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I am going to quote from the Fundamental beliefs of the SDA Church, then speak to each sentence and text. Join in if you wish:
20. Sabbath:
The beneficent Creator, after the six days of Creation, rested on the seventh day and instituted the Sabbath for all people as a memorial of Creation. The fourth commandment of God's unchangeable law requires the observance of this seventh-day Sabbath as the day of rest, worship, and ministry in harmony with the teaching and practice of Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a day of delightful communion with God and one another. It is a symbol of our redemption in Christ, a sign of our sanctification, a token of our allegiance, and a foretaste of our eternal future in God's kingdom. The Sabbath is God's perpetual sign of His eternal covenant between Him and His people. Joyful observance of this holy time from evening to evening, sunset to sunset, is a celebration of God's creative and redemptive acts. (Gen. 2:1-3; Ex. 20:8-11; Luke 4:16; Isa. 56:5, 6; 58:13, 14; Matt. 12:1-12; Ex. 31:13-17; Eze. 20:12, 20; Deut. 5:12-15; Heb. 4:1-11; Lev. 23:32; Mark 1:32.)
Last edited by bob_2 (01-08-11 12:24 am)
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The beneficent Creator, after the six days of Creation, rested on the seventh day and instituted the Sabbath for all people as a memorial of Creation.
God did "rest" on the seventh day, but did he "complete" His work, or "rest physically" (both acceptable meanings of the word "rest"). Note Jesus words in:
John 5: 17...“My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”
This would indicate, as expected, that God neither "slumbers nor sleeps". (Psalms 121: 4-8)
Notice also that there is neither a morning and an evening of the seventh day of creation as each other day had.
Also the word Sabbath is never mentioned until the Exodus from Egypt of Israel in Exodus 16:23 and following.
Note also that the written command is not given until Exodus 20 uniquely to the Israelites, see also Deut 5: 1-3. Note that in this rendition of the 10 Commandments the reason for the Sabbath is the bringing them out of slavery in Egypt, a unique group.
Last edited by bob_2 (01-08-11 4:43 pm)
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That FB listed is a perversion of the text. There is absolutely no command for anyone to oberve a seventh day
until Sinai. Those who so state should give textual proof.
Just as there is no command in the NT for anyone to observe any day.
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The fourth commandment of God's unchangeable law requires the observance of this seventh-day Sabbath as the day of rest, worship, and ministry in harmony with the teaching and practice of Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath.
Are the 10 Commandments God's unchangeable law?? I had a discussion with a moderator on ClubAdventist where he claimed the 10 Commandments were not part of the Old Covenant but a separate document referred to. Is this accurate:
Exodus 34: 27 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” 28 Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.
Note also:
Hebrews 8:13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.
If the 10 Commandments are obsolete, not abolished, then what is written on the heart of the New Covenant believer as stated :
31 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD,
“when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
and with the people of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant
I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to[d] them,[e]”
declares the LORD.
33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,” declares the LORD.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
34 No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the LORD.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
Note:
1 Corinthians 9:21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.
So what is the standard of living under the New Covenant:
Galatians 5:14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Galatians 6:2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
Romans 7:6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
As the Holy Spirit is poured out on the Christian they are lead to all truth. Also by Christ's words about His Kingdom and the Apostles directives.
Last edited by bob_2 (01-08-11 6:00 pm)
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To show that a change happened with the ushering in of the New Covenant, note:
2 Cor 3: 7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!
12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate[a] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
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I wonder how Adventists perceive that? Or the many other comparisons in the NT?
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The Sabbath is a day of delightful communion with God and one another.
Can this "delightful communion with God and one another" be accomplished on another day than the seventh day?
Where is the New Covenant believer commanded to use a day in this manner, and if one does not do this is it a salvific issue?
Is the directive in this text salvific? Does it leave the Believer open to meet with other believers as they choose without sacrificing their salvation?
Heb 10: 19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Last edited by bob_2 (01-08-11 9:54 pm)
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It is a symbol of our redemption in Christ, a sign of our sanctification, a token of our allegiance, and a foretaste of our eternal future in God's kingdom.
I plan to talk to each supporting text given to back up Fundamental #20. This verbage seems to go against this Biblical text:
Colossians 2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
Last edited by bob_2 (01-08-11 10:03 pm)
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The Sabbath is God's perpetual sign of His eternal covenant between Him and His people.
This sentence in this fundamental seems to go against this command:
Luke 22:19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
I am unable to find a command that would support this sentence in the Fundamental #20.
This statement overlooks the discontinuity between Old and New Covenants which is a sign of Covenant Theology
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Joyful observance of this holy time from evening to evening, sunset to sunset, is a celebration of God's creative and redemptive acts.
This observation may be "a celebration of God's creative and redemptive acts", but where in the New Covenant is it command as a salvific requirement???
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Gen. 2:1-3; Ex. 20:8-11; Luke 4:16; Isa. 56:5, 6; 58:13, 14; Matt. 12:1-12; Ex. 31:13-17; Eze. 20:12, 20; Deut. 5:12-15; Heb. 4:1-11; Lev. 23:32; Mark 1:32
Genesis 2: 1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
The word "rested" also means "completed" or "finished". The word "sanctified" used in some other versions means to "set aside for a sacred use". That could be what His plan was to use it with the Jews to mark them as holy "until the Seed should come."
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