Sabbath, Sunday, and Scripture
The Bible enjoined the seventh-day of the week as the Sabbath (Genesis 2:2-3; Exodus 16:22-23), which is the day commonly called Saturday in English. Is it okay to observe Sunday instead of Saturday? Does the New Testament actually teach that Christians are still to keep the Sabbath in the 4th chapter of the Book of Hebrews? Do Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox translations state that Christians are to keep the seventh-day Sabbath? Are there any scriptures that support changing Saturday to Sunday? What did the publication of the late James Cardinal Gibbons, 'The Catholic Mirror,' teach about the change from Saturday to Sunday by his church and the Protestants? What have prominent Baptist, Lutheran, and Presbyterian ministers admitted about the non-scriptural change to Sunday by their denominations? By what authority have Roman Catholic leaders claimed was the basis for changing the Sabbath to Sunday? Did the Apostle Peter state that Christians are to obey God rather than men? Should Christians live "by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" as Jesus said in Matthew 4:4? Dr. Thiel and Steve Dupuie address these matters.
A written article of related interest is available titled 'Do Greco-Roman Catholic and Protestant translations of the New Testament endorse the 7th Day Sabbath?' URL: https://www.cogwriter.com/news/doctrine/do-greco-roman-catholic-and-protestant-translations-of-the-new-testament-endorse-the-7th-day-sabbath/
A written article of related interest is available titled 'Do Greco-Roman Catholic and Protestant translations of the New Testament endorse the 7th Day Sabbath?' URL: https://www.cogwriter.com/news/doctrine/do-greco-roman-catholic-and-protestant-translations-of-the-new-testament-endorse-the-7th-day-sabbath/
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00:00Greetings friends, this is Steve Dupuy for the Bible News Prophecy Program with Dr. Bob
00:09Thiel.
00:10Dr. Thiel, I was talking to a good friend of mine the other day and he said, my Sabbath
00:14is Sunday.
00:15Is Sunday God's Sabbath too?
00:17Well, not according to the Bible.
00:20In the first book of the Bible, second chapter, Genesis chapter 2, the Bible says, quote,
00:26And on the seventh day, God ended the works which he'd done, and he rested on the seventh
00:30day.
00:31Verse three, then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, made it holy because
00:36he rested for all the works he'd done.
00:38And that day, the seventh day is called the Sabbath in Exodus chapter 16, verses 22 and
00:4523.
00:46And a few chapters later, in Exodus chapter 20, we read that the Sabbath is one of the
00:5210 commandments.
00:54God says, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
00:57Six days you'll labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the
01:00Lord your God.
01:01You're not going to do work.
01:03Verse 11, for six days God made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that's in
01:06them and he rested the seventh day.
01:08Therefore God blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
01:11And if you look in the New Testament, we find that it was Jesus' practice to keep the Sabbath
01:16and preach then.
01:18The same is also true to the apostle Paul.
01:21It's also known as the original Christians kept the Sabbath, but there were people, others
01:26who changed to Sunday worship.
01:28Well, would that then make it okay to worship on Sunday as long as you work the other six
01:34days like the commandment says?
01:37It's only okay if you don't believe you have to heed what the word of God says.
01:40Okay.
01:41And some people claim the Sabbath on the seventh day is not enjoined on Christians in the New
01:46Testament, but that's not true.
01:49In the book of Hebrews, we read, and by tradition, this is from the apostle Paul, he either wrote
01:55it or dictated it.
01:56I want to start off with a Protestant translation of the Bible.
02:00This is a new international version.
02:02This is from Hebrews 4, starting in verse 3.
02:06It says, now we have believed we enter that rest as God said, I declared an oath in anger
02:12they'll never enter my rest.
02:15And his work's been finished since the creation of the world.
02:18For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words.
02:21Now the seventh day, God rested from all his work.
02:23And again, in the passage, he says, they shall never enter my rest.
02:26It remains that some will enter that rest.
02:30And those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in because of their disobedience.
02:35Verse 9, there remains then a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
02:40For anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his work, just as God did from his.
02:45Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest so that no one will fall by following
02:52their example of disobedience.
02:55What is the significance of quoting a Protestant version of the Bible?
03:00Well, decades ago, I was talking to this Baptist who told me that the Bible didn't enjoin the
03:06Sabbath.
03:08So I had him read the NIV, and after he checked it out, he said, well, since his grandma didn't
03:14keep the Sabbath day, he didn't need to either.
03:18Now one of the problems is some translators, particularly from the old King James and new
03:22King James, they failed to point the truth out.
03:25But there's at least 21 Protestant translations that make it clear that Hebrews chapter 4,
03:30verse 9 is pointing to the weekly Sabbath.
03:34And without listing all of them, it also includes the relatively recent literal standard version
03:39Bible.
03:41How have other versions of the Bible translated those verses?
03:44Well, for example, the Greek or the Eastern Orthodox, they've got the Eastern Orthodox
03:49Bible.
03:50It basically says the same thing.
03:53I won't read every part of it, but let's say Hebrews 4, verse 4, somewhere God said about
03:58the seventh day, God rested the seventh day from all his works.
04:01Verse 9, there must still then be a Sabbath rest for God's people.
04:07We're supposed to rest like God did, therefore, verse 11, let's do our utmost to enter into
04:13that rest, for fear that anyone should fall according to the same pattern of disobedience.
04:21Now perhaps to justify their position, Eastern Orthodox claim that they do honor the seventh
04:26day Sabbath, though their primary day for services is Sunday.
04:30And the Eastern Orthodox, by the way, will sometimes go to church on Saturday, they really
04:35don't rest on the Sabbath.
04:37It just doesn't seem possible to honor the Sabbath, yet rest on Sunday.
04:42What about the Roman Catholics?
04:44Well, I want to read from the original and so-called true of Rame's New Testament of
04:51the year 1582.
04:53It says the same basic thing, verse 4, said in a certain place of the seventh day, God
04:59rested the seventh day from all his works.
05:02Verse 9, therefore, there is left a Sabbatism for the people of God.
05:09Verse 11, hasten to enter that rest, lest any man fall into the same example of incredulity.
05:17But a lot of Roman Catholics don't know this because the version that they read now, the
05:22Dewey Rames, changed.
05:25But the New Jerusalem Bible, by the way, which is also a Roman Catholic translation, it does
05:33get it right.
05:34It talks about the seventh day, and in verse 9 it says, there must still be, therefore,
05:40a seventh day rest reserved for God's people.
05:46Since to enter the place of rest after your work, as God did after his, let us then press
05:52forward to enter this place of rest, where some of you might copy the example of refusal
05:57to believe and be lost.
05:58Again, New Jerusalem Bible, Roman Catholic translation.
06:03If the scriptures clearly endorse the seventh day Sabbath, why do Roman Catholics, Eastern
06:08Orthodox Catholics, and most Protestants not keep it?
06:12Well, because they don't actually believe the Bible.
06:15Now, Dr. Edward Hiscox, the author of the Baptist Manual, said the following, earnestly
06:22desiring information on this subject, I studied for many years.
06:26Where can a record of a change from the seventh day to the first day be found?
06:31Not in the New Testament.
06:33Absolutely not.
06:34There's no scriptural evidence of the change of the Sabbath's institution from the seventh
06:38day to the first day of the week.
06:40You know, what an admission.
06:43Are there other denominational scholars that agree with Dr. Hiscox?
06:47Oh, certainly.
06:50For example, Lutheran Church says the observance of the Lord's Day, meaning Sunday, is founded
06:54not on any commandment of God, but on the authority of the church.
06:59Wow.
07:00Here's a Presbyterian source.
07:02This is called Christians at Work from 1883.
07:06Some have tried to build the observance of Sunday upon apostolic command, whereas the
07:10apostles gave no command on this matter at all.
07:12The truth is, we have to look at the literal writing of the Bible.
07:16The Sabbatarians, you know, Sabbath keepers, have the best of the argument.
07:21And then here's something when a Roman Catholic Archbishop, Reggio, he said, the Protestants
07:28claim to stand on the written word only.
07:32They profess to hold the scripture alone as the standard faith.
07:36That's how they justify their revolt against the church.
07:39Yet the Bible enjoins the observance of the seventh day of the Sabbath, but the Protestants
07:47don't do that.
07:48They reject it.
07:50You know, and so basically what you're saying is the adoption of Sunday basically proves
07:57to the Church of Rome that the Protestant reformers really didn't believe in their rallying
08:02cry of sola scriptura.
08:04Is there any Christian organization that still holds to the seventh day Sabbath?
08:09Well, certainly, for example, the Continuing Church of God, and we're not Protestant.
08:14We hold to the biblical position on that and many other areas that Protestants don't.
08:17We actually have a free book online called Hope of Salvation, How the Continuing Church
08:21of God Differs from Protestantism at ccog.org if people want to read it.
08:27What authority do these other organizations claim for changing from the Sabbath to Sunday?
08:33Well, a Roman Catholic priest by the name of Leo Broderick said, perhaps the boldest
08:38thing, the most revolutionary change the church ever did was the holy day of the Sabbath was
08:43changed from Saturday to Sunday.
08:46He says this would be the new Sabbath.
08:50People who think that the scripture should be their sole authority should logically keep
08:54Saturday holy.
08:57When did the Roman Catholics make the change from Sabbath to Sunday?
09:01Well, so although some have claimed it was the first century, it was the second century
09:06is when this pretty much happened.
09:10Now back in 1893, there's a Roman Catholic publication come out, had to do with a James
09:15Cardinal Gibbon had responsibility for this, called the Catholic Mirror.
09:20And basically what it did, and I'm going to read through some of this here, is it says
09:25the Old Testament references made 126 times of the Sabbath, and this is a perpetual covenant.
09:33He says, then we go and look at the New Testament to see if it canceled the old law and substituted
09:40the day, you know, if Saturday should be changed.
09:45But no, it's by our divine authority, we have a canceling decree to abolish the Sabbath
09:53covenant.
09:54Okay, then that's what we've done.
09:56He says you can examine the New Testament from cover to cover, you find the Sabbath
10:01is referred to 61 times.
10:03We find that the Savior invariably selected the Sabbath Saturday to teach, the four Gospels
10:10referred to the Sabbath Saturday 51 times.
10:15He says nine times we find the Sabbath referred to in the book of Acts, but it's always Saturday.
10:21Want proof?
10:22They start to listen to some scriptures.
10:23It's impossible to find in the New Testament the slightest inference by our Savior or his
10:28apostles of the changes of the original Sabbath, it never changed.
10:40And then he says there are some references to the first day of the week, but this is
10:45just different.
10:46For example, it says in John 20, 19 says, the same day, the evening, beginning the first
10:52day of the week when the doors were shut, the disciples assembled for fear of the Jews
10:55and Jesus came and said, peace to you.
10:59Wouldn't that verse lend some credence to the Sunday Sabbath?
11:03Well, no, and according to Catholic mirror, it's just that they got together.
11:09Okay.
11:10It was holy, it didn't change it.
11:11He said the second reference to Sunday is some other places in John's Gospel, in the
11:19chapter 20 verses 26 to 29, talks about that they got together on a Sunday evening.
11:29And he goes through all of this stuff on the so-called first day passages and said, there's
11:33not one of them that suggests that we needed to change the Sabbath to those days.
11:39They're simply not there.
11:40And he says the Protestants might claim various scriptures, but it doesn't show it.
11:46He says the followers of the master followers of Jesus met, quote, every Sabbath to hear
11:51the word of God.
11:54And so it says, no matter what you look at, that's just simply not it.
11:58And let me read this verbatim here from the Catholic mirror.
12:02Why may we ask, did they not complete the work of embalming on Saturday, we talked about
12:08that they rested because they knew they couldn't do that.
12:11This is after Jesus was killed before he was resurrected.
12:14They had to rest on the Sabbath.
12:17Then verbatim here, I'm sorry.
12:18Having disposed of every text to be found in New Testament, referring to the Sabbath
12:22Saturday and the first day of the week, Sunday, but I didn't read everything this article
12:27had to say, but we have an article has all the quotes, you can read them anyway, having
12:31shown conclusively from these texts that so far, not a shadow of pretext can be found
12:37in the sacred volume, the Bible for the biblical substitution of Sunday for Saturday.
12:44The Catholic church for over 1000 years before the existence of a Protestant by virtue of
12:48her divine mission changed the day from Saturday to Sunday and quote, well, the explanation
12:57of those verses by the Catholic mirror seem to offer a good argument for the seventh day
13:02Sabbath over Sunday.
13:04What's the bottom line?
13:06Well, the bottom line is according to apostle Peter and other apostles as Acts 529, Christians
13:15need to quote, obey God rather than men.
13:19You can find that in Protestant translations, Roman Catholic translations, Eastern Orthodox,
13:24whatever.
13:25The New Testament is very clear that believers will keep the seventh day Sabbath and that
13:32people need to be careful not to heed arguments of others that disbelieve that.
13:37That's why I read multiple translations from the Protestants, Roman Catholics and the Eastern
13:41Orthodox.
13:42Now, Jesus, the head of our faith said, and he had to say this to the devil in Matthew
13:51chapter four, verse four, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
13:58word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
14:01Well, if you want to truly live by what the word of God says, then you too will keep the
14:09seventh day Sabbath and not fall for these arguments of men.
14:12Thank you, Dr. Thiel.
14:15For more interviews with Dr. Thiel, in addition to written as well as audio articles, visit
14:19our website at BibleNewsProphecy.net.
14:22This is Steve Dupuy for the Bible News Prophecy Program.