Hello All,
(Just a general disclaimer that I must insert here at the beginning. I am but a lay person, like most of you. And these weekly “thoughts” are but my own. Not the definitive word on this or any topic. Just my own conclusions derived from my own study and faith in God. The greatest hope I have for these weekly “thoughts” is to have them be a springboard for further study on your part. Not to be a weekly treatise to be blindly accepted. So, please read them with this intent, this motive in mind).
This week’s lesson from “The Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide” is titled “The Risen Lord”. A really good final lesson with lots of ideas to investigate. The idea I chose from this last lesson of the quarter is found in Sunday’s lesson. “As early as the second century, Christians saw significance in the fact that Jesus rose on Sunday. This became the basis for Sunday sacredness”. Graham Maxwell once said that “the hallmark of a Christian is that they always put an opposing view in the best possible light”. I like that observation a lot. If we Christians did that, so much division and strife would not exist. So, for this weekly “thought” I will strive to put Sunday sacredness in the best possible light. And conclude with Sabbath sacredness and some Scriptural guidance about the Sabbath.
Surely, Christ’s resurrection on Sunday morning is instrumental in making Sunday most Christians’ day of worship. Christ’s glorious resurrection is the capstone on His authority as the Son of God. There are other good reasons for Sunday sacredness, too. One reason can be found at the door of the Jews themselves… what the Jews of those early centuries had done to Saturday/ Sabbath. “Their” Sabbath was freighted with so much burden. Besides, the early Christian-Jews were always striving to Judaize Christianity… striving to insert circumcision as fundamental to being saved; along with inserting all their other religious restrictions into a day that was to be a blessing. Also, the Jews are the ones who killed Jesus. Therefore, for Christians, they had an early aversion for the Seventh Day Sabbath observance. It also seemed to be human “works” (a striving to bring the blessings of God to yourself) versus God’s grace (His magnificent gift). Lastly, the Saturday/ Sabbath observance hearkens back to Paul’s letter to the Galatians. That when you come to Christ, you are no longer “under” the Law (see Galatians 3: 19-25). Those who insist on the Saturday/ Sabbath of the 10 Commandments are obviously still under the Law and have not really embraced God’s grace, so they maintained. But before we look at Galatians, let’s look at the “law” that we are no longer “under” when “faith has come” (Galatians 3; 25).
Sadly, for way too long, we Adventists have insisted that the “law” we are no longer “under” is the ceremonial law. However, this is grossly inaccurate. EGW was asked that very question by Uriah Smith after the pivotal 1888 General Conference meeting in Minneapolis. Uriah Smith did not know what to do with her answer. So he filed it away where it stayed hidden for almost 50 years. But it finally came to light and was printed in “Selected Messages Book 1” pg. 233-235. In her letter partially quoted here, EGW states: “I am asked concerning the law in Galatians. What law is the schoolmaster that brings us to Christ? I answer: Both the ceremonial and the moral code of ten commandments”. There it is. The “schoolmaster” that leads us to Christ and the “schoolmaster” we are no longer under is all law including the 10 Commandments. And if that was not enough, she adds this:
“’The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith’ (Gal. 3;24). In this Scripture, the Holy Spirit through the apostle is speaking especially of the moral law… An unwillingness to yield up preconceived opinions, and to accept this truth, lay at the foundation of a large share of the opposition manifested at Minneapolis against the Lord’s message through Brethren [E.T.] Waggoner and [A.T.] Jones. By exciting this opposition Satan succeeded in shutting away for our people, in a great measure, the special power of the Holy Spirit that God longed to impart to them… The light that is to lighten the whole earth with its glory was resisted, and by the action of our own brethren has been in a great degree kept away from the world”.
Yikes. The misunderstanding of which law we are no longer under as Christians is not just a matter of opinion. This is serious. EGW tells us that the “schoolmaster” (Greek paidagogos) that brings us to Christ is no longer relevant once we come to Christ. Thus all law including the 10 commandments become irrelevant, when we come to true faith in Christ. No wonder Uriah Smith did not know what to do with these statements and her adamant assertions. It would appear on the surface that our Christian brethren may be right about Sunday sacredness. Sabbath observance, as specified in the law, is part of the law we are no longer “under”. An insistence of Saturday/ Sabbath observance from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday could be seen as “works of the law”. And as Paul says, “for by the works of the law, no flesh shall be justified” (Galatians 2:16).
In his pivotal book to the Galatians which we just quoted from, we read Paul’s passionate presentation of faith versus works. Paul contends that the Law had a limited purpose. We can help clear this up a little by realizing that the “paidagogos” is not really the “schoolmaster”. That Greek word really means, “a servant whose office it was to take the children to school” (Strong’s Concordance G3807). Oh, all law is not really the schoolmaster. It is the servant that leads us to school and to the real Schoolmaster… to the real Teacher… to the real Rabbi. Now this helps a lot. And makes good sense. The law including the “10” are to keep us safe and headed to Christ, the Teacher. But once we make it to “school” and have real faith in our “Teacher”, we no longer need the law to bring us to where we can be taught. In fact, if we insist on staying with the paidagogos and refuse to come to the Teacher to be taught, we are recalcitrant and obstinate. We are stiff-necked children who are defiantly disobedient. The Father wants us to go to “school” to have faith in the Teacher and be taught by that Teacher, His Son. But those of us who hold to the Law (the paidagogos) and the works of the law, will not let go of our works nor of the law (the paidagogos).
Once we come to the Teacher, what does He teach us? He teaches us what it really means to “commit adultery” = to lust in your heart (see Matthew 6: 21-22). He teaches us what it really means to “murder” = to have anger in your heart (see Matthew 6: 27-28). He even teaches us about the Sabbath Day = that it is lawful to do good (see Mark 3:1-6); that the Sabbath is made for you and not you for it (Mark 2:27): and you and I [each of us are son-of-man along with the Son] are lord of the Sabbath (see Mark 2:28). This is different. Christ the teacher did not come “to destroy the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill [to make full] (see Matthew 5: 17). This fulfillment is so different then “law”. Laws are commands put upon us from outside of us. And those laws have no power to change us inside where only true obedience can spring. All else is merely compliance because we are commanded to comply. Law is to keep us safe, until we come to faith in Christ, the Teacher. And once having true faith in the Teacher, He will show us the true meaning of… well… everything. And when He does, the term “Law” ceases to define anything. There is a new word that defines true faith and true obedience. In a single word = “Love”. “Love is the fulfillment of the Law” (Romans 13: 10). Christ came to fulfill the law… whose fulfillment is love. Now we can see what Paul in Galatians was driving at. “Do we then make void the Law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law” (Romans 3:31). The law is established in the heart where it always belonged. In the heart where it is no longer “law” because “the law brings about wrath“ (Romans 4:15). But now the Teacher and the Teacher’s Holy Spirit brings “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law” (Galatians 5: 22-23).
So what about the Sabbath day? God is pretty clear about which day it is. But the true “keeping” of the day is not found in simply doing (or not doing) what you are commanded. This is not obedience but compliance. True obedience springs from a heart of love. It is evidenced by “doing good” (op. cit.) on the Sabbath day (as Christ always did) and in calling “the Sabbath a delight” (Isaiah 58:13). This can only be truthfully done by a heart renewed. What God wants for me and you on the Sabbath Day is great blessing to each and every one of us. Found in the outworking of love.
So, let us go to “school” each day, sit in “school” and at the feet of the “Teacher”; listening, submissive, humble and teachable. Christ will surely teach us… if we are willing to let go of the paidagogos (the law and our own works of the law) and be taught. That is the problem with "works of the Law”. They are all about me and my goodness. A Babel tower of my own goodness that I will not allow to be cast to the earth as the worthless rubble it is.
My prayer for each of us is that each day, we move from being a child who needs and defends the law as the ultimate, to a mature student of Christ who sees the law for the emergency measure it is, and defends love as the ultimate.
With brotherly love, Jim