# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_November 1864_S336
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

336 The Doctrine of the Lutheran Church Concerning Sunday.

not have the appearance of confirming the opinion of the Jews concerning
the necessity of the Mosaic law. They took, instead, the first day of the
week, Acts 20:7, 1 Cor. 16:2, on which Christ rose again. But not with
the notion that, just as God at creation hallowed the seventh day, so the
soul that did not hallow that same day should die the death — that is,
that Christ hallowed the first day of the week by his resurrection in such
a way that we would have to keep it as bound up with our salvation. For
one must hold entirely to Paul's rules in Gal. 4:4, Col. 2:16, in the New
Testament. They took, rather, the day on which Christ rose, because
through Christ's resurrection the absolute abolition of all the shadows of
the law took place, among which, in Col. 2:17, the Sabbath too is
counted, and they called it the Lord's Day, Rev. 1:10, because they
wanted the change of the Sabbath into the Lord's Day to be a public
confession that the Christians are freed, through Christ's resurrection,
from the necessity of any distinction among days — to remind us that the
Lord's Day is not kept in the New Testament out of necessity, as the
Sabbath was under the Law, but rather in that freedom by virtue of
which Christ, having abolished the shadow of a distinction of days
through his resurrection, wills only for the sake of order and propriety
that there be a fixed day on which people come together — a day which,
however, apart from the case of causing offense and without disturbing
order, can be freely changed. Perhaps the apostles, in making this
change, also had in mind that, according to Deut. 5:15, the memory of
the deliverance from Egypt was bound up with the Sabbath, and that Jer.
16:14–15 foretells that a solemn memorial of a greater benefit would
follow that one, when those who were bound would be led out of the pit
— which was fulfilled in the resurrection of Christ. The heathen hold the
ninth day holy. The Turks, to disgrace Christ, observe Friday, the day
on which Christ was crucified. Hence the apostles wished to set
themselves apart from the Jews and all other peoples by that outward
rite.
The second element is that no work is to be done, and in Deut. 5:15
the reason given is: For you shall remember that you too were a servant
in Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there. Therefore
the Lord your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. Which
reason evidently concerns the people of Israel . . . that this part does not
concern us is certain. Hence one does not find, in the New Testament
either, the repetition of that commandment: You shall do no work, nor
your manservant, nor your ox. Indeed, Paul, in the Acts of the Apostles,
several times makes a journey lasting several days without interruption,
even though a commandment concerning the sabbath-day's journey is
found in Exod. 16:29. Jerome concludes from Acts 18:3 that Paul worked
with his own hands on the Lord's Day