Since the “first” or “old” covenant—the law—that enjoined the observance of the seventh day, was abolished and ended at the cross, and the “new” and “better” covenant has taken its place, what do we find in the New Testament? Not one command to keep the Sabbath of the former covenant. Not one threat against anyone for working on that day. While over and over long lists of sins are mentioned, covering every kind of disobedience, not once is Sabbath-breaking mentioned. In Paul’s fourteen Epistles he names the Sabbath but once, and then shows that it was abolished and nailed to the cross (Col. 2:14-17). In the Epistles of James, Peter, John, and Jude, the word “sabbath” cannot be found. Compare this with Adventist literature, and note the contrast. They talk and write more on the Sabbath than on any other theme. It is the life of their system. The fourth commandment of the “ministration of death” can nowhere be found in the New Testament. We are not Jews nor Adventists, but New Testament Christians, under the truth that came by Jesus Christ; and since there is not one command in the new covenant, which is our rule of faith, to keep the seventh day, we are under no obligations to do so. To find such command, people must go back to the law; and to observe it because Moses’ law enjoined it is to put our necks into “the yoke of bondage,” to become “children of the bondwoman” (Gal. 4:21-30); but we who are called into the liberties of the gospel “are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free” (vs. 31).
One Adventist minister in our presence, when nettled by our positive demand for one command in the New Testament for the observance of the seventh day, lit upon Matt. 24:20, and said the language was equivalent to a command. This shows the desperate straits to which these people are driven. ‘Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath Day.” On this text we shall remark: 1. The subject was not the observance of the day. Jesus was speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem, and the safety of the Christians in fleeing out of the doomed city. In the winter the roads would be bad, so that their flight would be much retarded. On the Jewish Sabbath all the gates of the cities were closed and locked (see Adam Clarke or any other reliable authority), and hence escape would be impossible. That is all there is to the text. 2. Simply fleeing out of a city or country would not desecrate the day, as Adventists themselves admit. Then, there is no proof nor command in the text for the observance of the day. The Lord was simply providing for the safety of the Christians.
But it is argued that Jesus kept the day, and that consequently we too must keep it. This is a very weak argument. Jesus was born under the law (Gal. 4:4), and lived under it until its abolition at the cross (Col. 2:14). He evidently kept it in the main—the whole law. He was circumcised. Does that bind circumcision on us? He kept the Passover (Luke 22:7-15). Do Sabbatarians keep it because Jesus did? Never. He sent a man to offer a gift according to the law (Matt. 8:4), and commanded his disciples to do all that the scribes taught (Matt. 23:2, 3). Are these things obligatory upon us now? Adventists themselves admit that they are not. This shows the fallacy of their argument for Sabbath-keeping. While Jesus lived as a Jew under the Jewish law, he kept that law—circumcision, Passover, Sabbath, and all. But it ended at the cross (Col. 2:14).
But the women kept the Sabbath “according to the commandments” (Luke 23:56). This is considered strong proof by Sabbatarians. But where is the argument? The women rested while Jesus was in the grave and dead. He had not risen. Many things concerning the law and its abrogation were yet mystified to them. Christ promised that when the Holy Ghost should come, he would teach them many things, and open their understanding. The fact that certain Jewish women rested on that day is no more proof that the Jewish Sabbath is binding on Gentile Christians than the facts that even after the day of Pentecost many thousands of believing Jews were “zealous for the law” and that Paul circumcised Timothy (Acts 21:20; 16:3) or that circumcision is binding on us today.
Every mention of the Sabbath in the Book of Acts is in connection with Jewish worship. The Jews kept their Sabbath, and assembled on that day. Paul, as his custom was, availed himself of this opportunity to preach the gospel to them, and so reasoned with them on the Sabbath-days. Had he gone to the Jewish synagogue on any other day, he would have found no congregation to address. “Wherever the apostles entered the Jewish synagogue on the Sabbath to preach, it was before the Christian church was planted in such places.” And even could it be proved that for a time the Jewish Christians met from custom on the Sabbath for worship, that would not bind Sabbath-keeping on Gentile Christians; for the Jews that believed, circumcised and kept all the rest of the law for a time (Acts 21:20, 21). But at the council held at Jerusalem in A. D. 46, as recorded in Acts 15, it was decided not to bind the law on the Gentile churches. Here again there is no proof in favor of Saturday-keeping.
With great demonstration it is argued that the term “sabbath” occurs in the New Testament fifty-nine times, and always refers to the seventh day, and that hence the seventh day must be the New-Testament Sabbath. But the same argument would bring all the ceremonies of Moses’ law under the gospel. Let us test their reasoning. The Passover is mentioned in the New Testament twenty-eight times, and always refers to the feast kept by the Jews; therefore that feast must be a New-Testament ordinance. Circumcision is found fifty-nine times in the New Testament; hence, according to Adventist argument, it must still be in vogue. Such reasoning betrays weakness. That the feasts, sacrifices, Passover, sabbaths, circumcision, etc., of Moses’ law are frequently mentioned in the New Testament, is no proof that they are still obligatory upon the people of God.
All chapters from The Sabbath and the Lord’s Day.
The Sabbath and the Lord’s Day. By H. M. Riggle, 1922. Life Assurance Ministries, Inc.
- The Sabbath and the Lord’s Day - October 2, 2021
- 27. Sunday-Keeping is Not the Mark of the Beast - July 8, 2020
- 26. The Pope and the Sabbath - July 2, 2020