Mark 2:27 Commentary - Whedon's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

27. Made for man Man was first created, and then the Sabbath was given to subserve his highest good physical, social, spiritual, intellectual, and eternal. That mode of keeping the Sabbath which most conduces to this intention is the true mode.

How beneficent is the Sabbath under this construction of its obligations! It is one of the best of God’s gifts to man. He who would destroy its enjoyment is therein the enemy of his race.

How profound and comprehensive is the maxim which our Lord utters in regard to the relations of the Sabbath to man! It is full of the benevolent wisdom of his Gospel.

And if the Sabbath be made for man it is not made for the Jew alone. It is founded on the necessities of the race, and must be intended for the race. If it be made for man, it is not made for one age or for one generation or one dispensation alone, but for all ages and dispensations of men. Hence the Sabbath is perpetual. Whether it be on the same day of the week or not, is comparatively, in this view, unimportant. That the week is perpetuated under the Christian dispensation may be shown from Rev 1:10, where the “Lord’s day” is a weekly institution. That the Sabbath of the week is continued appears from the same consideration.