper on the Lord’s day. Was that day the seventh or the first day of the week? Much depends upon the answer. First, all must admit, according to Acts 20:7, that disciples at Troas, with the apostle Paul, assembled on the first day of the week to 'break bread,' to observe the Lord’s supper; and that they chose the first day of the week out of the whole seven during which they were there together. "Second, all admit, who know the case, that, according to Justin Martyr, a reliable witness, the Christians were accustomed to hold religious services and observe the Lord’s supper, on Sunday of each week, which was the first day, called 'Sunday' by Justin, because that was the Roman name, and he was addressing the Roman Emperor and Senate. "Two things, then, are fixed: First, that the primitive Christians of the apostolic age observed the Lord’s supper on the first day of the week; second, it is fixed by the 'Teaching of the Twelve Apostles' that that first day was the 'Lord’s day.' As a deduction, a third thing is fixed, that the apostle John, when he said he 'was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day,' meant that it was on the first day of the week. The day bearing the sacred name of the Lord Jesus was certainly the sacred day at that time. This all agrees with a great amount of other evidence, too much to be here presented. It all tends strongly to make keepers of the seventh day change their observance to the first day, and to make keepers of the first day more confident of their position than heretofore." But very little mention has been made in the SIGNS concerning this so-called "Teaching of the Apostles," and we will therefore state a few facts in order that our readers may know the truth of the matter, and may understand just how much effect it has on the teaching of Seventh-day Adventists. We are the more anxious to do this because the "Teaching" has been widely circulated, and has received an immense amount of attention from religious journals since its discovery. Indeed its discovery has created a great furor in the religious world. The New York Independent regards it as "by all odds the most important writing, exterior to the New Testament, now in the possession of the Christian world;" and many other journals and teachers regard it as but very little, if any, inferior to the New Testament. It is very certain that since the "Teaching" was discovered, religious journals have devoted more attention to it than they commonly do to the Bible itself. The document itself is a portion of a Greek manuscript that was discovered in the Monastery of the Most Holy Sepulcher, in Constantinople, by Philotheos Bryenios, bishop of Nicomedia. Of course it is not claimed even by the most enthusiastic supporters of the "Teaching" that it was written by the apostles themselves. Learned men are divided in their opinion as to its date, some placing it as early as the beginning of the second century, and others claiming that it was composed no earlier than the third or fourth century. In the absence of any positive proof for any date, and to save controversy, we are willing to grant that it was written at the earliest date claimed for it, in the second century. The first question that will now arise in the minds of many will be, "Why should we take this document as an exponent of the belief and teaching of the apostles, rather than the writings of the apostles themselves?" And such a question would be very pertinent. It seems far more reasonable that we should go to the well-authenticated writings of the apostles, to find their doctrine, than that we should appeal to the production of some unknown writer who did not even live contemporaneously with them. If I wish to become acquainted with the teaching of John Wesley, I go to his own works, instead of taking up what some anonymous writer may have said concerning his doctrine. So we should go to the New Testament to ascertain what was the "teaching" of the apostles. The whole affair looks as though there was a case to be sustained that could not be sustained by an appeal to the real teaching of the apostles. But before we proceed further to impeach our witness, we will hear his testimony. The fourteenth chapter entire is as follows:— "Coming together on the Lord’s day break bread and give thanks, confessing your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure. And let no one who has a dispute with his fellow approach with you until they be reconciled, lest your sacrifice be profaned, for this is the sacrifice spoken of by the Lord: In every place and time bring to me a clean sacrifice, for I am a great king saith the Lord, and my name is wonderful among the nations." It will be noticed that no clue is here given as to what day is referred to by the term "Lord’s day." That most important matter is left out entirely. How, then, can this passage be made to do service in the Sunday cause? Easily enough; all that has to be done is to assume that the day here referred to is Sunday, and presto, the thing is accomplished, and we have "strong evidence" to prove that Sunday is the Sabbath. Concerning this assumption as made in the quotation from the Advance, we shall speak hereafter; we are at present dealing only with the "Teaching" itself. Thus far, then, we have found that the so-called "Teaching," whether genuine or otherwise, affords not the slightest real testimony in favor of Sunday observance; the "evidence" has to be assumed. But this is not all. We have before us, not only the English translation of the "Teaching," but the Greek text itself. We therefore know whereof we affirm when we say that the word for "day," namely, heemera, does not once occur in the entire chapter. Neither is there any word corresponding to it, nor anything to indicate that the word "day" should be supplied. Why, then, was that word supplied by the translators? We leave the reader to answer that question to his own satisfaction. We have no fears, however, that any intelligent seventh-day keeper will change to the first day on the strength of so palpable and weak a forgery as this. When the lawyer told the judge that he could give fifty good reasons for his client’s absence from court, the first of which was that the man was dead, the judge decided that it was unnecessary to produce the other forty-nine. So we might leave the matter here, having shown that the "Teaching" cannot affect seventh-day keepers in the least, because it contains no hint concerning rest on any day of the week. But we wish to pay our respects to the document a little further, now that we are on the subject. Inasmuch, however, as it has not the slightest connection with seventh-day keepers600either to uphold or to contradict their teaching and practice, we shall drop the first part of our heading, and pursue the subject farther under the simple heading, "The Teaching of the Apostles."