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Seventh-day
Adventism Refuted:
There was One Law – One Old
Covenant!
The Law of Moses is the Law of
God, the Mosaic Covenant.
It is simply called
"the Law" (Hebrew "Torah" Deuteronomy 1:5;
Deuteronomy 4:8; Deuteronomy 4:44;
Deuteronomy 17:18; Deuteronomy 17:19;
Deuteronomy 27:3; Deuteronomy 27:8). As a
written code, it is called the "book of the
law of Moses" (2 Kings 14:6; Isaiah 8:20),
and as the "book of the law of God" (Joshua 24:26).
The Mosaic Law is
essentially theocratic. It refers to the
Commands of God as the primary
responsibility of mankind and the foundation
of all human duty.
The Seventh-day
Adventists and many other Sabbatarian groups
make an artificial distinction between the
Law of God (the Ten Commandments) and the
Law of Moses. There is no Biblical
distinction. They are one and the same law!
They were the Old Covenant that was replaced
by the New “better” Covenant.
There was one – only one – Law that
God gave to Israel. It is called, the Law of
Moses, the Law of God & the Law of the Lord
and they are all the same law!
The
Sabbath was given to the Jews alone as a
sign between God and them!
Exodus 31:13, 17 says, "But as for you, speak
to the sons of Israel, saying, 'You shall
surely observe My sabbaths; for this is a
sign between Me and you throughout your
generations, that you may know that I am the
LORD who sanctifies you. 17 "It is a sign
between Me and the sons of Israel forever;
for in six days the LORD made heaven and
earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from
labor, and was refreshed."
Notice
also that this Sabbath "SIGN" (Exodus 31:13)
is between God and "the sons of Israel"
(Exodus 12:15, 17), and not for all of
mankind.
Nehemiah indicates that the
Sabbath was not given to be kept by anyone
until it was given to Israel in the
wilderness.
Nehemiah 9:13-14 says, "You
came down on Mount Sinai; you spoke to them
from heaven. You gave them regulations and
laws that are just and right, and decrees
and commands that are good. You made known
to them your holy Sabbath and gave them
commands, decrees and laws through your
servant Moses" (NIV).
The Sabbath
was given to the nation of Israel when God
made a covenant with them that we call the
Mosaic Covenant. The Sabbath had not been
given to anyone as a command before that.
The Bible is very clear that the patriarchs
were never given the Sabbath as a day of
rest to be kept. The Early church under the
guidance of the Holy Spirit never required
the gentiles to keep the Sabbath (Acts 15).
The Ten Commandments were the
first, or Old Covenant and are not binding on
Christians!
Many times we
are told that there is a difference between
the Law of Moses and the Law of God.
Proponents of this teaching like to claim
that the Law of God was written by God
himself, the Ten Commandments and are
binding upon believers today while the Law
of Moses was given only by the hand of Moses
and was for a nation and time period.
However, there has never been a
distinction between the Ten Commandments and
the rest of the Law of Moses. The Jews never
made that distinction!
In the Torah,
the Jews never refer to the Ten
Commandments. They are called the Ten
Sayings, the Ten Statements, the Ten
Declarations, the Ten Words or even the Ten
Things, but not ever as the Ten
Commandments (Exodus 34:28, Deuteronomy 4:13 and
Deuteronomy 10:4).
To the Jews, the
Ten
sayings are the categories for the entire
Law (the Torah). That is why the Jews refer
to the Ten sayings as the Ten principles! The
Ten sayings are interwoven throughout the rest of
the Mosaic Covenant!
The Old Covenant
was ONE Covenant made up of 613 laws given to Israel.
Because of Christ’s sacrifice, we now have a
New Covenant that made the Old Covenant
obsolete (Hebrews 8:13). The Ten
Commandments and the rest of the Law of
Moses are no longer a binding legal code! We
now are told to keep the Law of Christ as
our rule for life.
The Book of Hebrews makes it very clear
that the Old Covenant, the one that has been
replaced by the New Covenant was the Ten
Commandments and included the entire Mosaic
legal system.
• Hebrews 8:13 says,
The Old Covenant was abolished.
• Hebrews 7:18-19 says, the law was weak, useless and
made nothing perfect.
• Hebrews 8:7-8
says, God found fault with the Old Covenant
and created a new, better covenant based on
better promises.
• Hebrews 8:13 says, the
Old Covenant (including the Ten Commandments)
was made obsolete, growing old and ready to
disappear.
• Hebrews 10:1 says, The Old
Covenant was only a shadow of good things to
come and could never make someone perfect.
• Hebrews 9:1-4 says, the first
covenant had “the tablets of the covenant".
The tablets of the Covenant that
disappeared are the tablets of the Ten
Commandments. Pretty clear.
The
covenant that God made with Israel was one
unified, legal contract represented by the
“Words of the Covenant” which were the Ten
Commandments written on Stone and placed
inside the Ark of the Covenant. The Law is
comprised of 613 laws covering every area of
Hebrew life. It was the national
constitution for Israel, with God as their
King.
The Ten Commandments are
called the “Words of the Covenant”.
Exodus 34:27-28 says, "And the LORD said to
Moses, “Write these words, for in accordance
with these words I have made a covenant with
you and with Israel.” So he was there with
the LORD forty days and forty nights. He
neither ate bread nor drank water. And he
wrote on the tablets the words of the
covenant, the Ten Commandments."
Deuteronomy 4:13, "And he declared to you
his covenant, which he commanded you to
perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and
he wrote them on two tablets of stone."
Deuteronomy 5:2-3, "The LORD our God
made a covenant with us in Horeb. Not with
our fathers did the LORD make this covenant,
but with us, who are all of us here alive
today."
1 Kings 8:9, 21 says, "There was
nothing in the ark except the two tablets of
stone that Moses put there at Horeb, where
the LORD made a covenant with the people of
Israel, when they came out of the land of
Egypt… And there I have provided a place
for the ark, in which is the covenant of the
LORD that he made with our fathers, when he
brought them out of the land of Egypt.”
2 Chronicles 6:11, "And there I have
set the ark, in which is the covenant of the
LORD that he made with the people of
Israel.”
As you can see, the Old Covenant was said to be the
commandments written on stone, the Ten
Commandments.
There is no
difference between "the Law of God" and the
"Law of Moses." The Old Testament proves it.
Ezra 7:6 says, “This Ezra went up
from Babylon, and he was a scribe skilled in
the law of Moses, which the LORD God of
Israel had given; and the king granted him
all he requested because the hand of the
LORD his God was upon him.”
Nehemiah
uses the different terms interchangeably. He
wrote these verses with an almost prophetic
eye toward the future when some would come
along and falsely claim that there were two
different Covenants when fact, there is just
one. The Jews have always known this and it
has been the consistent teaching of the
Church throughout its entire history. Only a
few small groups have come along (mostly
Sabbatarians) that teach that there are two
separate laws. The Seventh-day Adventists
have a special need for this to be true
since their entire system stands or falls on
its meaning.
In Nehemiah 8, Nehemiah
is reading to the people from the Law that
they had not heard in their entire
lifetimes because of their captivity in
Babylon. Nehemiah wanted to restore the
people to a lifestyle of keeping the
Covenant. Notice, the passage uses the terms
interchangeably, leaving no doubt about what
the Covenant can be called. The terms used
are: “The book of the Law of Moses” i.e. the
Mosaic Covenant; “the Law”; “The book of the
law”; the book, from the “Law of God”; and He
read from the book of the “law of God”
daily.
If there is a distinction
between the moral and ceremonial laws, why
in a single chapter of Nehemiah 8 are the
following phrases all used interchangeably:
"book of the law of Moses" verse 1, "the
law" verse 2, "book of the law" verse 3,
"the law of God " verse 8, "book of the law
of God" verse 18?
How can there
possibly be any difference between "the law
of God" and the "Law of Moses" when it is
said that God gave the Law of Moses (Ezra 7:6; Nehemiah 8:1) and Moses gave the Law of
God (Nehemiah 10:29; 2 Chronicles 34:14)?
Now we live under the “better”
New Covenant.
In 2 Corinthians 3:2-11, Paul tells us that the
abolished Old Covenant was the Ten
Commandments!
2 Corinthians 3:6
says, “who also made us adequate as
servants of a new covenant, not of the
letter but of the Spirit; for the letter
kills, but the Spirit gives life."
{The
"letter kills"}
2 Corinthians 3:7, "But if the ministry of death, in letters
engraved on stones, came with glory, so that
the sons of Israel could not look intently
at the face of Moses because of the glory of
his face, fading as it was,"
{The Ten
Commandments are called a "ministry of
death"}
2 Corinthians 3:8-9, "how
will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be
even more with glory? 9 For if the ministry
of condemnation has glory, much more does
the ministry of righteousness abound in
glory."
{The Ten Commandments called a
"ministry of condemnation"}
2 Corinthians 3:10-11,
"For indeed what had
glory, in this case has no glory because of
the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if that
which fades away was with glory, much more
that which remains is in glory. "
{It is
the Ten Commandment Law specifically that
"fades away" in light of the "glory that
surpasses it.}
The New Testament
makes many changes from the Old Covenant. It
is a “New Covenant”. We have a new legal
contract that is now based on the Law of
Christ!
“The
fact that the death of Christ
brought an end to the Mosaic Law is
quite clearly stated in the New
Testament (Romans 10:4; Colossians 2:14). The importance of this fact
is related to (1) justification and
(2) sanctification, the former being
much easier to see than the latter.
The reason is simply that the law
could not justify a sinner (Acts 13:39; Romans 3:20); therefore, if
men are to be justified, another way
must be provided. The law can show
man his need but it cannot provide
the answer to that need (Galatians 3:23-25). Thus the death of Christ
provided the way for justification
by faith in Him alone.
But the
relation of the end of the law to
sanctification is more difficult to
comprehend simply because portions
of the Mosaic Law are repeated in
the New Testament in relation to the
believer's sanctification.
Furthermore, those specifics that
are repeated are not from just one
section of the law (like the Ten
Commandments). As a matter of fact,
nine of the Ten Commandments are
repeated in the New Testament, and
other parts of the law are too
(Romans 13:9). This makes it
impossible to say that the law is
done away with except for the Ten
Commandments.
Furthermore, 2 Corinthians 3:7-11
states quite clearly that the Ten
Commandments (that which was
"engraved on stones") were done away
with. How do you put all these facts
together? Is the Christian under the
Mosaic Law in relation to
sanctification or not?
The only
realistic solution is that which
distinguishes a code and the
commandments contained in that code.
The Mosaic Law was one of several
codes that God has given throughout
history, and as a code it is
finished. The code under which the
believer lives today is called the
law of Christ (Galatians 6:2) or the
law of the Spirit of life (Romans 8:2).
As one
code ends and another is instituted,
not all of the commands in the new
one will themselves be new and
different. The permission to eat
meat in the law of Christ (1 Timothy 4:3) was also part of the code under
which Noah lived after the Flood
(Genesis 9:3). Likewise, some of the
specifics that were part of the
Mosaic code have been incorporated
into the law of Christ and some have
not. But the entire code, as a code,
has been done away with.” (see: The
Ryrie Study Bible) |
There was one and only one “Old
Covenant” that Jesus fulfilled and brought
to an end. The New Covenant is the covenant
that all God’s people live by today.
Jesus gave us the New Covenant
to live by the night before he died (Jeremiah 31:31;
Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20; Romans 11:27;
1 Corinthians 11:25; 2 Corinthians 3:6-11;
Hebrews 7:22; 8:8-10; 9:15; Hebrews 10:16; 12:24; 13:20).
The New Covenant is superior to the
Old Covenant in every way!
Hebrews 7:22, "This makes Jesus the
guarantor of a better covenant."
Hebrews 8:6-7, "But as it is, Christ has
obtained a ministry that is as much more
excellent than the old as the covenant he
mediates is better, since it is enacted on
better promises. For if that first covenant
had been faultless, there would have been no
occasion to look for a second."
Hebrews 12:24, "and to Jesus, the mediator
of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled
blood that speaks a better word than the
blood of Abel."
The New Testament is
clear, the Ten Commandments, along with all of the
other laws of the Old Covenant were
made obsolete by the New Covenant!
There have been
three distinct periods of Law in the Bible
(Hebrews 1:1-2).
After the fall, God gave the law of
animal sacrifices and now he has abolished
it. What does this prove? The laws that God
gives and what God requires of mankind
have
changed over the years because of the
different covenants God’s people live under.
1. From Adam to Moses: They had animal
sacrifice. After the flood they could eat
any living creature; after Abraham they had
circumcision. They had no Levitical
priesthood, no Sabbath, no Holydays, no baptism, no
Lord's Supper and no permanent indwelling of
the Holy Spirit.
2. From Moses to Christ:
They had animal sacrifice, circumcision,
the Levitical priesthood, the Sabbath, Holydays and
dietary restrictions. They had no baptism,
no Lord's Supper and no permanent indwelling of
the Holy Spirit.
3. From Christ to the
Second Coming: We have baptism, the Lord's
Supper and we can eat any living
creature. We have no circumcision, no
Levitical priesthood, no Sabbath, no
Holydays, and no
animal sacrifice. And finally, we have the permanent
indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
God's
laws absolutely do change depending on what covenant
you live under. If you want to know what law
a Christian is required to "keep" you have to read
the terms for the New Covenant. Not one of the
covenants that came before it.
A
Covenant is a legally binding agreement, a
contract. Just like today, each covenant has
special rules that must be followed. The
Old Covenant was written down in
five books and given through Moses. The New
Covenant terms were given to the Apostles
and Prophets who wrote the twenty-seven New
Testament Gospels and Epistles.
The
Mosaic Covenant had 613 laws designed to
govern every area of Hebrew life. The New
Covenant has its own law called the "law of
Christ" and is based on the principles of
loving God and your fellow man supremely.
One list of New Covenant laws totals 1,050.
[1]
The number of laws is not as important
as the manner in which we are to keep them.
Rather than memorize all those laws we are
to love and follow Jesus Christ as our LORD
and Savior. When we focus on Him, we will
naturally strive to do the right thing out
of love. Rather than being law-focused, we
need to be Christ-focused.
We cannot live by Law and Grace! You must
live by one or the other. Christians are in
no way required to keep the seventh day
Sabbath. We are to rest in Jesus for our
salvation rest.
Matthew 11:28-30,
"Come to me, all who labor and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me,
for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you
will find rest for your souls. For my yoke
is easy, and my burden is light."
The
New Covenant has done away with all Old
Covenant ceremonies, feasts and Holydays.
The New Covenant is clear, the Holydays of
Judaism, including the Sabbath do not apply
to Christians.
Ephesians 2:14-16, "For he himself is our peace, who has made
the two one and has destroyed the barrier,
the dividing wall of hostility, by
abolishing in his flesh the law with its
commandments and regulations. His purpose
was to create in himself one new man out of
the two, thus making peace, and in this one
body to reconcile both of them to God
through the cross, by which he put to death
their hostility." (NIV)
Romans 14:5, "One
person esteems one day as better than
another, while another esteems all days
alike. Each one should be fully convinced in
his own mind."
Colossians 2:14-17,
"by canceling the record of debt that
stood against us with its legal demands.
This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
He disarmed the rulers and authorities and
put them to open shame, by triumphing over
them in him. Therefore let no one pass
judgment on you in questions of food and
drink, or with regard to a festival or a new
moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the
things to come, but the substance belongs to
Christ."
Galatians 4:10, 11, 21, "You
observe days and months and seasons and
years! I am afraid I may have labored over
you in vain. . . Tell me, you who desire
to be under the law, do you not listen to
the law?"
Galatians 5:1-4 says, "For freedom
Christ has set us free; stand firm
therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke
of slavery. Look: I, Paul, say to you that
if you accept circumcision, Christ will be
of no advantage to you. I testify again to
every man who accepts circumcision that he
is obligated to keep the whole law. You are
severed from Christ, you who would be
justified by the law; you have fallen away
from grace."
Notice the way the
scriptures described the Mosaic Covenant’s
system of worship, in ascending and
descending order (1 Chronicles 23:31; 2 Chronicles 31:3; Ezekiel 45:17; Nehemiah 10:33; Ezekiel 45:17; Hosea 2:11-12).
(See
Diagram)
It is under the New Covenant with its
own legal system that the cycle has come to
its end. It brought the end of the Law and
it brought an end to the Sabbath. We are not
required to keep any special day “holy” in
the New Covenant. Jesus is our eternal rest!
Seventh-day Adventists are not taught
about the covenants, they don’t know what
they are or how they work, or when they
began and when they ended. If the
Seventh-day Adventist truly wants to know
what the Bible says about Covenants, they
have to study them for themselves.
What is a covenant?
God has different laws under each of the
different covenants. Each covenant has its
own laws. Each covenant is a new legal
contract. A contract has to have all of its
requirements spelled out in the contract. We
are never told to keep the Law of Moses in
the New Covenant. Just the opposite!
The Mosaic Law was done away in its
entirety - as a code. It has been replaced
by the “Law of Christ.”
| “The law of
Christ contains some new commands (1 Timothy 4:4), some old ones (Romans 13:9), and some revised ones (Romans 13:4, with reference to capital
punishment). All the laws of the
Mosaic code have been abolished
because the code has. Specific
Mosaic commands that are part of the
Christian code appear there not as a
continuation of part of the Mosaic
Law, or in order to be observed in
some deeper sense, but as
specifically incorporated into that
code, and as such they are binding
on believers today. A particular law
that was part of the Mosaic code is
done away; that same law, if part of
the law of Christ, is binding. It is
necessary to say both truths in
order not to have to resort to a
nonliteral interpretation of 2 Corinthians 3 or Hebrews 7 and in
order not to have to resort to some
sort of theological contortions to
retain part of the Mosaic Law.”
(See: Basic Theology by Charles
Ryrie) |
Just as the New
Testament tells us that the Old Covenant is
“obsolete” and was “brought to an end”, the
New Testament tells us that the Sabbath and
all of the Holydays of Judaism have come to an
end as well.
The only laws
Christians are required to keep are the laws
expressed in the New Covenant and not some
ad-mixture of laws from the Old and the New
Covenants like Seventh-day Adventists teach.
References:
1. See:
1,050 New Testament Commands
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