Did Adam Break the Ten Commandments?
I have a question about the Ten Commandments. Were they made known before they were written on stone at Sinai?
I know Adventists believe they are eternal, but I find other groups who also believe that Adam must have known them in order for him to have sinned. Some claim that he broke all of the commandments when he ate the fruit.
Please let me know your thoughts on this.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: The first time the Ten Commandments are articulated in Scripture is Exodus 20. Adam sinned by breaking God’s command TO HIM: not to eat the fruit of that tree. Adam sinned because he did not believe and obey what God told him. That command was for him, and he broke it. He didn’t have to break the actual Ten in order to sin! Sin is against God, as David said in Psalm 51:4. Adam sinned against God. In Romans 5 Paul explains that there was no law prior to Moses, yet death reigned from Adam until Moses:
“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come” (Rom. 5:12–14).
I hope this helps!
Adventist Jesus Is Michael the Archangel
Are there any Adventists—maybe the historical folks—who still describe Jesus as having been Michael the Archangel prior to His appearing in the world?
—VIA EMAIL
Response: Yes. This is still a core teaching of Adventism. Ellen White equates Michael with Jesus, and she attributes the identity of Jesus to Michael in Jude 9. Compare these two quotations of hers:
Christ resurrected Moses and took him to heaven. This enraged Satan, and he accused the Son of God of invading his dominion by robbing the grave of his lawful prey. Jude says of the resurrection of Moses, “Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.” (RH, March 3, 1874, par. 13)
I saw that Moses passed through death, but Michael came down and gave him life before he saw corruption. Satan claimed the body as his, but Michael resurrected Moses, and took him to heaven. The Devil tried to hold his body, and railed out bitterly against God, denounced him as unjust, in taking from him his prey. But Michael did not rebuke the Devil, although it was through his temptation and power that God’s servant had fallen. Christ meekly referred him to his Father, saying, The Lord rebuke thee. (Spiritual Gifts vol 1, p. 43.1)
Controversy With a Certain Outcome
Just a thought for you to consider: I understand your position on there not being a “controversy” between Christ and Satan as presented by Adventists. And you are correct that there was never a time when there was a possibility of God losing to Satan in any way.
However, the Bible does talk about conflict between the two. Satan is the enemy, etc. I think there are two understandings of the word “controversy” that people hold. Adventists think of it as two equals, or opponents, with the outcome of the controversy being in doubt. Yet there can be “controversy” without the element of the conflict outcome being in doubt.
If a child throws a temper tantrum and starts hitting an adult, is the outcome ever in doubt? Yes, there is controversy, but no question in outcome. It might help some people to acknowledge what the Bible seems to obviously present. Yet there is never a question of outcome, even with Satan throwing a temper tantrum.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: You make a good point. I know that often even evangelical Christians will refer to a controversy between good and evil.
My concern is that Scripture never pictures, as you have said, that Jesus and Satan are equal-but-opposite opponents in an ongoing battle. Since becoming a true Christian and learning to take God’s word seriously, I see so much less biblical support for seeing Satan as an object of our fear or opposition. He is an accuser, a deceiver, an influencer of depraved humanity. Yet his kingdom is different from Jesus’s kingdom (Col 1:13).
We are not called to fight Satan but to trust Jesus. Only in Him can we “resist the devil” (Jas. 4:7). He is a roaring lion, but his doom is certain. I realize I am seeing this question from the perspective of having had to jettison the “great controversy worldview” which included my ongoing obedience to the Sabbath to demonstrate I loved God, a view which did not teach we are born spiritually dead and that salvation is being brought to spiritual life, which taught a powerful and nearly omnipresent devil, and which also included an extra-biblical source of biblical “insight”.
- April 27–May 3, 2024 - April 25, 2024
- We Got Mail - April 25, 2024
- April 20–26, 2024 - April 18, 2024