p. 9 | Assertion or Proof? by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Apr 19, 1910

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 37, No. 15.

Assertion or Proof?

By Editor

THE assertion of fallible man is one thing; the Word of the living God is quite another. Men may say that the Bible teaches this, and the Scriptures teach that; but that is not proof. For instance, some good friend sends us an article clipped from the Baptist Flag, and asks us to read it. The title of the article is "The Sabbath a Divine Institution," a title which expresses a great fact. The writer, however, comes to strange conclusions: First he has the creation Sabbath kept by no one for 2,500 years; and then when God concludes to give man a Sabbath, He gives not the one He took pains to make, but quite another day. We quote a typical paragraph:

"When God gave the Jews their Sabbath, and made it binding on them to keep, He CHANGED ITS FORM entirely, and this made the second form of the Sabbath. The first form was a MEMORIAL OF GOD resting from His labors, and SANCTIFYING one seventh of time. The Sabbath given to the Jews was a memorial of their sad bondage in Egypt, and they were required to keep it in THAT LIGHT, and NO OTHER. It was NEVER GIVEN to a Gentile, and no Gentile was required to keep it, and if he had kept it, he would have made a dunce out of himself, just like the Gentiles are now doing." (Capitals ours.)

Now this is all assertion. The Bible facts are:

1. God made the Sabbath at the Creation of man. Gen. 2:2, 3. He "sanctified" or set it apart, because that in it He "had rested." He rested on a definite day. He set apart a definite day. The learned Lange truly observes that the term "sanctified" implies a command concerning the day.

2. It was "made for man," the race (Mark 2:27); not the Jew-man nor the Gentile-man, but the primal head of the race, and hence for all his children, Jew or Gentile, Greek or Roman.

3. The Sabbath of the Decalogue (Ex. 20:8-11) is the Sabbath of creation, based on the same foundation facts. Compare Gen. 2:2, 3 with the fourth commandment. The deliverance from Egypt was only an additional reason for obedience (compare Deut. 5:15; 15:15; Lev. 19:35-37), just as God's deliverance from the Egypt of sin ought to be an additional reason for loyalty to God on the part of every Christian.

4. The gentleman's elegant use of epithet is hardly in place in the light of such scriptures as Deut. 4:5-8 and Isa. 56:1-7. The latter text pronounces great blessings upon the eunuchs and the strangers (Gentiles) who will keep God's Sabbaths. Apart from becoming Israel by faith, there is not a promise in God's Word to Gentiles as such. See Eph. 2:12-20. Jesus says, "Salvation is of the Jews," and Paul echoes again and again the same thought.

5. God knew the creation Sabbath, the Sabbath of the Decalogue, the Sabbath at the first advent, and He by inspiration identified them all as one. Gen. 2:2, 3; Ex. 20:8-11; Matt. 28:1. That Sabbath was always the seventh day of the seven, always the day just before the "first day of the week."

6. To make the first day of the month Abib the first day of the week is purely arbitrary interpretation, for which there is not a scintilla of evidence. God identifies His Sabbath from Genesis to Revelation. Yet this man would involve God in a mistake of hundreds of years through the blunder of the priests, and no one discover it till to-day!

7. This writer quotes Col. 2:16, "Let no man judge you," etc., but the text was evidently forgotten when he called him who does not see as he does a "dunce." He mixes with strange confusion, yet characteristic of error, the holy, weekly, eternal Sabbath of Jehovah, and the yearly sabbaths which passed away at the cross.

The entire article is a series of rash, unbiblical statements. We wonder that it finds place in a Baptist paper. It is entirely wanting in proof. It is not even the best of assertion.

The Obedience of Faith

WRITING of the Sabbath commandment, a religious paper says:

"Blind obedience to Bible commands is apt to get people into trouble. Thoughtful, intelligent obedience is surely far more pleasing to God."

That is, it is "blind obedience" to obey God's law as He has given it; it is "thoughtful, intelligent obedience" to ignore His commandment, and substitute a day which He has not enjoined. Is it, Christian? Is human wisdom to be preferred to implicit faith in God? Nadab and Abihu in their wisdom thought that blind obedience was foolishness, and the result is recorded in Lev. 10:1-11. Naaman thought in his wisdom that it was blind obedience to dip in Jordan, while worldly wisdom dictated a better way. See 2 Kings 5. But the "blind obedience" was necessary. When Abraham was called of God, "he went out not knowing whither he went." When the word came to Israel by the Red Sea, "Go forward," blind obedience led to certainty. Only be sure of one thing, reader: Does God command it? Knowing that, we can trust Him and obey.

"Nothing before, nothing behind, The steps of faith Fall on the seeming void, and find The rock beneath."