Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy,
but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.Matthew 5: 17- 19
New Covenant Christians understand Jesus to mean that He is fulfilling the law with His life, suffering, death on the Cross and resurrection; thus why He said, "I came to fulfill." Fulfilling the law was His stated purpose and mission while on earth the first time.
The gospel proclaims that in Him, all was fulfilled of the law and prophets! Jesus Himself erased every jot and tittle by His blood and a new heaven and earth were established when He said the words, "It is finished." Jesus is not pointing to a future fulfillment after his life and death.
SDA's Equate the Law with Only the Ten Commandments and a Future Fulfillment
The Seventh-day Adventists church teaches that Jesus is not only speaking of a future fulfillment, but specifying the Ten Commandments as the law in this passage that is to be fulfilled.
But is that what Christ was intending? To tell us not to break the Ten Commandments until He comes the second time?
If we look at the Greek word Jesus used for law, nomos, it specifically meant the complete law in the broadest sense, some translate it as Torah. Nomos means the entirety of the 613 commandments found in the Pentateuch.
Because Jesus used the well known Jewish phrase "law and prophets" we can be certain Jesus is saying that nothing in the Old Testament can be, not one little law or one small prophecy, can be destroyed until all be fulfilled.
Jesus didn't say, "I am fulfilling a few of the laws and prophets." He said, nothing…. nothing can be left undone, even the tiniest little commandment-- even the tithing of the mint and dill must be kept until all is fulfilled.
If Jesus hadn't fulfilled the law and prophets then we would still be required to keep all 613 Jewish laws. Since we no longer practice animal sacrifice or covenantal circumcision, we can know that God fulfilled the entire Torah or we would be practicing these things today. Not only that, we would still be seeking the Messiah, for the prophecy of a Messiah would still be yet unfulfilled.
However, the Adventists do not believe Jesus fulfilled all at the Cross.
They have a complete misunderstanding of the Old and New Covenant and their independent basis on the eternal, Natural Law. They see Jesus as cherry picking from the Old Law and bringing them into the new. But what they don't understand is that there has always been an eternal law. The Jewish system dipped into that eternal well and brought out some of the laws and custom fitted them for the covenant with the Jews.
Jesus gave us the entire well in our New Covenant. It is ours to drink from in its wholeness and fullness. The New Covenant is not lawless, it is completed and Christ summed up with "Love the Lord with all your mind, heart and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself."
Yet for Adventists, because of Ellen White's last day Sabbath prophecies, they must misinterpret the text in order to maintain their beliefs of being the sole remnant.
Let me explain.
Adventists and the Last Day Sabbath Test
Adventists subconsciously insert into Jesus' words the visions of their prophetess, Ellen G. White.
Ellen White had a vision that the Sabbath would be the last day test for Christians. In their visionary's teaching, a faithful believer will become a Sabbatarian (and Seventh-day Adventists). And those who obstinately continue to worship on Sunday will receive the Mark of the Beast and the eternal wrath of God.
Therefore to an Adventists they read the passage like this, "Think not that I am come to destroy the Sabbath. I am not come to destroy, but to make it the most important commandment. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Ten Commandments, till all be fulfilled at my Second Coming."
Within the SDA context of a future fulfillment at the Second Coming and a Sabbath "commandment" it is amazing what they do with what Jesus says next.
The Least in the Kingdom
Because of their prophetess' vision they must then completely rewrite the last part of this passage in their understanding, as: "Whosoever therefore shall break the Sabbath commandment and shall teach men so, in the last days shall be marked with 666 and be eternally annihilated."
Let's look at what Jesus actually said:
"Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."
There are a number of way this passage has been interpreted by scholars, but one thing that it doesn't say is that if someone teaches that the Sabbath is fulfilled that they will end up in SDA hell (annihilation). One thing we can be positive is that Jesus did not say anything coming near what Ellen White wrote.
No one in this particular passage is in hell or going to hell, even
the commandment breakers or the heretics who teach that someone should break a commandment!
Jesus is telling His Jewish disciples that those who teach disobedience will end up being the least in the kingdom! So, at the very worst all a SDA can claim is that those who teach that one doesn't have to keep the Jewish Sabbath will take a low position in heaven! This is quite different from Ellen White's vision.
To conclude, though I want to be careful. Let's not say that we don't have to worry about commandment-breaking, because we do. The New Testament clearly lays out the New Covenant commandments and they have a very different outcome than being "least" in the Kingdom of heaven.
The New Testament is clear on who will not be in heaven:
Fornicators, immoral, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, homosexuals, murderers, lawless, rebellious, kidnappers, liars, perjurers, ungodly, cowards, sorcerers. I Cor. 6:9, I Tim. 1: 9, 10, Rev. 21: 8, 22: 15
There is not a Sabbath-breaker in any New Testament list of those who will be thrown into "the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."
And God bless you!
7 comments:
"Jesus is telling His Jewish disciples that those who teach disobedience will end up being the least in the kingdom! So, at the very worst all a SDA can claim is that those who teach that one doesn't have to keep the Jewish Sabbath will take a low position in heaven! This is quite different from Ellen White's vision."
A low position in heaven? You really should read on: Matthew 5:20 For I say unto you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees, YOU WILL BY NO MEANS ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. So Jesus starts off speaking directly against what the Pharisees have done (teaching the commandments as least to greatest and teaching that a commandment of "greater importance" can trump one they considered "least") and you say we can teach disobedience and still be in heaven? What kind of Gospel are you teaching? Well I will tell you. It's a doctrine of devil's! To be "called least in the kingdom of God" does not mean that that person is actually in heaven being looked at as least, but rather heaven is considering that person to be looked upon as least worthy to be there, and therefore will not be there!
How many times in this sermon does Jesus say "you have heard, and it was said?", vs IT IS WRITTEN? Jesus was restoring the spirit of the law, which is love, against the casuistry of the Jewish leaders. He was fulfilling the law with love, like Paul says "Love fulfills the law".
"To conclude, though I want to be careful. Let's not say that we don't have to worry about commandment-breaking, because we do. The New Testament clearly lays out the New Covenant commandments…" Teresa
The "New Covenant commandments" are the same as the old covenant commandments. Sin in the OT is sin in the NT. Your own teaching makes it crystal clear that the 10 commandments are still law, still binding and still required! So while you go way out of your way to make it known that Sabbath keeping (the 4th commandment of the Decalogue) in the NT is not necessary, but yet you have a Sunday sabbath as your 3rd commandment of your decalogue! You have made it clear now the difference between our Gospels! You say we can sin and still be in heaven, Scripture says otherwise.
What I wrote very clearly is that the SDA church cannot WITH THAT TEXT claim that those who teach commandment breaking are going to be annihilated. The text itself doesn't claim that. That was my point.
Catholics use the Ten Commandments not as dogma, because they are a convenient way of explaining the eternal natural law. Because what Catholics teach is rather technical, they don't usually explain it. The use of the Ten Commandment are for discipline--NOT dogma. It just easy.
Because the largest of all sins is not explicitly set out in the Ten, we can know for a fact that the Ten Commandments are not the only nor even the best way of explaining God's New Covenant laws. The Ten leave out PRIDE! It doesn't talk about mercy, forgiveness, etc. The Ten are convenient though for a basis. However, what the Catholic Church actually believes is that from the beginning there has been a natural law that was and is eternal. The Ten Commandments were God's way of dipping into that source and taking a few and tailoring them for Israel. They are a PART of the deeper moral and eternal commandment "pool."
The New Covenant IS the pool. It is the fulfillment of all the 613 commandments. It is the fulfillment and completion of all mans laws, regulations and covenants. The New Covenant law is eternal. So the New Covenant isn't directly related to the Old Covenant, the Old Covenant's source WAS the Eternal and New Covenant. The Catholic belief is the best understanding of what the Bible lays out. No other belief fits.
However, most Christians don't have a problem with the Sabbath commandment, so Catholics cut corners on language and instruction. So they just say, we look to the Ten as being the eternal. Yes, we do. But we understand that it is the SPIRIT, not the letter than we draw discipline from. Just like many Catholics will acquiesce to the culture and convenience of call Sunday the Christian Sabbath. Any Catholic with any knowledge will understand that is not exactly true, but since no one but the Adventists care, they say it for convenience sake as a simplification. But if you go to Vatican documents that deal more in depth with these issues you will find a much more technical and theological basis for these doctrines. Again, technically the Catholics believe in the Natural, eternal law of the New Covenant and that technically the Ten Commandments are drawn from them. Not the other way around.
Being from an SDA background I spent many months questioning and finding Catholic authorities that could answer these questions for me, because I had the same ones you have Arik. Priests had to do some real digging to get me the answers and most of the time they were surprised at the church's technical teachings on these things too. We tend to want to dumb things down theologically for today's audience. That is where the misunderstandings stem.
"What I wrote very clearly is that the SDA church cannot WITH THAT TEXT claim that those who teach commandment breaking are going to be annihilated. The text itself doesn't claim that. That was my point."
What you wrote is simply ridiculous, for this does does indeed state very clearly that those that break God's commandments and those that teach (such as you) that it is ok to break His commandments will "by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." You simply do not know how to divide God's word. Comparing other texts on this matter, instead of using 1 text and ripping it out of it's context, would have cleared it up for you! That was my point.
"The Ten leave out PRIDE! It doesn't talk about mercy, forgiveness, etc" Teresa
What in thew world are you talking about? Look at the 2nd commandment: Ex. 20:4-6
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
6 AND SHOWING MERCY UNTO THOUSANDS OF THEM THAT LOVE ME AND KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS.
Maybe if Catholics didn't "cut corners on language and instruction" and didn't tamper with God's law as it is written, you would have seen the Gospel contained in the Decalogue. Also if you really believed that it's the "SPIRIT and not the letter that we draw our discipline from" (it actually is both the letter and the SPIRIT) you would see that indeed pride is against the Ten Commandments.
"Catholics use the Ten Commandments not as dogma, because they are a convenient way of explaining the eternal natural law. Because what Catholics teach is rather technical, they don't usually explain it. The use of the Ten Commandment are for discipline--NOT dogma. It just easy."
Not according to your own Catechism. It is very clear that the Ten Commandments are LAW, and this law is still obligatory and binding. It also is not to be confused with the laws handwritten by Moses, and to break one is to infringe on all the others, which is very true! I suggest that changing one of His 10 also infringes on the others as well.
The Catechism gives all the Catholic teachings: The dogmas, doctrines and disciplines. Not everything in the Catechism is dogma. Disciplines which can be changed such as holy days, fasts, priestly celibacy, etc are disciplines. I think that is the misunderstanding of many people. The Ten Commandments are disciplines used by Catholics to explain the Eternal Natural law. I explained this earlier.
It is extremely difficult to understand Catholicism using a Protestant perspective, even American Catholics have a hard time understanding Catholicism because they are infused with an Western Enlightenment way of thinking. Making that mental transition takes a lot of study. But unless you do, you will be confused about how Catholics think and read scripture.
Your misunderstanding of this is not stupid, so don't worry. Like I said, many priests themselves didn't understand this until I began questioning it. Since most Christians could care less about Sabbath vs. Sunday, it isn't something taught in seminary to priests. Most just assume the Ten Commandments are directly in the New Covenant. But, like I said, not technically true. They are used for convenience sake, for instructional purposes, but the New Covenant isn't directly based off the Old. The New Covenant is the BASIS for the old. It's hard to see for Adventists. Anyway, no reason to debate this ad infinitum. Blessings to you Arik.
The Jewish Law had no "Ten Commandments." They kept "613 Commandments" and the Sabbath is just one of those 613. Its too bad Adventists have put them in bondage over this misunderstanding.
Hello,
2 Timothee 3:16
[16] All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
[17] That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
John 14
"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. 16"I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;…
1 John 5::3
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. 3For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. 4For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world-- our faith.…
Revelation 14:
[12] Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
revelation 22.
[14] Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
the law of God is doing with your heart spirit soul and body
the ten commandments are the moral law, the central law that Jesus want to put in your heart and spirit
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