A scholarly and authori-
tative consideration of
Matthew 28:1 and other
disputed passages, from
the viewpoint of the Greek
of the New Testament,
its original language.
by
CHARLES WALTER IRWIN
VERY true doctrine of the Bible will stand a grammatical
as well as a theological test. And the doctrine of the sev-
enth-day Sabbath is by no means an exception to this rule. Some
have sought to prove that after the crucifixion of Christ, the
first day of the week displaced the seventh day as the day of
rest for the Christian. In order to find proof for their point,
they have questioned the translation of the Greek of Matthew
28: 1 and other passages, as we find it in our English Bibles. It
is the aim of this tract to show that the passages of Scripture
under consideration only give further substantiation to the Bible
doctrine of the perpetuity of the seventh-day Sabbath.
We shall not treat the word saBfatov, Sabbath, in a polemi-
cal style, but to give such facts regarding the word as will serve
to make clear its history, declension, meaning, and grammatical
use, and thus provide a setting for its study in connection with
the doctrine of the Sabbath.
History of the Word “Sabbath”
The word capBatov is of Semitic origin. It is transliterated
from the Hebrew word shdbbat, which is translated “rest,”
" “the Sabbath.” It has been styled a Hellenized Semitic word.
That is to say, the Hebrew idea has been expressed in the
Greek language by a word of similar sound, declined after the
Greek model. It is first found in the Septuagint, where it occurs
more than one hundred times. It is used twenty-five times in
the singular where it is translated “Sabbath day,” and forty-six
times in the plural it is translated “Sabbath day.” It is used
thirty times in the plural where it is translated “Sabbaths,”
and once in the singular it is translated “Sabbaths.” This covers
its use in the Greek Old Testament. In the New Testament,
No. 37 BIBLE TRUTH SERIES 14 Cent Each