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By What Authority?
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When Jesus drove out the merchants and money changers from the temple, he was soon confronted by the chief priest and elders. They asked him by what authority he did those things (John 2:13-18). When asked in the right spirit, that's a legitimate question. We should always be able to give a good reason for whatever we do, and know that we are backed by the highest authority.
One thing that makes Seventh Day Baptists
different from most of Christendom is the Sabbath, and
it is the only thing that makes us different from other
Baptists. If we insist on standing out from them on
this point, we should be able to state our authority.
By what authority do we keep the seventh day as
Sabbath?
The Sabbath is part of creation.
When God created heaven and earth, he blessed the seventh day and
sanctified it (Genesis 2:2,3). So, our authority is the divine Creator.
That authority was emphasized in the wilderness,
when the God-given manna was not to be found on the
Sabbath (Exodus 16:26).
The Sabbath was made one of the Ten Commandments
of the moral law which God gave to Moses: that the
Sabbath of Creation should be remembered (Exodus 20:8-
11).
The prophets were mouthpieces of God, urging the
people from age to age to keep the Sabbath holy (Exodus
31:13, Ezekiel 20:20).
Christians rely on Jesus' interpretation and
practice of God's will among mankind. He stated that
people still needed the Sabbath: "The Sabbath was made
for man..." (Mark 2:27). Jesus, himself, observed the
Sabbath (Luke 4:16). He assumed that the Sabbath would
continue, for he told his disciples to pray that
certain future calamities should not come on the
Sabbath (Matthew 24:20).
Christian apostles who broke away from Jewish
tradition still kept the Sabbath, as Jesus expected
them to do, preaching to Jews and Gentiles, Sabbath
after Sabbath (Acts 13:42-44; 18:4,11).
The divine authority for the seventh-day Sabbath
is recognized in the Bible as predating Moses,
continuing through Judaism, and passing on into the
early Christian Church. What better authority do we
need today?
By what authority do you do these things? Different reasons for the change have been given, but never has the authority for the change been set forth. A thorough study of that question might surprise many devout Christians. Sunday is called the Lord's Day, but Jesus said "...the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath" (Mark 2:28). Did Jesus, anywhere in the Bible, ask for a "Lord's Day" to be substituted for the Sabbath? Where, then, is the authority for the change? Sunday is observed to commemorate Jesus' resurrection, we are told. Did Jesus ask his disciples to commemorate his resurrection on Sunday--or any day-- or that it be substituted for the Sabbath? Where then is the authority? Unfounded objection is raised toward the seventh- day Sabbath on the grounds that it is the Jewish Sabbath. Were there Jews or Gentiles at creation? There was just man and woman. The Sabbath was made for all mankind. Just where is the authority for the change? That is a question that should be honestly studied and answered by every Christian. |
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American Sabbath Tract and Communication Council
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Last update September 22, 1999
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