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About Sal Expertise I am privileged to be able to offer an alternative insight into the complicated world of Seventh-Day Adventists (SDA) theology. I will rely heavily on the Bible, but will also consider history and use logic in exposing deficiencies in SDA teachings. I would ask anyone who is considering becoming a SDA or if you are already in the SDA church, but are searching for the truth, to please allow me to offer a different explanation for the claims of the SDA. Remember : "The truth will set you free" (John 8:32). I can answer your questions pertaining to the beliefs and history of the SDA. I am not able to answer questions concerning spirituality or church discipline. Experience I have extensively studied the theology of the Seventh-Day Adventists (SDA) for a number of years. I have many books and tape sets produced by experts in this field of study. I have debated current members of the SDA church. I have a great desire to help these people see the truth. Education/Credentials M.S. degree in Food, Nutrition, and Dietetics |
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You are here: Experts > Religion/Spirituality > Christianity - Protestantism > Seventh-Day Adventists > When did the sabbath start? Seventh-Day Adventists - When did the sabbath start?Expert: Sal - 11/27/2004 Question Sal: Can you please help me with when the sabbath first began? I have heard conflicting stories. Thanks, Robin Answer Dear Robin: The 7th day Sabbath began in the time of Moses. Of course, this would mean that the 7th day Sabbath was not a preexisting eternal law as the SDA claim. Let me point out that even if we grant the SDA claim that the Sabbath law was in existence prior to Moses, this would not automatically make it binding on us today. Remember that both animal sacrifices (Genesis 4:4, 22:7-8, 13, 31:54; Job 1:5) and circumcision (Genesis 17:10-14) were in existence prior to Moses, but are not now binding on us (Hebrews 7:27; Galatians 6:15). Let us now see what the Bible, God's word, has to say concerning when God's people received the Sabbath command. Listen to the scribe Ezra: “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). Ezra clearly stated that the Israelites first received the Sabbath command from God through Moses. Moses is also very clear that the Sabbath command first came through him and that not even the great patriarchs had that command. “The Lord our God, made a covenant with us at Mount Horeb (Sinai); not with our fathers did He make this covenant, but with us, all of us, who are alive here this day” (Deuteronomy 5:2-3). If an SDA should complain that Moses says “covenant” not “Sabbath”, refer him to the clear statement of Ezra above. Also remind him that the 7th day Sabbath was the sign of the covenant made at Sinai. “The Lord said to Moses, ‘You must also tell the Israelites: Take care to keep my Sabbath, for this is to be a sign between you and me, throughout the generations, to show that it is I, the Lord, who makes you holy… 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 31:12-18). The Bible is clear that God made a covenant with the Israelites. The sign of that covenant was the 7th day Sabbath. He gave them the Sabbath command on Mount Sinai, not even the great patriarchs had the Sabbath. We can say this with confidence because there is no mention of anyone keeping the Sabbath until God gave it through Moses in Exodus 16:23. Then the people did not understand its regulations because it was something new. We can say this because after receiving the command through Moses, we read, “Still on the 7th day some of the people went out to gather it, although they did not find any” (vs.27). After a further explanation by Moses, we read, “After that the people rested on the 7th day,”(vs.30). Further, the ignorance of Moses and Aaron concerning what should be done to a Sabbath-breaker suggests that this law was not in force since Adam and Eve, but was a new law. “But they kept him in custody, for there was no clear decision as to what should be done with him” (Numbers 15:34). God says, “I gave them (the Israelites) my Sabbaths…” (Ezekiel 20:12). Please note the word “gave” not “restored” denoting a new institution and one belonging to the Israelites exclusively. Only the Israelites/Jews were ever charged with breaking the Sabbath. For example, Nehemiah told the Jews, “What is this evil thing you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day?” (Nehemiah 13:17). But to the Gentiles who were equally guilty of breaking the Sabbath there is no like condemnation. An SDA will often appeal to Genesis 2:2 in the hope of proving that the Sabbath was given at the very beginning of Creation. “Since on the 7th day God was finished with the work he had been doing, he rested on the 7th day from all the work he had undertaken.” Please note that God “rested”, not man. God had done the work, not man. Also there is nothing in the text about God resting every 7th day. The statement the God “rested” is simply a way of saying that God's immediate creative acts were finished. God's “resting” is an anthropomorphic statement, for God does not get tired (Psalm 121:4; Isaiah 40:28). Importantly, there is no command for man to keep the Sabbath. Later, Moses would mention God's rest at Creation as one reason for keeping the 7th day holy (Exodus 20:11). Remember that there is no command at all for anyone to keep the Sabbath before Moses. One would think that Moses would have mentioned the great revered men of old –Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob-as models of Sabbath-keepers for the Israelites. The reason that Moses doesn't mention them is obvious-they didn't keep the Sabbath because it was not given to them (Deuteronomy 5:2-3). It is a hard exegetical fact for the SDA to accept, but there is not a single command or explanation for Sabbath-keeping in the Creation account nor, for that matter, in the entire book of Genesis. Even if the Sabbath were a Creation Ordinance it still does not follow that all people in all times must observe it. Both the SDA and other Christians accept marriage to be a Creation Ordinance. Let's look at the example of this agreed upon Creation Ordinance. “The Lord God said: ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him'…The Lord God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man. When he brought her to the man, the man said: ‘This one, at last, is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called woman, for out of her man this one has been taken.' That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body” (Genesis 2:18, 22-24). The above is very clear evidence that marriage is a Creation Ordinance. We can add to this the testimony of our Lord. “Some Pharisees came up to him and said, to test him, ‘May a man divorce his wife for any reason whatever?' He replied, ‘Have you not read that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female and declared, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and cling to his wife, and the two shall become as one'? Thus they are no longer two, but one body. Therefore, let no man separate what God has joined'” (Matthew 19:3-6). This should confirm for us that marriage is indeed a Creation Ordinance. The SDA say that the Sabbath is a Creation Ordinance, therefore, the Sabbath must be observed by all Christians. In accordance with SDA logic since marriage is also a Creation Ordinance it too must be observed by all Christians. Yet the New Testament gives ample evidence that this is not so. “Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to be married” (I Corinthians 7:1). The unmarried St. Paul also stated, “Given my preference, I should like you to be as I am” (I Corinthians 7:7). To the unmarried and widowed he gave this advice, “It would be well if they remain as they are, even as I do myself” (I Corinthians 7:8). Although St. Paul was an expert on the Scriptures he did not see the Creation ordinance of marriage as something essential for all Christians to observe. In this he blatantly contradicted the SDA logic. “She will be happier, though, in my opinion, if she stays unmarried. I am persuaded that in this I have the Spirit of God” (I Corinthians 7:40). St. Paul made it clear that he viewed being unmarried as being the superior state for Christians (see I Corinthians 7:32-35, 38). In this he was just following the clear and beautiful teaching of our Lord on the superiority of the unmarried life. “Not everyone can accept this teaching, only those to whom it is given to do so. Some men are incapable of sexual activity from birth; some have been deliberately made so; and some there are who have freely renounced sex for the sake of God's reign. Let him accept this teaching who can” (Matthew 19:11-12). So an honest student of the Bible should be able to see that just because something is labeled a “Creation Ordinance” does not mean that Christians must automatically observe it. A thorough study of the Bible reveals clearly that marriage is not an essential part of Christianity and neither is Sabbath observance. Even more evidence against the Sabbath being a Creation Ordinance comes from St. Paul, “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 its promises nullified” (Galatians 3:17). St. Paul says that the Abrahamic Covenant was not invalidated by the Mosaic Covenant that came later. Also the promise of a worldwide blessing (Genesis 12:3) is not nullified by the Mosaic Covenant that was for Israel alone (Psalm 147:19-20). The Mosaic Law “was given in view of transgression” (Galatians 3:19). Therefore, its job was to make sin known (Romans 3:19-20; Galatians 2:19). The entire 613-law covenant “was valid only until that descendant or offspring came to whom the promise had been given” (Galatians 3:19). When Jesus came the Old Covenant was rendered invalid-all its 613 laws. “In other words, the law was our monitor until Christ came to bring about our justification through faith. But now that faith is here, we are no longer in the monitor's charge” (Galatians 3:24-25). As St. Paul says elsewhere, “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). “For while the law was given by Moses, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). This simple fact has been missed by the SDA. All the law, including the Sabbath, came through Moses. But the greater, grace and truth (Hebrews 1:1-2), came through Jesus. When the greater arrives the lesser must leave. As St. John the Baptist illustrated for us, “He must increase, while I must decrease” (John 3:30; cf. Hebrews 8:13; 10:9). The Believer now rests in the spirit not the flesh. This perfectly parallels the change in circumcision from the flesh to the spiritual (Romans 2:29; Colossians 2:11-12). We rest in Jesus, not in a day. St. Paul goes to great lengths to prove that no one has ever, nor will ever, find God's true rest in a day, that rest only comes by having faith in the gospel (Hebrews 3:7-4:11). “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 souls will find rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden light” (Matthew 11:28-30). In conclusion, all the Biblical passages that give us a summary of redemptive history, always note the beginning of the Sabbath to have been with Moses and never note it with Adam and Eve (eg. Nehemiah 9; Ezekiel 20). While the SDA argue from silence that the Sabbath was in effect since Creation they, unfairly, say that Christians cannot do the same for Sunday observance. In fact, unlike the Sabbath being a Creation Ordinance, there are at least some possible Biblical support for Sunday (Acts 20:7; I Corinthians 16:2; Revelation 1:10). Also there is the post-Resurrection example of Jesus appearing exclusively on Sundays (Matthew 28:9-10, 16-20; Mark 16:9, 12, 14; Luke 24:13-15, 33-34, 36; John 20:19, 26). Further the Holy Spirit gave birth to the Church on Sunday (Acts 2:1). The Biblical evidence for Sunday observance is massive when compared to the Biblical evidence for the Sabbath being a Creation Ordinance. The Bible is clear that the Sabbath began 430 years after the promise to Abraham and the Sabbath ended with the coming of the one to whom the promise had been given, Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:17-19; Hebrews 8:13; 10:9). There is no biblical reason to believe that the Sabbath command predated Moses. There simply is no mention of the Sabbath until Exodus 16:23. One final thought: the Jews today, as always, believe that the Sabbath command originated with Moses and is not binding on Gentiles. This is also the teaching of the Bible as we have seen. Thanks for the question! God Bless You, Sal View Follow-Ups Add to this Answer Ask a Question | |