« E YE followers of me, even as I
also am of Christ” (1 Corinthi-
ans 11: 1), was the admonition
of Paul to his converts. This was also the
courrsel of all the apostles. In all things,
including Sabbathkeeping, they followed
the example of their Lord and declared
~ that all Christians in all ages should do
likewise. A “disciple” is a “follower,”
and no person has a right to claim dis-
cipleship unless he is willing to walk in the
footsteps of Jesus, even to the place of.
worship on the Sabbath day. It is there-
fore to be expected that the apostles
would observe the same Sabbath and
teach it to their converts.
When Paul visited Thessalonica he
went to the synagogue “as his manner
was” and “three Sabbath days reasoned
with them out of the Scriptures.” Acts
17:1, 2. His manner, or fixed custom,
was the same as that of Jesus. (Luke
4:16.) Let me again repeat: “He that
+ saith he abideth in Him ought himself
also so to walk, even as He walked.”
1 John 2:6.
Jesus promised His disciples that after
His departure the Holy Spirit would call
to their remembrance “all things” what-
soever He had said to them. (John 14:
26.) The fact that the writings of the
apostles are as silent as the grave in regard
to any teachings of Jesus touching a
change of the Sabbath from the seventh
to the first day of the week is evidence
that He never gave any such instruction.
In John 20: 30, 31 we are told that every-
thing necessary to our salvation has been
written or recorded. Hence, there is but
one possible conclusion, either Jesus did
not give any instruction about such a
change, or the Holy Spirit failed to call
it to the attention of the apostles. There-
fore it has no place in the plan of redemp-
tion. The very fact that it is not recorded
proves that such instruction was not
given by Christ.
The books of Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John were written about six; 10, 28,
and 63 years respectively after the
ascension of Christ. The Holy Spirit,
who inspired their authors to correctly
record what had happened so long before,
still designated as the Sabbath the sev-
enth day which the disciples of Jesus kept
“according to the commandment.”
(Luke 23: 56.) He still placed the Sab-
bath between the preparation day
(Friday) on which Jesus was crucified
and the first day of the week (Sunday)
when He arose from the tomb. (Mark
15: 42; 16:1, 2.) In other words, the
Christian Sabbath comes between Friday
and Sunday and no person should there-
fore have any difficulty in finding it.
(Luke 23: 54, 56; 24:1.)
The Book of the Acts records the ob-
PAGE 6
oid THE APOSTLES insTiture
SUNDAY OBSERVANCE?
Here Is What the Apostolic Church Did
about the Sabbath Question
By Taylor G. Bunch
servance of at least eighty-four Sabbaths.
When Paul and his associates arrived in
Antioch in Pisidia, they “went into the
synagogue on the Sabbath day, and sat
down.” Acts 13: 14. When the apostle
PERT
.. a : EE
On the Day of Pentecost the apostles witnessed to the truth under the mighty outpouring of the Holy
him to preach again the next Sabbath.
During the week they were so successful
in advertising this service, that “almost
the whole city’ came to hear the gospel
message. Those Gentiles did not request
AvTOrYrE Five 4RY CO. TT
Spirit. In all their preaching and writing they have nowhere left on record a law for the observance
of Sunday.
was given the opportunity, he preached a
sermon in which he proved from the
Holy Scriptures that Jesus was indeed the
true Messiah. “And when the Jews were
gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles
besought that these words might be
~ preached to them the next Sabbath. . . .
And the next Sabbath day came almost
the whole city together to hear the word
of God.” Verses 42, 44.
Antioch was a Gentile city. At the
first Sabbath service some Gentiles were
present and heard Paul’s sermon, and
they were so impressed that they asked
that Paul speak to them the next day,
(Sunday, the first day of the week), which
would have been true if it had been the
new Sabbath that had been substituted
for the old. The only Sabbath that even
the Gentiles knew anything about was
the seventh day. And if the Sabbath had
been changed, Paul would have told
them of the fact, and would have an-
nounced the second meeting for the
following day instead of the next Sab-
bath.
In Acts 16:12, 13 we read of Paul’s
visit to Philippi, in Macedonia, where he
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