In Defense of the Faith

Chapter 9 — Who Changed the Sabbath?

Finding in previous chapters that the Sabbath of the Ten Commandments was never changed by divine authority, and yet knowing that most of the religious world today keep the first day of the week instead of the original seventh day, we are led to inquire, Who did change the Sabbath? How has this change been brought about? If the change was not made by Christ or His apostles, by whose authority was it made? DOF 158.1

Seventh-day Adventists, since their rise, have claimed that the change was made by the great apostasy which headed up in Rome, through councils, prelates, and popes. This Mr. Canright stoutly denies. He first claims very vehemently that “the change was made by the apostles.” This he reiterates over and over in one of his last books, The Lord’s Day, published in 1915. (See pages 83, 89-99.) DOF 158.2

This error we have already completely answered. We have in a previous chapter studied every verse in the New Testament where the first day of the week is mentioned, and have found that not once is it called the Sabbath, the Lord’s day, a holy day, or a day of rest. There is absolutely no mention of Sunday sacredness in all the New Testament. There is no suggestion from either Christ or the apostles that it was to take the place of the seventh day Sabbath. DOF 158.3

We are clearly told in the Gospels that the Sabbath comes between the sixth and the first days of the week (see Luke 23:54,56; 24:1); therefore it is the seventh day. We find Luke talking about the Sabbath “according to the commandment,” and stating that the followers of Jesus kept it even after Christ’s crucifixion. (See Luke 23:56.) Thus this companion of Paul, who wrote at least twenty-eight years after the cross, does not recognize any change as having taken place. DOF 159.1

Mark declares that when the first day of the week comes, the Sabbath is past. (See Mark 16.) This shows that Mark also did not recognize any change in the Sabbath obligation. John in Revelation 1:10 speaks of the Lord’s day, but he does not hint that he was referring to Sunday. He merely says “the Lord’s day,” and both Jesus and inspired writers insist that the Lord’s day is the original Sabbath. Thus through Isaiah, God calls it “My holy day.” Isaiah 58:13. And Jesus declared, “The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:28. Can such a statement be produced in support Of a Sunday Lord’s day? Absolutely not. If it had been there Mr. Canright would have found it. The Word of God is not divided against itself. It is not yea and nay, but yea and amen; that is, it is a harmonious whole. (See 2 Corinthians 1:19, 20.) When it declares in one lace that one day is the Lord’s day, it does not contradict it in some other place and substitute another Lord’s day. Therefore no Sunday Lord’s day is to be found in Scripture. DOF 159.2

But Mr. Canright himself reveals the fact that he as conscious of this weakness in his argument. He quotes from a Catholic author in support of the theory that the apostles changed the day, and yet he had formerly said: DOF 159.3

“In commemoration of Christ’s resurrection, the church observes Sunday. The observance does not rest on any positive law, of which there is no trace.”—The Lord’s Day, p. 93. DOF 160.1

So here we have the confession of utter failure. There is no trace of a law for Sunday keeping in Holy Scripture. It does not therefore rest on divine authority, and we must of necessity look elsewhere to ascertain its origin. DOF 160.2