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September - October 2000 The Sabbath Sentinel
President's Letter . . .
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The Issue
by Dr. Sidney Davis
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"The Sabbath question is to be the issue in the
great final conflict, in which all the world will act a
part. Men have honored Satan's principles above the principles
that rule in the heavens. They have accepted the spurious
Sabbath, which Satan has exalted as the sign of his
authority. But God has set His seal upon His royal requirement.
Each Sabbath institution, both true and false, bears the name of
its author, an ineffaceable mark that shows the authority of
each." 1
There have been letters that have come to me expressing concern
that my articles are taking the direction of The Sabbath
Sentinel away from its primary focus of the Sabbath to
dwell on promoting the Biblical festivals. I would like to
assure our readers and supporters that this is not my agenda. My
bringing to attention the subject of the festivals is not with
the intent of promoting the festival issue, per se. My articles
are written to discuss the need to reexamine areas of long held
traditional doctrines and biblical interpretations whose
anti-Semitic bias is inconsistent with our commitment to honor
the Sabbath as the sign of our loyalty to the creator. In this
regard my articles focus on two major issues confronting
Sabbatarians:
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The Pope's attempt to make Sunday the fulfillment of the
Sabbath;
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The larger implication of the Sabbath/Sunday issue for
the relationship between the Old and New Testaments, as well
as Judaism and Christianity.
Though there are some of us who understand the continuity and
the relevancy of the Biblical festivals as valid as is the Bible
Sabbath, it is not my intent to turn The Sabbath
Sentinel into a platform to advance or force the festival
issue upon those whose conscientious convictions or theological
views differ. The Sabbath is "the issue." My
focus on the festivals relates to meeting the arguments of the
new covenant theology (NCT) teachings against the Sabbath
truth. It is time that we, as Sabbatarians, recognize that the
arguments that have been traditionally used to defend the
Sabbath are not meeting the challenge being made against the
Sabbath by the NCT. It is time that we, as Sabbatarians,
recognize that an inherently contradictory Sabbatarian theology
can not stand up to the sophisticated arguments now being
brought against the Sabbath truth. Ellen White wrote a very
significant statement that we all, regardless of our Sabbatarian
tradition, would do well to heed: "Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think
ye have eternal life." Every position of truth taken by
our people will bear the criticism of the greatest minds; the
highest of the world's great men will be brought in contact with
truth, and therefore every position we take should be critically
examined and tested by the Scriptures. Now we seem to be
unnoticed, but this will not always be. Movements are at work to
bring us to the front, and if our theories of truth can be
picked to pieces by historians or the world's greatest men, it
will be done."2
The arguments that have been traditionally used against the
Sabbath truth have their origins in anti-Judaism and
anti-Semitism. We, as Sabbatarians, recognize this and are able
to illustrate this well. The religious roots of anti-Sabbatarian
arguments come from the "theology of contempt" of anything
Jewish or relating to Judaism. The political and religious
pressures that saw the early church turning away from its Judaic
roots had nothing to do with Bible doctrine. They had to do with
the persecution, discrimination, condemnation and the
ostracizing of the Jewish people. This led to the
disenfranchising of, not only the Jewish Christians from the
primitive church, but also the abandoning of her Jewish
Lord. Both the church of God and Israel's messiah have been
substituted or replaced with a "gentilized" and paganized
counterfeit. The falling away of the church is its racist
abandonment of her native Jewishness and her Biblical Judaism.
There is a supposed conflict that is said to exist between the
Old Testament, as a dispensation of Jewish legalism and law
symbolized by the Old Covenant "Jewish" Sabbath (Saturday), and
the New Testament as a dispensation of Christian liberty and
grace-symbolized by the New Covenant "Christian" Sabbath
(Sunday), which has as its origin the teaching of contempt
against Jews and Judaism.
This is poignantly illustrated in Pope John Paul II's
designation of the seventh day, not as the Bible Sabbath, but
rather as the "Jewish" Sabbath and of the first day as the
"Christian" Sabbath. The Christian church has long developed a
semantic, a theology, and a hermeneutic that has served to
justify it's historic anti-Judaism and hatred of the Jewish
people. The Pope's frequent reference to the seventh day of the
week, Saturday as the "Jewish" Sabbath and to the first day of
the week, Sunday, as the "Christian" Sabbath in his May 31, 1998
pastoral letter "Dies Domini" (The Lord's Day) should be
alarming to all Sabbath keepers. Why? Because he completely
ignores the primacy and the historic continuity of the Bible
Sabbath in the Christian church. As he seeks to unify
Christians based upon the prevailing religious and cultural
prejudices of the majority against Judaism, the Pope calls for
the nations of the world to enact civil legislation that would
promote Sunday keeping, under the pretext that Christians merit
civil protection to exercise religious rights. This anti-Judaic
religious prejudice is supported by a Christian theology that
sees this issue as essential to the spreading of the "new
covenant" gospel of "grace" over the "old covenant" legalism of
"law." The logical implication of this is that the Sabbatarian
position is one of "law" (or legalism) and the Sunday keeping
position is one of "grace." By his inference of the Sabbath as
"Jewish" and Sunday as "Christian," he states that anyone
keeping the Bible Sabbath of the creation cannot be a "true"
Christian. He is, in effect, "stigmatizing" Sabbatarians with
the prejudices of Christians against the Jews.
The Pope maintains that Sunday keeping began as a celebration of
Christ's death and resurrection. He wants to restore the
appreciation of Sunday keeping as a day celebrating the
resurrection. John Paul II's theology, though appealing to the
very essence of the Christian gospel for its authority, lacks
biblical and historical support. For at least three centuries
after Christ's death the festival of the Passover was still
observed according to the Jewish liturgical calendar on Nisan 14
after the vernal equinox (irrespective of the day of the week),
and not on the "Easter" Sunday after the full moon. It was the
anti-Semitic policies of Constantine that brought about this
radical change of the church's liturgical calendar, with the
cooperation of the bishops of Rome at the council of Nicea in
325 AD.
When we look at how, historically, the church began to distance
herself from her Jewishness-which in reality was from her
Biblical foundation-we find that she allowed the state's
political power to influence her doctrines. Sabbatarians are
well able to show from history how the legal and liturgical
change of the Sabbath to Sunday occurred. But we need to
emphasize as well that the change did not occur because of any
theological argument, such as the law being "nailed to the
cross," (Collosians 2:15) or "abolished in ordinances"
(Ephesians 2:15) or "added because of transgressions" (Galatians
3:19), or any of the "proof text" reasons Protestant
evangelicals now use against the Sabbath. These changes took
place for one reason, because of hatred for anything Jewish and
the Jewish people. The theology to justify this change came
later.
As we see the origins of the anti-Sabbatarian argument, how can
Sabbatarians in good conscience use these very same arguments to
defend the Sabbath at the expense of the Biblical feasts? Isn't
it time to reexamine our theology? If the arguments against
festivals observance are valid, then are not the very same
arguments against the Sabbath just as valid? They are based upon
the same rationale, the same theology, the same proof
texts. This is why consistency demanded the Worldwide Church
of God (WCG) gave up both the Sabbath and festivals when
confronted with the arguments posed by the NCT. The arguments of
the new covenant theology apply equally to both. There is no
discrimination based upon an unbiblical separation or division
of God's law. The artificial separation of God's law that makes
a distinction between the Sabbath as a moral precept, and the
festivals as ceremonial precepts, originate with a anti-Judaic
view of the law advanced by St. Thomas Aquinas that sought to do
away with the Sabbath.3
Yet, we Sabbatarians "new model" St. Thomas Aquinas' theology to
maintain our Sabbatarian view, while condemning the festivals,
even though the Bible and history show that the primitive church
observed both for three hundred years! Isn't there something
wrong with this picture? I am trying to bring to attention a
Sabbatarian theology on the Sabbath and God's law that is
inconsistent and contradictory-which is revealed not only in our
doctrinal positions but our misinterpretations of certain proof
texts in support of them.
The issues that led to the abandonment of the Sabbath for Sunday
and the Passover for Easter have their origins in the "teaching
of contempt." This is why the Sabbath/Sunday question has
profound implications for understanding and defining the whole
relationship between the Old and New Testaments; as well as
between Judaism and Christianity.
The "teaching of contempt" reduced the Sabbath to a temporary
ordinance, deriving from Moses and enjoined exclusively upon the
Jews as a trademark of their wickedness. Justin Martyr (about
A. D. 150), a saint for the Catholic Church, expresses this view
most emphatically, saying: "As I stated before, it was by reason
of your sins and the sins of your fathers that, among other
precepts, God imposed upon you [Jews] the observance of the
Sabbath as a mark."4
The reduction of the Sabbath to a trade mark of Jewish depravity
marks the beginning of a "Christian" theology of contempt for
the Jews that has plagued Christianity throughout the
centuries. Today this theology of contempt is well reflected in
other Biblical doctrines and interpretations which are widely
held by Christians-and even Sabbatarians. Examples of such are
the difference between the Old and New Covenants as one of "Law"
versus "Grace," and the false and unbiblical concepts of the law
as two monolithic divisions of "moral" and "ceremonial."
These and other aspects of our theology need to be seriously
reexamined. Our inability or refusal to do so will find our
Sabbatarian "theories of truth [being] be picked to
pieces" by New Covenant theologians. As one Sabbatarian
writer so aptly stated: "Through human instrumentalities he
[Satan] has cast contempt upon the Sabbath of Jehovah, and has
stigmatized it as "the old Jewish Sabbath." Thousands have
thoughtlessly echoed this reproach, as if it were something
attached with a great weight in argument; but they have lost
sight of the fact that the Jewish people were especially chosen
of God as the guardians of His truth, the keepers of His law,
the depository of His sacred oracles. They received the lively
oracles to give unto us. The Old and New Testaments both came
through the Jews to us. Every promise in the Bible, every ray of
light which has shone upon us from the word of God, has come
through the Jewish nation."5
This stigmatization of the Sabbath as the "Jewish" Sabbath is
the strategy of the mounting attack against the Sabbath from the
Papacy, evangelical Christianity and former Sabbatarians. The
origin and basis of this attack is rooted in anti-Judaic
theology.6 Our underestimating the
strength of the NCT arguments against the Sabbath truth, and our
inability or unwillingness to face the same issues within our
Sabbath keeping fellowships, will leave us vulnerable to such
attacks and ultimately handicap the effectiveness of our world
witness. In order for such a witness to be effective or valid,
we must begin to recognize the need to "turn our hearts" and
dialog with the Jewish community with whom our observance of the
Sabbath finds a common identity. We cannot safely ignore the far
reaching implications and issues which led the second largest
Sabbath keeping organization in the world-next to the
Seventh-day Adventist Church-to abrogate the Sabbaths. Because
of them, we now find many Sabbatarians embracing the deceptive
teachings of counterfeit "new covenant" theology.
The time has come for Christians to reject the theology of
contempt for the Jews, which has caused untold damage to
Christian beliefs and practices, and to recover the Jewish
heritage of the Christian faith. After all, Jesus' twelve
Apostles, and the thousands who responded to the Messianic
proclamation, were "believing Jews" who lived in accordance to
the principles of the Law (Acts 21:20). My articles call for an
examination of these issues and to help Christians to see the
need to overcome centuries of deeply ingrained anti-Judaism and
to rediscover the Hebraic foundation of the Christian faith.
Therefore, while we may ignore these things "the issue" will not
go away. Seventh-day Adventists may find comfort in making a new
convert every 28 seconds. But burying our head, like an ostrich,
in our numbers and evangelical successes will not insure us from
"the issue" that would cause the greatest shaking that Ellen
White prophesied would to occur in the church. Whether or not
you believe in the prophecies of E. G. White, the shaking has
already begun-and it will not confine itself to the SDA church,
but it will reverberate throughout the whole Sabbatarian world.
"The law of God is made void, and even among those who advocate
its binding claims, are some who break its sacred
precepts. There will be an army of steadfast believers who will
stand as firm as a rock through the last test. But where in that
army are those who have been standard-bearers? Where are those
whose voices have sounded in proclaiming the truth to the
sinning? Some of them are not there. We look for them, but in
the time of shaking they have been unable to stand, and have
passed over to the enemy's ranks."7
We, as Sabbatarians, may take refuge in our organizational
integrity, infrastructures and institutions but I say to you
remember the WCG. None of us are exempt from the encroachments
of the NCT upon our churches and memberships that overtook our
brethren and which continue to reverberate throughout the
Sabbatarian world. Those who think that I am merely trying to
advance the festival issue are totally MISSING THE POINT. The
great controversy over the law of God is being fought on the
battle ground of the Sabbath issue. The law of God is not just
"the Ten commandments" but is that great compendium of truth
that our Jewish brethren call the Torah. It is not just "the Ten
Words" but "every word that procedeth
out of the mouth of God," the commandments, statutes and
judgments.
My calling attention to the festival issue is merely a
device. It is being used to call a moratorium on the traditional
Sabbatarian view of the law that we have
inherited from medievalism, and that mitigates against our being
able to witness and dialog with our Jewish brethren, prevents us
from "proclaiming the Sabbath more fully" to "every nation and
kindred, and tongue and people" of the world in clear and
consistent tones. It must be understood that the "new covenant"
is nothing but experientially internalizing all of the precepts
of the "old covenant," whose object was always to produce a holy
character and a holy people and not just a definition of a faith
determined by a set of rules. Now is not the time to allow our
theological and denominational prejudices to distract us from
"the issue".
Dr. Davis is available to hold seminars where these issues
can be more thoroughly studied and discussed.
1 Ellen G. White, The Signs of the Times,
March 22, 1910.
2 Ellen G. White,Evangelism, Review and
Herald, Washington, DC 1946, p.69.
3 See Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica.
4 Samuele Bacchiocchi, From Sabbath To Sunday,
Biblical Perspectives, Rome, 1977, p.255.
5 E.G.White, The Signs of the Times,
November 12, 1894.
6 See Samuele Bacchiocchi, The Washington
Post, Saturday, January 23,1999.
7 E. G. White, An Address in Regard to the Sunday
Movement, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, December 24, 1889,
paragraph 12.
TSS
September - October 2000 The Sabbath Sentinel
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