November 2–8

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.

 

Lesson 6: “The Reading of the Word”

This whole week is dedicated to the Word of God. It has much to say about how we need to know the word, how we should stay close to it and apply it to our lives. However, the lesson inserts the Adventist dependence on the law into the text.

From the lesson, in talking about the law (the Torah) that was read to the people:

The term “law,” therefore, covers only a part of what was included in the reading; it would be better to translate it as “instructions.” They are God’s instructions enabling us to know the path on which we should walk in order not to miss the goal.

This explanation seems to be slipped into the lesson in an attempt to apply the Old Covenant Law to those of us who are under the New Covenant.

Yes, the whole ‘law’ contained God’s instructions, but only to Israel to enable them to know how they should live. To turn that into “enabling us to know how to walk” attempts to put us back under the law of the Old Covenant. 

For us, in the New Covenant as the body of Christ, we find the Law of Christ in the New Testament giving us “God’s instructions enabling us to know the path on which we should walk”…

Further, the author went a little too far by including the line: “in order not to miss the goal.” What this says is that if you don’t walk the path correctly, you will miss the goal of salvation. This idea puts the responsibility for our salvation onto us and our works (our walk) rather that on God who has promised that He will make us stand (not miss the goal). (See Jude 1:24; Rom 14:4.)

Then, after explaining how a language barrier was overcome by the men standing with Ezra to explain to the people, the author adds this:

“At the same time, readers of the Bible can benefit from explanation or commentary. Preaching and explanation make the text come alive and press hearers to apply the information personally.”

On the surface that is very true. I have benefitted greatly from commentaries by respected Biblical scholars. But I never just take their word for what they say. It has to agree with the Bible or they are not a reliable source of explanation.

You must know and understand the Bible for yourself, as taught by the Holy Spirit (John 14:26), in order to be able to discern the truthfulness and accuracy of the authors you read. If you don’t know the truth for yourself, you won’t recognize error when you encounter it. We mustn’t ever just accept the word of any Bible commentary, but we must be good Bereans and test it all by Scripture (Acts 17:11).

This directive was probably slipped in there to prop up Ellen White and affirm the necessity of reading what she says about the Bible. Sadly, this tends to take the place of reading the Bible for yourself.

From the lesson:

As Protestants, we understand that individual believers must know the Word of God for themselves and that we must not blindly accept anyone else’s word on biblical truth, regardless of their authority. At the same time, who hasn’t been blessed by having someone help explain the meaning of texts? We need, each one of us, to know what we believe for ourselves, but this doesn’t mean that, at times, we can’t be enlightened by the teachings of others.

While this idea is very true, to the average Adventist, Ellen White’s authority is not to be questioned. I know from my own experience that knowing what I believed was based much more on what she said than on what I allowed the Holy Spirit to teach me. In fact, she became the filter through which the Spirit had to pass; and if what she said disagreed, she won out. That goes so far past being “enlightened” that it becomes brainwashing.

This reliance on Ellen White is starkly illustrated by this question in the lesson:

Read Nehemiah 8:9–12. Why did the leaders tell the people not to “mourn nor weep”?

If you just read that text, you get an explanation that fully answers the question. But, instead of letting the Bible speak for itself, the author immediately answers his own question by a long quote from Ellen White. This is another pointed example of not using the Bible and the Bible only.

Friday

From the questions at the end:

How do we find the right balance in mourning over our sins and yet, at the same time, rejoicing in the Lord? Are not these contradictory to each other? How do the law and gospel together provide the answer? See Rom. 3:19–24.

First, let’s read the text:

Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,  even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

As a saved, redeemed, justified and sanctified child of God, why would you even want to continue to mourn over your sins? We did that when we came to the cross; but now that our sins are covered, although we do at times mourn over the fact that our sin nature leads us back into sin, we don’t need or want to continue to mourn over past sins. We mourn our failure to please God, but all of our sins have already been paid for.

And to the last sentence in that quote from the lesson, as far as combining the law and and gospel, Romans 7 is very clear that trying to combine them is spiritual adultery—a phenomenon which occurs whenever you misuse the law.

The law points out our sin and drives us to the cross for forgiveness and redemption. From then on, we are under grace, not law, and we no longer have to mourn over our sin. Instead, we can rejoice in our salvation in the Lord. 

After that, when we sin, and we do, we disrupt our relationship with a perfect God who cannot abide with sin; but He does not “unsave” us or let us go.

Rather, as the redeemed of God, we are indwelled and sealed by the Holy Spirit who will lead us to confess our sin. This will restore our relationship. 

So, rather than continue to mourn over our sin, we can rejoice in our salvation. †