[Scene one: circa 1844]

Reformed: To be Reformed is to insist that the church of Jesus Christ must not worship God in any other way than he has commanded in his word.

Seventh-day Adventist: I agree with you. But you do not actually give heed to this requirement because your church gathers for corporate worship on Sunday.

Reformed: What do you mean?

Adventist: God makes very clear in scripture that the seventh day is the Sabbath. First, scripture specifically identifies the Sabbath as the seventh day. “Six days ye shall gather it [manna]; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none” (Ex. 16:26). And again: “But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God” (Deut. 5:14). Nowhere in scripture does it explicitly state that the sabbath day was changed from Saturday to Sunday. Furthermore, when Jesus Christ lived on the earth, he kept the seventh day as the Sabbath, and he also preached in the synagogues on the Sabbath. Paul entered the synagogues on the seventh day to preach to the Jews. What does God require? There is nothing dark or hidden or mysterious about it! It could not be any clearer! The seventh day is the Sabbath!

Reformed: But you are ignoring all the scripture passages in the New Testament that speak of the first day of the week as the Lord’s day. It was on the first day of the week that the disciples in Troas came together to break bread, and Paul conversed with them. It was on the first day of the week that the Corinthian church was charged by Paul to gather alms. It was on the Lord’s day that John was in the Spirit and received a vision from the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is very clear that the apostolic church recognized Sunday as the Lord’s day.

Adventist: I agree with you that Sunday was called the Lord’s day. But the most that you can deduce from those passages of scripture is that the early church honored Sunday in remembrance of Christ’s resurrection. Those passages do not literally teach that God changed the sabbath day from Saturday to Sunday. Neither do those passages establish irrefutable evidence that the requirements of the fourth commandment were observed on the first day of the week. For example, those passages give no explicit demand to abstain from earthly labor. Therefore, you have not proven to me that God commanded a change for the day of rest. Your reference to those passages only begs the question.

Reformed: I disagree. The New Testament teaches very clearly that the church assembled for worship on the Lord’s day. However, there is more to be said about this matter. God prescribed two Old Testament Sabbath feasts that the Jews observed on the first day of the week because in his eternal counsel God intended, upon the dawn of the new dispensation, to change the day of rest from Saturday to Sunday. The first feast was the feast of firstfruits, which was fulfilled when the Lord Jesus Christ on the first day of the week arose from the grave and entered into his everlasting Sabbath. The second feast was Pentecost, which was fulfilled when the Spirit of the risen Lord Jesus Christ swooped down upon the church on the first day of the week to bring to the church the blessings of the everlasting Sabbath. Therefore, it is undeniable that God always intended for the Lord’s day to be the new day of rest when his Son, the Lord of the Sabbath, fulfilled God’s promise of the everlasting rest.

Adventist: No. You still have not proven to me that God explicitly commanded the church to observe Sunday instead of Saturday as the new day of rest. If God wanted the church of the new dispensation to assemble for worship on Sunday, he would have specifically commanded it in his word. Instead, according to her own self-will and contrary to God’s will, the church chose to change the day. The question is, what does God require? What does God explicitly require in his word? Since we must worship God in no other way than he has commanded in his word, we must worship God on the seventh day.

Reformed: But surely you must recognize that God did not need to give a specific command in the New Testament. If you take the teaching of scripture as a whole, then it is unmistakably clear that God requires that on Sunday we diligently frequent his house to hear his word! According to your blind fixation on God’s command for the Old Testament church to observe the seventh day as the Sabbath, you willfully miss the whole of scripture’s teaching. Therefore, all your Saturday worship is profane and loathsome to God.

Adventist: Your words are cruel and oppressive. By your lies you cast out our names as an evil thing. The question is, what does God require? What does God explicitly require? God never gave a literal command that Sunday is the new day of rest. I will remain unconvinced of your position unless you can give to me a specific text where God commanded that Sunday be the new day of rest. Until then, I charge your worship on Sunday to be self-willed and idolatrous.

[Scene two: circa 2024]

Reformed: To be Reformed is to insist that the church of Jesus Christ must not worship God in any other way than he has commanded in his word.

Exclusive Psalmist: I agree with you. But you do not actually give heed to this requirement because your church sings something other than the 150 psalms in corporate worship.

Reformed: What do you mean?

EP: God makes very clear in scripture that the church sang psalms for corporate worship. Would you like to hear it explicitly commanded? Here: “Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works” (1 Chron. 16:9). And here: “Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms” (Ps. 95:2). And here: “Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works” (105:2). Nowhere in scripture does it explicitly state that the church sang anything other than psalms in corporate worship. Furthermore, when Jesus Christ lived on the earth, he sang psalms. He sang the great Hallel hymn before he left the upper room for the Mount of Olives. Paul told the churches of Colossae and Ephesus to teach and admonish one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, which refer to the various headings above the 150 psalms. James wrote to the churches, “Is any merry? let him sing psalms” (James 5:13). What does God require? There is nothing dark or hidden or mysterious about it! It could not be any clearer! The church must only sing psalms in corporate worship!

Reformed: But you are ignoring all the other scripture passages that speak of the church singing together in corporate worship with songs other than the literal 150 psalms. Moses and the children of Israel sang a song unto the Lord after God’s gracious wonder of parting the Red Sea and his mighty deliverance of Israel from Egypt. All Israel sang the song of the well in thanks to God, who gave them water in the wilderness. And what of the song in Deuteronomy 32 that God specifically required Moses and Joshua to write down and to teach the children of Israel? Did not David as God’s Christ bid the children of Judah to learn the song of the bow when Saul and Jonathon died in battle?

EP: I agree with you that those are songs of worship to God. But the most that you can deduce from those passages of scripture is that Israel sang songs together. Those passages do not teach that God commanded songs other than the 150 psalms to be sung in corporate worship on the Sabbath. You have not proven to me that in corporate worship God requires anything other than the literal 150 psalms. Your reference to those passages only begs the question. Furthermore, you must see that Jesus is the sweet psalmist of Israel, who in the midst of the church sings praise unto God. The psalms are Jesus’ songs, and he is the one singing them. Therefore, in corporate worship the church must sing psalms to sing with Jesus.

Reformed: I disagree, for there are terrible inconsistencies in your doctrine. Let us assume, for the moment, that the church must sing psalms in her corporate worship to sing with Jesus. Now, is it not true that the Lord Jesus Christ has entered his everlasting Sabbath? Is it not true that there are no more “days” for the Lord, but only the everlasting day of rest? If the church must sing psalms in corporate worship to sing with Jesus, then that must certainly imply that the everlasting Sabbath of the Lord consists in exclusive psalm singing. But if that is the case, then those glorified souls in their heavenly corporate worship, who rejoice before God’s throne in marvelous doxologies and who sing the ode of Moses and of the Lamb, are guilty of will worship. Someone must tell them quickly that their worship is intolerable and that they must sing only the literal 150 psalms in order to sing with Jesus. Or maybe they have already figured it out for themselves, when they began to sing those lovely songs of praise but Jesus sang something else.

EP: But what does God re—

Reformed: I am not done. Jesus is in his everlasting Sabbath when the church sings on Sunday. Jesus is in his everlasting Sabbath when the church sings on Monday. Jesus is in his everlasting Sabbath when the church sings on Friday. Now, if it is true that the church must sing the literal 150 psalms in corporate worship to sing with Jesus—who has entered his everlasting Sabbath—then it stands to reason that the church must sing the 150 psalms to sing with Jesus every other day of the week. And although you have not made this your official doctrine, I suspect that in the near future you will likewise find it intolerable for members of your church to sing anything other than the literal 150 psalms at home and at school. You will find it intolerable if on Monday someone puts Solomon’s song of songs or Jeremiah’s laments to tune. You will find it intolerable to make melody with the ten commandments on Friday. You will find it intolerable if at school any of your children sing Martin Luther’s “Ein feste Burg.” You must find it intolerable, for Jesus Christ in his eternal Sabbath only sings with the church when she sings the literal 150 psalms!

EP: But what does God require? You still have not proven to me that God explicitly commanded something other than psalms to be sung in corporate worship. If God wanted the church to sing something other than psalms, then he would have specifically commanded it in his word. It was the early church who, contrary to God’s will, decided to compose songs and sing doxologies other than the 150 psalms. Thus, if we must worship God in no other way than he has commanded in his word, we must sing only the literal 150 psalms.

Reformed: But surely you must recognize that God did not need to give a specific command for the church to praise him with songs other than the literal 150 psalms. God was pleased by his Spirit of inspiration to author other songs of praise unto himself in scripture besides the 150 psalms. God has given the whole of his word as the revelation of himself in the face of Jesus Christ so that his elect church might know him and respond in praise unto him. If you take the teaching of scripture as a whole, then it is unmistakably clear that God requires that we sing the truth of his word! According to your blind fixation on the word psalms in scripture—while conveniently ignoring that the simplest translation of zamir is “song,” that tehillah means “song of praise,” and that mizmor means “a melody”—you willfully miss the simple fact that God has given the whole of his word to his people so that they might know him and praise him. You have introduced into your church worship an age-old tradition of men and have fallen from the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free. Therefore, all your Sunday worship is profane and loathsome to God.

EP: Your words are cruel and oppressive. By your lies you cast out our names as an evil thing. The question is, what does God require? What does God explicitly require? God never gave a literal command that the church must sing something other than psalms. I will remain unconvinced of your position unless you can give to me a specific text where God commanded the church to sing something other than the literal 150 psalms in corporate worship. Until then, I charge your worship as self-willed and idolatrous.