Bible Studies

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1. Seventh-day Adventists are correct in saying that the New Testament does not teach Sunday observance. However, they neglect the fact that it does not command Sabbath keeping either. See below…

THE NINE “MORAL” COMMANDS of the 10 COMMANDMENTS ARE RE-STATED in the N.T.
1). To worship the Lord God only (1st commandment): no less than 50 times
2). Idolatry (2nd commandment): condemned 12 times
3). Profanity (3rd commandment): condemned 4 times
4). Honoring parents (5th commandment) is taught 6 times
5). Murder (6th commandment) condemned 6 times
6). Adultery (7th commandment) condemned 12 times
7). Theft (8th commandment) condemned 4 times
8). False Witness (9th commandment) condemned 4 times
9). Covetousness (10th commandment) condemned 9 times
10). But, we are never commanded to observe the Sabbath in the NT.

2. DID YOU KNOW, IN the NEW TESTAMENT’S LIST of SINS, SABBATH BREAKING is NEVER MENTIONED? See these texts…
In Mark 7:21 22, 13 sins are listed. Jesus did not mention breaking the Sabbath.
In Romans 1:29 32, 20 sins are listed and not one of them is Sabbath breaking.
In Galatians 5:19 21, a list of 15 sins are given, but Sabbath breaking is not there.
In 2 Timothy 3:1 4 there's a list of 18 sins, but not once is Sabbath breaking mentioned!
In Revelation 21: 8, seven types of sin are listed that will get one thrown into the Lake of Fire – but
Sabbath breaking is not first on the list of sins, or even mentioned!
In Revelation 22:15, six types of sinners are seen outside the New Jerusalem, but Sabbath-breakers are not
the first ones named, or even mentioned!

3. The basis for Christ’s Church is the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount. There is no Beatitude that says, “Blessed are the Sabbath-keepers, for they shall be My special people.” In fact, in all of Christ’s lessons, when He refers to the Commandments, He never brings up the Sabbath Commandment! Jesus never brings up the Sabbath at all! He answers questions from the Pharisees about His disciples observance, and He seems to perform miracles on the Sabbath to call attention to the fact that One greater than the law was among them. But they missed the point. The only time Jesus brought up the Sabbath was in Matt 24, where He is describing the destruction of Jerusalem, and urges them to pray their flight won’t have to be in winter or on the Sabbath. The winter was a matter of convenience, so perhaps was the Sabbath - as the gates would be closed and carrying burdens/ fleeing would make them stand out. Paul spells out the case for Christianity in his epistles, and the Apostle to the Gentiles NEVER explains about the blessings of Sabbath keeping. He never asks how the new believers are doing with learning to keep the wonderful Sabbath. All the references in Acts of Paul going to the synagogue on the Sabbath are about him converting Jews to Christ, never about him taking new Gentiles with him so they could learn about the blessings of Sabbath keeping.

4. But Paul does write the next 3 statements...“So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival(yearly Sabbath) or a new moon(monthly Sabbath) or Sabbaths( weekly),” Col 2: 16 NKJV.
“But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days (Sabbaths) and months (New Moons) and seasons (Feasts) and years (Sabbatical year and year of Jubilee). I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.” Gal 4: 9 -11 NKJV. “
“One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.” Rom 14:5,6 NKJV

5. A key verse for Sabbath keeping is found in Matt 5: 17-18. “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled” NKJV. Is Matthew talking about the 10 Commandment Law here or the 5 books of Moses, the Torah? We will look at the other places Matthew uses “law” to see what he is referring to. “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets” 7:12. “For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John” 11:13. “Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?” 12:5. (The law referred to here is not the Ten Commandments, but Lev. 24: 5-9 which gives the duties of the priests.) “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself” 22:36-39. (The first quotation is from Deut 6:5 and the second one is from Lev 19:18 – the 10 commandments are not quoted by Jesus.) “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” 22:40. This obviously refers to the Torah and not the 10 Commandments. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone” 23:23. Again, law refers here to more than just the 10 Commandments. These are all the places Matthew uses law – and they overwhelmingly refer to the Torah, not the 10 Commandments, as Adventists teach regarding Matt 5: 17-18. So it is the Torah, the 5 books of Moses, that is not going to pass away until all is fulfilled.

6. Another key Sabbath keeping text is found in Rev 12:17 “And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” John, the writer of Revelation, uses two different words – nomos when referring to Moses and old covenant law, and it is translated “law.” John also uses entole, which never refers to the old covenant and usually refers to the new covenant of love, and it is translated “commandment(s).” In Rev 12:17, John used entole. Other examples of entole are “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father” John 10:18. “For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak” John 12: 49-50. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another” John 13:34. “If you love Me, keep My commandments” John 14:15. Examples of nomos are “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” John 1:17. “Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph” John 1:45. “Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill Me?” John 7:19 “If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?” John 7:23

7. What about the “testimony of Jesus?” John uses the term other places in Revelation. “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw” Rev 1:1-2. “I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ” Rev 1:9. “Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years” Rev 20:4 NASB. In these verses “testimony of Jesus” Christ is just a term for the gospel.

8. The old covenant had 10 Commandments, the new covenant has only 1 Commandment. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” John 13:34-35 NKJV. Thus in Rom 13:8, 10b NKJV Paul writes “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law… therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” And again to the Galatians Paul writes, “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” Gal 5:14.

9. There are people like David Wilkerson – Teen Challenge (The Cross and The Switchblade), Brother Andrew – “God’s Smuggler” or Corrie ten Boom – “The Hiding Place” and many more, that God raised up to do marvelous work. But God never taught or convicted any of these people to keep the Sabbath – why? If it were God’s top priority, why didn’t He do it? It must not be a big deal with God…

9 ½. Seventh-day Adventists teach that keeping the Sabbath is the seal of God. Too bad the Bible doesn’t agree: “that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory” Eph 1:12-14. So the Holy Spirit seals believers, not keeping the Sabbath.

10. Entrance and ongoing signs of the two Covenants:
A. Circumcision was the entrance into the old covenant. “And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover: No foreigner shall eat it. But every man’s servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then he may eat it… And when a stranger dwells with you and wants to keep the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as a native of the land. For no uncircumcised person shall eat it.” Ex 12:43,44,48 NKJV
B. The Sabbath was the ongoing sign of the old covenant. “speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you” Ex 31:13. “Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed” Ex 31:16-17. “Remember the Sabbath…” Ex 20:8
C. Baptism is the entrance into the new covenant. “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins” Acts 2:38a. “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.” Rom 6:3-5
D. The Lord’s Supper is the ongoing sign of the new covenant. “and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes” 1 Cor 11:24-26.

P.S.: SDA’s are also wrong about Sunday worship. History clearly shows it started in the first century. When you don’t want to know “THE TRUTH,” one can be awfully blind.

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