August 24–30

This weekly feature is dedicated to Adventists who are looking for biblical insights into the topics discussed in the Sabbath School lesson quarterly. We post articles which address each lesson as presented in the Sabbath School Bible Study Guide, including biblical commentary on them. We hope you find this material helpful and that you will come to know Jesus and His revelation of Himself in His word in profound biblical ways.

 

Week 9: “A New Kind of Community”

From the lesson:

While it seems the Israelites had failed to ever fully live out the blueprint for a just and generous society, the early church community took seriously the instruction that “there need be no poor people among you” (Deut. 15:4, NIV). 

First, let’s read Deuteronomy 15, verses 4 and 5:

However, there will be no poor among you, since the Lord will surely bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, if only you listen obediently to the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all this commandment which I am commanding you today.

In Deuteronomy, Israel was told that in the land they were about to possess, as God had promised to Abraham, if they lived out the laws He gave them, even the poor would have provision. This was under the Old Covenant. Then, compare that to what Jesus said: “For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me (Mt. 26:11).”

This statement is in the context of His visit to the home of Simon when the woman poured the expensive perfume on His head. When the disciples objected to what they saw as waste, Jesus told them there would always be the poor. This is simple acknowledgement of a fact of life.

In the new covenant, believers are not promised any land to inherit on this earth so the commands in Deuteronomy do not apply to the Church. Our command is to observe all that Jesus taught—which is summed up in “love God and love your fellow man”. 

Distinguishing between the Deuteronomy commands and the new covenant commands may seem like a small thing, even to the point of nit-picking, but blurring them is one of those subtle ways in which some new covenant leaders attempt to put us back under the old covenant—at least parts of it. While there is some overlap in principles of living, the commands and promises given under each covenant are completely separate, and neither covenant applies to those living under the other covenant.

Under the new covenant, instead of laws and commands to govern behavior, there is the Holy Spirit indwelling the believer. The result of the indwelling Spirit is a life lived in gratitude to God and love for others which leads to compassionate help for those in need. He, the Holy Spirit, not a set of external rules, will lead and teach and guide our behavior.

The section titled “Dorcas’s Ministry and Witness” makes some very good points about using our abilities and gifts to help others.

 

Friday

So far, this has been a fairly good lesson on the importance of helping those in need, but in today’s lesson there is a troubling quote from EGW:

“The Saviour has given His precious life in order to establish a church capable of caring for sorrowful, tempted souls” (Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 640).

This quote sounds good, but it’s another indication of the lack of understanding in Adventist theology for the real reason Jesus gave His life. Without an understanding of our souls which are naturally dead in sin, there is no understanding of the need for life for our souls. 

In Ephesians 2:1, 2 Paul tells us: 

“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.”

That verse is meant to be taken literally—our souls were dead in sin before coming to Christ. But following on to verses 3-5 he says: 

Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).

Jesus didn’t give His life for us so that we would have a good church organization that cares for the poor. NO, He gave His blood to give us life in Him. It is our souls that are dead until He gives them life which is why He came and why He died.

Without an understanding of the human soul, it is impossible to understand the gospel—starting in the garden of Eden. There, God told Adam and Eve that if they ate from the tree, “in that day” they would die. (Genesis 2:17) Since they went on to live nearly 1,000 years, either God lied or they did die that day. We know for certain that God did not lie so, since their bodies did not die, it was their souls that died—separated from God by their sin.

In question #2 at the end of Friday’s lesson we see this question:

“Are instructions for living, such as those summarized in Romans 12, for example, realistic, practical ways to live? Do they work in the “real world”? Or do they feel more like idealized pictures for stained glass window “saints”?

Again, without an understanding of the soul and the absolute necessity for the Holy Spirit to bring it to life, all you will get from the Bible is a list of commands on how to live. Without the new birth in Christ, all it can be is a guide for outward behavior modification, what the lesson calls “idealized pictures for stained glass window “saints”.

This lack of understanding of the transformative work of the Holy Spirit leaves one with no understanding of just how the change occurs. We can try and try to “be better” and to “do good”, but it will be only outward changes, not those from the heart. Even those whom the world recognizes as being good people are still dead in their sins until they come to Christ.

But once that transformation occurs, the good behavior comes out of a heart changed and filled with love for God and for others. This is the only true change and this is what Paul is summarizing in Romans 12.