What Shall We Do with the Fourth Commandment? by Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Mar 12, 1912

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 39, No. 11.

What Shall We Do with the Fourth Commandment?

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

IV — The Testimony of the New Testament

“But,” says one, “I’d like to know if the New Testament doesn’t contain some proof for Sunday keeping; for it is very evident that this day instead of the seventh has been observed for centuries. I supposed that the change was made by the divine Master or some of His apostles, and thus I have always been instructed. There must be some authority for the change.”

There is — the authority of the Church of Rome. But this is a phase of the subject which we hope to touch briefly in our next; so we will proceed, deliberately and prayerfully, tho briefly, to consider just what the New Testament says, if anything, about the change of the Sabbath.

“Of course,” some one suggests, “it is very generally understood that the change was made because the resurrection of Christ occurred on Sunday morning. It seems to me quite right to commemorate the resurrection of our Saviour in some manner. Do you not agree with me?”

Certainly I do; and the resurrection is by no means left without a memorial. A most fitting memorial of the resurrection as well as the death and burial of our Lord, has been provided in the beautiful ceremony of baptism. Please study Rom. 6: 3-5 and Col. 2: 12. Is this not all-sufficient? Do you think that in order to provide some memorial of the resurrection, it becomes puny man to stretch forth sacrilegious fingers toward God’s great moral law, and snatch from its very heart the sacred memorial of creation and of God’s creative power, thereby leaving the original rest day of Jehovah with no memorial whatever? Why was it so necessary for God’s children to keep this in mind before the cross and not afterward? Did the Sabbath of the Lord suddenly lose its meaning and its significance? Did it suddenly become untrue that the Lord commanded us to rest upon this day, “because that in it He had rested”?

Would it not be strange indeed for the Government of the United States to pass a law that the fourth day of July should no longer be observed to keep in memory the fact that our fathers on that day signed the famous Declaration of Independence, because, forsooth, Christopher Columbus died on the twentieth day of May, and that this later date would hereafter be observed instead?

But we repeat: What does the New Testament say about the matter? — It is remarkably silent. The words “first day of the week” are used but eight times in the entire book.

Matt. 28: 1 gives the first reference: “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.” Certainly this scripture proves conclusively that the first day of the week directly follows the Sabbath, and this after the resurrection.

The second mention will be 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 scripture only repeats and makes more emphatic the same truth as the other, namely, that the Sabbath, even after the resurrection of Christ, was the day just before the first day of the week.

The 9th verse of the same chapter is the next mention of the first day, and simply declares that Christ then appeared to Mary Magdalene.

The fourth mention is in Luke 23: 56 and 24: 1. This reference is especially clear, in that it particularly mentions the fourth commandment of the Decalogue: “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.”

The fifth mention is in John 20: 1: “The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher.”

Nothing so far about the change of the Sabbath. And it is right here, somewhere in these records of the resurrection of the Master, that we might naturally suppose some mention or hint would be made of the fact — if fact it be — that this day was to be henceforth the newly installed sabbath.

The sixth mention is in the 19th verse of the same chapter: “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 saith —” ah, surely now is the time when the Master

will make known that wonderful change which would mean so much to the world. Let us see what He said at this time: “and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.”

A Feeling of Disappointment

Perhaps some one may confess to a slight feeling of disappointment by this time.

The next text is in Acts 20: 7: “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow.”

Still not a word is spoken regarding any change. Of course a meeting was held; but if the holding of a meeting would sabbatize a day, we should have as many sabbaths as there are days in the week. In the twentieth verse of this same chapter, we hear Paul saying that he has “kept back nothing that was profitable unto you,” so we look carefully in the context, thinking that as this chapter contains a record of a meeting which Paul held with his brethren — and a very long meeting at that — perhaps he has at least mentioned the new sabbath, because he “kept back nothing” profitable.

But we look in vain, not only in this chapter, but in every other chapter and every other verse ever inscribed by the great apostle.

In vain.

One text alone remains, 1 Cor. 16: 2: “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.”

Still no change. The disciples are simply admonished to prepare their contributions “by them” at home, as they can spare, so that when he visits them, they may be ready.

And this is all the New Testament has to say about the first day of the week in any way whatever!

Not much? — No; not very much; certainly not enough to warrant any one who has any regard for truth, in saying that the Sabbath was changed by divine authority.