An Open Letter to a Seventh-Day Adventist

The following appeared in one of the Old Theology tracts, written by Brother Barton (While we are in general agreement, there are a few things that we disagree with — RRD) We are presenting some annotations, such as expanding the abbreviated names of the books of the Bible to their full names. In some cases, we have restored God’s Holy Name as “Jehovah.” Edited by Ronald R. Day, Sr.

Old Theology Quarterly
AN OPEN LETTER TO A SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST

Dear Sir and Brother: –

Even though differing from you in my views of the Law, I feel constrained to express admiration for the zeal with which you and your co-workers have endeavored to promulgate what you believe to be the truth of God. If we believe anything to be right we must act upon it until the Lord grants us to see otherwise. I had far rather be wrong and consistent than right and inconsistent, though it is best of all to be both right and consistent.

Comment: While a person’s ideas may be consistent within the idea conceived, if it is not in harmony with the Bible, it is obviously not consistent with what the Bible says. Our effort should surely be to be consistent with what the Bible teaches.

I feel justified in addressing you as a Brother in Christ because of the many points upon which we can hold harmonious fellowship. We look to the same Father in heaven. We trust in the merit of the same great sacrifice for sin. We are seeking light from the same inspired Scripture. We are both striving to live in the way that will be to the glory of God. We see eye to eye upon the nature of the soul, the penalty for sin, earth’s restitution to Edenic conditions, the Babylonian state of so-called Christendom, and the impending time of trouble along financial, political and social lines. Then last, but not least, we each see the necessity of suffering with Christ if we would be glorified with him, and have already suffered a little of the scorn and derision which the world hurls at the soldier of the cross. The enumeration of all these points on which we are agreed will enable you to realize that what I am about to say respecting our differences is not meant in a spirit of wrangling, but solely for the purpose of sharing with you the blessedness and joy which has dawned in our hearts with this comforting light; and with almost every sentence, I breathe a prayer that the dear Lord will bless and condescend to use this feeble ministry to his glory.

Comment: It is not for us to disfellowship those in the Seventh-Day Adventist church who have given their life to Jehovah through Jesus, even if they may be still blinded on some points. We believe that Jesus knows those who are his sheep, irrespective of what denomination or sect they may be affiliated with.

Our differences seem to hinge largely upon the Sabbath question, so I will come immediately to its consideration.

We agree with our Adventist friends that God never authorized anyone to change the Sabbath of the Decalog from the seventh day of the week to the first, but we do believe that just as truly as the Christian has a greater High Priest, and a greater sacrifice, and a greater tabernacle than Israel had, so, too, the follower of Christ has a much greater Sabbath than the follower of Moses. Everything under the Jewish dispensation was typical of “good things to come.” (Hebrews 10:1)Editor’s Note: Hebrews 10:1:

Hebrews 10:1 – For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices which are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near. — Revised Standard Version.

The law is therefore not the reality, but rather only a shadow of the reality. Your shadow is not you, but it provides an outline of your body.The Atonement Day, the passover, the sabbatic years, the jubilees, etc., were all figures of more important things; so why should it seem strange that the seventh or Sabbath day was typical any more than the seventh or sabbatic year? But in order that you may see this to be the Scriptural thought hear Paul in Colossians 2:16, 17: “Let no man therefore judge you, in meat or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: Which are a shadow of good things to come; but the body is of Christ.” Editor’s note: The word “body” in Colossians 2:17 figuratively refers to a body rather than a figurative shadow of the body. Some translations render body as “substance” or “reality” in this verse. It represents the actuality of the the typical shadow as given to Israel. This usage of the word “body” should not be confused with the figurative usage of the word “body” as representing the church as the body of Christ.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Hebrews 7:11-14

Hebrews 7:11-14 – Now if there was perfection through the Levitical priesthood (for under it hath the people received the law), what further need [was there] that another priest should arise after the order of Melchizedek, and not be reckoned after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. For he of whom these things are said belongeth to another tribe, from which no man hath given attendance at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord hath sprung out of Judah; as to which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priests. — American Standard Version.

 At the time of the writing of letter to the Hebrews, we find the Law Covenant had still not passed away, but that it was “near to vanishing away.” Indeed, the Law is still active and still condemns any Jew who has not become dead to the Law. (Luke 16:14-31; Romans 7:1-6; 1 Corinthians 7:39; 2 Corinthians 3:14.) When finally the present heavens and earth have passed away, only then does the law itself pass away, for then all Jews under the Law Covenant of this age will have become dead to the Law. — Matthew 5:18; Luke 16:17.

At the same time, we should note that it is the typical Law Covenant that passes away (Colossians 2:16,17; Hebrews 7:11-28; 8:4,5,13; 10:1), not the reality of God’s eternal Law of love which is expressed within the Law Covenant. — Matthew 22:37-40; Romans 13:10; Galatians 5:14; James 2:8.

We find, then, that Jehovah used the very same language in speaking of the weekly Sabbath which he used respecting other Jewish institutions which passed away when that of which they were typical came; so similarly may not the Jewish Sabbath have passed away, being supplanted by a greater Sabbath? Notice our Lord’s words in Matthew 5:17, 18 , “Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the prophets; I am not come to destroy but to fulfill; for verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law till all be fulfilled” Our Savior did not say the Law should not pass away, but that it should not pass away until it was fulfilled. But he tells us first that he came to fulfill it; so if it was fulfilled in him is has passed away. [Editor’s note: It has passed away only for those Jews who believe and accept Christ; the rest remain under its condemnation. The Law will eventually vanish when all who are presently under that Law become dead to the Law through Christ. See our study: The Fulfilling of the Law.] There is a vast difference between a thing being destroyed and passing away as a result of fulfillment. The law of circumcision was never destroyed, but it passed away and was abolished when that to which it pointed, circumcision of the heart, was set forth, and it is this higher circumcision we must observe. (Romans 2:28, 29) Likewise Christ did not destroy the Law, or set it at naught, but his perfect life fulfilled its every requirement, as we imperfect creatures could not, and thus he became the great inheritor of all the promises of the Law, with the right to distribute what he inherited under the Law to all who would become his. Additionally the Law led to Christ and pointed him out as the holy One of whom Moses had said, “Hear ye him.” (Acts 7:37; Galatians 3:24, 25) Therefore to consider the Law given through Moses as binding upon the Christian is to doubt whether Christ has accomplished what he came for; “to fulfill” the Law. Of course the Christian must study that Law, and he finds jewels of inspired wisdom in it, but he studies it as a shadow of better things, as typical of the blessings promised under the greater than Moses Christ.Comments: Acts 7:37 is a reference to Deuteronomy 18:15-19. Jesus is the prophet whom Jehovah has raised like Moses. Eventually all who are live forever must hear the prophet Jesus, and be obedient to him. — See also Acts 3:13-26.

The Law Covenant brings us to Christ, through whom we may be regenerated as new creatures, and as new creatures we have no sin, and thus are not in need of any laws to provide justification. — 1 Timothy 1:9. Then is the follower of Christ under no law? Yes, he is under a new law, a higher law. Just as he has a better High Priest, a better sacrifice, a better everything than the Jew had, so he has a better law, and it contains a better Sabbath. Isaiah 42:21 foretold that Christ was to “magnify the Law and make it honorable,” and we are now under this magnified law. The Law said: “Thou shalt not kill,” but Christ magnified that when he taught that whosoever hateth his brother without a cause is guilty of murder. (See Matthew. 5:21, 22, 27, 28) The Law said: “Thou shalt not steal,” but Christ taught us that we should not merely refrain from robbing our neighbor, but be ever ready to share with him what we had, even to the extent of laying down our lives for our brethren. (John 13:24; 1 John 3:16.) The Law said: “Honor thy father and thy mother,” but we are instructed to “honor all to whom honor is due.” –Romans 13:7.

Now, dear brother, the Adventists see that Christ magnified the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th commandments, but they fail to realize that he magnified the 4th, the Sabbath commandment, too. To the contrary, they believe he made it smaller. One of your brethren put it to me this way: “Before Christ every little act contrary to the Sabbath commandment, even the building of a fire, was to be severely punished, but since Christ’s sacrifice, so long as we try to do our best to keep the Sabbath, the Lord will pardon and overlook where we come short in our obedience to that command.” That would have magnified God’s mercy, but it would not have magnified the commandment. Would it be magnifying the 6th commandment if we should say: “Before Christ murder was to be severely punished, but since then, if you try to keep the Law – ‘thou shalt not kill’ it will be all right if you do kill a man once in a while?” Yet that is the only sense in which I have ever been able to find the seventh-day Adventists viewing the Sabbath differently from the Jews of old.

Let me now present our understanding of how Christ magnified the Sabbath Law. The Israelite was to consider one-tenth of what he had as holy unto [Jehovah]; but do we ever hear the Christian advised to give a tithe to [Jehovah}? Not once. How much are we advised to give him? All that we are and have. We are to give all that we can in as direct a way as we can, and the balance is to be given him in a more indirect way; e. g., we give him the money we spend for food and clothing, because our body belongs to him and is being used to glorify and serve him. The food gives us strength to do more for him, therefore the money we spend for food is being spent for our Lord. (Romans 12:1; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 10:31; 2 Corinthians 5:15) In Luke 14:33 our Master does not tell us to forsake or surrender a tenth, but “all that he hath.” But the Christian not only gives [Jehovah] more than the Jew gave; he also gives it in a higher sense. The Jew gave to [Jehovah] by giving to the priests and Levites, but the Christian gives to [Jehovah] by trying to do everything in the way [Jehovah] would approve. “[Jehovah], what wilt thou have me to do with this dollar, or this hour, or with these hands?” is his heart’s constant sentiment.

The Jew sang: “Some of self and some of thee.” The Christian sings: “None of self but all of thee.”

Likewise the Jew gave God one-seventh of his time, but the Christian is to give him seven-sevenths. [Jehovah] said in Leviticus 19:30 , “Ye shall keep my sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary.” The sanctuary was the holy structure through which God manifested himself to Israel; so to them the word meant a certain definite holy place; but the Christian finds his sanctuary wherever he is; every place is a holy place to him. Similarly every day is a holy day, a Sabbath of rest to him. He has a better sanctuary to reverence and a better Sabbath to keep. But not only does his Sabbath differ from the typical Sabbath, the nature of his rest also differs. It does not merely mean a cessation from manual labor, but a rest from laboring for self in order to work and live for God. It means to rest as God rested after he had completed the work of creation, as the Word expresses it: “To enter into his rest.” God’s rest does not mean idleness, “He sends his rain and causes his sun to shine” on the seventh just as much as on any other day. Then how did he rest? He ceased working for himself in order to work for man through his Son. And how do we rest like him? By ceasing to work for self in order to work for him through Christ. Hear Hebrews 4:10, “For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.” And then Paul continues in verse 11, “let us labor therefore,” not let us cease from labor, but labor to put down those selfish propensities which would lead us, contrary to God’s will, to live for self, instead of permitting us “to enter into that rest.” This rest of which the seventh day was a type will not end with this life, but it will continue an eternal rest, begun here and consummated in eternity.

Let me digress here to say that God’s rest day was not a period of 24 hours, but, like the six days of creation, was a long period of time. In our own language this is a very common use of the word “day,” and it is equally frequent in Bible language. (2 Peter 3:8; Psalm 95:7-10). While the day of salvation of 2 Cor. 6:2 is already over 1800 years long, so it was with the great days of creation; they were long periods of time, and likewise the seventh day, in which God rested, is a long period; it is not over yet. However, time will hardly permit me to give you the Scriptural proofs here on this point, but if you wish I may take it up later.

EDITOR’S NOTE: See links to our studies related to Genesis 1.

But to return to the subject of this letter. In Isaiah 58:13 we have a description by the inspired Prophet of what constitutes Christian Sabbath keeping. We must refrain from doing our own ways, and from finding our own pleasures, and from speaking our own words. That is Sabbath keeping. But the Christian must do that every day, therefore every day must be a Sabbath to him. For fear you may not apply the latter part of the verse to the Sabbath let me refer you to the Revised Version, which reads: “And shalt honor it, not doing thine own ways,” etc. Every day we are to “speak as the oracles of God.” (1 Peter 4:11) Every day God is to work in us “to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). Every day “the steps of a good man are ordered of [Jehovah].” (Psalm 37:23.) So again I say, every day is a Sabbath to him who liveth “not unto himself.” Is not this a glorious magnifying of the Law?

We can now see how “Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” Romans 10:4. We can understand why Paul could say in Galatians 3:19, “The Law was added” . . . “TILL THE SEED SHOULD COME,” and then in verses 23 to 25 he boldly compares the Law to a severe pedagogue to whom they were committed for a season, “but after that faith is come we are no longer under a pedagogue.” And we can comprehend why Paul mourns because “ye observe days” Galatians 4:10, 11, and intimates that the brother is weak who “esteems one day above another” Romans 14:1-7, failing to realize that they are all to be counted as days in which His glory is to be sought.  I know how the seventh-day Adventists divide the Law into two parts, calling the Decalogue “the law of God,” and the remainder “the law of Moses,” and then claiming that Christ did away with the law of Moses, but not with the law of God. This is an awful mistake; it was all the Law of God, because it came from Him, and it as all the Law of Moses in that it came through him. (Leviticus 26:46; Deuteronomy 5:5) Thus our Savior, in Mark 7:10, quotes one of the ten commandments (Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16), and then in the same verse a law which was not in the Decalogue (Exodus 21:17; Leviticus 20:9), and yet attributes them both to Moses. He was not the author of either, but he was the agent through whom God delivered both commands. Furthermore, the fact that the Law, which was until John (Luke 16:16; Matthew 11:13), included the Decalog as well as the ceremonial features of the Law, is proved by Romans 7:6,7; for Paul, after saying, “we are delivered from the law,” leaves no doubt as to what law is meant by quoting from the tenth commandment. And as his words show we are no longer under the letter (it was the letter which was on the stones), but under the spirit, the antitype, that which was shadowed forth in the words on stone, the greater law of love. (Jas. 1:26; 2:8.) When we read, therefore, in the books from Acts to Revelation about the redeemed keeping “the commandments of God,” we do not think of the letters in stone given through Moses, but of the magnified “law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:2) Notice another passage, viz., 2 Corinthians 3:3-11. The expression, “written and engraven in stones,” and the reference to Moses’ face shining at the time is evidence that Paul is speaking of the Decalog. In verse 7 he tells us how the Law was accompanied with such glory that it even caused Moses’ face to shine. Then in verse 8 he refers to something which would be accompanied with more glory, and following this up shows that when “the glory that excelleth” (v. 10) should come then that which was given with glory i. e the Law written and engraven on stones was to be “done away.” (v. 11). Note the remarkable similarity between the Revised Version rendering of verse 11 and Matthew 5:18. Then in 2 Corinthians 3:12 to 18 Paul shows that while Israel had Moses cover his face so they could not see the glorious results of the giving of that glorious Law, yet we should refrain from covering our hearts with the veil of prejudice, etc., as we wish to see the more glorious results of this more glorious law upon the hearts and lives of our brethren, especially as it was reflected in our great Elder Brother, the Lord Jesus. — 2 Corinthians 3:18.

Dear brother, much more might be written, but I must refrain from more than one or two brief statements. Paul’s preaching upon the seventh day, etc., is no endorsement of seventh-day Adventism. That was a day when the cessation from labor brought the Jews together in their synagogues and gave Paul an opportunity he gladly used. Wherever and whenever he found ears to hear he was ready to preach. There were crowds in the synagogues on the seventh day; so Paul went there, and there were numbers at the market every day; so Paul preached there on other days (Acts 17:17.) So just as Paul esteemed those opportunities, so we esteem the opportunities afforded us on the first day, not because there is a divine command to consider that day a Sabbath above other days, although we consider it a very appropriate day for meetings of the people of God, being our Lord’s resurrection day. However, refraining from actual labor on the first day is not an endorsement of the wrong ideas many have held about it, any more than a belief in the Bible would mean an endorsement of the many wrong views which have been entertained of its teaching.

I fear the seventh-day keepers have been putting the new wine into the old bottles; let us rather use the new bottles provided through our Savior. (Matthew 9:17.) “Prove all things,” including these things, and if found in harmony with the Word of God may you have grace to act upon this fuller light, of which Sinai’s light was but a type, and to rest in this better sense. It has been a great comfort to me to find that salvation did not hang upon such a slender cord as the keeping of a weekly rest day.

There are other features of the Sabbath, for instance it s foreshadowing of the Millennium, which I have not touched upon at all. Pastor Chas. T Russell, of Allegheny, Pa., has treated that phase of the subject most beautifully. Have you ever read his book, “The Divine Plan of the Ages?” It is a book of 386 pages, cloth bound, for 25 cents. {FREE COPY] The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, 612 Arch Street, Allegheny, Pa., supplies them. It puts the Scriptures upon the Millennium in a new light by helping to lay aside that “veil” we have already referred to.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Of course, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Brother Russell’s day no longer exists. The building at 612 Arch Street no longer exists. If you contact the Watchtower Society of today, however, they will try to turn you away from “The Divine Plan of the Ages” with the claim that they now have new light. We have provided links to an online copy of the Divine Plan book, as well as a link to where you may obtain to a free paper (magazine style)  copy of the book.

Trusting you will be willing to receive this in the same spirit in which is was written, and asking our heavenly Father’s blessing upon its mission, I subscribe myself,

Your Brother in the service of the King of kings,

B H Barton