Albert Barnes Commentary Mark 2:27

"And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:" — Mark 2:27 (ASV)

The sabbath was made for man. It was made for his rest from toil, his rest from the cares and anxieties of the world, to give an opportunity to withdraw his attention from earthly concerns and to direct it to the affairs of eternity.

It was a kind provision for man so that he might refresh his body by relaxing his labors; that he might have undisturbed time to seek the consolations of religion to cheer him in the anxieties and sorrows of a troubled world; and that he might render to God that homage that is most justly due to Him as the Creator, Preserver, Benefactor, and Redeemer of the world.

And it can easily be proven that no institution has been more notably blessed for man's welfare than the Christian Sabbath. To that we owe, more than to anything else, the peace and order of a civilized community. Where there is no Sabbath, there is ignorance, vice, disorder, and crime.

On that holy day, the poor, and the ignorant, as well as the learned, have undisturbed time to learn the requirements of religion, the nature of morals, the law of God, and the way of salvation. On that day, man may offer his praises to the Great Giver of all good, and in the sanctuary seek the blessing of Him whose favor is life.

When that day is observed as it should be, order prevails, morals are promoted, the poor are elevated in their condition, vice flies away, and the community takes on the appearance of neatness, industry, morality, and religion. The Sabbath was, therefore, preeminently intended for man's welfare, and the best interests of humankind demand that it should be sacredly regarded as an appointment of merciful heaven, intended for our best good, and, when rightly used, infallibly resulting in our temporal and eternal peace.

Not man for the sabbath. Man was made first, and then the Sabbath was appointed for his welfare (Genesis 2:1–3). The Sabbath was not first made or contemplated, and then man made with reference to it.

Since, therefore, the Sabbath was intended for man's real good, the law concerning it must not be interpreted so as to oppose his real welfare. It must be explained consistently with proper attention to the duties of mercy to the poor and the sick, and to those in peril.

It must be, however, in accordance with man's real good on the whole, and with the law of God. The law of God contemplates man's real good on the whole; and we have no right, under the plea that the Sabbath was made for man, to do anything contrary to what the law of God admits. It would not be for our real good, but for our real and eternal injury, to devote the Sabbath to vice, to labor, or to amusement.

Therefore (Colossians 2:16).