Lesson 5: “All to the Glory of God”
COLLEEN TINKER | Editor, Proclamation! |
Adventist, how would you know if you have an idol? What defines your worship? What loyalty do you have that you would be willing to die for—or do you feel that loyalty to anything or anyone? Would you be willing to give up any of your Adventist practices for the sake of loving your neighbor—or for the sake of Jesus Himself?
What’s Your Idol?
This week’s Sabbath School lesson roughly covers 1 Corinthians 8 through 10. Ironically, these chapters which are rich in explaining how to live a Christian life as a born-again child of God, reduces some of Paul’s most seminal new covenant passages into banal reminders to flee idolatry and resist sin and loving one’s neighbor. In fact, the author doesn’t even nod to 1 Corinthians 9:19–23 in which Paul explains that he is not under the law but under the law of Christ, and he explains how idols hold people with spiritual power, and “stronger brothers” must not give “weaker brothers” permission to practice things that keep them anchored to their old gods.
Of course, the seventh-day Sabbath is never on the lesson’s radar. The Adventist reader wouldn’t even think of Sabbath as functioning as an idol, and yet…
Before we dive into the lesson and the passages it fails to cover contextually, let’s define “idolatry”. It seem intuitive to most of us: gods of wood, stone, and metal. Of course, we learn that we can also have idols of the heart—material things that define us and that we protect at all costs. Yet as an Adventist, I completely missed my central idol: the Sabbath!
The online Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word “idol” as:
- An object of extreme devotion
- A representation or symbol of an object of worship: a false god
- A likeness of something
- A false conception: Fallacy
Those four definitions define the role of the Sabbath in the typical Adventist. It is Adventism’s object of most extreme devotion. It is the “thing” for which Adventists are prepared to die during the time of trouble. They believe that Sabbath-keeping is part of their “salvation package”. They may deny that they have to keep the Sabbath to be saved, yet they believe they would forfeit salvation if they gave up the Sabbath. They may ignore nine of the ten commandments—but they will hang onto the Sabbath as the mark of their identity and true religion. It IS their object of extreme devotion. They value the Sabbath more than they value the blood of Christ.
Second, just as the golden calves that Jeroboam erected in northern Israel were not intended to represent a deity but were the symbols of Yahweh’s supreme power and dominance—the same way the Canaanite religions used gold bulls to represent the power of their deities which they placed on top of the gold bulls. Jeroboam “sold” Israel the notion that the golden calves were part of Yahweh worship—the invisible Yahweh sat upon the golden calves—yet God condemned them for idolatry.
In the same way the Sabbath is Adventism’s golden calf. It represents “true worship” to them; proper worship of God depends upon worshiping on the seventh day. Sabbath “carries” the Adventist god. It is a symbol of their god, and the Sabbath has become their symbol of true worship.
To Adventists, the Sabbath is the likeness of their loyalty to the law. It is the symbol of their great controversy fallacy: the Sabbath will be the mark of those who help vindicate God’s reputation! Ironically, Wednesday’s lesson ends with this thought question:
What idols, if any do you need to flee from in your own life?
Most Adventists will never think of the Sabbath as their idol—yet it has replaced the Holy Spirit as the “seal of God”, and it has replaced the Lord Jesus as the object of devotion for which they must be willing to suffer the loss of all things—even to the point of death.
Who Is the Weaker Brother?
First Corinthians 8 discusses idols and food, and in this chapter we find the classic instruction from Paul that the stronger brother not offend the weaker brother by eating foods offered to idols if it offends the weaker brother. Paul says this:
Therefore, concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but one. … However, not all men have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat [food] as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. … For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be built up to eat things sacrificed to idols? For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died. And in that way, by sinning against the brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again–ever, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.—1 Corinthians 8:4, 7, 10–13 LSB
This passage feels familiar to Adventists. Of COURSE they will avoid problems with new Adventist believers by simply refusing to eat meat! From an Adventist perspective, the “weak brothers” are the new converts who still have a penchant for bacon, burgers, and black pepper. Adventists are happy to demonstrate their spiritual strength by sharing their examples of delicious vegan meals and showing the newbies how happy, healthy, and satisfying the Adventist lifestyle can be.
Yet is this scenario what Paul means? The Corinthians were coming out of religions where they had practiced all manner of atrocities: child sacrifice, temple prostitution, and obeisance to demons masquerading as gods. They were still hard-wired in their pagan worldview, and if they believed they were eating a sacrifice to their former god, they experienced a cascade of memories and feelings associated with the old practices. Their consciences felt violated, and they needed to NOT eat the meat offered to idols.
Paul was arguing that a strong brother KNEW the idols were not gods and that they had no power over the believer. Eating meat offered to an idol would never trigger worship memories or guilt in Paul, and it would never feel to him like an offering to a demon. To him, all meat was food, and he ate all things with thanksgiving to the God who had given him life. All food was a provision from God.
At the same time, Paul was telling the Corinthians that a strong brother should never offend a weaker brother by knowingly eating idol-sacrifices in front of them. He should never enter a pagan temple and eat meat while a new convert watched. For the stronger brother to indulge in his freedom in front of a recently rescued pagan would be hurtful and damaging. It would convey a confused message to the new believer. The stronger brother is always to yield to the weaker brother.
How are we who have become born-again believers to view our Adventist families and friends in light of this passage? Let’s substitute “Sabbath” for “meat offered to idols” and think through this passage. First, Paul was writing to true believers. He was not writing to counterfeit Christians who teach a false gospel and place law and the Sabbath into the formula for salvation. Just because Adventists claim to be Christians does not make them so.
We cannot read this passage and understand “weaker brothers” to refer to the Adventists while we who are “stronger” now that we have left the organization feel free to eat meat and worship on Sunday. Yet many former Adventists refer to this passage to explain why they believe they must defer to their families’ wishes when they visit. They believe that they have to honor the “weaker brother” by going to church on Sabbath with them, by hiding their own bacon and beef when their families visit, and they do this to show respect to the Adventist “weaker brothers”.
This application does not work. Adventists cannot be seen as the “weaker brothers”. They are in the category of the pagans in Corinth. The “weaker brothers” are the newly-born again who have only recently left Adventism. They have to learn to give up their Sabbath-idol, the day that defined their identities and was the mark of their hope for salvation.
The Sabbath is the equivalent of meat offered to idols for new former Adventists. For strong brothers—especially those who have never been sabbatarians and have never believed that the Sabbath was the mark of the saved—worshiping on ANY day is just fine! Some Christians see no problem with going to an Adventist Church with an Adventist friend just to show their willingness to understand them and to hep them feel comfortable to go to church on Sunday with them.
The strong brother needs to understand that this idea will not work. It will only reinforce in the weaker brother the confusion of thinking that the day “doesn’t matter”. Truthfully, Christian worship is not forbidden on any day. Yet the new Christian cannot worship on Sabbath without triggering all the old memories and uncertainties about the day being important for obedience to God. The weaker brother must stand on God’s word and refuse to indulge in the old pagan Sabbath worship. It represents a false gospel.
The seventh-day Sabbath is an example of the “meat offered to idols” that the strong brothers must give up when dealing with the weaker brothers who were rescued from Adventism. They must not indulge the idea that their going to Sabbath church may help their friends come to know Christ.
The Adventists are NOT the weaker brothers—they are NOT BROTHERS. Their worship services and practices must be seen as non-Christian, and the true brothers must not think that accompanying their Adventist friends is a kindness. It is, rather, a confusion. The true brother (or sister) must decide (even if he or she is still newly out and quite “weak”) that he must draw a line in the sand. The Adventist friend may be offended if the true brother does not accompany him, but the refusal will provide a point of dissonance that the Adventist must consider. WHY is the Christian not going to church with him? Why is the Christian serving meat when the Adventist visits, even if the he also provides vegan food for the Adventist?
“Selfless Love” But no Law of Christ
Monday’s lesson is the only day that deals with any of 1 Corinthians 9. It has the reader read the first six verses of the chapter in which Paul states his rights as an apostle to expect to be supported by those whom he teaches. He defends the apostolic right to travel with a “believing wife” (although Paul as not married). He also explains in the succeeding verses that he did not take advantage of his God-given rights to expect support. He kept his day job of tent-making, but he made it clear that those who preach God’s word and devote themselves to evangelism and ministry have a right to be supported by the fruit of their ministry.
Then, Tuesday’s, Wednesday’s, and Thursday’s lessons are all drawn from 1 Corinthians 10 in which Paul reminds the Corinthians of the Israelites and their rebellions after they left Egypt. Paul states that the Israelites’ experiences are for examples to us today, to remind us not to indulge our fleshly tendencies to rebel but to honor God and trust Him. He ends chapter ten again with this reminder:
Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God; just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit but the [profit] of the many, so that they may be saved.—1 Corinthians 10:31–33 LSB
The lesson completely IGNORED Paul’s discussion of his new covenant status and that of all true believers. The lesson circles back to guarding against having “idols” by learning to love one’s neighbor as oneself. Thursday’s lesson says,
Following the teachings of Jesus, Paul hints that the principle of loving God above all and the neighbor as oneself is to be applied to the hypothetical situations he mentions in 1 Corinthians 10:27, 28. This means that even lawful things may not be helpful or edifying since they can be offensive to someone else’s conscience (1 Cor. 10:23). This principle is masterly synthesized in the words “Do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31, NKJV). By saying that all must be done to the glory of God, Paul indicates that idolatry can manifest itself in the most varied forms, for anything that usurps the glory that belongs to God alone is a form of idolatry (Isa. 42:8).
Notice the irony of that conclusion: “anything that usurps the glory that belongs to God alone is a form of idolatry.” The Sabbath absolutely usurps the glory of God in Adventism! It is “the thing” that drives their evangelism. It is “the thing” they all know they must be prepared to die to defend. It is “the thing” that is God’s last message to the world. It is “the thing” that marks those who are saved from those who are lost!
The importance, the reverence, the position, the practice of Sabbath in Adventism is nothing short of idolatry.
Yet if they would deal with the whole of chapter 9, they would have to grapple with their view of the Sabbath. Significantly, the author did not even have the reader read the following verses, much less attempt to discuss them:
For though I am free from all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. And to the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews. To those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law. To those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. So I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.—1 Corinthians 9:19–23 LSB
Notice what Paul says: when he ministers to Jews, he becomes like a Jew in order to win them. We know that in Acts Paul participated in a Jewish vow with some other Jews. We know he had Timothy circumcised because his mother was a Jew while his father was a Greek—yet he did NOT have Titus circumcised. (Titus had no Jewish blood.) In fact, he said that he, a Jew by birth, now puts himself UNDER the Law when he evangelizes Jews who are still under the law! Now notice what he says next.
When Paul ministers to gentiles who are NOT under the law, he becomes to them as one who is not under the law! Even though he is ethnically Jewish, he is now a born-again son of God, and he has already passed from death to life (Jn. 5:24). He has been transferred out of the domain of darkness and placed into the kingdom of the beloved Son (Col 1:3). He is no longer under the law because he is now In CHRIST. In Christ the indwelling Holy Spirit directs and teaches him. He is in Christ, and the law no longer applies to him.
Paul actually explains his freedom by saying that even though he is “without law”, yet he is NOT without “the law of God but under the law of Christ”. Paul could not be more clear. He is NOT under the law! He is under a new law: the law of Christ.
What is the “law of Christ”? It is all the commands in the New Testament that God gave to the church. It is all the commands the Lord Jesus gave in Matthew 5–7 where He declared that the law said not to murder, but He said that if one hates his brother he has committed murder in his heart. The law said not to commit adultery, but He said that if anyone even lusts in his heart, he has already committed adultery!
Jesus gave a new law. He made God’s demands an internal reality. No person can avoid breaking the law—unless one trusts Jesus’ finished atonement and believes that His blood has fully paid for his sin. When we believe and are born again, sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise who is our guarantee of our future—only then are we able to please God.
Adventism misses no chance to berate the readers and to remind them to be obedient; the Bible calls us to trust and believe in Jesus finished work. In chapter 9 of 1 Corinthians, Paul explains clearly that the believer who is born again is NOT UNDER THE LAW!
We never stop being under God’s authority nor under the authority of His New Testament commands. Yet what is missing from the New Testament commands?
Sabbath-keeping!
Adventists cannot teach this part of 1 Corinthians 9 because it clearly says that true Christians are under a higher authority than the law; they are under God Himself who literally indwells those who have trusted and believed in Christ’s finished work!
Adventists need to know the true gospel. No Christian is under the law; our entire lives and identities and empowerment and focus is the Lord Jesus. He has taken our sin in His body on the cross, and He died our death and suffered God’s wrath against our sin. He died and was buried, and on the third day, according to Scripture, He rose from the grave—the proof that His blood sacrifice was sufficient to break our curse of death!
Now the Lord Jesus is a priest according to a new order—Melchizedek—and the law, which was given on the basis of the levitical priests, has been replaced. A new law has been given, and it’s based on the priesthood of Jesus in the order of Melchizedek instead of Aaron. See how Hebrews 7:11, 12 explain this new covenant reality:
Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need [was there] for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron? For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also.—Hebrews 7:11, 12 LSB
Adventism cannot teach 1 Corinthians 9:19–23 because it destroys Adventism’s false gospel and its Sabbath idol. How ironic that this week’s lesson manipulates the biblical text to suppress the very passage that proves their Sabbath-based idolatry and salvation is false! Their marriage to the law as the transcript of God’s character is false!
Adventist, if you have not considered the truth of the gospel, this week would be a perfect time. Get a notebook and literally write out 1 Corinthians 9. Ask God to teach you what He already knows He wants you to learn, and allow His word to reveal the truth. In the new covenant, we are not under the law!
Trust in Jesus alone. Thank Him for taking your sin and dying your death and for shattering your curse of death. Repent of your Adventism and ask the Father to teach you what is true and real and to awaken a love of His word in your heart..
Trust Jesus today and be freed from the curse of the law. Believe Jesus alone—and 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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