The Victory

Complete Silence of New Testament

Protestants admit that “the New Testament is completely silent about any explicit command for the Sabbath [referring here to Sunday, the first day of the week] or definite rules for its observance.”³ 5TC 261.4

“Up to the time of Christ's death, there had been no change in the day”; and, “so far as the record shows, they [the apostles] did not ... give any explicit command to abandon the seventh day Sabbath, and observe it on the first day of the week.”⁴ 5TC 261.5

Roman Catholics acknowledge that their church made the change of the Sabbath, and they declare that Protestants recognize her power by observing Sunday. They claim, “During the old law, Saturday was the day sanctified; but the Church, instructed by Jesus Christ and directed by the Spirit of God, has substituted Sunday for Saturday; so now we sanctify the first day, not the seventh day. Sunday means, and now is, the day of the Lord.”⁵ 5TC 262.1

As the sign of the Roman Church's authority, Catholic writers cite “the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants accept; ... because by keeping Sunday, they acknowledge the church's power to authorize feasts, and to command them as something that it is sinful to ignore.”⁶ 5TC 262.2

What then is the change of the Sabbath, but the sign, or mark, of the authority of the Roman Church—“the mark of the beast”? 5TC 262.3

The Roman Church has not given up her claim to supremacy. When the world and the Protestant churches accept a sabbath that she created while they reject the Bible Sabbath, they virtually admit her claim. In doing so they ignore the principle that separates them from Rome—that “the Bible, and the Bible only, is the religion of Protestants.” As the movement to enforce Sunday gains favor, it will eventually bring the whole Protestant world under the banner of Rome. 5TC 262.4

Catholic spokesmen declare that “the observance of Sunday by the Protestants is a tribute they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] Church.”⁷ If a church enforced a religious duty by secular power, this would form an image to the beast; so the enforcement of Sunday keeping in the United States would be enforcing the worship of the beast and his image. 5TC 262.5

Christians of past generations observed Sunday while thinking they were keeping the Bible Sabbath, and there are now true Christians in every church who honestly believe that God established Sunday as the day for worship. God accepts their sincerity and integrity. But when Sunday observance is enforced by law and the world is enlightened about the true Sabbath, then whoever transgresses the command of God in order to obey a teaching of Rome will, in doing so, honor the papacy above God. Such people are paying tribute to Rome. They are worshiping the beast and his image. In doing this, people will accept the sign of allegiance to Rome—“the mark of the beast.” Not until the issue is plainly explained to the people and they have to choose between the commandments of God and the commandments of men, will those who continue to violate God's law receive “the mark of the beast.” 5TC 262.6