FAP Commentary on SDA Sabbath School Lesson for October 2: "Prosperous and Successful"

SDA Lesson Claim:

• Law and grace “always go together.”

• To see law and grace as opposites is “superficial.”

• Law helps us understand sin, leading us to Christ.

• Application: Even when trying to keep the law, we still need Christ’s covering righteousness.

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FAP Response (Biblical Commentary):

1. Context of Romans 3:31

• Romans 3:28–31 is Paul’s conclusion to his argument: “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”

• Verse 31 (“Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.”) does not mean the believer keeps the Old Covenant law as a rule of justification or covenant membership.

• It means: faith establishes the true purpose of the law — to point us to Christ, not to bind us back under Sinai.

2. The SDA Confusion

• The SDA lesson equates “law” with “God’s eternal moral standard = Ten Commandments = Sabbath commandment”.

• But in Romans, Paul uses nomos (“law”) broadly for the Mosaic Torah, not just the Ten Commandments.

• When Paul says “law,” he’s talking about the entire Old Covenant system (Rom. 2:17–20; 7:7–12; Gal. 3:10–25).

• By insisting “law and grace always go together,” the SDA framework reintroduces the very dichotomy Paul is dismantling: trying to cling to the Sinai covenant alongside the New Covenant in Christ.

3. Law’s True Role in Redemptive History

• Romans 7:7 – The law exposes sin.

• Galatians 3:24 – The law was a paidagōgos (guardian) to lead us to Christ.

• Hebrews 8:13 – The Old Covenant law is “obsolete and passing away.”

• Therefore, the law’s role is preparatory, temporary, and typological — not coequal with the New Covenant in Christ.

4. The Pastoral Reality

Yes, even Christians still sin. But our hope is not that we “try to keep the law but fall back on Christ when we fail.” That’s still legalistic thinking.

Instead, our confidence is that Christ has once for all provided righteousness that covers past, present, and future sins (Heb. 10:14).

• The SDA “law + grace” formula keeps the conscience enslaved.

• The gospel says: “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Rom. 10:4).

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Questions for SDAs

1. If Paul meant we “keep the Ten Commandments, including Sabbath,” why didn’t he give even one direct instruction to Gentile believers in Romans to observe the Sabbath?

2. If law and grace are always meant to go together, then why did John say, ‘The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ’ (John 1:17)?

3. If obeying the law is necessary for salvation, how do you explain Romans 4:5, which says, ‘To the one who does not work but believes… his faith is counted as righteousness’?

FAP Commentary Summary

Romans 3:31 does not teach that the law and grace remain side by side as SDA claims. Rather, Paul is showing that faith in Christ fulfills the true intention of the law—not by binding us back to Sinai, but by bringing us into the New Covenant where Christ Himself is our righteousness.

The real question isn’t, ‘How can I fulfill the law so Christ can cover what I lack?’ It’s, ‘Is Christ enough as the fulfillment of the law for me?’ 

And the gospel answers: Yes. He is more than enough. 

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