How do the Ten Commandments fit with the Old Covenant? (Seventh Day Adventists)

Seventh Day Adventists are best known for their claim that celebrating the Saturday Sabbath is still binding precisely because the Ten Commandments remain binding. They claim that since the other nine commandments (murder, theft, adultery, etc) remain binding, then we cannot just ignore the Saturday Sabbath commandment. This argument is quite reasonable and one of the most appealing arguments that draws people into becoming SDA. Unless you can address this mindset, it is futile to simply quote to them standard proof-texts such as Colossians 2:16-17 and Galatians 4:9-10. The heart of the SDA error is that the SDAs fail to distinguish between the Ten Commandments being a covenant as opposed to a general moral guideline. 

Opponents of the SDAs often say the "Old Covenant" (i.e. the Mosaic Law Covenant) has been abolished at the Cross, which is why we no longer circumcise, no longer offer Levitical Sacrifices, etc, and thus why we no longer follow the Sabbath. The SDAs realize that the Old Covenant was abolished at the Cross, such that we no longer need to circumcise or offer sacrifices, so the SDAs are forced to argue that the Ten Commandments are not the same as the Old Covenant. Instead, the SDAs argue that the Ten Commandments are God's special laws that simply happened to come alongside the Mosaic Covenant, rather than be part of the Mosaic Covenant. The problem with this claim is that the Bible itself equates the Old Covenant with the Ten Commandments, and thus when the Bible says the Old Covenant has been abolished, this must include the Ten Commandments. Let's look at some key texts:

• 2 Corinthians 3:3-14 And you show that you [Christians] are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. [God] has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory [Ex 34:27-34], which was being brought to an end, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? 9 For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.

• Exodus 34:27-35 And the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. Whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil, until he came out.

• Deuteronomy 4:13 And he declared to you his covenant, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone.

• Deuteronomy 9:9 When I [Moses] went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord made with you, I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

• Hebrews 9:4 the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.

So it is undeniable that the Ten Commandments were equated with the Old Covenant which was given by Moses to the Israelites. This means the Ten Commandments are not some separate law, not something that can just be separated from the Mosaic Law once the Mosaic Law ends. Rather, the Ten Commandments are the central, core commandments of the entire Mosaic Law. And St Paul expressly says the "ministry of death" is the what was "carved on tablets of stone," that is the Ten Commandments, and that this is called "the old covenant," as opposed to the "new covenant". Of course, an SDA cannot accept this, or at least must put a spin on it, but it is the reality. It is actually a divine insult and grave violation against divine revelation to separate the Ten Commandments from the Mosaic Law.

With this foundation laid, we can see the SDA has nowhere to really go, but is sure to bring up the objection: if the Ten Commandments are no longer binding, does that mean we are just free to break the commandments? The short answer is No, and the Catholic Catechism of Trent gives the reason why, commenting specifically on the Sabbath Commandment:

The other Commandments of the Decalogue [Ten Commandments] are precepts of the natural law, obligatory at all times and unalterable. Hence, after the abrogation of the Law of Moses, all the Commandments contained in the two tables are observed by Christians, not indeed because their observance is commanded by Moses, but because they are in conformity with nature which dictates obedience to them. This Commandment about the observance of the Sabbath, on the other hand, considered as to the time appointed for its fulfillment, is not fixed and unalterable, but susceptible of change, and belongs not to the moral, but the ceremonial law. Neither is it a principle of the natural law; we are not instructed by nature to give external worship to God on that day, rather than on any other. And in fact the Sabbath was kept holy only from the time of the liberation of the people of Israel from the bondage of Pharaoh. The observance of the Sabbath was to be abrogated at the same time as the other Hebrew rites and ceremonies, that is, at the death of Christ. Having been, as it were, images which foreshadowed the light and the truth, these ceremonies were to disappear at the coming of that light and truth, which is Jesus Christ. Hence St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Galatians, when reproving the observers of the Mosaic rites, says: You observe days and months and times and years; I am afraid of you lest perhaps I have laboured in vain amongst you. And he writes to the same effect to the Colossians.

In other words, natural law, which all humans have built within us, lets us already know certain basic morals are right or wrong. We don't need a written list of commands to tell us that murder is wrong, or adultery is wrong, or theft is wrong. We already know these are wrong, at least to some degree. But certain details such as worshiping God on Saturday, starting at Sunset on Friday, to commemorate the Six Days of Creation, is not something people know naturally. This information must be revealed to us, and thus we are not by nature bound to observe the Saturday Sabbath. The only thing natural law teaches us in this regard is that there is a God to Whom we owe some kind of honor and worship and prayer to, but the exact details are left up to God to divinely reveal and are changeable. For example, unless God revealed it to us, we wouldn't know that He wanted to be worshipped specifically through the Sacrificial Offering of Bread and Wine through a Priest (HERE). What this means is that the Ten Commandments serve as a handy guide to know what the major sins are, but the Ten Commandments do not bind us as a covenant. The whole point of the New Covenant being "written on our hearts" (HERE) means the Holy Spirit actually transforms and informs our conscience so as to know how God wants us to live, without living as if we are just following a list of rules.

Another typical objection by the SDAs is that the Sabbath was instituted at Creation, taught clearly in Genesis 2:1-3, and thus is part of God's eternal plan for mankind. That simply isn't true, but here is some explanation to help understand why. First of all, Genesis 2:1-3 is not saying God instituted the Saturday Sabbath for man to observe. That's an assumption. Second of all, nowhere do we see anyone in Genesis keeping the Saturday Sabbath, which is strange if this is one of God's most important laws. In fact, Genesis mentions nine of the the commandments being violated (i.e. idolatry, disrespecting parents, adultery, theft, murder, lying, and coveting), yet nobody seems guilty of having violated the Saturday Sabbath. This supports the idea it wasn't originally a command of God. Similarly, of the list of sins that the New Testament brings up, the Apostles warn against the other nine commandments (i.e. idolatry, murder, theft, adultery, lying), yet no mention of failing to keep the Saturday Sabbath (e.g. Gal 5:19-21; 1 Tim 1:9-10; Rom 13:8-10; Rev 21:8). It should be astonishing to every SDA that the New Testament is vocal about avoiding every sin except failing to keep the Sabbath.  

 

Third, we can see precisely when the first time keeping of the Sabbath is mentioned in the Bible. The first time anyone is commanded to keep the Sabbath is in Exodus 16:22-30, when Moses tells the Israelites to keep the Sabbath. There is no indication in the text that they had prior knowledge about keeping the Sabbath. So why did God link keeping the Sabbath to the Six Days of Creation, such as found in texts like the following?

Exodus 31:13 Above all you [Israelites] shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. 15 Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. 16 Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. 17 It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’

On the surface level, this seems to suggest that God did indeed institute the Sabbath for all mankind. But, again, notice that this is a "sign" and a "covenant" for the Israelites specifically (see also Deut 5:1-2; Neh 9:13-14). This language would make little sense if the Sabbath was some general command for all men. It would be impossible for God to make avoiding murder or avoiding adultery a "sign" or "covenant" because it would not be unique to the Israelites. So we have to ask: why is the Sabbath a sign and why link it with Creation? Here's the key that most people fail to understand. The Sabbath is precisely to make the Israelites stand apart from other nations, especially Egyptian paganism and the paganism of the Promise Land nations. The Sabbath is a testimony that the Israelites follow the God known as Jehovah, the same God who created the world in six days, including the first parents Adam and Eve. The pagan nations did not believe in Jehovah, they did not believe the world was created in six days (nor even that a week consisted in seven days), they did not believe in Adam and Eve, etc. Instead, the pagans held to multiple gods, they held various views on creation, from creation being eternal to creation being unstable, nor did they believe in the Fall of Adam and Eve. By being commanded to keep the Sabbath every week, this was a reminder to the Israelites which God they served, and reminded them to avoid the false religions, especially since they all too often were tempted to return to Egyptian and Canaanite idolatry (Eze 20:10-13). 

Just like with the other covenants in the Bible, there was a special "sign" associated with each "covenant". For example, Noah had the rainbow sign, Abraham had the circumcision sign, and the Israelites had the Sabbath sign. When the Bible says a sign is "eternal," this doesn't mean literally eternal, it just means that it is perpetual until circumstances change. Hence why even though circumcision is called "eternal," it ceased being a sign once the Messiah Jesus arrived. It was no longer a sign for anything, since its purpose was fulfilled.

Lastly, some SDAs bring up Hebrews 4:9-10 as proof that the Saturday Sabbath still is in force, with some even saying this verse is the most explicit and strongest New Testament proof. Let's have a look at it now. 

Hebrews 4: 8 For if Joshua had given them Rest, God would not have spoken of another day [of Rest] later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath Rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God's Rest has also rested from his works, just as God Rested from his. 11 Let us therefore strive to enter that Rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

SDAs interpret the above verse to mean that the Saturday Sabbath "remains" binding, such that God's people still must rest from their work "just as" God rested after six days. This SDA interpretation is understandable, but it's erroneous. Once you read the whole context (Hebrews 3:7-4:14), you see that the "rest" in question is a future, heavenly rest that "remains" to be experienced. Notice that Joshua is mentioned here. The reason is because the Rest that Joshua offered God's People was peace and calm earthly rest in the Promise Land. But Paul says here that the Rest that is to come is beyond an earthly rest, and rather the Promise Land is a figure of heaven. Paul warns throughout this context, including in 4:11 above, that this Rest is not going to be experienced by those who sin, which is precisely why sinners wont enter Heaven. So what does this have to do with "just as" God rested? Well, the rest in that passage is because God was done working forever, not that God was going to start working again. Paul explains that the mysterious phrase of Genesis 2:2-3, that God rested after his good works, is actually a prophecy that God would give us an eternal rest in heaven if we likewise live a life of good works.

The above is an expanded version of an older post I did (HERE).