That $1000 Challenge

Doubtless most of our evangelists at some time in their public preaching experience have used the offer by a prominent Roman Catholic—that of offering $1,000 for the "missing" Bible text and have challenged their audience to produce such a text or admit that Sunday has no Biblical basis.

This method of presenting truth might well be questioned. If we really analyzed it carefully we might have to admit that it is merely a gimmick to attract an audience and that there are more wholesome meth­ods that we should employ. Truth is always strong enough to stand on its own feet. It needs no bolstering by poor methods.

However, the Sunday League of New Jersey and the Lord's Day Observance So­ciety of London have issued a tract con­taining a reply to "fifteen texts" connected with the Adventist challenge. This reply is written by the Reverend John Ferguson, D.D., and it provides some interesting exe­gesis. The following are the fifteen points with his answers and my comments.

1. One text that says that the Sabbath was never changed from the Seventh day to the First.

A. There are eight texts in the New Testament which in the Greek apply the name "Sabbath" to the first day of the week: Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2, 9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2. The Greek is the authoritative text and not the English.

We are amazed that an educated man, especially one holding a degree in divinity, could bring himself to make such a claim. It is unworthy of a scholar. Surely there should be intellectual integrity in God's Word. Even to gain a point in debate we should avoid "handling the word of God deceitfully" (2 Cor. 4:2). The New English Bible renders this "we neither practise cunning nor distort the word of God; only by declaring the truth openly do we recommend ourselves." *

Dr. Ferguson should know that he has offered a specious exegesis here. True, the Greek text has the word sabbaton in the texts cited, but all translations give the ob­vious translation "week" since sab­baton has this double meaning of week and Sabbath. Even Dr. Robert Young's literal translation, in which he gives "sabbaths" in the texts from the Gospels, reverts to the normal and natural translation into equiv­alent English in Acts 20:7 and 1 Corin­thians 16:2. He also is compelled to give week" in Luke 18:12 where this word occurs.

It would be manifestly absurd to ren­der this as "I fast twice on the sabbath." No Biblical scholar would support Dr. Fer­guson in this egregious distortion of Scrip­ture. It is an unscholarly use, a misuse, of a word capable of having two meanings. In the English language we have many such words, such as vice, organ, plain, hour, et cetera.

2. One text where the first day is ever called a holy day.

A. Leviticus 23:29. "On the first day shall be a sabbath." The Sabbath is commanded to be kept holy.

This answer also is misleading, but partly because the question is poorly asked. It leaves out the words "of the week." It must have been obvious to Dr. Ferguson that the question posed by an SDA protagonist meant that no Bible text ever attributes holiness to the first day of the week. The answer supplied by him is no answer at all, for "the first day" of Leviticus 23:39 was the first day of the Feast of Taber­nacles, a movable feast that had no rela­tion to the days of the week. These feasts of Leviticus 23 were governed by lunar cal­culations, not by the fixed weekly cycle (Lev. 23:4, 5). "The Jewish calendar is a 'bound lunar' type: it consists of twelve months calculated according to the moon." —The Standard Jewish Encyclopedia, art. "Calendar," col. 388. This authority states, "The year commences at the New Moon of Tishri (Sept.-Oct.) but its beginning may be shifted by a day for various reasons, among them the rule that the Day of Atonement must not fall on Friday or Sun­day, or the 7th day of Tabernacles on a Sabbath." This use of Leviticus 23:29 is therefore inadmissible to a serious discus­sion of the Sabbath. In any case, Moses clearly distinguishes between these cere­monial or festival sabbaths and "the sab­baths of the Lord" (Lev. 23:37, 38). The former were fixed to a movable lunar cal­endar of months and feasts; the latter to the regularly recurring weekly cycle, which was then, as now, independent of calendar changes.

3. One text where we are told to keep the first day of the week.

A. There are just as many as tell us to keep the seventh day of the week. There are none of either.

This is a good example of begging the question. Sunday advocates are well aware of the many scriptures that enjoin the ob­servance of the Sabbath day. The seventh day is the day that God blessed and sanc­tified in the beginning (Gen. 2:2, 3). The "seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God" (Ex. 20:10). God could hardly spell it out more carefully for His people. The Sabbath is a "day" and that day is "the seventh day." The word week has no mean­ing or significance apart from the cycle of the days of Creation, which reached their climax "on the seventh day," when "God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made" (Gen. 2:2).

4. One text that says that Jesus ever kept the first day.

A. Just as many as say He kept the seventh day. What is meant by "keeping the day"? If rising from the dead, turning the sorrow of His disciples into joy, restoring lost faith and hope, communing and breaking bread with them, proclaiming His mes­sage of peace, fulfilling His promise to send the Holy Spirit, establishing His Church and bringing 3000 souls into it, and the preaching of the first Resurrection sermon may be considered as proper ways of 'keeping a Day,' then both Jesus and His disciples kept the first day of the week, and they kept it in a holy way.

Perhaps this sentimental answer shows the futility of asking some kinds of ques­tions. We Adventists would agree that all the things here attributed to Jesus are good and proper things, but what have they to do with the commandment "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy"? God gave the commandment. As His creatures, and especially as His children, it is our prerogative to obey, not to find reasons for doing something else. Jesus claimed that He kept His Father's commandments, therefore He must have been a Sabbath-keeper (John 15:10). It was His custom to worship on that day (Luke 4:16), and many of His acts of healing were per­formed on the Sabbath (John 5:8-17).

Are we going to side with the Jews who accused Him of Sabbathbreaking (John 5:18)?

5. One text where the first day is ever given any sacred title.

A. All the texts in answer to numbers one and two above, and in Revelation 1:10, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day," which is generally ac­cepted as referring to the first day of the week.

This is another example of loose think­ing and unscholarly explanation. If I were to refer to November 11, 1910, as Armistice Day, most people would point out that this term could only apply to November 11 of any given year after 1918. It is not what is generally accepted" today that explains Revelation 1:10; it must be what the expression "Lord's day" meant in John's time. The expression must be explained by evidence either prior to or contempo­rary with the date for the Apocalypse. (See Answers to Objections, F. D. Nichol, pp. 220-224.)

The arguments to identify "the Lord's day^- with Sunday are as sound and his­torical as are the arguments to identify "the Lord's supper" of 1 Corinthians 11: 20 with the mass.

So far as Biblical evidence goes, there is but one day so designated. In Moses' time it was the Sabbath, or "seventh day," which "is the sabbath of the Lord thy God" (Ex. 20:10). In Isaiah's time God calls the Sabbath "my holy day; . . . the holy of the Lord" (Isa. 58:13). It remains the Sabbath in Ezekiel's time (Eze. 20: 12, 20) and in Jeremiah's day, so bringing us down to the Babylonian captivity. After the Captivity, Nehemiah testifies that God made known to Israel "thy holy sabbath" (Neh. 9:14). He identifies this Sabbath as the same one profaned by their fathers, so continuity of day is maintained (Neh. 13: 18).

We come to the New Testament times and Jesus makes the claim that "the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath" (Mark 2:28). Matthew is equally explicit: "For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day" (Matt. 12:8). In the light of this consistent testimony we would seem to be justified in asserting that "the Lord's day" is "the sabbath day according to the com­mandment" (Luke 23:56).

6. One text that tells us to keep the first day in honour of the resurrection of Christ.

A. The example of Christ and the apostles is quite as authoritative as their precepts (Acts 2:1). The day of Pentecost was on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2; Rev. 1:10).

Here Dr. Ferguson relies on the assump­tion that a pile of straws makes a substan­tial argument. One clear precept is all that is required. Such we have for cele­brating the Lord's Supper: "This do in remembrance of me." Such we have for baptism. "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them." Isaiah expresses a Biblical principle, "Who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?" (Isa. 1:12). We cannot urge a spiritual obliga­tion where there is no specific divine com­mand. Nor, conversely, should we set aside and nullify a clear, explicit commandment without divine guidance. A simple "Thus saith the Lord" should be sufficient for the Christian. Dr. Ferguson refers to Christ's example, but in the case of foot washing, Jesus endorses the example with precept: "I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you" (John 13:15). Had we a similar statement re­garding Sunday sanctity or Sunday observ­ance, all controversy would be silenced.

It is unnecessary to examine the texts cited, as this has been done so often in the past. These are totally irrelevant to the question of Sunday sanctity or Sunday ob­servance, for neither is contained in these scriptures.

7. One text from any of the writings of the apostles that authorizes the observance of Sunday.

A. A catch question, but all well and good, there are just as many as authorize the observance of Saturday.

Here again there is a regrettable spirit of debate which is more eager to score a point than to establish the truth. It must be admitted that Dr. Ferguson is correct in asserting that no apostle authorizes the observance of Saturday. Perhaps that ought to be a warning to Adventist advo­cates not to press weak arguments. We do well to heed this inspired counsel:

"It is important that in defending the doctrines which we consider fundamental articles of faith, we should never allow ourselves to employ arguments that are not wholly sound. These may avail to silence an opposer, but they do not honor the truth. We should present sound argu­ments, that will not only silence our op­ponents, but will bear the closest and most searching scrutiny."—Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 708.

On this particular point, Sunday and Saturday appear to be equal. But there is a fundamental difference that is obscured by the argument. God rested on the seventh day. God blessed and hallowed the seventh day, therefore the seventh day is the Lord's day and no apostle could change that basic relationship. Isaiah would have repudiated even an apostle who did not teach in ac­cordance with "the law and the testimony" (Isa. 8:20). Why weaken our case by intro­ducing irrelevant arguments? Read the en­tire testimony. (See Testimonies, vol. 5, pp. 698-711.)

Questions 8 and 9 are similar to question 7. One point should be noted in the answer to 9. Dr. Ferguson identifies Sunday as "the first day of the week." This answers the quibble found in the preamble of Fer­guson's tract "that not one of the present names of the days of the week are to be found in the Bible." It reminds me of the editor of the Christian Herald, some thirty years ago, who stated that we need not worry about the Sabbath claims because the calendar had been altered so often that nobody could tell with accuracy which day was the seventh. Then he went on to say that Christians ought to keep Sunday be­cause Christ rose from the dead "on the first day of the week." No attempt was made to clarify the inconsistency. If the seventh day is uncertain, so must also be the first; and conversely, if the first is known and accurately identified, then the seventh is a numerical certainty. Polemics can be tricky.

10. One text where we are told not to work on the first day.

A. "On the first day shall be a holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein (Lev. 23:35)."

I suppose the only justification for the outrageous use of this passage is that we "asked for it." However, simple people are likely to be influenced by this kind of exe­gesis. Dr. Ferguson must be well aware of the fact that this "first day" was not the first day of the week, but the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, a movable feast that wan­dered through the week as Christmas Day or Thanksgiving Day does now. (See com­ments on question 2.) Polemicists put up a man of straw and then demolish it. Drown­ing men clutch at straws. We should avoid both. Remember the Lord's admonition: "The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord" (Jer. 23:28).

11. One text that says that the seventh day is not now God's holy rest day.

A. It would he interesting to learn where in the scriptures any day of the week is designated as "God's holy rest day"; or any verse which says that God is working six days a week and resting on the seventh day of the week.

This reminds me of the saying, "Ask a foolish question and you'll get a foolish answer." The good Doctor is taking the questioner on his own terms. The Scrip­tures repeatedly claim that the Sabbath was the memorial of Creation; that God created the world and its myriad forms of life "in six days"; that He rested and was refreshed, then He blessed and hallowed "the day." The word "sabbath" was ap­plied weekly to the "seventh day" (Ex. 20: 10; Lev. 23:3) and the word "sabbath" was applied to the annual festival days out­lined in Leviticus 23. (See verses 4, 15, 16, 24, 32, 37-38.) If we avoid the temptation to be "clever," and adhere to scriptural terms, we shall serve the cause of truth more effectively.

12. One text that says that the seventh day is abolished.

A. A catch question that fails to catch. There is no text which indicates that any day is abolished. You cannot abolish a day.

Here is a lesson for us. Language may convey truth or obscure truth. We speak of breaking the commandments. The meaning is clear, but the quibbler may reply, "You can't break a commandment. If you fall from a twenty-story building you do not break the law of gravitation; you simply break your neck. The law of gravita­tion remains. What the question intended to pose was, Has God abolished the com­mandment to "remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy"? Dr. Ferguson sidesteps this question and sticks to the literal point. You cannot abolish a day. This was easier and probably more convincing than a labored argument based on Colossians 2:14, 16.

13. One text that releases us from the seventh day.

A. No Christian, so far as we know, claims re­lease from keeping the seventh day in succession after six days of labour. If he did, the law written in his body compels his observance or exacts the penalty for his disobedience. When the Seventh-day Adventists show that God requires that the Sabbath shall be confined to, or observed at all, on the seventh day of the week, it will be time enough for us to show that the Christian Sabbath completely fulfils the law of the Sabbath and pre­serves the seventh day after six days of labour.