3045.— Regarding Two Laws
By C.
Is it true that Seventh-day Adventists admit the Sabbath to be a ceremonial law? Seventh-day Adventists hold that the Bible teaches very clearly, and this is acknowledged by the best Bible students, that there are several kinds of laws contained in the Old Testament. 1. The great moral law of God, the Ten Commandments, which are called "a law" in Exodus 24:12, and concerning which it is said God "added no more." Deut. 5:22. It stands out a law by itself, in the very bosom of which is the Sabbath commandment, flanked on either side by great moral precepts over which there can be no question. 2. There were ceremonial laws regulating sacrifices, offerings, and the worship of God. 3. There were health laws regulating the sanitary conditions of the camp of Israel, especially while they were passing through the wilderness. 4. There were judicial laws, what we would call civil laws, exercised there under a theocracy, regarding the rights of property and life, etc.; the same as our civil laws to-day. Those latter laws were combined more or less, because the Jews were themselves a great family of God with God for their Ruler; but he is a poor and unintelligent reader indeed who can not see all of these things very clearly as the Old Testament is read. 5. The Sabbath of the Lord our God stands right in the very heart of the moral law. While there has been more or less ceremonial connected with it in worship, the ceremonies are regarding the forms of worship and not regarding the keeping of the day. On the other hand there were certain yearly sabbaths, or rest days, in connection with the great feasts and fasts of the Jews. These are expressly discriminated in Lev. 23:38, where they are mentioned "besides the Sabbaths of the Lord." 6. As to whether a ceremony is binding or not depends upon who commands it. Our Lord gave one ceremony regarding feet-washing, as recorded in John 13; and He expressly declares, "I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you." He also enjoins, "If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet." He has given us the ordinance, or ceremony, of the Lord's Supper, and enjoins its observance till He comes. Further than this, He has given us the ordinance of baptism, which implies a ceremony; and the command is, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you." He who refuses purposely to follow these commands and injunctions and ceremonies of divine appointment, shows that his heart is not in harmony with God. Those ceremonies can not save him, but a heart that is out of harmony with God can not be saved. 7. When the Lord Jesus came into this world, He especially declared that not one jot or tittle would pass from the law. He can neither change nor destroy it. He did come, however, in order that men might be cleansed from sin, and have hearts that would delight in God's law; "for this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments." 1 John 5:3. The law led to Him also, for "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." Rom. 10:4. That does not mean that the law there came to an end, for the apostle expressly tells us all through the book of Romans that it condemns the transgressor. "End" is there used in the sense of object, purpose, intent. Christ is the intent of the law; the object of the law; purpose of the law. It shuts us up into sin, and shows that the only way out is by Jesus Christ, who is Himself the law perfected; and man can be redeemed from sin, or forgiven his sins, only by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. But the righteousness of Jesus Christ was wrought out in the observation of all the commandments of God. The sabbath days of Col. 2:16, 17 are of another character. They are the ceremonial yearly sabbaths which pointed forward to the work of our Lord. They are shadows of things to come; but even as to these, the injunction is not that we should not keep them, but "let no man judge" us concerning them. 8. There is an utterly wrong conception obtained by many that God changed His character when Christ came; that God's government was then changed, and that our Lord Jesus was a prime factor in overturning the Father's government. Just think of it! that He who had declared Himself, "I am Jehovah, I change not," felt that it was necessary to change when Christ died upon the cross, and to give the lie to what had again and again been said. The apostle James, writing down this side of the crucifixion, declares that with the Father "is no variableness, neither shadow of turning;" and yet in the face of that, people would have us believe that the Lord did change a Sabbath which He had honored for four thousand years, and would substitute for it a day concerning which there is no commandment given. The only change that took place at the time of the death of our Lord, was that type there met antitype. Not a single moral principle nor moral commandment in God's law changed. Every one of them was confirmed by the death of Christ. Sacrifices ended there by limitation; necessarily ended, because the shadow reached the substance; but faith establishes God's law in the heart of every one who receives Him. Rom. 3:31. There is no category of all human duties in the New Testament; no place anywhere which gives us nine commandments and leaves the tenth one out; but everywhere the same holy law is enjoined, and that law includes the fourth commandment as well as the others. 9. The man who needs Christ is the man who is "under law," which means under condemnation of the law. The man who is in Christ Jesus is not "under the law," that is, not condemned by the law; but is under greater obligations to keep the law, because Christ has forgiven him the sins which the law condemns. The law to that man becomes a witness that he is right before God. Rom. 3:20-22. 10. God gave a sacred name to the seventh day,—the Sabbath. It is known by that name all through the New Testament. It is known by no other. It was observed by our Lord, our great Example, and by apostle and disciple from that time on. See all through the book of the Acts. It may be remarked that Pentecost fell in all probability upon the seventh day of the week, as good scholars have affirmed.