The churches of Christ Greet You (Romans 16:16)
The book of Galatians deals with the Judaizing teachers of the first
century
who were seeking to lead the Gentile Saints back to the law of Moses -
circumcision
in this case. Paul labored to help these Christians understand
that
in Christ we are at liberty to serve God without the yoke of bondage
(the
Mosaical law - Acts 15:10; Gal.5:1).
Those of you who teach that worship should be on the 7th Day are simply
following in the steps of those first century Judaizing teachers.
You are trying to get Christians to go back and follow parts of Moses’
law
- the Sabbath (and dietary regulations) in your case. To follow your
doctrine
amounts to falling from grace because it is a rejection of the Gospel
of
Christ. Paul plainly declared what so many in the religious world
state cannot be done: The Galatians had fallen from grace! (Gal. 5:4).
The Law of Moses, including the 10 commandments, was a divider or
partition that separated Jew and Gentile (Eph. 2:11-14). If all
mankind (Jew and Gentile) would ever be reconciled to God the law had
to go. Since the Sabbath was a part of the law of God for Israel (the
Ten Commandments - Ex.
20:7; Deut. 5:12) we can learn from the New Testament what happened to
that
law. The Bible says that “law of commandments in ordinances” was
abolished
so that the Jew and Gentile could be one body in Christ Jesus (Read
Eph.
2:15-16).
Paul says God was “blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that
was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way
nailing it to his cross” (Col. 2:14). Thus, the Bible says that
“handwriting of ordinances” (cf. Deut. 10:1-5) was “taken out of the
way” when Jesus died
on the cross. Therefore, the law of Moses, including the Ten
Commandments, was abolished at Calvary. Now, through the cross,
Christ has reconciled man to God and man to one another.
But of utmost importance, Jesus said He came to fulfill the law (Matt.
5:17-18). He gave a New Commandment saying we are to LOVE one
another
just as He loves us (John 13:34-35); and we later learn that LOVE is
the
fulfillment of the law. The Bible says, “For all the law is
fulfilled
in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”
(Gal.
5:14).
So we ask you, our dearly beloved Sabbatarian friends, to please stop
telling us that we must be under the yoke of bondage (the law of Moses)
- the Sabbath. We would rather enjoy our liberty (freedom) in
Christ (Gal. 5:1, 13). We are at liberty to LOVE all of God’s
creation. Why don’t you join us in this freedom? Please
release yourselves from Mrs. Ellen G. White and her false Judaizing
teachings, and follow God only through Jesus only.
And while we are in this neighbor, we humbly make the same request to
all of our beloved friends and religious neighbors: we ask you who call
yourselves Catholics to please release yourselves from the pope’s
teachings; we ask you who are called Mormons to please release
yourselves from the teachings of Joseph Smith, Jr. and Brigham Young;
we ask you who are known as Jehovah’s Witnesses to please release
yourselves from Charles Russell’s teachings; we ask you Lutherans to
please release yourselves from the teachings of Martin
Luther; and we ask you of the Baptist persuasion to please release
yourselves
from John Calvin’s teachings; etc. etc.
We ask each of you who are endeavoring to live for the Lord Jesus
Christ to please release yourselves from your man-made RELIGIOUS
LEADERS and follow God only through Jesus only - and Heaven will one
day be your home.