The Seventh Day Adventist Church does not have its foundation in the Bible for it did not come into existence until the mid 1800’s. It began under the misguided leadership of William Miller. Mr. Miller was proven to be a false prophet when he predicted the end of the world in 1843 and again in 1844 (Deuteronomy 18:22; Matthew 24: 36). When his prophecies failed, William Miller disappeared from the religious scene.
James White and his wife, Ellen G. White, became the leaders of Miller’s movement. They added additional doctrines to those taught by Miller. The Seventh Day Adventist Church was formally organized in Battle Creek, Michigan, USA in 1863.
Ellen G. White claimed to be inspired by God. She claimed God gave her visions and revelations (she suffered from hallucinations as a result of a childhood accident). In 1847, Mrs. White claimed she had a vision in which she was taken up into Heaven. She said the ten commandments were shown to her. The fourth commandment ("Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy") had a bright light around it, according to her. She said this meant that keeping the sabbath ( Saturday, the seventh day of the week) was required of all people.
In an effort to prove that we are to keep the sabbath today, Seventh Day Adventists say there are two laws in the Old Testament: (1) the Law of God - the ten commandments; (2) the Law of Moses - the ceremonial law. They further claim that only the Law of Moses was done away when Christ died on the cross. The Law of God (ten commandments), which includes the command to "Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy," was not done away, Adventists say. They teach it is still binding upon all people today.
This Adventist view of the Law is a plain contradiction of Bible teaching! The New Testament teaches that we today are under no part of the Old Testament (Romans 7:1-7; 2 Corinthians 3:1-18; Galatians 3:24,25; Ephesians 2:13-16; Colossians 2:14; Hebrews 7:12; 8:7).
The Bible also clearly teaches that the "Law of God" and the "Law of Moses" refer to the same law (Nehemiah 8:1, 18; Ezra 7:6, 12; Luke 2:22,23). When Jesus did away with the Law of Moses, He did away with the Old Testament Law of God for the two are the same. The Bible also clearly teaches that Christians are to worship on Sunday, the first day of the week (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:1,2; Revelation 1:10).
Following are seven reasons people today are not bound to keep the sabbath (Saturday):
(1) In 2 Corinthians 3, a comparison of terms is used to contrast "that which is abolished" (verse 13) and "passing away" (verses 7,11,14) with that which "remains (verse 11).
| Abolished | Remains |
| Written with ink | Written by the Spirit |
| Written on stone | Written on the heart |
| The Old Covenant | The New Covenant |
| The letter that kills | The Spirit gives life |
| The ministry of death | Ministry of the Spirit |
| Glorious | More glorious |
| Ministry of condemnation | Ministry of righteousness |
| "The veil" | The mirror |
| Bondage | Liberty |
| Moses | The Lord |
(2) The letter to the Galatians was written to warn of false teachers who were trying to take away the freedom which Christians have in Jesus Christ. They wanted to bring them into slavery to the Law of Moses (Galatians 2:4; 5:1). The Law of Moses was given 350 years after God’s promise to Abraham (Galatians 3:17). The Law of Moses, which included the ten commandments, was given until the "Seed" (Christ) should come (Galatians 3:19). The Law of Moses was a "tutor" to bring us to faith in Christ (Galatians 3:24,25). But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor (The Law of Moses).
(3) In Romans 7, the apostle Paul says that Christians are "dead to the law" (Romans 7:4). He also says that we have been "delivered from the law" (verse 6). The law they were dead to said "You shall not covet" (verse 7). Since this is one of the ten commandments, this means the law they were dead to and discharged from was the law which contained the ten commandments. The tenth commandment is: "You shall not covet" (Exodus 20:17).
(4) Jeremiah 31:31-34 is a prophecy regarding the Law which included the ten commandments: "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah-not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt...." In Hebrews 8:8-13, we see the fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy. The covenant that God made with Israel and Judah when He led them out of Egypt was the Law given at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 20). It included the ten commandments. The writer of Hebrews says: "For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second ( 8:7)." Please note also that the sabbath was made known at Sinai, not at the creation as the Adventists argue (Nehemiah 9:13,14).
(5) Paul wrote to the Christians in Colossae that "the handwriting of requirements (a direct reference to the ten commandments) that was against us, which was contrary to us" He has "taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross" (Colossians 2:14).
(6) After Paul had told the Christians in Colossae that the "handwriting of requirements" was nailed to the cross, he instructed them: "So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or before Ellen G. White was born, the apostle Peter wrote that God had given us "all things that pertain to life and godliness" (2 Peter 1:3). We do not need Ellen G. White, or any of her so called revelations, to be saved. Nor do we need the Seventh Day Adventist Church. We can obey the simple Gospel which was preached in the first century and be added by the Lord to the church which He Himself built (Matthew 16:18; Acts 2:36-47).