Bible Study ToolsOur LibraryCommentariesJohn Gill's Exposition of the BibleMatthewMatthew 12Matthew 12:8 Matthew 12:8 Matthew 12:8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day. ] By "the Son of man" is meant, not any man, as some have thought; for no mere man is lord of any law, moral or ritual, natural or positive; or has a power of disposing of it, and dispensing with it at pleasure; but Christ himself; which is the constant sense of this phrase in the New Testament, and is a character of the Messiah in the old, ( Daniel 7:13 ) who, as he was the institutor of the sabbath among the Jews, that being a ritual, and of mere positive institution, could dispense with it, and even abrogate it at his pleasure. The Jews so far agree to this, that he that commanded the law of the sabbath, could dispense with it; they say F26, that ``the day on which Jericho was taken was the sabbath day; and that though they slew and burnt on the sabbath day, (tbv llxl hwu tbvh le hwuv ym) , "he that commanded the observation of the sabbath, commanded the profanation of it".'' And since Christ is greater than the temple, and has all the perfections of the divine nature in him, is equal to the Father in power and glory; and even as mediator, has all power in heaven and earth given him; so as he is Lord of all other things, he is of the sabbath, and has a power of dispensing with it, and even of abolishing it; see ( Colossians 2:16 Colossians 2:17 ) and since the Lord of the sabbath had a power of dispensing with it, and made use of it in the cases of David and his men, and of the priests in the temple formerly; the Pharisees ought not to think it strange, that the Son of man, who is equally Lord of the sabbath, dispensed with it in his disciples now. (Gill)
Mark 2:…27Jesus said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28"So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary 2:23-28 The sabbath is a sacred and Divine institution; a privilege and benefit, not a task and drudgery. God never designed it to be a burden to us, therefore we must not make it so to ourselves. The sabbath was instituted for the good of mankind, as living in society, having many wants and troubles, preparing for a state of happiness or misery. Man was not made for the sabbath, as if his keeping it could be of service to God, nor was he commanded to keep it outward observances to his real hurt. Every observance respecting it, is to be interpreted by the rule of mercy.
Do you go to Church on Sunday ?
You quoted John Gill.
In his A Complete Body of Doctrinal and Practical Divinity, etc., Vol III, 1796...
on pages 397...398
at II. What manner the Lord’s Day is to be regarded or observed,
he pretty much agrees with the Westminster Confession perspective I quoted above.
Do you go to Church on Sunday or observe the Lord’s Day in some way, or do you ignore it ?
If you do observe it, how, and on what Biblical passages do base your practice of observing it ?