Luke 4:16 (ESV)
"And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read."
SDA Arguments:
1.) It demonstrates that every seventh day of the week, or Sabbath, rather than Sunday, is when our Lord Jesus Christ comes to church.
2.) Unlike other Christian churches that attend services on Sundays, SDAs are the only ones that observe weekly Sabbath worship, following Jesus' example.
Answer:
#1.) Luke 4:16 is not a convincing text against Sunday worship.
Is it right to use Luke 4:16 as proof of the validity of Sabbath worship over Sunday worship during Jesus’ time? Of course not! First and foremost, Sunday had no significance for Christians while the Lord Jesus was still on Earth. Sunday only gained significance for believers after Jesus’ resurrection on Sunday, after His appearances to the disciples on Sundays after His resurrection, and most importantly, after the inauguration of the Christian church on a Sunday.
Secondly, Jesus was born under the law of Moses. As a Jew, Jesus attended the synagogue rather than the church. While synagogues and churches serve different religious traditions, a synagogue is a central place for Jewish worship, study, and community life. The term ‘church’ is more commonly associated with Christian places of worship.”
Galatians 4:4-5 (Amplified Bible) "But when the proper time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born subject to [the regulations of] the Law, To purchase the freedom of (to ransom, to redeem, to atone for) those who were subject to the Law, that we might be adopted and have sonship conferred upon us [and be recognized as God’s sons]."
Jesus' observance of the Sabbath day was ingrained in Him from childhood because the seventh day (Saturday) was the day of worship for the Jews in the synagogues during His time. It’s only natural to expect that His worship day would be the Sabbath, not because Sunday was wrong, but because, as previously mentioned, the Sabbath vs. Sunday controversy wasn’t relevant during His time as it is in our present day. This misinterpretation by some Seventh-day Adventists is an anachronism, assuming that the issues of our time applied to Jesus’ era when they were not even debated back then.
Therefore, it is not correct for Seventh-day Adventists to use Luke 4:16 as a basis to criticize Sunday worshippers for allegedly not following Jesus’ example of worshiping on the Sabbath. They are distorting the intention of the Luke 4:16. Additionally, it would be inaccurate to say that Jesus attended “church” every Sabbath, as the Christian church had not yet been inaugurated during His time.
#2.) Jesus did not worship in the synagogue to set an example for us to follow today; rather, he did this to redeem those who were subject to the regulations of the law, not to keep us under it.
Let’s once again use the testimony of Galatians 4:4-5 to correct the erroneous reasoning of our SDA friends that as Christians, we should follow Jesus’ example of observing the Sabbath weekly for worship, not Sunday.
Galatians 4:4-5 (Amplified Bible) "But when the proper time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born subject to [the regulations of] the Law, To purchase the freedom of (to ransom, to redeem, to atone for) those who were subject to the Law, that we might be adopted and have sonship conferred upon us [and be recognized as God’s sons].
In Galatians 4:4, the apostle Paul states that Jesus was “born of a woman” and “born subject to [the regulations of] the Law.” This phrase emphasizes that Jesus, as a devout Jew, adhered to the regulations of the Mosaic Law during His earthly life. His observance of the Sabbath and other aspects of the Law was part of this commitment.
However, verse 5 provides crucial context. It explains that Jesus’ subjection to the Law was temporary and had a specific purpose. His obedience to the Law served to “redeem” and “atone” those who were also subject to the regulations of Law. Jesus’ adherence to the Law was not an eternal requirement. It was a necessary aspect of His mission on Earth. By fulfilling the Law, He demonstrated His righteousness and became the perfect sacrifice for humanity’s sins.
Therefore, Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the law perfectly for us through His active obedience to His Father’s will. Only Jesus was able to completely fulfill God’s law, thus He became righteous before God the Father. And this righteousness of His is given freely to everyone who believes in His work of salvation, so we also become righteous before the holy God not because of our adherence to the law but because of Christ’s righteousness through our faith. Here is the confirmation from the Scriptures:
Romans 5:19 (TLB) "Adam caused many to be sinners because he disobeyed God, and Christ caused many to be made acceptable to God because he obeyed."
It should be noted that Romans 5:19 does not say, “Christ caused many to be made acceptable to God because WE obeyed,” but rather because “HE” obeyed on our behalf.
In essence, Christ attained righteousness by perfectly adhering to the law as a faithful Jew under its mandates, whereas Christians are deemed righteous not by our adherence to the law, but through embracing Christ’s righteousness by placing our faith in Him.
1 Corinthians 1:30 (ERV) "It is God who has made you part of Christ Jesus. And Christ has become for us wisdom from God. He is the reason we are right with God and pure enough to be in his presence. Christ is the one who set us free from sin."
So, while Jesus observed the Sabbath during His earthly life, His example doesn’t bind Christians to strict Sabbath observance. Instead, He invites us to find rest in Him—our eternal Sabbath rest. As Matthew 11:28-30 states,
"Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
Why did Jesus redeem us from the regulations of the Law?
Why was it necessary for Jesus to rescue us from the rules of the Law? Because the law is not meant to make us righteous but rather to expose our sinfulness and sentence those who commit it to death!
Romans 3:20 (TLB) "Now do you see it? No one can ever be made right in God’s sight by doing what the law commands. For the more we know of God’s laws, the clearer it becomes that we aren’t obeying them; his laws serve only to make us see that we are sinners."
This is verified by Hebrews 7:19.
Hebrews 7:19 (AMP) "For the Law never made anything perfect." There is no way for any SDA to argue that Hebrews 7:19 only refers to the ceremonial laws pertaining to the priesthood because the Greek word translated "law" here is nomos, which normally refers to the 613 laws in the Old Testament including the ten commandments.
The main reason why being subject under the regulation of the law or the Ten Commandments isn't seen as good news for Christians is because the Bible refers to it as the ministry of death and condemnation!
2 Corinthians 3:6-9 (ERV) "He made us able to be servants of a new agreement from himself to his people. It is not an agreement of written laws, but it is of the Spirit. The written law brings death, but the Spirit gives life. The old agreement that brought death, written with words on stone, came with God’s glory. In fact, the face of Moses was so bright with glory (a glory that was ending) that the people of Israel could not continue looking at his face. So surely the new agreement that comes from the life-giving Spirit has even more glory. This is what I mean: That old agreement judged people guilty of sin, but it had glory. So surely the new agreement that makes people right with God has much greater glory."
SDAs objection
Some SDAs may argue: If Christ indeed subjected Himself to the Law’s mandates to liberate us from the Law’s dominion, does this not imply that Christ endorses lawlessness, resulting in Christians dwelling in a state of anarchy?
In his epistle to the Romans, the apostle Paul directly addresses this objection:
Romans 6:14-15 (ERV) "Sin will not be your master, because you are not under law. You now live under God’s grace. So what should we do? Should we sin because we are under grace and not under law? Certainly not!"
Paul’s response to the SDAs who believe that our liberation from the law means that we no longer follow any law under the New Covenant of Grace is a definitive ‘no’. In fact, Paul himself clarified that although he is not subject to the regulations of the Law of the Old Covenant, there is a new law in place, which he referred to as the law of Christ:
1 Corinthians 9:20-21 (ERV) "To the Jews I became like a Jew so that I could help save Jews. I myself am not ruled by the law, but to those who are ruled by the law I became like someone who is ruled by the law. I did this to help save those who are ruled by the law. To those who are without the law I became like someone who is without the law. I did this to help save those who are without the law. (But really, I am not without God’s law—I am ruled by the law of Christ.)
What then is the Law of Christ? Is it the Ten Commandments? Definitely NO! The two greatest commandments—loving God and loving our neighbor—is the Law of Christ, which according to Christ is greater commandment than the ten commandments.
Matthew 22:36-40 (TLB) “Sir, which is the most important command in the laws of Moses?” Jesus replied, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. The second most important is similar: ‘Love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.’ All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets stem from these two laws and are fulfilled if you obey them. Keep only these and you will find that you are obeying all the others.”
As a result, Christians who live under the covenant of grace do not live in chaos or lawlessness; rather, they follow the eternal and universal law of love, which has always existed because God is love (1 John 4:8). Following the fall of man, the Ten Commandments were designed, with the foundation being these two greatest commandments. More accurately put, the ten commandments are an expression of the moral law rather than the moral law itself. The eternal moral law itself is the greatest commandment, according to Christ, along with loving God and loving our neighbor.
Finally, if the Seventh-day Adventists are right when they say that Jesus gave us an example of how to observe the weekly seventh-day Sabbath, then why, after we have obeyed Him, will He also redeem us under that law? We have also seen that the true Christians of today have been redeemed by Jesus under the law, which is why He now recognizes us as children of God.
Galatians 4:5 (AMP) "To purchase the freedom of (to ransom, to redeem, toatone for) those who were subject to the Law, that we might be adopted and have sonship conferred upon us [and be recognized as God’s sons]."
While the SDAs who think that they are still following the example of Christ even while under the law, it unfortunately means they are not yet children of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment