June 20–27

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 13: “Living by the Word of God”

In summing up this quarter’s lessons, we now come to the goal of rightly understanding, or interpreting, the Bible—living by the Word of God. The lesson rightly points out that just knowing about it, having just a head knowledge, profits nothing. Just knowing about Jesus does not save. It takes faith to find and accept that salvation, even when we don’t understand everything there is to know about God and the Bible. 

In the same way, knowing all that Jesus says about how to live in Him and for Him profits us nothing if we don’t actually walk that path in faith. That doesn’t mean that salvation is lost without a correct or sufficient “walk”, but without that walk, there is a lack of fruit and a loss of rewards. (Take a look at 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 to see that if you are saved, even if you don’t earn the rewards, you still have the salvation—verse 15.)

Most of this week’s lesson is good, but it fails when you understand the underlying foundation of the theology which talks this way about the Word of God. We see this deception taking shape in Tuesday’s lesson where we read this:

“Some people claim that when Jesus spoke He put His words in stark contrast to the words of Scripture, as we find them in the Old Testament. They say that the words of Jesus are even elevated above the words of Scripture.

In the New Testament, we read that Jesus said: “ ‘You have heard that it was said . . . but I say to you . . .’ ”

When Jesus said these famous words in the Sermon on the Mount, He was not trying to abandon or abolish the Old Testament, as some interpreters claim. Instead, He responded to various interpretations of Scripture and to oral traditions that were used by some interpreters of His day to justify behavior toward other people that God did not condone and never commanded, like hating your enemy (see Matt. 5:43).”

Using a common argument, the author builds a straw man and earnestly tears it down; but he ignores the reality that is proclaimed in the very words of Jesus. This ‘straw man’ is the supposed claim that Jesus put His own words in contrast to, in opposition to, the Old Testament, or that He was speaking only of the man-made traditions that had been added later. 

But that is not the point of what Jesus was saying. He actually upheld the importance of the Old Covenant Law, but He always held it in contrast to the New Covenant, not in addition to it.

The lesson manages to ignore the fact that in the “you have heard it said” statements Jesus made in the Sermon on the Mount, he was referring specifically to the 10 Commandments. The outward behaviors that were dealt with in the 10 Commandments were just that, outward behaviors that did nothing to change the heart. Nor could the commandments forgive sin or make us right with God. 

Not even the fourth commandment, the seventh-day Sabbath, could make one right with God. Colossians 2:16, 17 says this about the yearly (festival), monthly (new moon), weekly (Sabbath day and other “high” Sabbaths):

Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day—things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. 

What this says is that the substance, the reality—Jesus— has come, so why would we want to keep worshiping the shadow instead of that reality?

Further, Jesus’ statements of “but I say to you” indicated that something much greater and much more valuable was here—that which could actually bring about change, not only in outward behavior but in the heart. Something, actually Someone, was here who could forgive the sin by paying the full penalty we had accrued. Only by faith in Him could the inward heart be changed as well as outward behavior. And only by that faith could our dead spirit be given life.

So no, He wasn’t abolishing the Old Testament or the Law. They both spoke of Him and pointed to Him, but now that He had come, He was fulfilling the Law. There was something new that could be only imagined before.

That is the very point that is consistently overlooked in Adventist theology. No, Jesus didn’t abolish the Law; in His own words, He came to fulfill it. He fulfilled it on our behalf, as we never could, and He paid the price for our failure so we would not have to. And once it was fulfilled, it is no longer useful to us just as a highway sign pointing the way to your destination is no longer useful to you once you have passed it. You don’t dig it up and take it with you; you leave it there to show others the way.

Look at this in Galatians 3:10–14:

For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.” 

Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “The righteous man shall live by faith.” 

However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, “He who practices them shall live by them.” 

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree—in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

I wish I could include the entire book of Galatians here as it is a wonderful statement on the whole purpose of the Law—to lead us to the solution for sin—Jesus. I would encourage you to commit to reading the entire book every day for one month. I took that challenge, and it had a profound impact on me as I finally began to realize the true place and purpose of the Law in the plan of salvation.

The Law was to be a tutor to show us our sin and to lead us to the cure—Jesus. In fact, just a few verses later, Paul says that very thing;

Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor (Gal. 3:24, 25).

And Paul says it another way in Romans 3:19–24:

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.

[Notice that it brings the knowledge of sin without any cure for that 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; 

The author’s straw man argument that Jesus didn’t come to abolish the Law or the Old Testament is just a distraction given to hide the effort to keep us under a curse of death (Galatians 3:13) instead of letting us move into the joy of life free from the curse of sin.

The lesson further confuses things by saying this:

“Jesus did not abolish the Old Testament in any way or in any degree lessen its authority. The opposite is true. It was the Old Testament that, indeed, proves who He is. Instead, He intensified the meaning of the Old Testament statements by pointing us to God’s original intentions.”

By saying that Jesus “intensified the meaning of the Old Testament” the author seems to be trying to say that Jesus gave new weight to the obligation of keeping the Old Covenant Law; perhaps by teaching us the right way to keep the Law. Remember, in Adventist theology, “the Law” means the 10 Commandments, particularly the fourth. And yet they say that Jesus did abolish the rest of the Law.

All of this astonishing twisting of Scripture is for the purpose of claiming Biblical authority for going to church on Saturday—and under the surface, to keep people bound to the curse of death that is at the heart of the law. For these deceptive purposes, the gospel is watered down and forced to include the Law even though over and over, the New Testament is very clear that one gives way to the other (Hebrews 7:11, 12. And as I said before, Romans 7 states emphatically that trying to combine Law and grace is the equivalent of spiritual adultery.)

This end goal of combining Law and grace is highlighted in one of the questions at the end of Friday’s lesson:

“Think about the role that the Sabbath can and should play in terms of giving us quiet time with God. How does keeping the Sabbath protect you from being so caught up in working and doing things that you don’t spend the time with God that you need to spend? How can you learn to make the Sabbath more of the spiritual blessing that it was meant to be?”

If going to church on Saturday is the thing what gives you “quiet time” with God, what about the rest of the week? Sitting in a church building and listening to music and a sermon are not about “quiet time” with God; they are about fellowship with other believers and hearing a message of encouragement to help equip you for the rest of the week.

Any useful quiet time with God is done individually, not corporately. Although family worship time is important, it is not a viable substitute for each person’s private time in addition to the family devotions.

Overall this quarter, there have been some very good things said about how to rightly interpret the Bible. Sadly, most of them were contradicted in the way the lesson inserts un-Biblical explanations in an effort to prop up Adventist theology. 

I like how the author explains the ways we can correctly interpret the Bible, but I am saddened by how he seems unable to actually do it himself.

So, in light of all this, just how can we accurately interpret the Bible?

To accurately interpret the Bible you have to have the leading of the Holy Spirit to open your mind to the truths found there.

To accurately interpret the Bible, you have to look at all that it says about any subject, not just cherry-pick a verse here and there that seem to support your ideas while ignoring the others that clearly don’t support them.

To accurately interpret the Bible, when there are some verses that seem clear and straight forward and others that seem unclear or even contradictory, you should start with the ones that are clear. Then, once you have established the clear message of those verses, look at the ones that may be less clear and try to understand why that is so. God cannot lie, so His Word cannot contradict itself. Often the problem is a lack of understanding of the setting or of the specific target audience of that verse.

To accurately interpret the Bible, you will have to accept God’s authority as the first and last word on any subject. If something you read does not seem to be in line with it, you are not then free to give it whatever meaning you choose.

To accurately interpret the Bible, no authority, no matter how good a speaker or writer, can ever be placed in a position of authority over that of the Bible.

To accurately interpret the Bible, instead of finding verses or parts of verses that support your doctrines, the Bible itself must be the source for establishing doctrine. †