1757.—Gentiles and the Sabbath.
By Editor
Were any uncircumcised Gentiles ever commanded to keep the Sabbath? If so, where? R. E. S. Ex. 20:8-11 contains the Sabbath law that God has given to all nations, for the Sabbath was made for man, Jesus tells us. Mark 2:27. It was made twenty-five hundred years before a Jew existed; therefore it was made for the whole race of men, and the commandment was to all men. It is a memorial of creation, and creation has to do equally with all nations. You could as well ask, Where is any uncircumcised Gentile told to keep the sixth commandment, "Thou shalt not kill"? Every commandment which God has given, His whole Word, the plan of salvation itself, came to us through the Jews. There is not one single promise in all God's Word to the Gentile as a Gentile. It is only as he becomes a part of the true Israel of God. In this way here is one of the promises to the Gentile, or stranger: "Also the foreigners that join themselves to Jehovah, to minister unto Him, and to love the name of Jehovah, to be His servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from profaning it, and holdeth fast My covenant; even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer." See Isa. 56:1-8. Rom. 14:5, 6 has reference to things that are not essential and concerning which man has no right to judge his brother. Those do not in any way excuse man from obedience to God's law. See Rom. 3:31; 8:3. The apostle very clearly tells us in the same epistle that the only things in the world that keep us from obedience to God's law is the carnal heart. Rom. 8:7. Gal. 4:9-11 is a simple statement of the apostle Paul that the Gentiles had gone back to idolatry, and were observing the days, and months, and seasons, and years of the idolatrous customs, among which the Sunday was the chief day; and therefore the apostle was afraid of them. For a full explanation of 2 Corinthians 3 see the tract "From Glory to Glory," Bible Student's Library. It will cost but three cents to obtain it, including postage.