Seventh Day Adventists and Questions about the Sabbath

The Seventh Day Adventists (hereafter, SDA) believe that the day of worship during the week should be on the Sabbath, the last day of the week. There are several scriptures in the New Testament that would indicate otherwise; several of these scriptures re found in the Acts of the Apostles, which is the model church for the modern day body of believers. When speaking with a SDA, try to be in control of the conversation. When they try to dodge questions, try to bring them back to the heart of the discussion. Ask them things like, “Why does the New Testament show that the apostles did everything that people do in church today on a Sunday and not on a Saturday?”

The key to understanding the pattern of the early church is in the phrase, “The first day of the week.”
Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week (Matt. 28:1-7; Mark 16:2, 9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1).

Jesus appeared to the disciples on the first day of the week (John 20:19).

Jesus appeared inside the room to the eleven disciples eight days after the first day of the week. The Jewish way of measuring days meant that it was again Sunday (John 20:26).

The Holy Spirit came on Pentecost, the first day of the week (Lev. 23:16; Acts 2:1).

The first sermon was preached by Peter on the first day of the week (Acts 2:14).

Three thousand converts joined the church on the first day of the week (Acts 2:41).

The three thousand were baptized on the first day of the week (Acts 2:41).

The Christians assembled broke bread on the first day of the week. (Acts 20:7).

The Christians also heard a message from Paul on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7). Note: the reference is until midnight which is not the Jewish method of measuring days, but the Roman system.

Paul instructed the churches to put aside contributions on the first day of the week (1 Cor. 16:2).

Jesus gave the apostle John the vision of Revelation on the first day of the week (Rev. 1:10).

https://carm.org/religious-movements/seventh-day-adventism/scriptures-dealing-first-day-week

There seems to be a question regarding whether or not the SDA church believes that Jesus is Michael the archangel, but I think it is something very different from what Jehovah’s Witnesses believe. The following quote is taken from a website which is not operated by officials in the SDA church but is operated by its members:

“We believe that the term "Michael" is but one of the many titles applied to the Son of God, the second person of the Godhead” http://www.sdanet.org/atissue/books/qod/q08.htm

So what they mean by this is that Jesus is also called “Michael,” not that He is an angel. There is a bit of twisting of Greek which they believe helps them with their argument. Given the evidence it is extremely unlikely that their understanding is correct about the Son of God having this title, but this belief does not appear to be heretical since they are not equating Jesus with Michael the archangel.

Do the Seventh Day Adventists share the one true gospel? I believe they do. There are some very questionable beliefs as far as their adherence to the Sabbath, but in any event, Seventh Day Adventists are legalists in a hard sense because they adhere to what Ellen White (SDA founder) said about the Sabbath. She basically explained that the modern world has everything wrong with it because people in it stopped observing the Sabbath. Christians attend church on Sunday as a memorial to the Risen King, but Mrs. White says that is wrong because of what the Bible says. The problem is, she is still trying to be under the Law, which is what Jesus set us free from. The Bible says, “You are not under the law but are under grace” (Romans 6:14). And also in the first chapter of the book of John, “the Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” In other words, Ellen White is trying to push the Law on her followers. One can basically pick any of the first 8 chapters in Romans and start reading and see that this is clearly wrong.

The issue then, becomes one of legalism. If the Law of the Old Testament has not changed in the New Testament, then what did Christ free us from? If we are still under the Law, then we should live and act like a 1^st century B.C. Jew.

I have had a SDA ask me if I adhere to the Ten Commandments, and I said something along the lines of “yes, as much as I can…” They asked me what they were and I explained that they were moral laws. But then this person reasoned that I should keep the Sabbath also, because it is a moral law. The problem with this is that only nine of the Ten Commandments are mentioned in the New Testament, and on top of that, Jesus reduces the Ten Commandments to Two Commandments (see Matthew 22:36-40). What is important is loving God and loving others. In doing these, there is no Law.

In addition to all of this, Paul says in Colossians 2:16, "Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink,or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day."

So should Christians become SDA’s? Since the SDA church pushes keeping the Sabbath but that it is clearly biblically mistaken on the matter, it seems that even though a person can be an advocate of the SDA church and still be a believer in Christ, there are several theological questions that come up in SDA which steer clear of that which has been considered orthodox for literally thousands of years.

Why would a person want to go back to the Law? Look at Galatians 3:10-14 for a moment: “For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” 11 Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.” 12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” 14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.” The curse of the Law is that no one can fulfill it! It is impossible to please God through works. Therefore, why would we want any part of what Jesus came to set us free from?

As Nathan Busenitz says, “In spite of the ecumenical spirit that has pervaded evangelicalism over the last few decades, there are still major deficiencies within official SDA theology that ought to give evangelical Christians serious pause.” https://www.tms.edu/blog/evaluating-seventh-day-adventism/

Written by Nace Howell through the grace of the Lord Jesus

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