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 5: “The Stranger In Your Gates”
COLLEEN TINKER
Problems with this lesson:
- It equates the restatement of the Mosaic Covenant in Deuteronomy with the idea of the “new covenant”.
- It negates the constitutional difference between the Mosaic Covenant and the new covenant.
- It teaches that caring for the poor and the strangers teaches adopting a social justice platform and even poses a question about one’s motives for choosing a political party.
This week’s lesson presented well-modulated hints at a social justice direction for understanding Deuteronomy. In the process, the author attempted to call the restatement of the Mosaic covenant in Deuteronomy a “renewing” of the covenant but with new demands: having the Ten Commandments on the heart instead of on stone, and making love the leading affect of Israel because the Law had moved to the inside instead of on the outside of people.
It wasn’t until the Teachers Comments at the end of the lesson, however, that this agenda became clearly stated. On page 66 of the Quarterly, within the Teachers Comments, is this set of thought questions:
How does the biblical notion of “new covenant” in the book of Deuteronomy apply to our understanding of the relation between the Old Testament and the New Testament? Why does the “new covenant” imply the same law? Why did God write the law on stones rather than in the hearts of the people?
These questions reveal the agenda of this lesson: the author is using the book of Deuteronomy to illustrate the Adventist idea of the “new covenant”: no new law, the Ten are written on the heart, and the fact that the covenant was restated to the wilderness generation equates a renewed, or “new” covenant. The entire lesson is an example of the way Adventism alters word definitions, takes ideas out of context, and reinterprets Scripture to prop up its own false gospel.
In fact, the restated covenant in Deuteronomy was the Mosaic Covenant without any changes of demands or terms. They still had the tablets of stone in the ark of the covenant. Their hearts were still to be soft toward God, because salvation is not on the basis of obeying the law but on the basis of believing God and honoring Him. In fact, Abraham’s belief expressed in Genesis 15:6 us the prototype for all who believe, both before Israel existed and after (see Romans 4).
Significantly, this lesson ignores completely what the New Testament says about the REAL new covenant. The author never mentions that the new covenant is in Jesus’ blood.
Further, the question above asks, “Why does “the ‘new covenant’ imply the same law?” But Hebrews 7:12 clearly states that with a change of the priesthood, there is necessarily a change of the law! The new covenant is in Jesus’ blood. The atonement was completed in His death, and His resurrection broke the curse of the law. The new covenant is COMPLETELY NEW with a new priesthood in the order of Melchizedek—and this fact means there is a change of the law as well!
The lesson is reinforcing the Adventist teaching that there is only ONE covenant, and the new covenant is not substantively different from the old. Yet Scripture is clear: the new covenant is completely new. It is not based on shadows but on the blood of Jesus who fulfilled every single shadow of the old. The law written on the hearts of those who believe in His finished work is not the Ten Commandments: it is the law of Christ!
The Social Justice Angle
One of the more subtle but problematic features of this lesson is the author’s use of texts in which God commands Israel to care for the poor, the strangers, the needy, and the fatherless. God has always asked His people to care for the poor and needy. In fact, when Jesus’ disciples privately complained that the woman who anointed Jesus feet with expensive ointment was wasting money that could have been spent on the poor, Jesus responded:
But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her” (Matthew 26:10–13).
In other words, Jesus stated that no matter what else happened, there would always be the poor. No matter how much people care for them, some will be poor; the inequities cannot be erased by people adopting a social gospel that attempts to create equity. Equal outcomes have never been God’s plan as revealed in Scripture. Worshiping God with one’s money is a priority even over feeding the poor.
Even so, both the old covenant and the new covenant command that God’s people care for the poor. This caring, however, is to begin with the household of God and spread from there to those outside. The problem in this lesson, however, is that it is leading the reader to see a social justice framework, to view society through a lens more like critical race theory (although it is not named) rather than through the gospel.
Of course, this lesson cannot address the biblical teaching of caring for the poor and disenfranchised properly because Adventism does not understand or know the true gospel. Only in the context of people being born again through trust in Jesus’ finished work for the payment of their sins can proper and respectful care be given to the poor.
The current views of social justice redefine sin and make it something people inherit through their cultural heritage. Scripture, however, places every single person in the same condition naturally: dead in trespasses and sins, by nature children of wrath (Eph. 2:1–3). What people need—poor, disenfranchised, widows, fatherless, rich, privileged—all need to believe in the Lord Jesus and thus to be born again and sealed with the Holy Spirit. Then they will have a new Father and a new family, and God’s promises will be true for them. He doesn’t promise wealth, but He promises that His children will have what they need if they seek the kingdom first.
Only then can people really care for the poor and needy with a true love for them. Instead of attempting to reorganize society or to pay a historic debt claimed by others, children of God will love the people God places in their lives and give sacrificially for their welfare. Only in Christ can societal differences and nurtured hurts be healed by Jesus’ blood and by the family love of God that flows from a born-again heart.
The Teachers Comments have this question as a suggestion for class discussion:
“What are the motivations that guide your political choices? Do you choose your political party on the basis of a nationalistic agenda, selfish interests, or more on the basis of social justice and care for the poor, the widow, and the orphan?”
This question confirms that the lesson’s intent is to steer members toward social justice politics—and it does this subtle manipulation by misusing God’s commands to Israel and making them proof texts for supporting social justice policies.
Once again the Sabbath School lesson misuses Scripture and misinterprets God’s covenants with Israel to obscure the new covenant in Jesus’ blood and to anchor Adventists to their worldview that insists that people are merely physical, that Jesus could have sinned and failed but gave His example of how to avoid sin, that the Law is eternal and the Ten must be written on the heart, and that true godliness will practice social justice and support its political causes. This lesson utterly fails to teach the gracious and consistent nature of our triune God who calls us to believe and then transforms us into the likeness of His Son.
He, not we, are responsible for our justification and for our sanctification. We don’t prove our love or our loyalty to God by adopting the political social justice paradigms for caring for the poor and disenfranchised. Only by believing and being born again can we begin to actually see the real needs around us and to love the needy sacrificially. †
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Hi Colleen
Your review of Lesson 4 was very good and I was blessed by it , and I read it a second time .
Much of Adventism’s foundation is built on the writings of Moses that contain the 10 Commandments and the Sabbath is the most emphasized. A Jehovah’s Witness said to me “I know an Adventist couple and all they talk about is the Sabbath . The Sabbath this and the Sabbath that ”
The foundation is maintained by constantly keeping it’s members attention fixed to the writing of Moses , the Old Covenant and the Old Testament . Most sermons and Sabbath School Bible Study Guides come from the Old Testament . The result is a hardening of the mind against the truth found in the New Testament . You tell an Adventist a N.T truth and they will counter with what they think the O.T says .
Satan has deceived Adventism because he knows that the reading of the O.T leads to a misunderstanding or a no understanding of the N.T . ” and to this day whenever the old covenant is being read , the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth . And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ . Yes , even TODAY when they read Moses’ writings , their hearts are covered with that veil and they DO NOT UNDERSTAND . But whenever someone turns to the Lord ,the veil is taken away ” . [ 2 Cor 3 : 14 – 16 ] .
Satan knows that if we fix our mind and energies on the 10 Commandments it will lead to our death .
” The old way with laws etched in stone , led to death ” [ 2 Cor 3 : 7 ] . The old way also brings condemnation ,shame , guilt and sin consciousness . [2 Cor 3 : 9 ] .
And here is a warning Adventism ” I will personally deal with anyone who will not listen to the messages the prophet [ Jesus ] proclaims on my behalf ” [ Deut 18 : 19 ] .