In Him Ministries:

Seventh-day Adventism Refuted: The Sabbath and the First Day of the week according to the New Covenant (an outline)      1) The Sabbath was not made a commandment before the time of Moses (Neh. 9:13-14). The first time God commanded anyone to keep the seventh day as a Sabbath rest (Hebrew: shabbāt), was after the exodus, as a prelude to God giving Israel the rest of the Law on Mount Sinai (Exod. 16; 20:8).      • Paul tells us in Romans 5:13-14 that there was no law given from the time of Adam until the time of Moses (Gal. 3:17; cf. Gen. 15:13; Exod. 12:40-41; Acts 7:6). From Adam to Moses there is no record of anyone keeping the Sabbath. In Genesis 2 God speaks of the seventh day of creation week and not the Sabbath. Genesis 2:1-3 was a description of what God did, not what God requires us to do. There is no reason to believe that God viewed every seventh day as holy. God declared that particular day (the actual seventh day of creation week) special and holy because He had completed His work of creation on it. 2) The Sabbath was meant for Israel alone and served as a ceremonial sign of the Mosaic Covenant (Exod. 31:16-17; Neh. 9:13-14; Ezek. 20:12, 20). Christians live under the New Covenant (2 Cor. 3; Heb. 8). We were never required to observe any of the signs of the Mosaic Covenant. Circumcision (Gen. 17:9-14; Lev. 12:1-3); the Passover (Exod. 12:13-14; Lev. 23:4-8); and the Sabbaths (Exod. 31:13) were all made obsolete by the New Covenant (Acts 15; Gal. 5:11; 6:15; Col. 2:11; 1 Cor. 5:7; Gal. 4:10-11; Col. 2:13-17; Rom. 14:5-12; Eph. 2:11-16).      • The Mosaic Law, or the Old Covenant was given to the nation of Israel alone (Exod. 19; Lev. 26:46; Rom. 9:4). It was made up of three parts: the Ten Commandments, the ordinances, and the system of worship which included the priesthood, the tabernacle, the offerings, and the festivals (Exod. 20-40; Lev. 1-7; 23).      • The Sabbath was never intended to be a permanent ordinance. It functioned as a sign of God’s covenant with Israel. Exodus 31:13 demonstrates that the Sabbath was the sign for the Sinai covenant. We might think the Sinai covenant never ends since we are told that “it is a sign forever” of the Lord’s covenant with Israel (Exod. 31:17; cf. Ezek. 20:12, 20), but it is clear from the New Testament that the Old Covenant is no longer in force. The Sabbath was not viewed as a universal ordinance for all mankind to keep but as a specific institution for Israel alone. As a sign of the covenant it was to last as long as that covenant lasted.      • Some things are said to be eternal in the Bible that are no longer binding on the Christian Church. The word for eternal has different meanings in the Hebrew and the Greek languages and we need to understand their uses. Circumcision, the Passover and the Sabbath are all said to be eternal (Gen. 17:9-14; Exod. 12:13-14; 31:13, 17; 1 Chron. 16:15; Psalm 119:160; Isa. 40:8), and are no longer required under the New Covenant.      • The word “eternal” is used in the “sense of a cycle or age”. The object has served its purpose and met its fulfillment.      • There are other things that God made holy (or sanctified) in the Old Testament that no longer apply to us today (Gen. 2:3; Exod. 20:8; Psalm 65:4; 1 Kings 9:3; Exod. 40:9).      • The Ten Commandments are called the ‘words’ of the covenant. The Ten Commandments are the framework, or outline for the rest of the 613 laws of the Old Covenant. All the laws of the Torah were given to set apart the nation of Israel as distinct from all the other nations (Exod. 19:5).      • The Ten Commandments were guiding principles that refer to general situations, such as murder, theft, adultery and bearing false witness in court. The fine points of the Law such as, “is killing in wartime murder” are all worked out in other books of the Torah (Num. 31:2; Deut. 20:16-17). The only laws that non-Jews were required to observe were the seven Noahide laws, several of which overlap with the Ten Commandments.      • The Mosaic Covenant was conditional upon Israel’s faithful response to keeping the covenant. Exodus 19-24 are key chapters to understanding both redemptive history and the history of Israel as a nation. As a conditional promise, the Mosaic Covenant was dependent on the peoples’ response to the law God gave through His servant Moses.      • In Exodus 19:5-6 God tells Moses that “if” Israel obeys, they will be His chosen people, and His treasured possession. Ultimately, these blessings were to be extended to all other nations and people. This conditional covenant is structured after a Hittite, suzerain-vassal covenant treaty from 1400 to 1300 B.C., and it was meant to bring Israel closer to realizing the promises made by God in the Abrahamic Covenant.      • The suzerain-vassal covenant treaty was a very common type of covenant used between nations at the time of the exodus. Israel had covenant blessings and curses spelled out for them in Deuteronomy 28-30 and Leviticus 26.      • Ultimately, Israel broke their covenant with God and received the curse of captivity. After their captivity was over in 586 B.C., Israel was restored to their land. Israel once again broke their covenant with God and received the final curse, they were destroyed as a nation and God brought the Old Covenant to an end. (Matt. 23:37-39; 21:42-44; Luke 13:34-35; 1 Kings 9:7; Jer. 22:5; 1 Pet. 2:9)      • When the Jews rejected Jesus as their Messiah, they were permanently and irreversibly rejected as God’s exclusive covenant people. (Jer. 12:14-17; 18; 26:1-6; Dan. 9:26-27)      • Because Israel rejected their messiah, Jesus instituted the New Covenant with His Church, made up of both Jewish and Gentile believers. 3) The Gentile nations were never commanded to keep the Sabbath in the Old Testament, or condemned if they did not. If Sabbath observance was meant to be a universal, eternal, moral principle then you would expect to find scripture passages that condemn the Gentiles for breaking it, but there are none.      • The stranger was commanded to keep the Sabbath while they were in Jerusalem. A person could choose to live in Israel but just like here, they had to keep the constitutional laws of the land. If they were out trying to buy and sell, they would be tempting God’s people to sin. If they wanted to keep Passover and the other Jewish feasts the men had to be circumcised and become Jews’ (Exod. 12:43-49). Those who became followers of God would become Israelites in God’s view (Jer. 12:16) and could participate in the Passover and the other feasts (Exod. 12:48-49). 4) There is no command anywhere in the New Testament for Christians to keep any day of the week holy.      • Obviously, new converts were expected to follow the moral teachings of Christ and His Apostles. However, if the Sabbath was still a sign or seal for the Christian Church, then we would expect to find a command to keep the Sabbath in the New Testament, but there is none. For the authors of the New Testament to leave out something as important as a command to keep the Sabbath would have been unthinkable! 5) The Old Covenant was temporary by its very nature:      • The law had to change for Jesus to become our new High priest (Heb. 7:12).      • The law was weak, useless and made nothing perfect (Heb. 7:18-19).      • God found fault with the Old Covenant and created a better covenant, enacted on better promises (Heb. 8:7-8).      • The book of Hebrews said the Old Covenant was obsolete, growing old and ready to vanish away (Heb. 8:13). [The book of Hebrews was written before the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in A.D. 70.]      • The law written on stone tablets were part of the obsolete covenant (Heb. 9:1-4; 2 Cor. 3:1-11; 3:12-18).      • The Law was only a shadow of the good things to come and can never make someone perfect (Heb. 8:1-5; 10:1; cf. Col. 2:17). 6) The Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 did not order Gentiles to keep the Sabbath.      • The Jerusalem Council contains no reference to Sabbath-keeping. The Mosaic Covenant and the covenant sign of circumcision were discussed and deemed unnecessary (Acts 15:1-5; 15:19-20; 15:28-29). The Apostles agreed that forcing the Gentiles to keep the Mosaic Covenant would be like placing a yoke of bondage around their necks (Acts 15:10-11; cf. Gal. 5:1-4). If Sabbath-keeping was a requirement for the New Covenant Church, it would have been mentioned in the discussion because it would have been an unfamiliar practice for many of the Gentile converts. Sabbath-keeping was not discussed because it was not made a requirement for Christians who live under the New Covenant.      • The Law of Moses is obsolete. In Romans 10:4, Paul tells us that Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness. Galatians 3 says the law came 430 years after, and was added to the Abrahamic Covenant of circumcision. The law was given until the “seed should come.” In Christ, the seed has come. The book of Hebrews teaches that the Mosaic Law provided the basis for the Levitical priesthood, but for a new priesthood to be established (on the order of Melchizedek), a change in the law was required (Heb. 7:18-22). Paul specifically refers to the Decalogue in 2 Corinthians 3:4-11 by saying the commandments written in stone have come to an end. 7) The Sabbath law is not written on the unregenerate man’s conscience like the other laws of the Decalogue are. In Romans 2:14-15, we are taught that the universal principles of God’s Law are instinctively written on man’s heart . There is a universal agreement that murder and theft are immoral and wrong in societies all around the world, but we do not see a natural tendency for people to keep the seventh day Sabbath anywhere. 8) In Galatians 4:9-11, Paul had to rebuke the Galatians for thinking God expected them to observe special days as holy, including the weekly, seventh day Sabbath. The rituals, ceremonies, and festivals of the Jewish religious calendar which God had given to Israel were never required for the church. Paul warned the Galatians, just as he did the Colossians and the Romans against legalistically observing them as if they were required by God or could earn favor with Him (Col. 2:16-17; Rom. 14:1-6). 9) The New Testament explicitly teaches that Sabbath-keeping along with the other ceremonial requirements of the Old Covenant Law are not required under the New Covenant (Matt. 11:28-30; 12:1-8; Acts 15:1-28; 2 Cor. 3:4-11; Col. 2:14-17; Gal. 4:10-11; Rom. 14:5-12; Eph. 2:11-18; Heb. 3:7-4:13; 8:6-9:4; 10:23-25). 10) Acts 20:7 says that the church met on the first day of the week to break bread, which was the common meal associated with the communion service (1 Cor. 11:20-22). And 1 Corinthians 16:1-3 says, “Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem.”      • Sunday (the First day of the week), was called the Lord’s Day by the early church. It was the day the church regularly gathered for worship in remembrance of Christ’s resurrection. (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2, 9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19; 1 Cor. 16:2). The writings of the Early Church Fathers confirm that the church met on the First day of the week by the close of the New Testament period (contrary to the claims of many seventh day Sabbatarians who say that Sunday worship was not instituted until the fourth century).      • The phrase in 1 Corinthians 16:2 that says, “that there will be no collecting when I come” shows that Christians were told not to save up their offerings at home each week, but to put it into a common treasury every Lord’s Day.      • The Sabbath was not transferred to Sunday either. Every day is a Sabbath rest for believers who put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone for their eternal salvation (Matt. 11:28-30; Heb. 4:9-11). 11) In Romans 14:5-13, Paul forbids those people who held certain days higher, or with greater esteem than another day (a Sabbath day, Feast Days, and fasting days are all in view), to condemn those who do not (Gentile believers). We are not to bind another person’s conscience with commands that are not applicable to the Christian life. There are two commands we are to pursue where our Savior gets all the glory, loving God and loving our neighbor. When we do those two things we fulfill the law of Christ. 12) In Colossians 2:16-17, false teachers were evidently insisting on abstinence from certain foods and observance of certain days. Paul said that those were only shadows of what was to come and they have been made obsolete by the coming of Christ (Heb. 8:13). We are told not to judge anyone over those issues. The phrase “a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day” refers to the annual, monthly, and weekly holy days of the Hebrew calendar (cf. 1 Chron. 23:31; 2 Chron. 2:4; 8:13; 31:3; Neh. 10:33; Isa. 1:13-14; Ezek. 45:17; 46:1-11; Hosea 2:11). The weekly, seventh day Sabbath is clearly meant because Paul had already mentioned the festivals and new moon celebrations and would have no reason to repeat himself. 13) Hebrews 4:1-11 tells us that the rest God wants us to enter is the rest of faith. It is not about keeping a day of the week holy. The book of Hebrews is talking about resting in Christ’s offer of salvation. The Jewish Christians were warned not to go back to Judaism and leave Christ behind by backsliding or apostatizing (Heb. 5:11-6:20). Trying to keep the Sabbath day as a moral obligation is said to be lapsing back into Judaism and putting yourself back under the law. Returning to Judaism is described as going back to perdition because only Jesus can save us, not the Old Covenant system of rules and regulations. Jesus Christ is the only “source of eternal salvation to all who obey him” (Heb. 5:7-9; cf. Eph. 2:11-18). 14) The Apostle Paul warned Christians not to judge other Christians regarding the Sabbaths and Holy days of Judaism (Col. 2:14-17; Rom. 14:5-12; Eph. 2:11-16).      • It has been argued that since Paul calls the Sabbath in Colossians 2:16 “a shadow of the things that were to come”, he could not be referring to the Sabbath of the Decalogue. But Colossians 1:16 has already shown that all things were made by Christ and exist for His sake. Adam himself was “a pattern of the One to come” (Rom. 5:14). The Sabbath and all of the festivals recorded in the Old Testament were instituted to point back to the mighty works of God in the creation or in their deliverance from bondage in Egypt. They also pointed forward to God’s new creation and new act of deliverance at the end of time. The ceremonial aspects of the Old Covenant law have come to an end. The dietary regulations, sacrifices, feasts and festivals were only shadows, or types pointing to Christ. Since Christ is the reality, the shadows serve no purpose (Heb. 8:5; 10:1). 15) The command to observe the seventh day Sabbath is the only one of the Ten Commandments not repeated after the resurrection. The writers of the New Testament repeated the nine moral commandments of the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments), but never repeated the Sabbath commandment as binding.      • The Old Covenant predicted the Sabbath would be brought to an end (Isa. 1:13; Lam. 2:6; Hosea 2:11). Sabbath-keeping along with the other ceremonial requirements of the Old Covenant Law are not required in the New Covenant (Acts 15:1-28; Col. 2:14-17; Gal. 4:10-11; Rom. 14:5-12; Eph. 2:11-18).      • Jesus Christ promises to give us His true rest in Matthew 11:28-30, and Hebrews 4:1-11 describes His rest for the New Covenant believer.      • Christians are never told they have to keep the Old Covenant Law. We are told to keep the law of Christ.      • The law of Christ, or the law of the Spirit of life, is the only binding law for the New Covenant Church (Gal. 6:2; 1 Cor. 9:19-23; Rom. 6:14; 8:1, 2, 10, 11). It is made up of Christ’s law of love (John 13:34-35; Matt. 5:44; Gal. 6:2; Rom. 13:8-10; James 2:8-12; 1 Jn. 4:7-8; 5:3), Christ’s commands and teachings (John 13:34; Phil. 2:4-12; Matt. 28:20; 2 Pet. 3:2); and the commands and teachings found in the New Testament epistles (Acts 1:1-2; 15:1-28; 2 Pet. 3:2; Rom. 8:1-4; Eph. 2:20; Jude 1:17; 1 Jn. 5:3).      • The law of Christ and the Law of Moses have similar commandments, but just because nine of the Ten Commandments can be found in the New Testament, it does not mean that the Law of Moses is still in effect. If a Christian steals something, they break the law of Christ, not the Law of Moses. If we choose to keep part of the law, such as the dietary restrictions, we are free to do so, but keeping the Law of Moses out of the belief that we are obligated to do so denies the perfect and finished work of Jesus Christ.      • The Apostle Paul wrote over one third of the New Testament and never once told his Gentile converts to keep the Mosaic Law, or the Sabbath. Paul gave his churches instruction on everything they needed to know about Christianity: morality, giving, leadership principles, church organization, spiritual gifts, theology, and everything else they needed to know to live the Christian life and never even once commanded anyone to keep the seventh day Sabbath. None of the other Apostles did either. 16) The Mosaic Covenant served as a dividing wall, or partition that was meant to separate Israel from the unbelieving Gentiles (Eph. 2:11-15; John 7:35; Acts 14:1, 5; 18:4; Rom. 3:9; 3:29; 9:24; 1 Cor. 1:22-24; etc.), Christ brought unity between the two groups by doing away with the partition. The Old Covenant separated the people of Israel from the rest of the world (John 4:22; Rom. 9:4-5). The Gentiles were separated from the commonwealth of Israel and they were strangers to the covenants of promise. The New Covenant made both groups into one, “the church of God” (1 Cor. 10:32). The New Covenant fulfills all the divine promises from the previous covenants in Christ (2 Cor. 1:20; Heb. 7:20-22; 8:6; 9:15). Christ abolished the dividing wall by fulfilling it and removing the law’s condemnation for all those who believe in Him (Matt. 5:17; Rom. 8:1; Heb. 9:11-14; 10:1-10). When we are in Christ, we become a new person, part of a new human race made in the image of Christ, the second Adam (1 Cor. 15:45, 49; Eph. 4:24). The “new” refers to something completely unlike what it was before. It refers to being different in both kind and quality. Spiritually speaking, when someone comes to faith in Christ they are no longer a Jew or Gentile, they are simply a Christian (Rom. 10:12-13; Gal. 3:28). 17) Jesus lived and taught under the Old Covenant Law to free us from the bondage and curse of the Law.      • Jesus was born under Law (Gal. 4:4-7). Jesus taught the law faithfully but rejected the unbiblical traditions of the Scribes and Pharisees (Luke 10:25-27).      • Jesus was sinless under the Law (John 8:46). Jesus was the promised Messiah who came and fulfilled the Law of Moses (Matt. 5:17; 1 Pet. 2:21-22; Heb. 4:14; 1 Jn. 3:5).      • Jesus is the only person who has ever kept the law perfectly. He did everything the law required of Him, never once breaking any of its commandments. Because He was sinless, Jesus was able to meet the requirements of the law to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. His death redeemed those who follow Him from the curse of the law (Rom. 5:19; Gal. 3:13).      • The curse of the Law was removed by Jesus’ death (Gal. 4:4-7; also: Rom. 6:14; 7:4; Heb. 10:1; Rom. 3:21-26; John 1:17; Rom. 10:4; Phil. 3:9; Gal. 3:13; 5:1; Eph. 2:14-15; Col. 2:13-17; 2 Cor. 3:3; Gal. 3:21-22; Heb. 7:19).      • Christ has taken away our bondage to the Law and given us freedom in place of our slavery (John 8:32-36; Acts 15:10; Rom. 8:15; Gal. 2:4; 3:25; 5:1).      • Those who have become Christians live under the New Covenant “Law of Christ” (John 13:34; Gal. 6:2).      • Jesus instituted the New Covenant when He died on Calvary’s cross (Jer. 31:31; Matt. 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20; Rom. 11:27; 1 Cor. 11:25; 2 Cor. 3:6-11; Heb. 7:22; 8:8-10; 9:15; Heb. 10:16; 12:24; 13:20). The New Covenant is superior to the Old Covenant in every way!      • The New Testament is clear, the Ten Commandments and all of the other 613 laws of the Old Covenant were abolished (2 Cor. 3:6-11; Rom. 14:5-12; Gal. 4:10-11; 4:21; 5:1-4; Eph. 2:11-16; Col. 2:14-17; Heb. 7-10). Christians live under the New Covenant, not the old. The New Covenant is not the Old Covenant repeated all over again. Each covenant has its own laws. The Law of the Old Covenant has come to an end! The New Covenant is the legal code Christians are told to live by. Paul said he wasn’t under the Law of the Jews any longer because he was under the law of Christ (1 Cor. 9:19-23). The only laws Christians are required to keep are the laws expressed in the New Covenant; not a mixture of laws from both the Old and the New Covenants.   See also: The Law of Christ: The Sabbath and the New Covenant Understanding the Old & New Covenants The Old Covenant Law Has Come to an End What was the law placed beside the ark of the covenant? “Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible” “Used by permission. All rights reserved.” ESV Text Edition: 2016 Seventh-day Adventist Resource Page Links to Helpful Websites, Books and Videos on the SDAs The Seventh-day Adventist Church: (Beliefs and Errors) Learn more about our beliefs Read more Local Ministries Available Serving Denver, Colorado and the Front Range. Email us at: [email protected]