In Defense of the Faith

A Fatal Admission

Mr. Canright the Baptist makes another admission in his book which is fatal to his Sabbath-abolition argument, when he says: DOF 127.5

“All church historians agree that the Jewish Christians continued to observe the seventh day, even for some time after the fall of Jerusalem, as we have seen. DOF 127.6

“Philip Schaff, the greatest of living authors, in his ‘History of the Apostolical. Church,’ page 118, says: ‘So far as we know, the Jewish Christians of the first generation, at least in Palestine, Scripturally observed the Sabbath.’”—Seventh-day Adventism Renounced, p. 277. DOF 128.1

This is very important. The “Jewish Christians” all continued to observe the Sabbath for the first generation of the Christian Era, “even for some time after the fall of Jerusalem.” That, then, took in Paul, Peter, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, and John the revelator. It included the New Testament writers, with the exception of Luke, who was probably a Greek. These persons were observers of the seventh-day Sabbath throughout the first generation, that is to say, as long as they lived, for they died before the first century of the Christian Era was passed. They kept the Sabbath till they died. They spoke of no change when they wrote their Gospels or Epistles, whether writing to Jews or Gentiles, and they made no change in their practice; they “Scripturally observed the Sabbath.” That is, they recognized that the Scriptural injunctions to keep the Sabbath are still binding in the Christian Era, and they kept it according to the Scriptures. To this agree the words of Luke, the Greek, as he speaks of Christ’s followers in connection with His death and burial: “They returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” Luke 23:56. DOF 128.2

Mr. Canright the Baptist inquires: DOF 128.3

“How much, then, does it prove in favor of the Jewish Sabbath to find that it was still called ‘the Sabbath, or that it was kept by the Jewish Christians, or even by Paul himself?” —Ibid., p. 278. DOF 128.4

We answer, Much every way, chiefly because these facts clearly reveal that the church of the apostles knew nothing whatsoever of any change having been made in the Sabbath. They knew nothing of the original Sabbath having been abolished or of Sunday having taken its place. DOF 129.1

But did not the Gentile Christians who lived in the days of the apostles perhaps make the change? No, for they became Christians through the labors of these Jewish Christians and were instructed by them. DOF 129.2

The Gentiles were never commissioned to take over and remodel the cause later. The Lord did not give one line of instruction to the new church through the Jewish Christians and ‘another line through Gentile converts. All the teaching was the reverse of that. If men accepted Jesus, they were then members of His family and counted as Christians. They were all to be governed by one rule, to be of one mind, and to speak the same thing. “As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:27, 28. DOF 129.3

Therefore, if the Christians of Christ’s time were “all one,” and if all the Jewish Christians kept the Scriptural ‘Sabbath during the first century, the Gentile converts must also have done the same. The entire Christian church started out as a Sabbath keeping church, and there was no thought of changing to Sunday until apostasy set in later on, and the church began to depart from the plain commandments of God and to follow the traditions of men. DOF 129.4

In chapter 10 of his book Mr. Canright tries to build up an argument for Sunday observance on apostolic example, but the admission that for the first century all Jewish Christians continued to keep the Sabbath completely demolishes his argument. The apostles were all Jewish Christians, and if they all continued to keep the Sabbath during the first century, or as long as they lived, then the apostolic example is all on the Sabbath side. It is wholly in favor of seventh-day observance. DOF 130.1

Not one of the apostles or disciples of Christ ever once kept Sunday or indicated that he knew anything about a change having been made in the Sabbath. No mention is made of the first day of the week as having become a holy day or a day of rest and worship. No command is given for anyone to keep it. God never rested on it; Christ never kept it; the apostles knew nothing about it; and for at least a century of the Christian Era the church members all continued to keep the Scriptural Sabbath. DOF 130.2

This Scriptural Sabbath is mentioned fifty-nine times in the New Testament, as Mr. Canright admits. ‘It is called the Sabbath, and Jesus declares Himself to be Lord of it. (Mark 2:28.) But Sunday keeping is not mentioned at all, and wherever the first day of the week is spoken of, it is referred to as one of the six working days to which no holiness was attached. DOF 130.3

But we shall permit Mr. Canright as a Seventh-day Adventist to speak on this point. He has already shown his ability to find fifty-nine references to the Sabbath in the New Testament, and now we will let him tell us what he knew about Sunday in the New Testament. The following is from his pen: DOF 130.4

“Paul says, ‘Where no law is, there is no transgression.’ Romans 4:15. As there is no law of God for keeping the first day, there can be no sin in working on it; for Paul says again, ‘Sin is not imputed when there is no law.’ Romans 5:13. Then why keep Sunday? God does not leave men to guess at their duty, but He states plainly whatever He wishes done. Does He wish men to keep the seventh day? How explicitly He has said so. Exodus 20:8-11. How plainly baptism and the Lord’s supper are enjoined. Mark 16:15, 16; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. So if the Lord wished us to keep the first day, would He not have plainly said so? Certainly; but He has said no such thing. DOF 131.1