Expert: Sal - 6/4/2009

Question
I am currently close friends with a Seventh Day Adventist girl and I am interested in what differences there is between the SDA faith and the Catholic faith, which i am a devot follower. She is willing to talk about our differences so I need to know what is different and where it shows that the Catholic faith is the true faith, using mainly only the Bible,

I would sincerely appreciate it if you can respond to me as soon as possible

Thanks and God Bless,
Andrew Rossi

Answer
Dear Andrew:

The SDA Church teaches that the 666 of the book of Revelation is the Catholic Papacy. They believe that the Catholic Church is the instrument of Satan. They claim that the pope changed God's day of worship from the Sabbath to Sunday. They believe that worshipping on Sunday is the Mark of the Beast. As you can imagine the SDA Church is very bias against anything Catholic. To them the Sabbath is the most important thing because it supposedly proves who are God's true worshippers. Consequently, worshipping on Sunday is the proof that one is separated from the true God because Sunday is the day that Satan promotes to show his authority. I know that the idea that the day that one worships on is of utmost importance is strange to other Christians still it is absolutely the heart of SDAism.
     

First I will look at the two arguments that the SDA present for 7th day Sabbath keeping in the New Covenant, both of which are commonly used in Seventh Day Adventist literature.  Then I will look at the Sabbath question in the larger context.
1. “God said that the Sabbath was a commandment to be kept forever.” This argument sounds logical. We must investigate it carefully from the Bible to see if it is so. Does the Bible support the idea that the Sabbath command is forever? “So shall the Israelites observe the Sabbath, keeping it throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. Between Me and the Israelites it is to be an everlasting sign” (Exodus 31:16-17). The Bible says clearly that the Sabbath command is to be kept forever. Does that end our study? The SDA church would like us to stop our investigation here, but that would be premature. We must do one more important thing before we decide to accept the SDA understanding of the Sabbath in the New Covenant. We need to determine if the Bible uses the terms “throughout your generations”, “perpetual”, and “everlasting” as the SDA does. Let’s look at some examples from the Bible of things that God said were to be observed forever. Circumcision “everlasting pact” (Genesis 17:13), Passover “perpetual institution” (Exodus 12:14), Feast of Unleavened Bread ”perpetual institution” (Exodus 12:17), Aaronite priesthood “perpetual law” (Exodus 29:9), offering to priests “perpetual ordinance” (Exodus 29:28; Leviticus 7:34-36), burnt offering “throughout your generations” (Exodus 29:42), burning of incense “perpetual” (Exodus 30:8), sin offering “throughout your generations” (Exodus 30:10), priestly washing “perpetual ordinance” (Exodus 30:21), anointing oil “throughout your generations” (Exodus 30:31), 7th day Sabbath “perpetual covenant” (Exodus 31:16-17), fire for burnt offering “throughout your generations” (Leviticus 6:6), grain offering “perpetual ordinance” (Leviticus 6:15)also called “perpetual statute” (Leviticus 23:14), Yom Kipper fasting “everlasting ordinance” (Leviticus 16:29), Pentecost “perpetual statute” (Leviticus 23:21), Day of Atonement “perpetual statute” (Leviticus 23:31), Feasts of Booths “perpetual statute” (Leviticus 23:41), sanctuary lights “perpetual statute” (Leviticus 24:3), Showbread “everlasting agreement” (Leviticus 24:8), secondary offerings “throughout your generations” (Numbers 15:21), Levitical service at the tabernacle “perpetual ordinance” (Numbers 18:23). So you see the argument that the 7th day Sabbath is valid for all times because it is called perpetual is fallacious. The Bible clearly shows that many things called “perpetual”, “throughout your generations”, and “everlasting” were so only for as long as the covenant to which they were attached lasted. The previous list was valid as long as the Mosaic or Old Covenant was in effect. Once it became obsolete with the coming of the New Covenant in Christ Jesus, the forever things in the list also became obsolete. Further note that the Sabbath was given only to Israel not the Church. “Between Me and the Israelites it is to be an everlasting sign.”
2.    “Jesus himself kept the Sabbath.” It is a Biblical truth that we are to be like our Lord. “If a man wishes to come after me, he must deny his very self, take up his cross and begin to follow in my footsteps” (Matthew 16:24). “The way we can be sure we are in union with him is for the man who claims to abide in him to conduct himself just as he did” (1 John 2:5-6). Does this mean that we are to keep all our Lord’s customs? St. Paul gives us a clear answer, “But when the designated time had come, God sent forth his Son born of a woman, BORN UNDER THE LAW, to deliver from the law those who were subjected to it, so that we might receive our status as adopted sons” (Galatians 4:4-5). Jesus was born under the law so he kept the law in order to free us from the law’s requirements. “If you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law” (Galatians 5:18). “…you are under grace, not under the law” (Romans 6:14). “Now we have been released from the law-for we have died to what bound us-and we serve in the new spirit, not the antiquated letter” (Romans 7:6). “There is no condemnation now for those who are in Christ Jesus. The law of the spirit, the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, has freed you from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1-2). The Bible is clear that once we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior we are no longer under the law, but under grace. St. Paul further tells us that the Mosaic Law was our schoolmaster teaching us about Christ. “But now that faith is here, we are no longer in the schoolmaster’s charge” (Galatians 3:25). Since we are not under the law we do not have to keep the 613 laws of the Old Covenant. Jesus did because he was “born under the law”. In fact, keeping the 7th day Sabbath may actually be a denial of the work of Christ who freed us from the “law of sin and death”. Jesus as a good Jew attended the synagogue (Luke 4:16), observed Hanukkah (John 10:22), obeyed the ritual laws (Matthew 8:4), went to Jerusalem for all Jewish festivals (Luke 2:41), supported the temple monetarily (Matthew 17:27), observed Passover (Matthew 26:17-18), he must have had a sukkah booth each year, killed a Passover lamb each year, and wore tassels on his garments. He told others to do whatever the religious leaders, the scribes and the Pharisees, told them to do (Matthew 23:2-3), to offer animal sacrifices (Mark 1:44; Luke 5:14), and to keep all 613 laws of the Old Covenant (Matthew 5:17-19). Why don’t Sabbatarians follow Jesus’ example on these other things not just pick out the 7th day Sabbath? It is hypocritical of the SDA church to require its adherents to keep the 7th day Sabbath because it was Jesus’ custom, but not to require them to keep the other things that were equally his custom. So we must conclude in the face of the Biblical evidence that both popular SDA arguments for Christians keeping the 7th day Sabbath in the New Covenant are invalid.

Now let’s look at the question of why don’t most Christians observe the 7th day Sabbath in the larger context. The answer is simply that Sabbath-keeping is not a requirement in the New Covenant. Whatever day one chooses to gather with other believers and to worship together on is acceptable to the Lord. All who worship “the Father in Spirit and in truth” (John 4:23) will be blessed. It is acceptable to meet for worship on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, etc. As St. Paul so clearly put it, “One man regards this day as better than that; someone else considers all days alike. Each should be certain in his own conscience. The man who observes the day does so to honor the Lord” (Romans 14:5-6).

Let us note right up front that while the Sabbath is called the sign of God’s covenant with His people in the Old Covenant it is never called such in the New Covenant. The Old Testament contains lists of Sabbath restrictions (see Exodus 16:23, 29; 20:10; 31:14-15; 34:21; 35:3; Nehemiah 13:19; Jeremiah 17:21-22), and the penalty for Sabbath violation-death-is made perfectly clear (see Exodus 31:14-15; 35:2; Numbers 15:35-36). The New Testament, however, contains no list of Sabbath restrictions and never is Sabbath-breaking listed among New Testament sins (see Mark 7:21-22; Romans 1:29-32; Galatians 5:19-21; 2 Timothy 3:1-4; Revelation 21:8). St. Paul who wrote much to the Gentile converts never even once mentioned that keeping the Sabbath was of any importance. He also never mentioned to the Gentiles how they were supposed to keep this Jewish weekly festival. All this is strange, indeed, if the 7th day Sabbath is still a requirement in the New Covenant as the SDA claims.

The Ten Commandments were the heart of the Old Covenant. “So Moses stayed there with the Lord for forty days and forty nights, without eating food or drinking water, and he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant: the Ten Commandments” (Exodus 34:28). “He proclaimed to you his covenant which he commanded you to keep: the Ten Commandments, which he wrote on two tablets of stone” (Deuteronomy 4:13).

The 7th day Sabbath was the sign of the Old Covenant between God and the Israelites. “So shall the Israelites observe the Sabbath, keeping it throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. Between me and the Israelites it is to be an everlasting sign” (Exodus 31:16-17; see also Exodus 31:13). “I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between me and them, to show that it was I, the Lord, who made them holy” (Ezekiel 20:12; see also Ezekiel 20:20). “For remember that you were once slaves in Egypt and the Lord, your God, brought you from there with his strong hand and outstretched arm. That is why the Lord, your God, has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day” (Deuteronomy 5:15).

The Old Covenant that contained the Ten Commandments, including the Sabbath, was for the Israelites only. The only exception would be Gentile converts and others under the authority of the Israelites (see Exodus 20:10). The entire 613-law covenant was for the Israelites only. “Or what great nation has statutes and decrees that are as just as this whole law which I am setting before you today?” (Deuteronomy 4:8). “He has proclaimed his word to Jacob, his statutes and his ordinances to Israel. He has not done thus for any other nation; his ordinances he has not made known to them” (Psalm 147:19-20). “And I have placed there the ark, in which abides the covenant of the Lord, which he made with the Israelites”(2 Chronicles 6:11).

The Bible is clear that the Mosaic or Old Covenant was between God and the Israelites, and no one else.  This is why God through His prophets never condemns Gentiles for not keeping the Sabbath. It was never God’s plan to have Gentiles, as a people, to observe the Sabbath. The SDA will try to get around this fact by attempting to prove that the Sabbath command did not originate with Moses, but was given to man at Creation. The “Creation Ordinance” theory is extremely weak. The SDA further claims that the 7th day Sabbath was kept by all the great patriarchs-Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem, and Abraham. The Bible itself, however, presents a different story. “The Lord, our God, made a covenant with us at Horeb (another name for Mount Sinai), not with our fathers did he make this covenant, but with us, all of us who are alive here today” (Deuteronomy 5:2-3). This scripture is clear that no one had the covenant, the sign of which was the Sabbath, prior to Moses and Mount Sinai. “Not with our fathers” is a way of saying “Not with our ancestors” who were considered the “fathers” of the Israelites. There is abundant Biblical evidence that this is precisely what Moses meant. “He has dealt mercifully with our fathers, and remembered the holy covenant He made” (Luke 1:72). “In times past, God spoke in fragmentary and varied ways to our fathers through the prophets” (Hebrews 1:1). St. Paul, in speaking of the Exodus, stated, “Brothers, I want you to remember this: our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea” (1 Corinthians 10:1). Jesus, also speaking of the Exodus, used the term fathers when referring to ancestors, “Your fathers ate manna in the desert, but they died” (John 6:49). The Book of Acts contains many references to the ancestors of the Jews as fathers (see 2:29; 3:13; 15:10; 22:3, 14; 24:14; 28:17, 25). St. Stephen, in his final discourse, makes no less than eleven such references (see 7:2, 11, 12, 15, 19, 32, 38, 39, 44, 51, 52).  

“On Mount Sinai you came down, you spoke with them from heaven. You gave them just ordinances, firm laws, good statutes, and commandments. Your holy Sabbath you made known to them, commandments, statutes, and law you prescribed for them, by the hand of Moses your servant” (Nehemiah 9:13-14).

Notice that the Sabbath was “made known” to the Israelites it was not “retold” or “relearned” because it was new. Therefore, it was not a Creation Ordinance as claimed.

St. Paul informs us that the Mosaic Covenant, including the Sabbath, came into being 430 years after the promise of God to Abraham. It was not eternal. Further, St. Paul tells us that the covenant with the Israelites came to an end when Christ came. It was not everlasting.

“My point is this: a covenant formally ratified by God is not set aside as invalid by any law that came into being 430 years later, nor is its promise nullified…it was to be valid only until that descendant or offspring came to whom the promise had been given” (Galatians 3:17, 19).

This is very clear Biblical evidence that the Old Covenant has a beginning and an ending. Therefore, the Sabbath command is no longer valid. The Old Covenant was always “destined to pass away” (2 Corinthians 3:11). If there is any little bit of doubt that this means the Ten Commandments just read v. 7: “If the ministry of death, carved in writing on stone…” No doubt should remain with the honest Bible student that the Ten Commandments, the sign of which is the Sabbath command, are no longer in effect.

The Bible is clear that the Old Covenant is now obsolete. “When he says, ‘a new covenant’, he declares the first obsolete” (Hebrews 8:13). “In other words, he takes away the first covenant to establish the second” (Hebrews 10:9). “In his own flesh he abolished the law with its commands and precepts” (Ephesians 2:15). “He canceled the bond that stood against us with all its claims, snatching it up and nailing to the cross” (Colossians 2:14). Since the Old Covenant is obsolete so must be the sign of that covenant, the 7th day Sabbath.  The Sabbath has no place in the New Covenant. The reality to which the Sabbath pointed has come, therefore, the shadow must disappear.

“No one is free, therefore, to pass judgment on you in terms of what you eat or drink or what you do on yearly or monthly feasts, or on the Sabbath. All these were but a shadow of things to come; the reality is the body of Christ” (Colossians 2:16-17).

No matter how good the shadow may be, it becomes a hindrance if it remains along side the reality. For example, John the Baptizer’s ministry was good, but it was a mere shadow of the greatness that was to be found in Christ’s ministry. “There is one among you whom you do not recognize-the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to unfasten” (John 1:26-27). John seemed to realize that he would be in the way of people coming to Jesus, the reality that he foreshadowed.  “He must increase, while I must decrease” (John 3:30).

Another illustration from Scripture showing that the Old Covenant, the law and the prophets, is obsolete occurs in Matthew 17. Here Jesus is transfigured before some of his Apostles. “Suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared to them conversing with him” (v.3). After God blesses Jesus with these words, “This is my beloved Son on whom my favor rests. Listen to him” (v.5), the Apostles fell down in fear. Then we have the part of this story, the significance of which is often overlooked. “When they looked up they did not see anyone but Jesus” (v.8). The significance of this is that before God’s people looked to the law and the prophets for salvation. Now Moses, who represents the law, and Elijah, who represents the prophets, are gone. The law and the prophets, in other words, the entire Old Covenant is no longer to be looked to for guidance in all matters. Jesus is now the only one that we are to look to.

The rabbis in Jesus’ day had a saying, “Come to the Sabbath and it will give you rest.” Jesus boldly declared himself to be the fulfillment of the Sabbath when he said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon your shoulders and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart. Your soul will find rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

Our Sabbath rest is now Jesus no longer is it a day. Jesus proclaimed himself “Lord of the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:8) because he has authority over it. No longer must we keep a day and look to it for salvation. We now look to Jesus and him alone for the true salvation that only he can bring. “There is no salvation in anyone else, for there is no other name in the whole world given to men by which we are to be saved” (Acts 4:12). The Old Covenant people of God rested with Him for 24 hours only one day a week. The New Covenant people of God rest in the finished work of Christ 24/7. “Therefore, a Sabbath rest still remains for the people of God” (Hebrews 4:9). The rest spoken of is not found in a day, for the people of God in the Old Covenant had and kept the 7th day Sabbath yet they failed to enter into the rest of God. The true rest of God is found in the person and work of Christ. “We have indeed heard the good news, as they (the Israelites) did. But the word which they heard did not profit them, for they did not receive it in faith. It is we who have believed who enter into that rest” (Hebrews 4:2-3).

Let me point out the further superiority of the Christian rest. The Old Covenant people of God’s rest was one marked by inactivity (see Exodus 16:23; 20:10; 31:14-15; 35:2). The New Covenant people of God emphasize not a day, but the new commandment of our Lord to love one another as he has loved us (see John 13:34-35; 15:12). We show this selfless love by sacrificing ourselves for the most needy (see Matthew 25:31-40). So while the Old Covenant people of God had a physical rest we have a superior spiritual rest.

Let us take seriously St. Paul’s admonishments of the Galatian Christians. “It was for liberty that Christ freed us. So stand firm, and do not take on yourselves the yoke of slavery a second time!” (Galatians 5:1). “Anyone of you who seeks your justification in the law have severed yourselves from Christ and fallen from God’s favor!” (v.4). What was the big problem that Paul so harshly fought against? The Galatians were being influenced to observe the Jewish Sabbaths. “You even go so far as to keep the ceremonial observances of days, and months, seasons, and years! I fear for you; all my efforts with you may have been wasted” (4:10-11). May Christ’s efforts for us never be wasted!

In conclusion, Christians do not observe the 7th day Sabbath because it is not required of them by Jesus their Lord. The 7th day Sabbath was never meant to be observed by anyone other than the Israelites. One may worship on Saturday if one chooses to (see Romans 14:5), but it is not necessary from Christians to observe the Sabbath.

There are many other differences between the two Churches, but I started with the Sabbath because it is THE issue with SDAs. Some of the other differences are that they believe that Ellen G. White, one of the founders of the SDA Church, was a true prophet of God, that there is an Investigative Judgment occuring in heaven since October 22, 1844, that the dead are unconscious until the return of Christ, and that there is no eternal punishment in hell.

If I can be of further help please just let me know.

God Be With You,
Sal