"Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that
was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out
of the way, nailing it to his cross.... Let no man
therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of
an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days;
which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of
Christ" (Col. 2:14-17). Here is a clear, positive
statement that the Sabbath was taken out of the way by
nailing it to the cross, and therefore no one has a right
to judge us for its non observance. This single
declaration of Paul's refutes all the theories of
Sabbatarians. There it stands and mocks all their efforts.
All kinds of twists and turns have been made to explain
away its meaning, but it defies their doctrines. The
Sabbath was nailed to the cross. When "that which was
written and engraver in stones" was "done
away" and "abolished," as Paul declares in
2 Corinthians 3, the Sabbath went with it; for it lay in
the very heart of the Sinaitic covenant, which
"vanished away" (Heb. 8:13).
The law was but a shadow ( Heb. 10
:1 ), and Paul classes the Sabbath as one of those shadows
that have passed away. An attempt is made to identify the
"sabbath days" of Col. 2:16 with the feast days
and holy days of the law, monthly and yearly. This is a
poor argument. Paul includes all the holy days of the Jews
in the "meats" and "drinks,"
"holy days," and "new moons"; so there
is nothing left for the "sabbath days" but the
weekly Sabbath. The word "sabbath" is found in
the New Testament sixty times. Adventists themselves admit
that fiftynine times it means the weekly Sabbath. but in
the sixtieth case, where the very same word is found in
both the Greek and the English, they say it means
something else. Isn't that strange? "The sabbath"
means the seventh day fiftynine times, but the sixtieth
time it does not! Preposterous! When "the sabbath,"
or "the sabbath days," in fifty nine places in
the New Testament refers to the weekly rest day, it does
in the sixtieth place.
But it is objected that "sabbath
days" in Col. 2: 16 is a plural term, and that hence
it cannot refer to the weekly rest day. This reasoning is
so flimsy that Sabbatarians ought to be ashamed of it. The
Sabbath is frequently in Scripture spoken of in the
plural. This is true both in the Old and the New
Testament. "My sabbaths ye shall keep" (Exod.
31:13). "Keep my sabbaths" (Lev. 19:3, 30).
"Eunuchs that keep my sabbaths" (Isa. 56:4).
"Mock at her sabbaths" ( Lam. 1: 7) . "I
gave them my sabbaths" (Ezek. 20:12). "Polluted
my sabbaths" (vs. 16). "Three sabbath days
reasoned with them" (Acts 17:2). "Is it lawful
to heal on the sabbath days?" (Matt. 12:10). "on
the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the
Sabbath" (vs. 5). "Taught them on the sabbath
days" (Luke 4:31) . "Let no one therefore judge
you . . . in respect of the sabbath days" (Col.
2:16). Same thing exactly. Anyone can see at a glance that
the "sabbaths" and the "sabbath days"
in all these texts refer to the weekly rest day; and these
very sabbath days, Paul says, were "nailed to the
cross."
Another point worthy of note is
this: The same Greek word and the same form of the word
that Paul uses in Col.2:16, is used elsewhere for the
weekly sabbath. Thus: "Gathered sticks upon the
Sabbath Day [sabbaton]" (Num. 15:32). "In the
end of the Sabbath [sabbaton] " (Matt. 28:1).
"On the Sabbath Day [sabbaton]" (Acts 13:14;
Luke 4:16). I shall now quote from the Decalog: "Keep
the Sabbath [sabbaton] day" (Deut. 5:12).
"Remember the Sabbath Day [sabbaton] to keep it
holy" (Exod. 20: 8) . "Let no man therefore
judge you . . . in respect of the sabbath days [sabbaton]"
(Col. 2:16). The Sabbath in Col. 2:16 can refer only to
the Sabbath of the Decalogue. "The only word ever
used in the Bible for the weekly Sabbath is the very one
Paul did use in Col. 2:16." So the weekly sabbath
days have passed away.
That the sabbath days referred to
by Paul in Col. 2:16 have direct reference to the weekly
round of rest. days is beyond doubt when we remember that
he is simply quoting from the Old Testament—the law and
the prophets—where the same list is several times
mentioned, and in every instance includes the seventh day.
In Numbers 28th and 29th chapters we have a full account
of all offerings to be made on the different days of the
year. The daily offerings are mentioned in the 28th
chapter, verses 3-8; the weekly offerings, verses 9, 10.
"And on the sabbath day two lambs," etc.
"This is the burnt offering of every sabbath."
Next the new moon, or monthly, offerings. "And in the
beginning of your months ye shall offer a burnt offering
unto the Lord" (vss. 11-15). Next came the yearly or
annual feast-days, extending from 28:16 to 29:39. These
were their "set feasts" (vs. 39). Here we have
the list complete—daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly.
"Behold, I build an house to
the name of the Lord my God, to dedicate it to him, and to
burn before him sweet incense, and for the continual
shewbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and
evening, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the
solemn feasts of the Lord our God. This is an ordinance
forever to Israel" (2 Chron. 2:4).
"He appointed also the king's
portion of his substance for the burnt offerings, to wit,
for the morning and evening burnt offerings, and the burnt
offerings for the Sabbaths, and for the new moons, and for
the set feasts, as it is written in the law of the
Lord" (2 Chron. 31:3).
"Even after a certain rate
every day, offering according to the commandment of Moses
on the Sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn
feasts, three times in the year, even in the feast of
unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the
feast of tabernacles" (2 Chron. 8:13).
"And to stand every morning to
thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at even; and to
offer all burnt sacrifices unto the Lord in the Sabbaths,
in the new moons, and on the set feasts, by number,
according to the order commanded unto them, continually
before the Lord" (1 Chron. 23:30, 31).
"And it shall be the prince's
part to give burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and
drink offerings, in the feasts, and in the new moons, and
in the Sabbaths, in all solemnities of the house of
Israel: he shall prepare the sin offering, and the meat
offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings,
to make reconciliation for the house of Israel"
(Ezek. 45:17).
"For the shewbread, and for
the continual meat offering, and for the continual burnt
offering, of the Sabbaths, of the new moons, for the set
feasts, and for the holy things, and for the sin offerings
to make an atonement for Israel, and for all the work of
the house of our God" (Neh. 10:33).
All these texts are given to show
that over and over the identical list Paul uses in Col.
2:16 is used in the law, and in every case the weekly
Sabbath is referred to. Time and again we have the yearly
feast days or holy days monthly or new moons, and weekly
Sabbaths all classified as Paul does.
Now since these days are abolished
"nailed to the cross," and we have come to the
substance—Christ; since we have obtained that which
these things foreshadowed— to go back to those law days
and their observance is hateful to God. "Bring no
more vain oblations, incense is an abomination unto me;
the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I
cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth:
they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them"
(Isa. 1:13, 14).
By going back under the "yoke
of bondage" and to the observance of the Jewish
Sabbath, Sabbatarians are doing the very things which are
hateful to God. They cling to a ghostly
"shadow," while we enjoy the substance. No
wonder Paul said to those Galatians that "desired to
be under the law," and, like modern Sabbatarians, had
become "bewitched," "Ye observe days [sabbath
days— weekly], and months i new moons], and times
[yearly feasts], and years [ sabbatical years]. I am
afraid of you" (Gal. 4:10, 11). Here is the identical
list that Paul says was nailed to the cross and therefore
are no longer to be observed. By going back to their
observance, people fall f from grace and become enslaved
"to weak and beggarly elements" (Gal. 4:9-11;
5:1-8; 4:21-31).
