Seven-Day Adventists and Pharisaism

In the past year, I have witnessed to two Seven-Day Adventists. They were kind people, until the matter of the Sabbath Day came up. Then they became very provocative and unengaging people.

The law has the tendency to bring out the worst in people, who believe that their fellowship with God is dependent on something that they must do.

Regarding the Sabbath day, or resting on one day out the week, we are no longer required to do this in order to maintain fellowship with God. We go to church, we rest on one day out of the week in order to rest our bodies, but not out of strict adherence to the law, for by the law no flesh will be justified.

Paul comforted the Colossians and warned the Galatians about attempted infiltration of the law into the lives of the graced Believers of the early church. We are not judged according to what we eat or what we do. All of this rigid reticence about the rules is contrary to the Spirit. We walk in the Spirit, we do not worry about the lusts of the flesh.

With one lady, I shared with her this passage from Colossians, and right away she dismissed me with “Sabbath day”, but she made a point of Sabbath Day, singular, as if that made any difference.  Such is the reactions who place the tradition about the Truth, who respect procedure, and not the Person.

We are not called to put our trust in our faith or in traditions, but in Christ, and Him Crucified, the signal to the entire universe and to all eternity that the work for salvation, redemption, and acceptance is ended in Christ! Not in processes,  peoples, persons, procedures, or any other politic.