In Defense of the Faith

Martin Luther on the Sabbath

“God blessed and sanctified the Sabbath. This He has not done with any other creature. For heaven and earth or any other creature has He not sanctified to Himself; but only the seventh day. The significance of this is especially that we should learn from it to understand that the seventh day is particularly suited for and ought to be used for divine worship. For that is called sanctified, which is separated from all other creatures and dedicated to God. To sanctify is to select to holy use or divine worship, an expression often used by Moses, for instance when he speaks of holy vessels. DOF 88.1

“It is evident from this text, that even though Adam had stood the test and had remained in his innocency, he would still have kept the seventh day. DOF 88.2

“And, even though man by sin has lost the perception of God, yet God has willed that the commandment to keep holy the Sabbath should remain, and has willed that man on the seventh day should practice and inculcate the word and worship of God.”—Dr. Martin Luther’s Copious Exposition on Genesis, translated according to the German Text in Walch’s Edition by F. W. Bugge, vol. 1, pp. 62, 63. DOF 88.3

“From these facts I think we may conclude that the Sabbath was originally given to the whole human race, and that it was observed by the Hebrews previously to the giving of the law; and that in early ages, this observance was probably universal.”—Francis Wayland (Baptist), Elements of Moral Science, p. 91. DOF 88.4

“The Sabbath was made for all men, and was designed to be a universal and perpetual blessing. It was not made for any particular class or race of men, but for man, the generic man, the whole human family.”—A. E. Waffle, The Lord’s Day (Prize Essay), p. 163. DOF 88.5

“The use of ‘remember,’ in connection with the fourth commandment, ‘implies that the weekly rest day was not a new institution.’ It was observed before Sinai was reached. ‘The Sabbath was a recognized institution long before the days of Moses. Traces of its strict observance in the ancestral home of Abraham are disclosed in the Assyrian records unearthed in these later days.’ (H. Clay Trumbull.)”—Henry T. Scholl, D. D., in New York Christian Observer (Presbyterian), Dec. 24, 1913. DOF 89.1

“This was the most ancient institution, God calls them to remember it; as if He had said, Do not forget that when I had finished My creation I instituted the Sabbath, and remember why I did so, and for what purposes.”—Adam Clarke, A Commentary and Critical Notes, vol. 1, p. 402. DOF 89.2

“The seventh day was observed from Abraham’s time, nay, from creation. The Jews identified their own history with the institution of the Sabbath day. They loved and venerated it as a patriarchal usage.”—The Evidences of Christianity, a Debate Between Robert Owen and Alexander Campbell, p. 302. DOF 89.3

In his wonderful volume Weighed and Wanting, Dwight L. Moody adds, the following ringing testimony n this important subject: DOF 89.4

“The Sabbath was binding in Eden, and it has been in force ever since. This fourth commandment begins with the word ‘remember,’ showing that the Sabbath already existed hen God wrote this law on the tables of stone at Sinai. How can men claim that this one commandment has been done away with when they will admit that the other nine are still binding? DOF 89.5

“I believe that the Sabbath question today is a vital one for the whole country. It is the burning question of the present time. If you give up the Sabbath, the church goes; if you give up the church, the home goes; and if the home goes, the nation goes. That is the direction in which we are travelling. DOF 89.6

“The church of God is losing its power on account of so many people giving up the Sabbath, and using it to promote selfishness.” Page 47. DOF 90.1