FALSE TEACHING # 2: SABBATH-KEEPING
Seventh-day Adventism says that the sabbath was given to Adam in the Garden of Eden and that God intended for all men to keep it.
“God instituted the Sabbath in Eden; and so long as the fact that He is our Creator continues to be a reason why we should worship Him, so long the Sabbath will continue as its sign and memorial. … The keeping of the Sabbath is a sign of loyalty to the true God” (Ellen White, The Great Controversy, p. 386).
Adventism says that Jesus and the apostles kept the sabbath and that it is binding upon all Christians.
“… from this it is evident that all Ten Commandments are binding in the Christian dispensation, and that Christ had no thought of changing any of them. One of these commands is the observance of the seventh day as the Sabbath…” (Bible Footlights, p. 37).
“The example of Jesus is clear and consistent. His custom was a Sabbath-keeping custom. … Yet in spite of this, we find a strange situation in the world today. For though we have the same Christ as our example, the same Bible as our guide, yet we find two Sabbath days kept by Christians…” (George Vandeman, Planet in Rebellion, p. 277).
They claim that Christians kept the sabbath until the fourth century when Constantine changed the law and forced churches to worship on Sunday.
“Constantine was the Roman emperor. He was a sun worshiper, but he was also a keen politician. He wanted to please everybody. It was while still a pagan that he decreed that all government offices should be closed upon the first day of the week—’the venerable day of the sun.’ The church, which had now been established in Rome, had been quick to see the temporal advantage of compromise with paganism … so it was that after a few brief years, when Sunday had gained a foothold, the Roman church in the Council of Laodicea set aside the clear command of God and decreed the change from the seventh to the first day of the week” (Planet in Rebellion, p. 290).
WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS
1. The sabbath, though mentioned in Genesis 2:2-3, was not delivered to man until it was given to Israel in the wilderness (Nehemiah 9:13-14). Ellen White added to Scripture when she taught that Adam and the patriarchs kept the sabbath.
2. The sabbath was not given to mankind in general, but to Israel alone as a special sign between her and God (Ex. 31:13, 17). If the sabbath had been kept by mankind from the creation, it could not have been given as a special sign to Israel.
3. The New Testament teaches that the believer is not bound by the sabbath law. See Colossians 2:16-17.
4. The sabbath was a type of salvation. “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his” (Heb. 4:9-10). As God rested on the seventh day from His work of creation, the believer today rests in the completed work of Christ. In order to enter into God’s rest, a person must accept God’s work and must cease from his own work (Jn. 6:28-29). Salvation must be accepted as God’s gift.
5. Jesus kept the sabbath because He was born under the law to fulfill the demands of the law. See Galatians 4:4-5. The Lord Jesus made Himself a servant and was born under the law of Moses that He might redeem sinners from the curse of the law and bring them into the eternal liberty of sonship.
6. It cannot be proven that the apostle Paul and the early churches observed the sabbath. It is true that Paul met in the synagogues on the sabbath in order to preach to the Jews assembled there, but this does not mean that he observed the sabbath. According to the Bible, the reason Paul visited synagogues on the sabbath was to preach the gospel. Paul’s desire was to preach Christ. He was burdened for his own people, the Jews. So he went where the Jews were to preach Christ to them. Consider Acts 13:14-44; 16:13-14; 17:2-4; 18:4.
7. There is much evidence in the Bible and elsewhere that the early Christians met and worshiped on the first day rather than on the sabbath.
On the first day Jesus rose from the dead (Mk. 16:9).
On the first day Jesus first appeared to his disciples (Mk. 16:9).
On the first day Jesus met with the disciples at different places (Mk. 16:9-11; Mt. 28:8-10; Lk. 24:34; Mk. 16:12-13; Jn. 20:19-23).
On the first day Jesus blessed the disciples (Jn. 20:19).
On the first day Jesus imparted to the disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit (Jn. 20:22).
On the first day Jesus commissioned the disciples to preach the gospel (Jn. 20:21; with Mk. 16:9-15).
On the first day Jesus ascended to Heaven, was seated at the right hand of the Father, and was made Head of all (Jn. 20:17; Eph. 1:20).
On the first day the gospel of the risen Christ was first preached (Lk. 24:34).
On the first day Jesus explained the Scriptures to the disciples (Lk. 24:27, 45).
On the first day the Holy Spirit descended (Acts 2:1). Pentecost was on the 50th day after the sabbath following the wave offering (Le. 23:15-16). Thus, Pentecost was always on a Sunday.
The Christians met to worship on the first day (Acts 20:6-7; 1 Cor. 16:2).
Since those days, the vast majority of Christians have met to worship on the first day of the week. They do this in honor of the resurrection of their Savior. Christ was in the tomb on the sabbath and rose as the firstborn from the dead on the first day. The sabbath signifies the last day of the old creation (Gen. 2:2). Sunday is the first day of the new creation.
8. Sunday is not the sabbath. Bible-believing Christians do not observe the sabbath by assembling on Sunday. The New Testament believer is redeemed from the obligations of the Law of Moses. Romans 14:1-13 and Colossians 2:16 clearly state that believers are not to be judged in respect to holy days. The Galatians’ respect of holy days caused the apostle Paul to fear that they were not even saved! See Galatians 4:10-11, 20.
9. The idea that Sunday observance will be the mark of the beast is not found in Scripture. This idea came from Ellen White. It is true that the Antichrist will “think to change times and laws” (Daniel 7:25), yet nowhere does the Bible say that this will involve the sabbath or Sunday. The Bible does not reveal exactly what laws the Antichrist will change.
and these are the Signs of the Times…….
This report is excerpted from AVOIDING THE SNARE OF SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISM. This book has been called the best on the subject by the editor of The Baptist Challenge. Now it has been throughly updated and enlarged. It is diligently researched from official publications of the Seventh-day Adventist organization and proves conclusively that the Seventh-day Adventist gospel is false. The book begins with a chapter entitled “Adventists Wanted Me to Revise This Book,” describing a deceptive attempt by Seventh-day Adventists to have me change the book. The major divisions of the book are: “Adventist History Proves It is Heretical” and “Adventist Doctrine Proves It Is Heretical.” The book analyzes Adventist doctrines such as Sabbath-keeping, Soul-sleep, Annihilation of the wicked, Ellen White as a Prophetess, Investigative Judgment, Misuse of the Mosaic Law, and Vegetarianism. The chapter “Why Some Have Considered Seventh-day Adventism Evangelical” analyzes Walter Martin’s (author of Kingdom of the Cults) faulty view of Adventism. The book includes selections from D.M. Canright’s 1898 book Seventh-day Adventism Renounced. Canright was an early leader in Adventism who left and became a Baptist pastor.
I am saddened to see how you use the scripture to misleed. At creation God blessed the sabbath. Why would he do that if it had no importance to the people that He created. The Ten Commandments tells us to REMEMBER the sabbath etc. Remember what? Something that he never had instituted in the first place? If you remove the Sabbath comandment why not remove the other 9. It’s ok then to murder lie, cheat, commit adultery, not to honor God and so on. If Jesus had planned on doing away with the sabbath or it had no importance in the first place then why did He keep it, as His custom was. Wouldn’t he somewhere long the line say something about it? That is unless it was already understood and needed no further comment by him. If you read your list of first day comments intheir setting you should be able to discern that there is nothing there that makes the 1st day holy or special. Yes we do hold His resurection special. We have baptism to honor his death burial and resurection. I thought the baptists understood this one of all the Christian groups. Even the 7th -day baptists get it. Why did Jesus REST on the sabbath day in the grave and was resurected on the first day so that the work to save souls could go on for the new testament times. Why did Isaiah write about the Sabbath in the earth made new if it was not meant to be kept along with the other 9 commandments now. While the comandments don’t save you they do show where you stand. How can you claim to be saved by His blood and then wifully disobey what He asks. “If You love me, keep my Commandments.”
You may also want to check on the life of Mr. Canright who died while his life was in shambles.
Again, you are trying to base a truth in the Bible that does not exist. 1 Corinthians 14:38
Your doctrine Tom of honoring the sabbath has holes in it. ANY Biblical truth does not.
If you believe in a Friday crucifixion, Jesus did not rise on Sun”day”, rather he rose on the evening of the first day (John 20:1), prior to the women arriving at the tomb. If you believe in a Wednesday crucifixion, Jesus must have risen on Saturday evening, as soon as the 3 days and 3 nights were over. Either way, he did not rise when there was any light on Sunday.
By the way, I am a Seventh-Day Adventist, but we truly respect our Baptist brethren. Of all the other Protestant denominations, I believe the Baptists to the closes to the Word of God. I have never heard a SDA preacher denounce the Baptists, and many leaders admire the Baptist fellowship.
My suggestion for the headings of your page, is that you characterize it, not as SDA false teaching, because your disproof requires as much, if not more, conjecture than simply obeying the 4th commandment as it reads, and because other Sabbatarians also use the arguments you have listed to defend their position. Rather, it may be more appropriate to characterize is as a SDA alternate teaching or minority opinion.
My God bless your ministry, till we see Him again.
Hello Joseph. What does it matter what day it was?
It’s not that meeting on Saturday or Sunday is right or wrong. To teach, as Bible doctrine, that either day must be observed is placing one “under the Law”. Romans 6:14 “…..for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”
If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Saviour Joseph, as a free gift from God, without any works on your part, but accepted that Christ died for you, plus and minus nothing, then you are a brother in Christ indeed. Being an Independent Baptist (there is a huge difference), or being A Seventh Day Adventist will not help in any shape, form, or fashion as far as getting one to Heaven.
The SDA doctrine is contrary to God’s Word and there are no minority or majority opinions. “Doth not interpretations belong to God?” (Genesis 40:8). Of course they do. Therefore opinions do not matter because “no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.” (2 Peter 1:20)
I am a seventh day adventist and I must say your website has been extremely helpful. It has led me to some conclusions about that two great bodies of believers–Adventists and Sunday-observing Christians, and you have opened a whole new way of looking at things. Thank you, Steve Graham
“If You love me, keep my Commandments.”
are not the old testament word for Commandments and the one Jesus used two different words???
Old testament Heb is Mitsva…. meaning gift and Jesus used the word meaning his commandments???
I have found over the years that those who like to refer to the Hebrew or Greek often think that head knowledge somehow over rules Gods Word. If the Bible I was using was not trustworthy enough to where I had to revert back to Hebrew/Greek I would trash it! Matthew 4:4 says ” Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (KJV 1769). If we are suppose to live by that (and we are) we must have something to trust. Apparently you do not. You feel you must revert back to the Hebrew or Greek for an explanation. God has preserved His Word for the English speaking people in the KJV, not the NKJV or the 21st Century KJV, but the KJV of 1769 that has stood the test of time. You see, you don’t reakky want to know the answer to anything, you just want to show others just how smart you really are. 1 Corinthians 8:2 “And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.