Lesson 7: “A Heavenly Citizenship”
COLLEEN TINKER | Editor, Proclamation! Magazine |
Adventism systematically morphs every passage of Paul’s epistles to put people UNDER the law. Instead of teaching Paul’s central message that Christ died for sin once for all in order to open a living way for all mankind to be reconciled to God, these Sabbath School lessons takes verses out of context and rearranges them to say that joy, peace, victory, and piety are the products of keeping the Ten Commandments. Christ is presented as the ultimate good example, and Adventists are reminded to do the right things if they want to experience blessing. Adventism is frustrating and depressing because it teaches the opposite of the true gospel.
Who Are the Bad Examples?
This lesson, the last one in this quarter’s series to cover the book of Philippians, presents Adventism as the religion with the keys to moral living. It takes Paul’s words in chapters 3 and 4 about following Paul’s example, about living without anxiety, praying and thanking God, and allowing His peace to guard one’s heart—it takes these words and twists them to be instructions for moral living.
In context, Paul was NOT giving instructions for moral living but was reminding his readers—who were already born again through belief in Jesus’ finished work of atonement—that because they were already made spiritually alive and saved eternally, they had peace with God and His eternal promises that guarantee a believers’ safety and peace in this life as well as in the future. He was reminding the Philippians that they could see from his own life’s example that they could trust God as he did.
The lesson, however, takes these reminders and manipulates the reader to obey the Ten Commandments and the principles of Adventism as a condition of experiencing these blessing that are guaranteed gifts to the believer!
To lay the groundwork for understanding how Adventism twists Paul’s encouraging letter into mandates for pleasing God and living a successful life, we will look first at what Sunday’s lesson says about the cross. Misunderstanding and misrepresenting the cross erases the gospel.
Sunday’s lesson leads with a discussion of “role models” and then asks the audience to read Philippians 3:17–19 and then queries: “How are good and bad role models described in this passage? What keys are given to distinguish between them?”
The question misses the thrust of the passage. Here is Philippians 3:17–19:
Brothers, join in following my example, and look for those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk–of whom I often told you, and now tell you even crying–as enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is [their] stomach and glory is in their shame, who set their thoughts on earthly things.—Philippians 3:17–19 LSB
The context is that this passage follows Paul’s incredible testimony to his trust and joy in Jesus after being credited with God’s own righteousness in Christ Jesus. After declaring that he continues to press toward the upward call of God and to lay ahold of the prize he KNOWS He will receive when He is finally with Christ, he then challenges the Philippians——who are born again believers—to follow his example of trusting what Jesus has done for Him. He lives knowing God has imputed His own righteousness to Paul’s account, and Paul’s life is completely lived for the glory of God and to meeting His Lord in gory!
This is the context of Paul’s imploring the Philippians to follow his example. He is calling them to keep their own eyes on the prize of God in glory. He is asking them not to be discouraged and to look to the world when they are persecuted and distressed. He reminds them that many people within the local fellowships are not true believers: they are living for their own success, pleasure, and gratification. Such “Christians”, Paul warns, are “enemies of the cross of Christ” because they are living for temporal comfort and accomplishment and not for helping others trust Jesus alone. He is reminding these believers that their purpose is to trust God even when they can’t see the next steps. They believe that He will keep His promises, and those who beguile the needy with hope of rewards and success as a result of moral behavior—those people are enemies of the cross!
Ironically, this lesson reveals Adventism to be in that category of enemies of the cross of Christ. Look at how Sunday’s lesson explains the cross:
We must not miss Paul’s love toward those with whom he disagrees—he weeps over them! Notice also that he doesn’t call them his enemies but “enemies of the cross of Christ” (Phil. 3:18). Paul recognized that much larger issues were at stake, namely, how the Cross breaks down barriers and places us all on the same level, as sinners in need of a Savior (see Eph. 2:11–14).…Though, of course, Jesus is the only perfect pattern, there are others who, at least in certain areas, could be good role models. At the same time, what kind of role model do you present to others?
First, notice that the author misrepresents Paul’s warning against false brothers who are enemies of the cross. The lesson says that we must “not miss Paul’s love toward those with whom he disagrees”. Yet Paul is not “disagreeing” with these enemies. He is warning against these people because they are deceivers and false brothers! They are not believers who have secondary disagreements with Paul. They are UNBELIEVERS who have infiltrated into the believing community and are tempting the true brothers to indulge their flesh!
Paul is weeping about them not because he is trying to find a way to help them or because he feels sorry for them; his weeping is because they are lost. He knows their end is destruction—eternal punishment—and he grieves because they have refused to believe in the Lord Jesus and have tried to lure the believers away from trusting Jesus alone to indulging their own desires. Furthermore, he is weeping because these people are endangering the true believers in Philippi. They are courting and seducing them to believe they can have what they want if they do the right things.
Now notice what the lesson says about the cross: it “breaks down barriers and places us all on the same level, as sinners in need of a Savior (see Eph. 2:11–14).” This is NOT what the cross does!
What Did the Cross Do?
Let’s read the passage to which the author refers: Ephesians 2:11–14:
Therefore, remember that formerly you—the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” [which is] performed in the flesh by [human] hands—[remember] that you were at that time without Christ, alienated from the citizenship of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both [groups] one and broke down the dividing wall of the partition—Ephesians 2:11–14 LSB
But notice that the lesson referred to a passage that ended in mid-sentence. The end of the sentence, verses 15 and 16, were not mentioned. Let’s read them and see why the lesson failed to refer to them:
by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, the Law of commandments [contained] in ordinances, so that in Himself He might create the two into one new man, making peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having in Himself put to death the enmity.Ephesians 2:15, 16 LSB
The author did not refer his readers to the end of Paul’s sentence because Paul is crystal clear exactly what was accomplished at the cross: the abolition of the “Law of commandments contained in ordinances”. This Law is the Ten Commandments along with all the other 603 laws contained in the Mosaic covenant, the book of the law! Adventism cannot have Jesus fulfilling the Law on the cross and rendering the Commandments obsolete because their religion teaches that the Law is the core of salvation.
They teach that Jesus came to demonstrate how to keep the Law perfectly and thus to please God, and that their job (which Israel failed to do) is to keep the law more and more perfectly, ultimately being willing to be hunted and killed for the seventh-day Sabbath!
Further, Paul did not say that the cross “breaks down barriers and places us all on the same level, as sinners in need of a Savior”. The quote above from the lesson presents Paul as implying that racial tensions and cultural differences have been dissolved at the cross, and in this way everyone can see that they are equally sinful. There are no privileged people; everyone needs a Savior.. Yet is is not the cross that levels the human playing field!
First, the barrier that Paul said the cross broke down is the Law. The law contained all the commands that separated Jews from gentiles: the laws of clean and unclean foods that prevented Jews from having table fellowship with gentiles; the law preventing Jews from marrying gentiles; the law that commanded Israelites not to worship pagan Canaanite gods.
The laws with its commands for separation between Jews and gentiles were fulfilled in Christ, and in His body on the cross the penalty for sin was fulfilled by Jesus’ death. He took God’s wrath for sin—and His blood overturned the curse of death.
Now EVERYONE who trusts and believes the Lord Jesus and His death for sin, His burial, and His resurrection on the third day is ushered into spiritual life.
What the cross did was NOT to remove unnamed barriers between people groups. It removed the specific barrier of the law. It didn’t place everyone on an equal playing field of knowing they needed a Savior. NO! Rather, the cross revealed the Savior!
Sin, not the cross, is what placed every human being on an equal basis before God. Romans 2 and 3 and Ephesians 2 explain that all men are born dead in sin, and Jews have no personal advantage over gentiles in terms of sin or the need for a Savior.
Adam is the one who placed us all in the same position: dead in sin and needing a Savior. The cross is what provided the single way all people are able to approach God.
The cross opened a new and living way to God. Notice what Hebrews 10:19–22 says:
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since [we have] a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.—Hebrews 10:19–22 LSB
The lesson turned the paradigm of salvation upside down. It made the cross the great leveler that paced all men under sin. This is heresy! The cross opened the way we all can approach God: on the basis of Jesus’ once-for-all, eternal blood sacrifice.
Our sins separated us from God and caused us to need a Savior. The cross didn’t reveal this fact. Sin was in the world from Adam onward, and death reigned from Adam onward. All mankind knew we needed help from the outside. Even the pagans knew they needed a god to save them!
The cross finally opened the way to God. It made a way for us to receive mercy and forgiveness on the basis of Jesus’ just sacrifice that paid for us.
The lesson, however, makes clear that the Adventist worldview sees Jesus’ bloody cross-death as a “cringe” factor. It presents the cross as the thing that points out our guilt.
“See what Jesus did for you? If He died for you, just think what you owe Him! You have to give Him your heart; you have to give Him your obedience. You have to keep His Sabbath and show Him you want to be His!”
The Adventist version of the cross is one of accusation and shame. This is heresy!
Joy: A Principled Life or Fruit of the Spirit?
The Teachers Comments attempt to explain Philippians 4:4–8 through the lens of Adventism’s worldview and anti-gospel. In one of Paul’s most poignant statements about our confidence in God, he says:
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your considerate [spirit] be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.—Philippians 4:4–7 LSB
The lesson, again, cannot properly explain this passage because Adventism does not understand nor believe in the biblical new birth: the literal passing of a person’s spirit from death to life through faith in the Lord Jesus. God reminds us not to be anxious for a single reason: His promises are certain! He has promised to provide for His children, to direct them, to give them peace—and all of these promises are on the basis of God’s faithfulness to Himself—never on the basis of our obedience to the law!
In contrast to what Paul says, though, look at this quotation from Ellen White’s That I May Know Him, p. 224, quoted in Friday’s lesson:
“God knows our wants, and has provided for them. The Lord has a treasure house of supplies for His children, and can give them what they need under all circumstances. Then why do we not trust Him? He has made precious promises to His children on condition of faithful obedience to His precepts.”—Ellen White, That I May Know Him, p. 224 from Friday’s lesson
Ellen directly said that God’s precious promises to His children are CONDITIONAL upon their “faithful obedience to His precepts”—or to His Law. In the pattern of Ellen White, the author of the Teachers Comments has further comments about how one lives with joy. This first example is the third major theme of this week’s lesson (p. 93 in the Quarterly):
A joyful and contented life is possible, even in this tumultuous world, but it requires obedience to biblical principles.
Of course living by biblical principles is necessary in order to know joy and contentment, but those “principles” are not the Ten Commandments. The biblical principle we on this side of the cross must embrace is Jesus’ own command to “Believe in the One whom He sent” (John 6:29).
No Adventist will experience joy and contentment unless he first admits his own sin and believes in Jesus’ finished atonement. Then he will “pass from death to life”, as Jesus said. Only after one is born again can he begin to know joy and peace.
On page 95 of the lesson quarterly, the Teachers Comments further state this:
A joyful life does not happen by chance. It is necessary to follow certain principles and, for this reason, Paul provides a series of instructions in Philippians 4, many of them in the form of imperatives.
Notice that once again, joy is linked to following “certain principles”. The author even states that because of this necessity, Paul lists imperatives necessary to gain joy: rejoice, let one’s gentleness be known, be anxious for nothing, meditate, and “these do”. Yet this message is not what Paul meant when He said in the passage we quoted above, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your considerate [spirit] be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”—Philippians 4:4–7 LSB
Paul was reminding born-again believers that they never have to sit in anxiety because God keeps His promises. He has promised to provide all that we need, and His promise is not dependent upon our obedience. Rather, it depends upon His own faithfulness. His word cannot fail! Remember what Jesus said?
And He said to His disciples, “For this reason I say to you, do not worry about [your] life, [as to] what you will eat; nor for your body, [as to] what you will put on. “For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. “Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and [yet] God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds! … “Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. “But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is [alive] today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more [will He clothe] you? You of little faith! “And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying. “For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek, but your Father knows that you need these things. “But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you.—Luke 12:22–24, 27–31 LSB
Jesus made these unconditional promises to those who BELIEVE and trust Him. He doesn’t demand any obedience from us in order to receive these promises; in fact, Jesus even used ravens and lilies as the example and proof that God’s faithfulness is rooted in Himself alone, never in our pleasing or obeying Him.
The lesson, once again, turns the gospel upside-down and places humans in the driver’s seat. God demands law-keeping, they say, and no one can expect to receive any blessings from God unless they keep the Ten Commandments. Adventism MUST teach this anti-gospel because their entire religion and worldview depends upon humans with free will and upon a god who limits Himself.
Adventism is unbiblical. God is not limited, and He does not depend upon us to pass out blessings. Rather Jesus’ blood opened the way for us to approach God in repentance and belief. When we do, all of God’s eternal and temporal blessings become ours, because when we believe, we are born of God and become joint heirs with Christ of all of God’s gracious promises.
As the lessons finish their look at Philippians, I’m going to ask you once again to get a notebook and begin copying the book of Philippians, a few verses at a time, into that notebook. Ask God to show you what He wants you to know. Read and ponder the words in context, and read them like you would read a normal book: the words mean what they say.
If you haven’t trusted the Lord Jesus and the gospel of His death for your sin, His burial, and His resurrection on the third day—all according to Scripture—believe Him today. Let go of your fear and your Adventist paradigm that God cannot save you unless you keep the Law between Him and you. See Jesus as the fulfillment of the law’s demands—including its central premise that sin demands death. See that Jesus removed the law as a rule of faith and practice and replaced it with Himself and the indwelling Holy Spirit.
When you believe, you will be born again. You will be sealed by the Holy Spirit, and He will teach you what God’s word says and means. Believe Him, the One who cannot lie or trick you—and you will pass from death to life! †
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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