Lesson 8: “Teaching Disciples: Part II”
COLLEEN TINKER | Editor, Life Assurance Ministries
Problems with this lesson:
- The lesson misses Jesus’s introduction of a new reality as He teaches about marriage and children and the kingdom of God.
- The lesson made the rich young ruler a lesson about “obedience” rather than belief in Jesus.
- The Teachers Notes say entering the kingdom requires belief in the kingdom, and Jesus is our example.
This week’s studies reveal Adventism’s underlying emphasis on morality lessons, on keeping the law and following Jesus as an example, and on belief as one’s decision to embrace the principles of the kingdom, not on trusting Jesus completely and letting go of what one loves in order to know Him.
In other words, the lesson approaches the accounts in Mark 10 as illustrations of how to OBEY rather than of how to trust Jesus Himself. In fact, the lesson equates “belief” with “obedience”.
Understanding that Adventism defines “belief” in terms of behavior and doctrinal decisions begins to reveal how subtly but completely the great controversy worldview denatures the Lord Jesus.
Understanding that Adventism defines “belief” in terms of behavior and doctrinal decisions begins to reveal how subtly but completely the great controversy worldview denatures the Lord Jesus. Adventism redefines salvation by eliminating the reality of man’s true nature and need: humans are by nature dead in sin and must be born again through belief in the Lord Jesus Himself. Adventism, however, makes salvation intellectual assent bolstered by self-abnegation and good deeds.
In this week’s lesson we will see examples that demonstrate how Adventism’s view of reality differs from the Bible’s revelation of reality.
The Truth about Marriage and Children
Sunday’s lesson is devoted to the Pharisee’s questioning Jesus about divorce. Mark 10:1–12 records this event, and importantly, this encounter occurred not in northern Galilee but in Judea, the southern part of Israel that was formerly the Southern Kingdom.
Mark 10:1 reveals that Jesus had gone to “Judea and beyond the Jordan”, the arid desert east of the Jordan River in the territory governed by Herod Antipas. Herod had, not long before, killed John the Baptist because Herod had divorced his wife to marry his brother’s divorced wife. John the Baptist had rebuked Herod for this marriage, and Herod eventually had John beheaded because he had publicly opposed the king.
Now the Pharisees asked Jesus, right in the region where John had already been killed for his condemnation of Herod’s divorce and remarriage, what Jesus believed about divorce. This was a trap, and Jesus knew it. The Pharisees were likely hoping that Herod would now turn on Jesus and seize Him as he had John the Baptist.
The Pharisees pointed out that Moses had allowed divorce, and they quoted from Deuteronomy 24:1–4:
“If a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts [it] in her hand and sends her out from his house, and she goes out of his house and goes and becomes another man’s [wife], and if the latter husband turns against her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts [it] in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her to be his wife, [then] her former husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her again to be his wife, since she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before Yahweh, and you shall not bring sin on the land which Yahweh your God gives you as an inheritance.”—Deuteronomy 24:1–4
Then Jesus told them that Moses had allowed the Israelites to divorce because of the hardness of their hearts. From the beginning of creation, however, divorce was not part of the plan, and Jesus quoted Genesis 2:24 in Mark 10:8 and continued in verse 9 to declare that no one should separate what God had joined:
AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH; so they are no longer two, but one flesh. “What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”—Mark 10:8, 9
Jesus explained that Moses had allowed divorce because Israel’s hearts were so hard. Divorce, in fact, provided protection and provision for unloved wives who were married to cruel men. In the ancient times, women belonged to their husbands. They had no inheritances of their own, and abandoned women were without a means of support or the protection of a household.
Further, divorce provided protection for women who might otherwise have become victims of abuse and even death at the hands of a cruel husband.
Jesus, however, had come introducing a new reality: the kingdom of God. He was the promised One in whom was life and salvation, protection and love. Those who believed in Jesus even as He ministered in Israel were healed and saved. They received the spiritual life that Jesus alone could give, and they became His disciples.
Jesus, the Creator in human flesh, was among them, and He reminded them that God gave marriage to humanity in the very beginning. He reminded them that God Himself declared marriage sacred, and saying “No” to divorce was an act of trusting God’s provision and saying “Yes” to Him. Seeing divorce from God’s perspective was a safeguard against human selfishness. It would preserve marriage and the individuals involved.
Furthermore, Jesus was there: He was bringing in a new kingdom based on His fulfillment of the law and the prophets, and believing in Him would bring the spiritually dead to life.
Furthermore, Jesus was there: He was bringing in a new kingdom based on His fulfillment of the law and the prophets, and believing in Him would bring the spiritually dead to life. In Jesus there was the ability to honor God and protect His provision. In the new covenant Jesus was ushering in through His blood, there was a solution to the problem of hard hearts. He was offering the way for the hardened Jews to be made alive and able to trust God and love each other.
The lesson, though, completely misses the new birth and the new reality that the Lord Jesus was introducing. The new covenant is nowhere in view.
Monday’s lesson then addresses Mark 10:13–16 where we read this:
And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
“Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it [at all].” And He took them in His arms and [began] blessing them, laying His hands on them.—Mark 10:13–16
The lesson completely misses the account in chapter 9 where Jesus condemned those who would lead a child into sin, saying that it would be better for such a person to have a millstone hung around his neck and that he be drowned. Instead, the author presents the standard Adventist interpretation of this brief passage and quotes Ellen White:
He [Jesus] strongly insists that the disciples must not stand in the way of the children. Why? Because the kingdom of God belongs to them, and one must receive it in the attitude and outlook of a child—probably a reference to simple, implicit trust in God.
“Let not your un-Christlike character misrepresent Jesus. Do not keep the little ones away from Him by your coldness and harshness. Never give them cause to feel that heaven would not be a pleasant place to them if you were there. Do not speak of religion as something that children cannot understand, or act as if they were not expected to accept Christ in their childhood. Do not give them the false impression that the religion of Christ is a religion of gloom, and that in coming to the Saviour they must give up all that makes life joyful.”—Ellen G. White, The Ministry of Healing, pp. 43, 44.
Ellen White reduces this passage to a moral lesson full of platitudes but devoid of any acknowledgment of the need for a new birth. She completely misses what it means to “receive the kingdom of God like a child”.
This moment of Jesus blessing the children and saying the kingdom of God “belongs to such as these” is related to His earlier taking a child on His lap and then condemning those who cause them to sin.
Jesus was not teaching that people condescend to children or make them believe they have to give up all that “makes life joyful”. He was demonstrating that children need to be protected. They need to be safe, and they are never to be treated as the vehicle of adults’ selfish desires.
The children came to Jesus because He was “safe”. They were loved, and they trusted Him. He had already declared that anyone who sinned against a child was under condemnation, and He showed that children—like women in that culture as well—were dependent upon those in authority over them.
If the authority figures were cruel, demanding, shaming and harsh, the children would no longer trust them. Their “obedience” would be out of fear and self-protection, not out of trust and confidence that they were safe and cared for.
Jesus was showing that the kingdom was about HIM, not about a construct called the “kingdom of God”.
When Jesus said the kingdom of God belongs to “such as these”, He was talking about the trust that people were to have in Him and in the Father. He was demonstrating that the vulnerable, powerless children trusted Him, and He was not using them or betraying them. They believed Him, and they knew He would care for them.
He wasn’t giving a moral lesson about how to receive the gift of the kingdom like a child would receive a gift. On the contrary, He was demonstrating that receiving the kingdom was about trusting Him completely because He is trustworthy!
Jesus was showing that the kingdom was about HIM, not about a construct called the “kingdom of God”. When people would see that He loved them, that He offered truth and reality and that they could let go of their identities and addictions and follow Him, they would find life and forgiveness.
That Rich Young Ruler
The story of the rich young ruler is related to Jesus’ teaching about the children and the kingdom as well. When he asked Jesus how to be saved, Jesus reminded him of the commandments. The young man answered that he had kept them all “from my youth up”. Then Mark tells us in Mark 10:21:
And looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”—Mark 10:21
The man was sad because he “owned much property”, and he went away. Jesus tells his disciples that it is hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God—yet even this is not impossible with God!
The lesson concludes this account by saying:
Here is the point: it is the death of Christ that resolves human guilt, and then the grace of Christ and His resurrection are what empower obedience to His commands.
But this is NOT the point! Jesus was not saying the commandments were part of the way of salvation and that the man had one more commandments to keep: selling his wealth. What Jesus was saying is that the commandments are NOT enough to enter the kingdom! A person must be willing to give up what he loves the most in order to follow Jesus.
The issue is trusting Jesus, being willing to let go of whatever we most value—even if that thing is our very identity: our Adventism, our families, our income, even—and trust Jesus knowing that He will provide, protect, and bring us to life in Himself.
The rich young ruler was not a lesson in poor obedience; he was, rather a demonstration of the weedy soil Jesus talked about in the parable of the sower in Mark 4. His worldly concerns choked out his interest in the gospel seed.
Belief in the Kingdom or in Jesus?
Finally, the Teachers’ Notes again reveal the underlying Adventist definition of the Christian concept of “belief”. Adventists say they “believe in Jesus”. They say they “believe the gospel”, and they say they “believe that Jesus died to save us”. But what do they mean?
The teachers’s notes break down the concept of “belief” in a way that it’s clear that Adventism doesn’t actually teach that the Lord Jesus Himself is the object of belief. Instead, they way the teacher’s comments explain “belief”, we see why Adventism sees Jesus as the One who shows the way to the Kingdom and not the way Himself. We can see how the Adventist gospel focusses not on Jesus and His shed blood, not on His propitiation for sin, not on His completed atonement, but on the destination they hope to achieve. For the Adventist, the object of their hope and faith is eventual salvation, not literally knowing and trusting in the person and work of Jesus for their spiritual life and forgiveness.
Here are some quotes from the Teachers Comments to illustrate my point. This is from page 107:
In other words, Jesus tells His disciples, as well as the rest of His auditors, that if they want to enter the kingdom, they need to believe in the kingdom, they need to welcome the kingdom, and they need to take hold of the kingdom with the enthusiasm of a little child when he or she takes hold of a gift. In short, we can enter the kingdom if we accept the good news about it. When we believe the good news, we make the kingdom ours.
Jesus was not teaching that we have to believe in the kingdom in order to receive it. He was not teaching that we have to take the kingdom gift from Jesus as enthusiastically as a child receives a gift from an adult. Rather, Jesus was teaching, first, that a child is our example because the child trusts Jesus. A child who trusts his parent doesn’t worry at all about what he will eat or drink or wear. He doesn’t worry about what he will “get” from his parent—he trusts his parent and rests in His provision and the certainty of His love and protection.
Here’s a further quote from pages 107–108 in the Teachers Comments:
After reading the story of the rich young man, we note that the heirs of God’s kingdom have a strong knowledge of His law and the Scripture. God loves those who follow His instructions. But obedience alone is not enough to ensure entrance into God’s kingdom. In Mark 10:21, 22, Jesus identifies an important point that reinforces the principles He inculcated in the scene with the little children. Mark writes of Jesus and the rich young ruler: “Looking at him, Jesus showed love to him and said to him, ‘One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.’ But he was deeply dismayed by these words, and he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property” (NASB). Jesus loved the young man and appreciated his allegiance to God’s law. However, the young man did not believe in the kingdom of God and all that it entailed. Only a person who has accepted and believed the kingdom of God can enter into it. The rich young man did not believe in it; or at the very least, he was unwilling to believe in it or to accept it.
The story of the rich young ruler was not teaching that his “strong knowledge” of the law and of Scripture were characteristics of “the heirs of God’s kingdom”! The story does NOT connect Jesus’ love for the man with his allegiance to God’s law. Rather, the account in Mark says that Jesus looked at the young man and loved him—and then he told him he had to sell what he had and follow Him. Jesus’ love for the man was not remotely premised on the man’s appreciation for the law!
Jesus loved the man because—He loved the MAN. He wanted him to trust Him and to follow Him, but the man had to decide what to do with Jesus. Was he really willing to give up all that he had worked for and all he valued to follow Jesus ALONE?
It turned out that, at that time, he wasn’t willing. The comments, however, state that the young man didn’t believe in the KiNGDOM of GOD and what was necessary to receive it. The author even goes on to say that “only a person who has accepted and believe the kingdom of God can enter into it”!
The Bible NEVER teaches this idea. We are never asked to believe in the kingdom. We are never asked to believe in any spiritual blessing in order to receive it!
We are asked to believe in only ONE object: the Lord Jesus HIMSELF.
Incredibly, Adventism uses all the words Christians use. It plucks language out of the Bible, and then, with a subtle twist of application, the entire meaning of the biblical commands is changed.
The Teachers Comments summarize the insider view of “belief” with this paragraph on page 109:
In other words, our citizenship in God’s kingdom—particularly for those in leading positions—implies a life of sacrifice and service, rather than a life of dominion over others. Jesus is the example we should strive to emulate.
And there it is. Adventist salvation is based upon right doing—right behaviors—using Jesus as their EXAMPLE. The Adventist, in contrast to the rich young ruler, is expected to follow Jesus’ example and give up his glory, give up his possessions, become a servant, and live a self-abnegating life of sacrifice, service, and suffering. Jesus, the suffering one who went to the cross, is the Adventists’ EXAMPLE, while the object of their belief is The Kingdom!
This model is completely inside-out and backwards! Jesus is the means of an Adventist’s salvation. The Kingdom, on the other hand, is only available to an Adventist if he BELIEVES it is real! The suggestion is that, if a person doesn’t believe the kingdom is real, that person will never receive it because to him it doesn’t exist.
Do you see that this model is really a variation of the word-faith idea? One’s belief brings about the manifestation of what one believes, and Jesus is the EXAMPLE for how to make these spiritual things manifested.
The Bible, however, asks us to believe JESUS. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We are asked to believe in a Person—not in the external goal we hope to reach. If we believe in Jesus alone, in His shed blood for our sin, His burial, and His resurrection on the third day, we will be made spiritually alive with Jesus’ own resurrection life!
Jesus is the One who suffered so we can live. Jesus is the One who makes us alive and places us in His body. Jesus is the One who open our spiritual eyes so we can understand His word and the eternal truths that knowing Him unlocks.
We are never called to believe in the kingdom! We are called to believe Jesus, and He reveals His kingdom and makes us citizens of it. The Lord God transfers us out of the domain of darkness when we believe into the kingdom of the beloved Son, and we pass from death to life!
We are asked to believe in ONE THING: the Lord Jesus. He makes all else a reality, and we can’t bring any of His promises into being. When we believe in Him, He makes all His promises come true in Him.
Adventism misses the heart of the gospel: the Lord Jesus is the Way, the only Way to the Father, and the only Way to the kingdom. He protects the needy and the vulnerable, and when we trust Him, we receive all He said His people would receive. Further, we receive new hearts and desires, and we live out His love and compassion toward the vulnerable. It is only when we are cleansed by Jesus’ blood and receive His life that we can properly trust Him as we live in our marriages, as we love and protect children, as we let go of our grip on our identities.
In Jesus, however, we find life, peace, and fulness of joy.
Have you trusted Jesus alone? Let go of all that you love and entrust it to the Lord Jesus. Let Him be your identity, your Savior, your Life—and you will know what it means to become a citizen of His kingdom. †
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.
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