Mr. Heaster (Christadelphian) Asks Questions of Anonymous Presbyterian

Question:
1. Re. Acts 20:7 proving we must keep Sunday. Seeing they broke bread after midnight on the Sunday, what day did they eat the Lord's supper on?

Answer:
They intended to break the bread on the first day as Acts 20:7 states “On the first day of the week we came together to break bread.” Clearly, however, there was an accident that occurred. In addition to this, Paul in the enthusiasm of his sermon, appeared to have spilled the message over until past midnight. What is important is that the time of their coming together in order to have a meeting and the Lord’s Supper, was on the first day of the week. Simply because the meeting spilled over past the Sabbath day does not negate that they met on the Sabbath day. It simply proves the incredible enthusiasm with which the apostles and disciples embraced the truth of the teaching of the Word of God and that they observed HOURS in instruction not a mere hour in the morning. Midnight is the demarcation time of the Christian Sabbath, as is proven at http://ecn.ab.ca/prce/books/sabbath/sabbath.htm. Verse seven also states that because Paul intended to leave the next day, he kept talking until midnight. This implies that ordinarily he would have stopped and they would have had the Lord’s Supper before midnight.

Question:
2. Please give references where Paul, Jesus and Peter asked us to keep the Sabbath, and which show that the Sabbath [7th day] was changed to the 1st day [Sunday]

Answer:
No direct commandment is necessary since it has already been commanded in the Old Testament. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:17-20 that not the least jot or tittle will be removed till heaven and earth themselves disappear. Jesus is speaking about being called least “in the kingdom” if one does not teach all of these commandments proving that this extends far beyond the cross of Jesus Christ. We even obey the sacrificial laws and the Passover and circumcision, only that we obey it in a superior way because Christ has become our Passover and has been “cut off” for us (in the way of circumcision). We no longer need to make the sacrifices in the old way since Jesus has become our sacrifice and we obey the sacrificial laws through Jesus. However, with this in mind all of the law of Moses is to be taught and obeyed today. While it is not necessary to keep the law of Moses FOR SALVATION (Acts 15), it is still necessary to obey the law of Moses for sanctification. Nowhere does the scripture ever say that the Ten Commandments have been done away, no matter what my opponent tries to tell you. He always quotes verses out of context whenever trying to prove that.

Question:
3. Was the Sabbath a type of, and therefore fulfilled in, Jesus Christ? You have reasoned that the ceremonial law was taken away because it was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. And I have given Biblical reasons for believing that the Sabbath was also fulfilled in Him, and is therefore likewise done away with.

Answer:
As far as the Sabbath being fulfilled in Christ, the ceremonial part of it was yes. This includes especially the feast Sabbaths in Leviticus 23 and other places. But the moral part of the Sabbath, where God morally commands that men be given a time to rest and worship Him as God, has always been effect for all men everywhere. When God states in the scripture that He “made known to them My Sabbath” this does not prove that God first instituted the Sabbath then, but rather is a statement that He caused them to remember His Sabbath after the knowledge of it had been lost in human history. God didn’t sanctify the Sabbath day when He gave it to the Jews, He sanctified it all the way back in Genesis as a holy and special day. Genesis 2:4 “And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that He had done”. The day was holy to the Gentiles long before it was holy to the Jews.

Question:
4. What is "the ministration of death, written and engraven on stones" (2 Cor. 3:7) which "killeth", "was to be done away", "which is done away"? It was the 10 commandments (including the Sabbath) which were engraven on stones.

Answer:
The ministration of death written and engraven on stones was not the commandments themselves, but the power of those written commandments to kill you because you were not saved by Jesus Christ. That ministration has been done away now that Christ has come, but Paul asks in Romans 3: 30 Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. 31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law. And again in Romans 7: 7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. 8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. 9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. 12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

Question:
5. How can Romans 14 say that keeping days as special is a matter of conscience, if it is a vital part of our obedience to God?

Answer:
You are ripping this chapter out of its context like you usually do with passages like this. The context of Romans 14 refers only to the feast days and ceremonial days of the Jewish ceremonial law. Also mentioned in this verse are the ceremonial food laws. Clearly Paul is dealing only with those things specific to the Jews. In Isaiah 56:1-2 God binds the Sabbath on Jew and Gentile : “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for my salvation is about to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold on it; who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and keeps his hand from doing any evil” Christ chose to appear repeatedly to His disciples on the first day of the week (Mt. 28:9; Lk. 24:15-31, 36; Jn. 20:19, 26). This pattern of appearance is carefully noted in the Scriptures and is obviously not arbitrary. Jesus chose the first day of the week to strengthen the apostles’ faith, instruct them in doctrine, issue commands, engage in fellowship, and partake in the breaking of bread.

Previous: Rebuttal by Anonymous Presbyterian

Next: Questions by Anonymous Presbyterian