Did the Apostles Change the Sabbath?
By F. M. W.
We found in our study last week that nowhere in the Sacred Record is there given any instruction, either direct or implied, that the Lord Jesus effected a change in the Sabbath institution. On the contrary, we found his attitude toward the original Sabbath to be one of unswerving loyalty and regard. He sought to restore it to its original design and purpose as an institution in the observance of which all would find spiritual and physical blessing. We find also that his most intimate earthly associates gave to the seventh-day Sabbath the same careful regard, even refraining from doing on the seventh day that which they felt free to do on the first day of the week; namely, to anoint the body of the Lord after his crucifixion. It is natural next to inquire if after the return of the Lord to glory any change was made with respect to the Sabbath institution by his apostles. Such a suggestion seems to the thoughtful Bible student entirely out of place; for surely if the Author of the Sabbath made no change in the institution, if he left no instructions to his church regarding any change in the observance of the day, it would seem sacrilegious for his apostles to undertake to make a change which he himself did not attempt. Every law remains in full force until it is repealed. As stated by W. C. Pierce, in the Western Recorder of July 11, 1912, a law “may become a dead letter; because of unfaithful executives, violations of it may pass unnoticed and unpunished. But it remains a law just the same, and when the national conscience is aroused, there will be a clamoring9for its enforcement, if it is just; or for its repealing, if not just.” The abrogation of God’s law surely would be made as public as its promulgation. From the blazing peaks of Sinai, amid thunder and lightnings, with a voice that shook the earth, the law of God was given. We can not believe that any abrogation or change in the divine precepts would be brought about covertly or insidiously, but that it would be as broad and frank and open as is the character of Christ and Christianity. And a careful study of all the epistles of the apostles reveals neither by plain declaration nor even by suggestion an abrogation or change. The first day of the week is several times mentioned in the New Testament Scriptures, but not in one single instance is it called the Lord’s day or Sabbath; nor is there attached to it, either directly or indirectly, any suggestion of sacredness or holiness. The reader will observe this if he will look up the eight passages cited, the only instances where the first day of the week is mentioned: Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:1, 9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2. In the twentieth chapter of Acts is found the only record in the New Testament of a religious meeting on the first day of the week. By a close study of the text the reader will observe that this was upon the dark part of the first day, which could have been no other time than what we call Saturday night, as the Bible reckons time from sundown to sundown. On the next morning, in the light part of the day, Paul started on a journey from Troas to Assos, across the peninsula, to join his companions, who, during his meeting Saturday night at Troas, had been laboring hard to bring the boat around the peninsula to meet him at the appointed time. In the Corinthian letter specific directions are given to the church-members to lay aside a part of their income for the Jerusalem collection. It will also be observed that this money was not to be given at the church in the public congregation, but each was to lay aside the offering by himself in his own home. 1 Cor. 16:1, 2. By some it is argued that every record we have of the meeting of Christ with his disciples after the resurrection was upon the first day of the week. That this was not the case may be abundantly shown; but even if it were so, that of itself would prove nothing for the sacredness of the first day. When he first met them on the day of his resurrection, they had no faith that he had risen from the dead, and were upbraided by him in consequence. See Mark 16:14. Another occasion on which he met with them was the time when he found them engaged in their old vocation, that of fishing on the Sea of Galilee. John 21:1-4. This meeting certainly does not show regard by either Christ or his disciples for First-day sacredness. In contrast with this mention of the first day of the week in the New Testament writings, the seventh day, the day on which the Jews met in their synagogues for worship, which could have been no other than the seventh day of the week, is always spoken of as the Sabbath, thus showing the recognition given this day by Christian writers in the Christian era, writing under the direction and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. See Acts 13:14, 15, 42; 17:2; 18:4, 11. In the last two references cited, it is observed that the same course is predicated of Paul as of Christ, that it was customary for him to meet with others on the Sabbath day for divine worship. Compare with Luke 4:16. And this great apostle, during his last journey through Asia, when he met the elders of the church at Ephesus in that which he predicted, and which proved, to be his last meeting with them in this world, declared that he was free from the blood of all men, because he had not shunned to declare the whole counsel of God. Acts 20:17-35. And yet in his epistle to the Ephesians, as well as in the historical record of his meeting with that church, as also in his epistles to other churches and believers, we find not one word regarding a change in the institution of the Lord’s Sabbath. There can be but one conclusion, and that is that Paul in no wise attached sacredness to the first day of the week; for certainly, if he had, he would have counted it a part of the counsel of the Lord, and would have plainly incorporated it in his instruction to the church. Hence we must conclude that the apostles had no authority, nor did they assume the authority, to change the Sabbath commandment. Like their divine Lord, they regarded the holy character of the one universal Sabbath, set apart at the beginning of time for the benefit of the race of man. F. M. W.