“Kapag ang SDA Bible Commentary ay Kumokontra mismo sa mga SDA Defenders tungkol sa Matthew 19:17.”

"Jesus answered, 'Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.'" Matthew 19:17

Nakita ko lang ang isang post ng isang SDA layman tungkol sa kanyang sagot sa isang nagtanong: "Bakit sa Mateo 19:17 ay tila ang pagsunod sa mga utos ang nagliligtas?" Ang sagot niya: "Hindi ang mismong pagsunod sa kautusan ang nagliligtas sa talatang iyan, kundi ang KABUTIHAN ng Diyos... Malinaw na ang pagsunod sa mga utos ay bunga ng kaligtasang nagmumula sa kabutihan ng Diyos."

Kahit na mukhang napaka-spiritual at evangelical sa pakinggan sa unang tingin, tama ba ito? Let's investigate this carefully using a New Covenant Theology perspective.

1. Historico-Grammatical Hermeneutics: Ang Kautusan bilang Salamin, Hindi Blueprint

Para tama nating ma-interpret ang isang talata, kailangang tingnan ang historical context at ang takbo ng usapan.

• The Context: Lumapit ang Mayamang Binata kay Jesus na may works-based mindset. Ang tanong niya, "Guro, anong mabuting gawa ang dapat kong gawin upang magkaroon ako ng buhay na walang hanggan?" (Mateo 19:16). Isa siyang 1st-century Jew na lumalakad sa ilalim ng Old Covenant paradigm.
  
  
• The Pedagogical Trap: Sinagot ni Jesus ang binata kung nasaan siya, sa ilalim ng Kautusan. Sa Old Covenant, ang patakaran ay: "Gawin mo ito at mabubuhay ka" (Leviticus 18:5). Itinuro ni Jesus ang Sampung Utos hindi bilang simpleng description ng "fruit" ng isang Kristiyano, kundi bilang isang mabigat na salamin para ipakita ang espirituwal na pagka-pulubi ng binata.
  
  
• The Deception in the SDA View: Sinasabi ng SDA layman na sinasabi raw ni Jesus na ang pagtupad sa mga utos ay "bunga" ng kaligtasan. Pero historically at grammatically, sinasagot ni Jesus ang "works" question gamit ang "works" answer. Itinaas ni Jesus ang standard ng Law para ma-realize ng binata na hindi niya kayang iligtas ang sarili niya. Sa pagtawag dito bilang simpleng "bunga", pinalalambot ng SDA ang tunay na condemnatory purpose ng Kautusan na ginagamit ni Jesus.
  

  Sa pag-claim na ang obedience ay simpleng "bunga" lang sa specific verse na ito, completely ignored ang Pharisaical context na kinikilala pa nga ng mismong SDA Bible Commentary nila na hindi sumasang-ayon sa imbentong paliwanag lang ng SDA layman.
  
  "What good thing? This question reflects the typical Pharisaical concept of righteousness by works as a passport to “eternal life.” (Nichol, Francis D., editor. The Seventh-Day Adventist Bible Commentary. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1980, p. 457.)
  
  Tinataasan ni Jesus ang standard ng Law para ma-realize ng binata na hindi niya kailanman kayang iligtas ang sarili niya. Hindi kailanman sasang-ayunan ni Jesus ang "Pharisaical concept of righteousness by works" ng binata at ng mga Phariseo na tila sinasang-ayunan pa ng SDA layman na ito.
  
  

2. Greek Exegesis: Imperative Command vs. Indicative Reality

Kung susuriin ang original Greek text, doon tuluyang bumagsak ang argumento ng SDA.

• The Text: "If you want to enter life, keep the commandments" (εἰ δὲ θέλεις εἰς τὴν ζωὴν εἰσελθεῖν, τήρησον τὰς ἐντολάς).
  
  
• The Grammar: Ang pariralang "keep the commandments" ay ginamitan ng salitang Griyego na tērēson (τήρησον), na isang Aorist Active Imperative¹. Isa itong direktang utos na nakadepende sa isang kondisyon ("Kung ibig mong pumasok…").
  
  
• The Exegetical Reality: Conditional statement ito. Hindi ginamit ni Jesus ang indicative mood² dito. Hindi niya sinabi na, "Dahil natanggap mo na ang kabutihan ng Diyos, susundin mo ang mga utos" (na siyang magpapakita ng bunga). Ang sabi Niya, "Kung gusto mo ng X, gawin mo ang Y." Inilatag ni Jesus ang imposibleng requirement ng Old Covenant Law para sa justification. Noong sinabi ng binata na nasunod niya ang lahat, binigyan siya ni Jesus ng ultimate heart test (ang pagbebenta ng kanyang mga ari-arian), na nagpatunay na ang binata ay isang idolater na lumalabag sa mismong unang utos.
  
  

3. Mga Logical Fallacies sa Argumento ng SDA

May ilang critical errors sa logic ang paliwanag ng SDA layman:

• Eisegesis (Pagpilit ng kahulugan sa teksto): Sinasabi ng SDA layman, "Malinaw na ang pagsunod sa mga utos ay bunga..." Pero hindi iyon malinaw sa teksto. Gumagawa siya ng eisegesis sa pamamagitan ng pagkuha ng isang valid New Testament truth (na ang good works ay bunga ng tunay na pananampalataya) at pinipilit itong isiksik sa isang talata kung saan ang ginagawa ni Jesus ay ang pagpapangaral ng Kautusan para basagin ang yabang ng isang makasalanan.
  
  
• Non Sequitur (Hindi konektado ang konklusyon): Ginamit niya ang sinabi ni Jesus na "May iisa na mabuti, ang Diyos" at lumaktaw sa konklusyon na ang commandment-keeping daw sa talatang ito ay bunga lamang ng kabutihan ng Diyos. Hindi lohikal na sumusunod ang konklusyong iyon sa premise. Ginamit ni Jesus ang kasabihang iyon para hamunin ang mababang pananaw ng binata kung ano ba talaga ang ibig sabihin ng "mabuti" at para ipakita ang absolute perfection na hinihingi ng Kautusan.
  
  

4. Ang New Covenant Application

Sa New Covenant Theology, naiintindihan natin na ang Kautusan ni Moises, kabilang ang Decalogue, ay isang temporary covenant na idinisenyo para sa bansang Israel at para dalhin ang mga makasalanan kay Cristo sa pamamagitan ng pag-expose ng kanilang kasalanan (Galatians 3:24).

"So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith." Galatians 3:24(NIV)

Kailangang-kailangang palabasin ng SDA na ang Mateo 19:17 ay utos para sa mga Kristiyano na sundin pa rin ang Ten Commandments (lalo na ang Sabbath) ngayon. Pero hindi naglalatag ng New Covenant ethic si Jesus dito; ipinapatupad Niya ang Old Covenant sa isang taong nag-aakalang kayang kitain ang langit sa sarili niyang gawa. Ngayon, ang mga mananampalataya ay wala na sa ilalim ng Kautusan ni Moises, kundi nasa ilalim ng Kautusan ni Cristo (1 Corinthians 9:21), ligtas sa pamamagitan ng biyaya, habang ang Banal na Espiritu ang Siyang nagbubunga ng kabanalan sa ating mga buhay.

Gamitin ang 3 Questions na ito kapag nakikipag-usap sa ganitong uri ng SDA claim.

Q1: The Grammar Check

"Kung ang sabi mo ay 'bunga' lang ng kaligtasan ang pagtupad sa utos sa Mateo 19:17, bakit ginamit ni Jesus ang salitang 'KUNG' (If)? Ang sabi ni Jesus, 'Datapuwa't KUNG ibig mong pumasok sa buhay, ingatan mo ang mga utos.' Hindi ba malinaw sa grammar na ginawa itong kondisyon ni Jesus para sa isang taong nagmamalaki sa kanyang sariling gawa, at hindi bilang isang description ng taong ligtas na? Bakit natin papalitan ang salitang 'KUNG' ng salitang 'BUNGA' para lang bumagay sa doktrina ng SDA?"

Q2: The Law as a Mirror, Not a Ladder

"Kung totoong ang itinuturo ni Jesus dito ay 'fruit of salvation' mula sa kabutihan ng Diyos, bakit umalis na malungkot ang binata sa dulo ng kuwento (Mateo 19:22)? Hindi ba't ginamit ni Jesus ang Kautusan para wasakin ang self-righteousness ng binata at ipakitang hindi niya kayang iligtas ang sarili niya dahil sakim siya? Paano naging 'bunga ng kaligtasan' ang isang utos na mismong naging dahilan para ma-expose na ang binata ay walang kaligtasan?"

Q3: The Old Covenant Trap

"Sa New Covenant, alam natin na walang taong aaring ganap sa pamamagitan ng pagsunod sa Kautusan (Roma 3:20). Kaya noong tinanong ng binata kung anong 'MABUTING GAWA' ang dapat niyang gawin para maligtas, sinagot siya ni Jesus ayon sa batas ng Old Covenant, para ipakitang imposible ito. Bakit pilit ginagamit ng SDA ang talatang ito para ibalik ang mga Kristiyano sa pag-keep ng Ten Commandments bilang batayan ng buhay, gayong ginamit ito ni Jesus para ipakitang kailangan ng tao ng Tagapagligtas dahil imposibleng masunod ito nang perpekto?"

The Impossible Salvation: How Ellen G. White’s Writings Set a Standard No Believer Can Survive!

For the longest time, as a devoted Seventh-day Adventist growing up here in the Philippines, I honestly believed Ellen G. White's books gave me a kind of "special pass" to heaven. I felt like I had the inside track, books that exposed Satan's end-time deceptions and mapped out the exact road to salvation. I was grateful to Ellen White for championing the Sabbath as the final test that would separate the sheep from the goats. And honestly? I was so confident I’d pass that test because I thought our church already had all the right answers.

I was so hyped about being part of God's "remnant church" that I didn't notice how brutally difficult salvation actually was according to Ellen White's system. Growing up, my reading of her writings was always filtered through our local SDA pastors and authors. Her more demanding statements came to me secondhand, softened, and sugarcoated. Whether deliberately or not, those leaders highlighted the passages that felt encouraging and quietly set aside the ones about achieving absolute moral perfection as a condition to be saved.

It wasn't until I read her books for myself that I was genuinely shocked. The standard she described was nearly impossible to reach. After a long, exhausting struggle of trying to measure up, I made a decision: I would cling to Christ and the cross alone, and reject Ellen White's testimony as false teaching.

I’m writing this blog post for my fellow Filipinos and former Adventists with three goals in mind:

1. To show that Ellen White taught that a person must achieve a perfect character before Christ returns.
   
   
2. To look closely at exactly what she meant by "perfect."
   
   
3. To ask honestly whether the average Adventist is even trying to live up to her standard, because, as you'll see, salvation under her system is effectively impossible.
   
   

Perfect Living Before the Second Coming

One of Ellen White's earliest visions, what I call "The Dream of the Cords", sets up this whole heavy framework. She described the remnant walking along a narrow path on the edge of a white cliff. The path got so tight they couldn't continue on foot, so ropes were lowered from above, and they climbed up, clinging to those ropes. What really caught my attention was this: the cliff wall was smeared with blood. But it wasn't Christ's blood; it was blood "squeezed" from their own "painful feet" (Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 2, pp. 594–597).

The section spanning pages 594 to 597 in *Testimonies for the Church*, Vol. 2 (found in the chapter titled "An Appeal to Ministers") describes Ellen G. White's vision of the narrow path and the cords. The full text reads as follows:

"I was shown a company of people traveling in a narrow path. All who walked in this path were urgently pressed by surrounding darkness and trials. They were weary and distressed, yet pressed forward, feeling that they must reach the end of the journey.

On one side of this narrow path was a high, white wall. As the company pressed along, they reached a place where the path became so narrow that they could no longer walk on it safely. Ropes were let down from above, which they seized, and by clinging to them they were sustained. The cliff wall was covered with blood. It was not the blood of Christ, but the blood squeezed from their own painful feet.

Those who were weary and distressed looked to the ropes, and by holding firmly to them they were enabled to make progress. As they advanced, the path became still narrower, until they could no longer place their feet upon it, and they hung by the ropes, their feet dangling over the precipice. Some let go of their hold and fell. Others grasped the ropes with both hands and strained every nerve to keep their hold.

I saw that the ropes were moved from above. Sometimes they swung to and fro, and the company were thrown near the wall, and their feet would strike against it, leaving blood upon the wall. This caused them much pain, yet they held fast. Some of the ropes became so short that they could no longer touch them with their feet, and they were drawn up entirely by their hands.

The company felt that they must reach the end of the path or be lost. They were encouraged by seeing others before them reach the end and enter a place of safety. They were filled with hope and courage, and pressed forward, often crying out: "We have to hold on from above! We have to hold on from above!" Each person said these words to the next one on the path.

Presently we heard all kinds of noise from below the cliff, shouting, cursing, and sounds of music and laughter. Those who were on the path were more determined than ever to keep going. They felt that if they looked down they would lose their balance and fall. They clung tighter to the ropes and cried out: "We have to hold on from above!"

Looking across the deep chasm, I saw a bright and beautiful field of green grass, dotted with flowers, more lovely than anything on earth. I saw those who had reached the end of the path joyfully enter this place of safety, resting from their weariness and rejoicing with unspeakable joy." (Ellen White, Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 2, pp. 594–597)

That vision set the tone for her entire ministry: the enormous, agonizing personal effort required for Adventists to reach heaven.

Many Adventists consider The Great Controversy to be one of her finest works, yet very few realize how terrifying her standard of perfectionism actually is. While laying out her prophetic picture of the last days, she tells her followers they must pursue perfection urgently while Christ is still interceding:

"Now, while our great High Priest is making the atonement for us, we should seek to be perfect in Christ. Not even by a thought could our Savior be brought to yield to the power of temptation… This is the condition in which those must be found who shall stand in the time of trouble." (Great Controversy, p. 623)

This urgent drive stems from her teaching that the remnant must live without sin during the "time of trouble" to prove to the universe that fallen humans can keep God's law. She explicitly states:

"In that fearful time the righteous must live in the sight of a holy God without an intercessor." (Great Controversy, p. 614)

During this time, she says Adventists will be tormented by anxiety over their own works, fearing "that every sin has not been repented of" and that "through some defect in themselves they will fail" (Great Controversy, p. 619).

Let’s pause and look at this. Ellen White’s entire theology of terror is built on a faulty prophetic timeline. She points to a future Great Tribulation where believers are left stranded without Jesus as their mediator. But biblical prophecy shows us that the Great Tribulation she is so afraid of was already fulfilled in the first century (AD 70) with the fall of Jerusalem! We are living in the millennium right now, where Christ’s kingdom is advancing and victorious across the globe. We aren't waiting for a panicked, mediator-less nightmare; we are part of the triumphant, advancing Gospel.

Yet, if you follow EGW, God will not upgrade your character at the Second Coming. If you aren't perfect yet, you fail the test:

"When Christ comes, He is not to change the character of any man… The removal of the stains of sin is the work of a lifetime." (Testimonies, Vol. 4, p. 429)

How Perfect Is "Perfect"?

At this point, many of my Adventist friends look for a way out. Did she just mean being covered by Christ's righteousness? Did she mean perfection in faith?

Some find comfort in isolated quotes about grace. But when you read her extensively, her passages about strict moral perfection outnumber the grace passages by about fifty to one. Her "grace" quotes usually refer to initial justification, while the heavy perfectionism kicks in for sanctification, the state you supposedly must reach before the time of trouble.

She claimed God stood behind every word she wrote:

"The moment I take up my pen to write, I do not darken my mind as to what to write. It is made clear to me, as if a voice said to me, 'I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go.'" (Selected Messages, Vol. 3, p. 49)

Here is exactly what she meant by "perfect":

• "We can overcome. Yes; fully, entirely... that we might overcome every evil temper, every sin, every temptation, and sit down at last with Him." (Testimonies, Vol. 1, p. 144)

• "The law of God is satisfied with nothing short of perfection, absolute, entire obedience to all its requirements." (Testimonies, Vol. 1, p. 416)

• "God will accept nothing but purity and holiness; one spot, one wrinkle, one defect in the character, will forever debar them from heaven..." (Testimonies, Vol. 2, p. 453)

The Fine Print of Perfection: Are You Actually Trying?

Ellen White wasn't just talking about "big" sins. She cataloged an exhausting range of everyday behaviors that, according to her, will cost you your salvation. Let’s bring this into our Filipino context.

Look at this list and ask yourself if you are truly meeting her standards:

• No salvation for the wrong diet: 3‑in‑1 coffee is prohibited, or anything hot for the stomach. No cheese (keso de bola is out). No eating between meals (goodbye, merienda). Too much sugar is worse than meat. "It is impossible for those who indulge the appetite to attain to Christian perfection." (Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 236)

• No salvation for having life insurance: Trying to secure your family’s future in the Philippines? She said, "Every investment made in it weakens our faith and lessens our spirituality." (Testimonies, Vol. 1, p. 550)

• No salvation for joking around: Laughing with your friends? "Lightness, joking, and laughing will cause spiritual drought and the withdrawal of God's blessing." (Testimonies, Vol. 2, p. 236)

• No salvation for watching TV/Movies: No Netflix, no teleseryes, no SM Cinemas. "The only safe course is to shun the theater, the circus, and every other questionable place of amusement." (Messages to the Young People, p. 380)

• No salvation for taking photos: Family albums and selfies? "I am instructed that these pictures are so many idols... a species of idol worship." (Messages to the Young People, p. 316)

• No salvation for kids playing on the Sabbath: "God holds you guilty as Sabbath-breakers when you permit your children to wander about and play on the Sabbath." (Review & Herald, Sept 19, 1854)

• No salvation for reading fiction: Even religious novels. "Those who are in the habit of reading fiction are disqualifying themselves for reading the word of God." (Messages to the Young People, p. 272)
  
  

The Real Thing: What the Bible Actually Says About Salvation

Friends, before you decide how you are saved, look at the beautiful, relieving promises of Scripture.

Through the lens of New Covenant Theology, we understand that the Ten Commandments, including the Sabbath, were part of the Old Covenant, acting as a shadow and a tutor to lead Israel to Christ. Christ is the reality! He is our Sabbath rest. We don't interpret the Old Covenant laws as our ultimate checklist for salvation today.

And from a biblical perspective, while we believe in a real, living faith that abides in Christ, we firmly believe salvation is anchored entirely in God's grace, not in our flawless performance. We don't save ourselves by reaching moral perfection.

Look at the Word:

• "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life." (John 5:24)

• "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)

• "Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift, but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness." (Romans 4:4–5)

• "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." (Galatians 5:18)

We also believe in the beautiful, ongoing gifts of the Holy Spirit. But true spiritual gifts from God will always build up the church in grace and point to the sufficiency of Jesus' cross; they will never put you in chains of legalism and fear like Ellen White's writings do.

A Final Word to My Adventist Friends

You have a clear choice in front of you. If you want to believe in Ellen White's prophetic ministry, you are free to do that, but then you need to be consistent. You can't treat her testimonies like a buffet where you just take what you like and leave the rest.

I walked away from Ellen White because I realized I could never meet her standard for salvation. She would say we reach perfection through God's power, but honestly, no one apart from Jesus has ever maintained the kind of unbroken, flawless track record her standard requires.

The good news is that there is another way, and it comes from God's inerrant Word, not a fallible 19th-century writer.

"Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved." That's it. It is not about our performance. Salvation is a free gift that can be received right now. We can strive toward growth in grace, but we must rest in Christ, the one who is "the founder and perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2).

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." Ephesians 2:8-9

Call to Action: Step out of the exhausting treadmill of religious perfectionism today, lay down your heavy burdens, and rest completely in the finished work of Jesus Christ!

Leave the burden of perfectionism behind. Jesus has already paid it all.

“Adventist Salvation: Grace Alone or Law‑Keeping?”

Hello, brothers and sisters! Welcome back to the FAP blog. Today, I want us to sit down and have a real talk about a very important question sent in by one of our followers. They sent me this message:

“I hope you can make a vlog about this: How true is it that SDA is redefining the grace of salvation to include the works of the law? Do they believe that faith in Christ’s finished work alone is enough and complete? Or is grace the foundation, while faith in Christ is the means?”

First of all, thank you for this excellent question. It hits right at the very heart of the struggle many of us face when transitioning out of the Seventh-day Adventist church. The short answer to your question is this: Yes, God’s grace is the absolute foundation and cause of our salvation, and faith in Christ is the only means to receive it. Christ’s finished work is 100% complete.

But when we look at SDA theology, things get a bit complicated. Let’s break this down together.

The SDA Dilemma: Faith on Paper, Law in Practice

If you ask an Adventist pastor or read their official 28 Fundamental Beliefs, they will clearly tell you, "We believe in salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone." They do not officially teach that you earn your salvation by keeping the law.

However, we have to look closely at how their unique doctrines redefine how that grace actually works in real life. While they say they believe in grace, they often mix it with the works of the law because of two main teachings:

1. The Investigative Judgment: SDA theology teaches that since 1844, Jesus has been investigating the records of believers. If a believer has unconfessed sins or fails to perfectly keep the law (especially the Sabbath) by the time their name comes up, their salvation can be blotted out.
   
   
2. The Seal of God vs. Mark of the Beast: They teach that in the end times, keeping the Saturday Sabbath (the fourth commandment) will be the ultimate test of loyalty to God.

Because of these teachings, the "finished work" of Christ on the cross suddenly doesn't feel very finished, right? It turns salvation into a probationary status. You get in by grace, but you have to stay in by perfectly keeping the Ten Commandments. This subtly redefines grace to include the works of the law.

The True Gospel: Grace as the Cause, Faith as the Means

To answer your question directly: Yes, grace is the cause, and faith is the means.

Salvation is a complete gift. When Jesus hung on the cross and cried out, "It is finished" (John 19:30), He meant exactly that. The price for sin was fully paid. He didn't say, "It is finished... now make sure you keep the Saturday Sabbath so your name isn't erased from the Book of Life."

In a proper, biblical understanding of salvation, God reaches out to us purely out of His love and grace. We don't contribute anything to the payment for our sins. Our only job is to respond by trusting Him and having faith. True faith is a living faith that naturally responds to God with love and obedience to Christ, but that obedience is the fruit of our salvation, never the root or the requirement to maintain our justification. We are kept by His grace as we continue to abide in Him through faith.

A New Covenant Perspective on the Law

This brings us to the biggest source of confusion in Adventism: the mixing of the Old and New Covenants.

Adventism teaches that the Ten Commandments are the eternal, unchanging moral law of God that Christians are still strictly bound to keep. But when we look at Scripture through the lens of the New Covenant, we see a beautiful shift.

• The Old Covenant is Obsolete: Hebrews 8:13 clearly tells us that by calling the covenant "new," God has made the first one obsolete.
  
  "By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear." Hebrews 8:13(NIV)
  
  The entire Mosaic Law, including the Ten Commandments carved on stone, was a package deal given specifically to the nation of Israel. The Apostle Paul even calls the law carved in letters on stone the "ministry of death" (2 Corinthians 3:7).
  
  "Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was," 2 Corinthians 3:7(NIV)
  
  
• We are under the Law of Christ: Does this mean Christians can just live in sin? Absolutely not! When we are saved, we are brought into the New Covenant. We are no longer under the Law of Moses; we are under the Law of Christ (Galatians 6:2, 1 Corinthians 9:21). The Law of Christ is written on our hearts by the Holy Spirit. It is driven by loving God and loving our neighbor, which fulfills all the moral requirements of the law without binding us to the Jewish Sabbath or dietary restrictions.

When the SDA church points believers back to the Ten Commandments and the Sabbath as a test of salvation, they are trying to drag New Covenant believers back under the shadow of the Old Covenant.

Conclusion: Rest in His Finished Work

For our brothers and sisters trying to understand this, here is the liberating truth: Christ’s finished work is enough.

You do not need to add your Sabbath-keeping, your diet, or your perfect performance to the cross of Jesus Christ. If we could secure our standing with God by keeping the law, then Christ died for nothing (Galatians 2:21).

"I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” Galatians 2:21(NIV)

If you are transitioning out of Adventism, let go of the heavy burden of the Investigative Judgment. Stop looking at your own law-keeping to see if you are saved, and start looking at Jesus. His grace is the firm foundation. Your faith in Him is the key. And the New Covenant is a covenant of freedom, love, and true spiritual rest in Christ our ultimate Sabbath.

Thank you for reading and watching, everyone. If this reflection blessed you, feel free to share it with someone who might be struggling with these same questions. See you in the next post!