Back to Contents Previous Download 看中文 Next Sabbath Day Truth What day is the Sabbath Day? One very controversial subject among Christians today is God’s Seventh Day Sabbath. Some Christians are not even aware that the Sabbath is Saturday. The Bible tells us in Daniel that a persecuting power would change God’s laws which it did – the Seventh Day Sabbath became the first day sabbath without God’s approval. The book of Daniel also refers to this change of God’s law by the antichrist power as reaching to the host of heaven and trampling the heavenly sanctuary under foot. We find the same expression used in Hebrews chapter ten in reference to wilful sin. Hebrews 10:26-29 “For if we sin WILFULLY after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, … He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose you, shall he be thought worthy, who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and has done despite unto the Spirit of grace?” This passage warns us that there remains no sacrifice to cover wilful sin and to continue in wilful sin is to trample the Son of God under foot and to treat Christ's work on the cross as an unholy thing despite being under grace. This is a warning we should take very seriously. The change to the Sabbath day came about over hundreds of years and by the death of millions of Christians. This is another fact that most Christians are unaware of. Select the following to watch a typical true story of the death of a Sabbath keeper by burning. Why is the Sabbath truth rarely taught? If these points are true, why don’t we hear more pastors teaching them? If the Sabbath is Saturday, then why don’t the majority keep the true Sabbath day? How could the majority be wrong and even more to the point, do we still have to keep the Seventh day Sabbath at all? Revelation 13 tells us that Satan would give position and authority to the persecuting power described in Daniel that changed God’s law. Why do you think Satan did this? This power that persecuted the saints for 1260 dark years murdered anyone found keeping the Seventh day Sabbath according to the Commandment of God. Anyone that had a different view to this persecuting power was considered a heretic and heretics were to be burned. As a result, the Sabbath truth was nearly murdered out of existence and since most Churches originated from this persecuting power, most Churches now ignorantly keep the wrong day they instituted. The final change to the Sabbath day was in the fourth century but note that the change originated from Satanic and pagan sun worship as early as 2000 B.C. Remember that Satan was responsible for all of this and did not go to all this effort for no reason. Since the majority grow up with Sunday worship as their custom, it becomes very much a mind set and people are also very reluctant to accept change or alter their lifestyle. Saturday is also a day that is not convenient for most Christians and so sadly, most would rather not know truth and go into denial. Because of these factors, even when a pastor is presented with the Sabbath truth, it becomes difficult to both accept and see. This instantly gives the enemy the upper hand as he now just whispers in your mind, “the day does not matter. If it mattered everyone would know about it and would be keeping Saturday.” Sadly, all too many listen and never investigate and Satan continues to be victorious in keeping Christians ignorantly breaking one of the Commandments of God. Billy Graham was said to have acknowledged the Sabbath truth but stated, “If I were to teach this truth, I would lose most of my listeners.” Jesus said we are to both obey and teach the law and one cannot sacrifice truth at any cost. The enemy has gone to extreme lengths to make sure the Sabbath truth is not taught or believed and continues to go to extreme lengths and deceptions to keep us ignorant of this truth. Knowing he has done this, Christians should realise that it is very relevant and extremely important we know why. For example, how important is sin to God? Many say the Sabbath was changed to Sunday in honour of the resurrection and others say it was nailed to the cross. Others will tell you any day can be kept as the Sabbath day as long as you keep one. And still others say as long as you do everything to the glory of God the Sabbath is as good as kept. And yet still others will say it is legalism. Worst of all, and this is becoming more popular by the decade, some say the Ten Commandments are gone. Never underestimate the enemy’s ability to slowly and subtly bring heresy into the Church and make those with the most Biblical truth to get labelled falsely as cults or legalists. It should be obvious that Satan will always attack truth the hardest and sadly he has no trouble finding those he can deceive to accomplish his task very convincingly. The fact of the matter is that what is popular is not always truth and what is truth is not always popular. Since the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments that defines what sin is, why wouldn't Satan attack this one Commandment that is the easiest one to attack and do everything in his power to ensure that it does not get recognized or taught so he can get many to live in lawlessness? If one truly studies this and checks it with unbiased history, you will in fact find that Satan has achieved this goal and because most Christians do not study the Word and tend to rely on what their friends or pastor tells them, the lie continues to be perpetuated. What is the Sabbath Day about? Our Creator God starts off the fourth Commandment with the word “Remember.” This is because He knew it would be lost and forgotten. God asks that we keep the Sabbath set apart for Holy purposes so we can draw nearer to Him. The Fourth Commandment to remember the Sabbath concludes the section of the Ten Commandments that specifically helps define a proper relationship with God, how we are to love, worship and relate to Him. It explains why and when we need to take special time to draw closer to our Creator. It is also a special sign between us and God forever, that it is Him that sanctifies us; Him alone who we belong to and worship. The Sabbath, the Seventh day of the week was set apart by God as a time of rest and spiritual rejuvenation. So why is this Commandment so frequently ignored, attacked and explained away by so many Christians? Could it be because the challenges to the Sabbath Commandment are views generated by the ruler of this present evil world? After all, this being wants us to accept these views because he hates God’s law. He does all he can to influence us to ignore, avoid and reason our way around it. On our calendar the Sabbath begins at sunset Friday evening and ends at sunset Saturday evening. Those that keep the true Sabbath day say that it is a blessing and their favourite day of the week. The Sabbath is quality time with family and relaxing and fellowshipping with God and other Christians. Jesus said we are to not only obey the Ten Commandments but teach them also yet some people are doing the opposite. Why are these people so determined to take this blessing from those who keep the Sabbath properly, and in the way Jesus intended and not like the Pharisees who turned it into a legalistic burden? What spirit is behind this? Why do so many professed Christians try so desperately hard to avoid this special time with their Creator God on His Holy day? The Sabbath should be our favourite day of the week and it is for those who have searched for the truth on the Sabbath and found it. God says we are to find this day a delight and a blessing. God did not say we should call it legalism or a burden! Isaiah 58:13-14 “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a DELIGHT, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shall honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shall you delight thyself in the LORD...” Like all the other nine Commandments, IT IS a Commandment of love and thus loving God with all your heart includes all the first four Commandments. We know this for a fact because right after the second reading of the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy chapter 5, we are shown in Deuteronomy 6:5 that LOVING God with all our heart, might and soul is to keep ALL the Ten Commandments that had just been read in the previous chapter only 17 verses earlier. That of course makes ALL Ten Commandments eternal. Our God is not a God of confusion that mixes a law that defines what love and sin is with something that is not love or not sin. Whether we understand it or not, to try and find reasons as to why the Sabbath is changed or ended is no different from trying to find excuses as to why it is now acceptable to worship idols or commit murder etc. There is another law found in the Old Testament that was only for the Jews and had ceremonial sabbaths but God did not place His Sabbath in this law. He placed it in the Ten Commandments because that is where it belongs. The Ten Commandments were written in stone while the ceremonial law was written in a book and hence it was also called the “Book of the Covenant.” Have you ever heard the expression “it is not written in stone?” Written in stone means forever. On paper and in a book is temporary. So basically God had two specific laws. One was temporary, written in a book, was not love, only for the Jews, practised because of sin before Christ and why it was nailed to the cross. The other was eternal, written in stone, was love, for everyone, was sin to break and hence was NOT nailed to the cross. Now consider this question very carefully. If the Sabbath of the Lord was temporary and only for the Jews, which law would you place it in? In the temporary law or the eternal law? And is that where God placed His Sabbath? No! God placed His Sabbath exactly where it belonged. He placed it in the law that was love and eternal and for everyone along with the other Nine Commandments that obviously will never and can never end. Since God is not a fool or the author of confusion, then this alone reveals the truth. God makes a distinction between the ceremonial sabbaths and His Sabbath found in the Ten Commandments by exhorting, “But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God:” (Exodus 20:10, Deuteronomy 5:14). It is the Lord’s Sabbath! It did not belong to Israel. God further clarifies this by calling His Sabbath, “My Sabbaths,” as in His weekly Sabbaths, (Exodus 31:13, Ezekiel 20:20) while calling the ceremonial sabbaths that were only for Israel, “Her Sabbaths.” Her as in Israel. (Hosea 2:11, Lamentations 1:7) If God sent an Angel to tell you that He loves you and sent His only Son to die for you and that He wants you to spend quality time with Him on a specific day that He blessed and sanctified, would you send the Angel back to God with the message, “sorry God, that day is not convenient for me” or “no God, I can't spend that time with you on your Holy day, that's legalism” or even, “tell God that it does not have to be on His Holy day and I will spend time with Him on that day that was used for sun worship that He detested instead.” Is that what we would really say? Why is it so hard for us to rest and worship Him on His Holy day? Many believe that there are only one or two denominations or groups that keep the true Sabbath day when there are in fact over five hundred different denominations of Sabbath keeping Churches that that keep the true 7th day Sabbath and the count is growing. Whole chains of Churches are changing back after attending Prophecy seminars run by people that have not been deceived by Satan's attempt to keep Christians in the dark on the Sabbath truth or Bible prophecy believing it cannot be understood. Do these hundreds of different Church denominations with millions and millions of members know something that we don’t? Why is the Sabbath important to God? We have already noted that God intended the Sabbath to be a blessing to us and has asked us to call His Sabbath a DELIGHT, but what else makes the Sabbath so important to God? Most people understand that it is morally wrong to lie, steal, murder and to worship idols or take the Lord's name in vain etc, but the reason Satan is so successful in keeping so many from the Sabbath truth is because it is easy for him to convince the multitudes it is not important. Sadly, most do not see the Sabbath as important as on the surface breaking the Sabbath does not appear to be morally wrong. The question is; does God see the Sabbath day as being important? If it is important to God then it has to be important to us. Since God made His Sabbath part of the Ten Commandments, it becomes sin to break the Sabbath as sin is breaking any of the Ten Commandments. Sin is the reason Jesus died on the cross for us and it does not get more serious than that. We should know how much God detests sin but what are some other reasons that make the Sabbath so significant? Exodus 31:13-17 “Speak you also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths you shall keep: for it is a SIGN between me and you throughout your generations; that you may know that I am the LORD that does SANCTIFY you. … 15 Six days may work be done; but in the Seventh is the Sabbath of rest, Holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a PERPETUAL covenant. 17 It is a SIGN between me and the children of Israel FOR EVER: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the Seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” Ezekiel 20:20 “And hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a SIGN between me and you, that you may know that I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD.” The Sabbath is a special SIGN that defines that we are God’s children and He is our God that sanctifies us and makes us Holy. It also defines therefore that it is God who we worship and love and give our allegiance to. It is not a SIGN when we keep a secular day and profane God’s Sabbath. There is a lot more that could be cited but this should be enough to help you understand why this day is important to God and why it is a sin against God for us to not keep His Sabbath day Holy. Is there anyone who does not want to be part of this SIGN? Some will say that this perpetual covenant that is a SIGN forever, (Exodus 31:13-17) applies only to the Israel of God and this is correct. The question is; who is the Israel of God? Today there is an Israel of the flesh (1 Corinthians 10:18) and an Israel of God, Galatians 6:16. The Israel of the flesh consists of those who are Jews by birth. The Israel of God is anyone who belongs to Christ and is under the New Covenant. Many do not understand that if we are Christ’s then we are spiritual Jews and the Israel of God. If we reject this truth then we cannot be under the New Covenant. Observe who the New Covenant was ONLY made with. This came into effect when the Jews rejected God’s message from Stephen (Acts 6:8-7:60) and stoned him. See also Romans 2:28-29, Romans 9:6-8 and Galatians 3:28-29. See also Daniel's 70 weeks and 2300 days. Hebrews 8:10 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the HOUSE OF ISRAEL after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:” Since the Sabbath is a SIGN that we are God's children, if we reject His Sabbath, then aren’t we rejecting God as our Father? And since the Sabbath is a SIGN that it is God that sanctifies us, if we reject His Sabbath, then aren’t we also rejecting His sanctification? All God asks from us is one single solitary day in seven. We still have the other six secular days to do as we please. Is one day an unreasonable request from our Creator God? Christians claim to love God with all their heart, might and soul, yet how do most respond? The number seven represents completion and perfection to God and this is the only reason we do have a seven day week. If not for this very special Sabbath day God has given us, we would only have a six day week. If we do not use this Seventh day Sabbath which God blessed and sanctified for this one and only use, what point is there in having this Seventh day of the week? God added this one and only day with this one and only purpose, so we could spend Holy time with our Holy God that is a most beautiful SIGN that He is our God and we are His children. Again, despite this blessing, how do most respond? Believe it or not, I have had enough excuses now to fill an entire book. An appropriate name for this book would be, “The book of excuses for not having to spend time with your Creator God on His Holy day.” How God must grieve every time someone chooses one of these 1001 excuses. Does God know our heart? If we use one of these excuses will God know? Does God know if we don’t want the truth about His day because it would be an inconvenience to us? If we use one of these 1001 excuses, can we truly say we love God with all our heart, might and soul? If we do not love God with all our heart, will God accept us into His kingdom? What are the consequences for not keeping the Sabbath? The book of James tells us if we break one Commandment we have broken them all. So if the Sabbath is Saturday and if we are supposed to be keeping the true Sabbath day then most Christians are guilty of breaking God’s law. The Bible tells us that only a few will find the straight and narrow gate. Was this referring to Christians specifically? Noah preached for 120 years that a great flood was coming and only 8 were saved. Jesus said that at the time of His second coming it is going to be like in the days of Noah. Why do we only acknowledge what we want to see? God pleads with us as to why we would perish. Hosea prophesied that God’s people would perish for a lack of knowledge which does not sound fair but then he explains it is because they would reject knowledge in regards to the Commandments of God, so He in return would reject them. Considering how many people have rejected knowledge on the Sabbath Commandment, this sadly makes perfect sense. Hebrews 10:26-29 says there is no sacrifice to cover wilful sin and it is to trample the Son of God underfoot and count the blood of the New Covenant as an unholy thing despite being under God’s grace. Jesus says to those who practice lawlessness, He will deny access to the kingdom. So if we are supposed to keep the Sabbath day and are ignorant of this fact, how will we be judged? Would God burn someone in Hell for being ignorant? What about denial? It appears that everyone has different ideas about the Seventh day Sabbath. When there is so much confusion and conflicting information you know that deception reigns and one seriously needs to investigate to find what the truth really is and especially when the consequences for deliberate sin is to be left out of the kingdom. Are the Ten Commandments still relevant today? If something as important as the Ten Commandments were to change by even the smallest amount we would be told with crystal clear scriptures. Most Christians will not debate that nine of the Ten Commandments need to be obeyed but so many freely sweep one under the carpet that becomes too much of an effort for them. Denial of truth of any of the Ten Commandments has only one outcome as far as God is concerned and we do not want that path. Unless black and white scriptures can be produced that says the day has changed or been abolished, then the Sabbath is just as valid as the other nine Commandments and the consequences are the same for deliberately breaking any one of them. Does anyone believe they can freely murder as they please and still enter the kingdom of God? So do all the Ten Commandments still stand or does the Bible indicate that we can live in wilful deliberate sin? We certainly are saved by God’s Grace through faith in Christ, but is this a license to continue in sin? Did Jesus die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin or so we could go on living in sin? What does the only source of truth that we can trust have to say on this very important topic that nailed our loving Saviour to the cross? Here are the answers put simply by scripture alone while covering the main areas of confusion. What is the Bible definition of sin? 1 John 3:4. So where there is sin, there has to be a law. Romans 4:15. If there is no law then there can be no sin and if there is no sin then there is no need for a Saviour. Did Paul say we can sin now that we are under Grace which would therefore show the law had ended? Romans 6:1-2, Romans 6:14-15. Paul taught on the law and Galatians in chapters 2, 3 and 4 and Romans 3 that no flesh is justified by the works of the law and that righteousness comes by FAITH. Does this therefore mean that the Ten Commandments are made null and void through FAITH? Romans 3:31. So who is justified before God? Romans 2:13. Did Jesus say He came to do away with the law? Matthew 5:17. Did Jesus say He was going to change the law by even so much as one single letter? Matthew 5:18, Luke 16:17. Did Jesus say we have to teach the law as well as obey it? Matthew 5:19. Does Jesus say that those who practise lawlessness, which is the breaking of the Ten Commandments, will enter the kingdom? Matthew 7:21-23, 1 John 2:4. So what does Jesus say that one has to do to inherit eternal life? Matthew 19:16-19. Can we keep just nine of the Ten Commandments and are we judged by obedience to the law? James 2:10-12, Matthew 5:18, Luke 16:17. So what are the consequences for wilful sin, which is wilfully disobeying even ONE of the Ten Commandments? Hebrews 10:26-29, Ephesians 5:3, 5. What are the blessings for not living in wilful sin, which is obeying the Ten Commandments in loving obedience? Revelation 22:14. The passage in Matthew chapter 5 alone proves that not one letter of the law has changed which means that all scriptures used as arguments for ending or changing the Sabbath are being abused or misunderstood. The answers are indisputable and any other arguments would be in total contradiction to the words of Jesus, Paul and James just to name a few. I think Solomon summed it up well with his final conclusion in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14. Did Jesus and the early Church keep the Sabbath? If the Sabbath is an unchanged Commandment, then we should find Paul and the early Church keeping the Seventh day Sabbath. If this can be demonstrated, this would also prove that the Sabbath was not changed or abolished. So can we demonstrate this? We can of course and do in fact find Paul keeping the Sabbath as his CUSTOM was since childhood in a Jewish Synagogue. A custom is something you do religiously and without failure. What was Paul’s CUSTOM and EXAMPLE while establishing the early Christian Church? Notice in the following verse that this is a Jewish synagogue and that Jews have all through history, without change, worshipped on Saturday as they still do today. Acts 17:1-2. The Jews and Pharisees which Paul was since CHILDHOOD have ALWAYS kept Saturday as the Sabbath. Acts 26:4-5. This is proof conclusive of Saturday Sabbath keeping AFTER the cross and undoubtedly applies to both Jews and Gentiles if wondering. Acts 13:42-44; Acts 18:4. It was not only Paul’s custom and example but that of Jesus also and He is our perfect example. Luke 4:16. And unless Jesus is into making meaningless and nonsensical statements, He also clarified beyond all doubt that the Sabbath would definitely NOT end at the cross by His reference to the future destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, when he said, “And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath” Matthew 24:20. See also Sabbath in the New Testament. What day is the Sabbath Day according to the Bible? Below are statements from the Roman Catholic Church which give the simple answer as to why most Churches now keep Sunday as the Sabbath. Most Christians have no idea that this even happened or how it happened. Revelation 13 tells us that Satan gave his power and authority to the Catholic Church. Why? It was Satan's plan to have this Church change the Sabbath to Sunday. Why did Satan do this? The Sabbath is about who we give our allegiance to. If we obey God and keep His Sabbath day Holy, we give our allegiance to God. If we obey the Commandment of the Catholic Church and keep their day Holy, who do we give our allegiance to then? The Catholic Church answers this question below with two of their quotes. But looking deeper, who gave this Church power so God’s true day of worship could be changed? Read Catholic Church Statements about the Sabbath or Roman Catholic Church Seventh Day Sabbath Quotes for more. Does the Bible support the change to Sunday? “Most Christians assume that Sunday is the biblically approved day of worship. The Catholic Church protests that it transferred Christian worship from the biblical Sabbath (Saturday) to Sunday, and that to try to argue that the change was made in the Bible is both dishonest and a denial of Catholic authority. If Protestantism wants to base its teachings only on the Bible, it should worship on Saturday.” Rome’s Challenge www.immaculateheart.com/maryonline Dec 2003 “For example, nowhere in the Bible do we find that Christ or the Apostles ordered that the Sabbath be changed from Saturday to Sunday. We have the commandment of God given to Moses to keep holy the Sabbath day, that is the 7th day of the week, Saturday. Today most Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the [Roman Catholic] church outside the Bible.” Catholic Virginian, October 3, 1947, p. 9, article “To Tell You the Truth.” Who Made Sunday Holy? “Perhaps the boldest thing, the most revolutionary change the Church ever did, happened in the first century. The holy day, the Sabbath, was changed from Saturday to Sunday. ‘The day of the Lord’ was chosen, not from any direction noted in the Scriptures, but from the (Catholic) Church’s sense of its own power...People who think that the Scriptures should be the sole authority, should logically become 7th Day Adventists, and keep Saturday holy.” St. Catherine Church Sentinel, Algonac, Michigan, May 21, 1995. “Question - Which is the Sabbath day? “Answer - Saturday is the Sabbath day. “Question - Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday? “Answer - We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 364), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.” Peter Geiermann, C.S.S.R., The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, p. 50, 3rd edition, 1957. Whose Day of Worship is Sunday? “They [the Protestants] deem it their duty to keep the Sunday holy. Why? Because the Catholic Church tells them to do so. They have no other reason...The observance of Sunday thus comes to be an ecclesiastical law entirely distinct from the divine law of Sabbath observance...The author of the Sunday law...is the Catholic Church.” Ecclesiastical Review, February 1914. “It is well to remind the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and all other Christians, that the Bible does not support them anywhere in their observance of Sunday. Sunday is an institution of the Roman Catholic Church, and those who observe the day observe a commandment of the Catholic Church.” Priest Brady, in an address reported in The News, Elizabeth, New Jersey, March 18, 1903. Who Do We Reverence by Keeping Sunday Holy? “It was the Catholic church which...has transferred this rest to Sunday in remembrance of the resurrection of our Lord. Therefore the observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the (Catholic) church.” Monsignor Louis Segur, Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today, p. 213. “I have repeatedly offered $1,000 to anyone who can prove to me from the Bible alone that I am bound to keep Sunday holy. There is no such law in the Bible. It is a law of the holy Catholic Church alone. The Bible says, ‘Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.’ The Catholic Church says: ‘No. By my divine power I abolish the Sabbath day and command you to keep holy the first day of the week.’ And lo! The entire civilized world bows down in a reverent obedience to the command of the holy Catholic Church.” father T. Enright, C.S.S.R. of the Redemptoral College, Kansas City, in a lecture at Hartford, Kansas, February 18, 1884, printed in History of the Sabbath, p. 802. Hover here for a document clip< or select for full original image. Who really changed the Sabbath? We know the final change to the Sabbath was by the Roman Catholic Church, but who was really responsible and why? Many of you have probably already worked this out but let’s go through it anyway. Beginning with the early Church, Satan failed in his attempt at stopping the Son of God so he turned his attention to the Church. He initially tried to destroy the Church by having all Christians killed, but martyrdom just made the Church grow faster and stronger. Satan soon realised that he could do more damage from within the Church, so he gave the Papacy its power, seat and position. Even though most Christians do not know the importance of the Sabbath day, Satan knows the Sabbath truth all too well and he also knew that it was the easiest of the Ten Commandments to attack, and so put his long term plan into effect. How successful was his plan and who is responsible for his success? Satan fell from his position because of pride and because he wanted to be worshipped as God. Since no one in their right mind would worship Satan, he knew he could only obtain this worship from within the Church. The Seventh day Sabbath is about whom we worship and it is not a sign that we worship God or belong to Him when we keep the wrong day. Satan’s goal was therefore to have his own day of worship instituted in place of God’s and while achieving the primary goal of getting Christians away from a very significant Commandment and living in lawlessness. Using the Papacy as his agent, Satan changed God’s Seventh day Sabbath to a day in honour of pagan sun worship, hence the pagan name Sunday. Satan also knew that sun worship was something that God detested and was one of the reasons why God allowed His people to fall into the hands of the Babylonians. Satan no doubt had great pleasure in this accomplishment as he would have Christians breaking God’s law and not fulfilling the sign of the Sabbath, as well as further upsetting God by taking away His day of worship in place of Satan’s and in favour of sun worship which is idolatry. How Satan must clap his hands in glee over this victory that so many have given him. Christians now assume that Sunday is the correct day and it becomes a mind set as this is what their custom was growing up, and anything different does not feel right and seems foreign. This was Satan’s plan from the beginning and sadly, he has been very successful. Today the ruler of this world works very hard at feeding our minds with thoughts that this Commandment is insignificant and Christians who are not wanting to be inconvenienced by change are all too happy to listen. It’s time for Christians to stop being deceived and wake up to the fact that Satan was responsible and return to all Ten Commandments of God and this precious SIGN that we are His children and it is our Creator God that we worship. Jesus laid down His life for you, how much of a sacrifice is it for you to change your day of worship? For a very detailed account of the Sabbath to Sunday change, and how it actually begun 2000 years B.C. with the worship of Satan and the sun, and involves the origin of that mysterious number 666, see who changed the Sabbath to Sunday. The Sabbath kept from creation to eternity The Sabbath has existed since creation when God added the Seventh day to the week with the one and only purpose of a Sabbath rest. This is the only reason we have a seven day week today. God also blessed and sanctified this day for Holy use. This was done before sin had entered the World and was part of God’s perfect plan. Most Christians do not know that the word translated “rested” in our English Bibles in Genesis 2:3 is actually “shabath” in the Hebrew and means Sabbath. Here is the word Sabbath right at creation. In reference to the future destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, Jesus states in Matthew 24:20, “And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.” This ONE statement alone PROVES that Jesus expected the Sabbath to be kept subsequent to His death. The gospel of Luke states in Luke 23:56 that when the body of Christ was being prepared, “they rested the Sabbath day according to the Commandment.” Luke’s gospel was written 30 to 50 years after the cross and Luke still shows that the Commandment is unchanged. If it were changed, Luke would have undoubtedly told us since it is one of the Commandments. Isaiah also prophesied in Isaiah 66:22-23 that, “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make … and from one Sabbath to another, shall ALL flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.” In Genesis 4:3-7, Cain brought an offering from the ground which represents righteousness by works and so God was angry with him but Abel brought the firstborn of his flock as a sin offering which represents righteousness by faith. You cannot have a sin offering unless there is a law. (1 John 3:4) In verse 7, we also see God speak to Cain about sin lying at the door. The Bible also says where there is no law there is no transgression (Romans 4:15) so the Commandments although not yet codified had to exist from the very beginning or Cain could also not have been guilty of murder. See also Genesis 26:5. Besides the Seventh day being called the Sabbath in the Hebrew in Genesis 2:3, God also said the Sabbath “is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever” because “in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” Exodus 31:17. Here God further confirms that the Sabbath existed from the beginning when it was added as the Seventh day of the week at creation. For even more proof, we also know that the Sabbath existed back in Genesis chapter 11. In over 105 languages in the world where the Sabbath has not taken on the Pagan name Saturday, it is still called the Sabbath in each of these languages as it was named at creation. This proves that when these 105 languages originated at Babel in Genesis 11, Saturday was recognized as the Sabbath day and was incorporated into the very name of the day. Since the Sabbath was sanctified and made Holy before sin at creation and the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments which is also seen being kept before the giving of the Commandments, it had to be kept by Adam and Eve. It was also kept by Abraham, it was kept in the exodus from Egypt before the Ten Commandments were given when God tested His children to see if they would keep THE Seventh day as per the Commandment. It was kept by the Jews, it was kept by Jesus, it was kept by Paul, it was kept by the Apostles, it was kept by the early Church by both Jews and Gentiles, and this is also verified by Jesus who showed it would be kept in 70 AD when the temple was destroyed. History also further proves this by the fact that reliable unbiased history sources show that it was still being kept until around 90-120 AD where some Christians first changed to Sunday to avoid persecution for Judaism. History shows that the final part of the day change began with Constantine in 321 AD in favour of sun worship, and was made law by the Catholic Church around 363-364 AD. The Sabbath was almost murdered out of existence through the dark ages when the Roman Catholic Church ruled as Church and state for those terrible 1260 dark years, and Revelation 12:17 speaks of a remnant of God’s original Church that would arise after these dark ages that Satan would hate and make war with because it would start keeping all of the Ten Commandments of God once again. To finish this all off, God showed Isaiah that we will still be keeping the Sabbath in the new Heaven and the New Earth. Here is the Sabbath being kept from creation beginning and throughout all eternity. The Sabbath is eternal as the other nine. We should desire the Sabbath truth Would it surprise you to know that Jesus never once even mentioned the first day of the week? As Christians, we should always be seeking after the truth, as Jesus is the truth. If we really love Jesus with all our heart, soul and might, we will always strive to find what the truth is at absolutely any cost. However, with so many people saying so many different things, how can we possibly know what the truth really is? There is only one guaranteed way, and that is the inspired Word of God – The Holy Bible. The Bible is and should always be our final authority and not the advice of our Pastor or our most trusted friend. If we can find unbiased information on man’s knowledge of History on the Seventh day Sabbath, that can also be used to help us determine the truth but ultimately, we need to go by the Word of God. The intention of this web site was not to cover all the excuses and truth about the Sabbath but to point you to a choice of sites that will help you find more on what the truth really is. In the top left column and at the bottom of this page, you will find links to many good web sites, not only on the Sabbath, but also on other topics that relate to the Sabbath day such as the ceremonial law and the Ten Commandments. For all the facts on the Sabbath, please read Sabbath and Antichrist truth and who is the real Antichrist for the Biblical and historical truth on Antichrist. For real eye-opening information that reveals that sun worship started with Satan worship, see the history of Sun-Day worship and how it entered the Church. Previous Back to Contents Next Top

All trinity studies Previous Download Next Is the Holy Spirit the Third Highest Being in Heaven Is the Holy Spirit the Third Highest Being in Heaven? The Trinity doctrine teaches 3 CO-EQUAL beings and hence it claims the 3 highest BEINGS in Heaven are therefore the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Thus the Trinity doctrine declares the Holy Spirit is the third highest being in heaven. But according to Ellen White in the first chapter of Patriarchs and Prophets (p. 35), the third highest being in Heaven before the entrance of sin was Lucifer. And after the fall, Ellen White says Gabriel was the next in line. “It was Gabriel, the angel next in rank to the Son of God, who came with the divine message to Daniel.” — (E.G. White, DA, p. 234) Now consider the following. Who wants to be like the most High and be worshipped and prayed to as God? Isaiah 14:12-14 informs us that this is Satan's desire. Has Satan devised a clever scheme to regain his lost third position and the worship he craves? By Satan creating the Trinity doctrine, it creates a non-existent third being. Satan can then step into that position he has created and not only receives the worship he desires, but he would also effectively regain the position he lost as the third highest being in heaven. This is known as worship by representation and is what Satan has also done with Sunday worship. Has Satan succeeded in accomplishing his goal of being included as deity? If we now believe the Holy Spirit can be worshipped and prayed to just like the Father and the Son, who actually receives our worship? If the Holy Spirit is not a third being then what spirit would we have according to our belief and who would we be giving our adoration to? It would be Satan himself! Below is even a clearer quote from Ellen White that reveals the Holy Spirit is NOT a being let alone the third highest being as the Trinity doctrine claims. She wrote that Satan was second to Christ making Satan the third highest being in heaven. Hence the Holy Spirit is not some third being called “god the holy spirit” as the Trinity doctrine claims but the Spirit of the Father and Son. Below we find that Satan wanted to be next to God and have Christ second to Him. In other words, for the three highest beings in Heaven to be the Father, Satan and Christ. This also proves Ellen White was not a Trinitarian and never saw the Holy Spirit as a third being as some have misunderstood due to her use of the word person in regards to the Holy Spirit. “Satan, who was once a beautiful angel in the heavenly courts, became a fallen angel because HE DID NOT WANT TO OCCUPY A SECONDARY PLACE, BUT TO BE NEXT TO GOD. HE WOULD HAVE THE LORD JESUS BECOME SECOND TO HIM, for his own glory was very precious in his own sight. He was jealous of Christ, the Saviour. Study the Word of God, and see what this jealousy led to in the end. There is nothing to be gained by jealousies. Although in the beginning Satan was an exalted angel of great glory in the heavenly courts, THAT GLORY BECAME EXTINGUISHED THROUGH HIS CRAVING TO BE THE HIGHEST ONE NEXT TO GOD.” — (E.G. White, Ms74, March 20, 1910) This quote from Ellen White proves inarguably that the Holy Spirit is NOT and CANNOT be a third highest CO-EQUAL being in Heaven, and hence is NOT and CANNOT be a being at all. By Satan creating the Trinity doctrine and the idea of the Holy Spirit as a third being, Satan effectively gets his third highest position back, but more importantly, he obtains worship as a god by representation just as he always wanted. Thus the third person in the Trinity is actually Satan! It should be obvious that if you get this wrong you will not be in the kingdom. Note the table for clarity. The Holy Spirit is not included in the Biblical view as it is not a literal being but the Spirit of the Father and Son. Satan used to hold the third highest position in Heaven until he was thrown out and Gabriel took his place. Previous All trinity studies Next Back to top

All trinity studies Previous Download Next Roswell F. Cottrell on the Trinity Roswell F. Cottrell on the Trinity More words from one of the founding members of the Seventh day Adventist Church and the truth the Adventist Church was founded on. “He proceeded to affirm that “man is a triune being,” consisting of body, soul and spirit. I never heard a Disciple confess faith in the doctrine of the trinity; but why not, if man consists of three persons in one person? especially, since man was made in the image of God? But the image he said, was a moral likeness. So man may be a triune being without proving that God is. But does he mean that one man is three men? I might say that a tree consists of body, bark and leaves, and no one perhaps would dispute it. But if I should affirm that each tree consists of three trees, the assertion would possibly be doubted by some. But if all admitted that one tree is three trees, I might then affirm that there were ninety trees in my orchard, when no one could count but thirty. I might then proceed and say, I have ninety trees in my orchard, and as each tree consists of three trees, I have two hundred and seventy. So if one man is three men, you may multiply him by three as often as you please. But if it takes body, soul and spirit to make one perfect, living man; then separate these, and the man is unmade.” — (R.F. Cottrell, Review and Herald, November 19, 1857) “The Trinity, or the triune God, is unknown to the Bible; and I have entertained the idea that doctrines which require words coined in the human mind to express them, are coined doctrines.” — (R.F. Cottrell, Review and Herald, June 1, 1869) “That one person is three persons, and that three persons are only one person, is the doctrine which we claim is contrary to reason and common sense. The being and attributes of God are above, beyond, out of reach of my sense and reason, yet I believe them: But the doctrine I object to is contrary, yes, that is the word, to the very sense and reason that God has himself implanted in us. Such a doctrine he does not ask us to believe. A miracle is beyond our comprehension, but we all believe in miracles who believe our own senses. What we see and hear convinces us that there is a power that effected the most wonderful miracle of creation. But our Creator has made it an absurdity to us that one person should be three persons, and three persons but one person; and in his revealed word he has never asked us to believe it. This our friend thinks objectionable... But to hold the doctrine of the Trinity is not so much an evidence of evil intention as of intoxication from that wine of which all the nations have drunk. The fact that this was one of the leading doctrines, if not the very chief, upon which the bishop of Rome was exalted to popedom, does not say much in its favor. This should cause men to investigate it for themselves; as when the spirits of devils working miracles undertake the advocacy of the immortality of the soul. Had I never doubted it before, I would now probe it to the bottom, by that word which modern Spiritualism sets at nought.… Revelation goes beyond us; but in no instance does it go contrary to right reason and common sense. God has not claimed, as the popes have, that he could “make justice of injustice,” nor has he, after teaching us to count, told us that there is no difference between the singular and plural numbers. Let us believe all he has revealed, and add nothing to it.” — (R.F. Cottrell, Review and Herald, July 6, 1869) “But if I am asked what I think of Jesus Christ, my reply is, I believe all that the Scriptures say of him. If the testimony represents him as being in glory with the Father before the world was, I believe it. If it is said that he was in the beginning with God, that he was God, that all things were made by him and for him, and that without him was not anything made that was made, I believe it. If the Scriptures say he is the Son of God, I believe it. If it is declared that the Father sent his Son into the world, I believe he had a Son to send. ... Children inherit the name of their father. The Son of God “hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than the angels.” — (R.F. Cottrell, Review and Herald, June 1, 1869) Previous All trinity studies Next Back to top

Back to Contents Previous Download 看中文 Next Denominational Statements on the Sabbath AMERICAN CONGREGATIONALIST QUOTES ABOUT THE SABBATH The current notion that Christ and His apostles authoritatively substituted the first day for the seventh, is absolutely without any authority in the New Testament. —Dr. Layman Abbot, in the Christian Union, June 26, 1890. ANGLICAN QUOTES ABOUTTHE SABBATH And where are we told in the Scriptures that we are to keep the first day at all? We are commanded to keep the seventh; but we are nowhere commanded to keep the first day... The reason why we keep the first day of the week holy instead of the seventh is for the same reason that we observe many other things, not because the Bible, but because the Church, has enjoined it. —Isaac Williams, Plain Sermons on the Catechism, pages 334, 336. BAPTIST QUOTES ABOUT THE SABBATH There was and is a command to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not Sunday. It will however be readily said, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week, with all its duties, privileges and sanctions. Earnestly desiring information on this subject, which I have studied for many years, I ask, where can the record of such a transaction be found: Not in the New Testament – absolutely not. There is no scriptural evidence of the change of the Sabbath institution from the seventh to the first day of the week. —Dr. E. T. Hiscox, author of the ‘Baptist Manual’. To me it seems unaccountable that Jesus, during three years' discussion with His disciples, often conversing with them upon the Sabbath question, discussing it in some of its various aspects, freeing it from its false [Jewish traditional] glosses, never alluded to any transference of the day; also, that during the forty days of His resurrection life, no such thing was intimated. Nor, so far as we know, did the Spirit, which was given to bring to their remembrance all things whatsoever that He had said unto them, deal with this question. Nor yet did the inspired apostles, in preaching the gospel, founding churches, counseling and instructing those founded, discuss or approach the subject. Of course I quite well know that Sunday did come into use in early Christian history as a religious day as we learn from the Christian Fathers and other sources. But what a pity that it comes branded with the mark of Paganism, and christened with the name of the sun-god, then adopted and sanctified by the Papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestantism. —Dr. E. T. Hiscox, report of his sermon at the Baptist Minister's Convention, in 'New York Examiner,' November 16, 1893 The Scriptures nowhere call the first day of the week the Sabbath. . .There is no Scriptural authority for so doing, nor of course, any Scriptural obligation. —The Watchman. We believe that the law of God is the eternal and unchangeable rule of His moral government. —Baptist Church Manual, Art. 12. There was never any formal or authoritative change from the Jewish seventh-day Sabbath to the Christian first-day observance. —WILLIAM OWEN CARVER, The Lord's Day in Our Day, page 49. There is nothing in Scripture that requires us to keep Sunday rather than Saturday as a holy day. —Harold Lindsell (editor), Christianity Today, Nov. 5, 1976 BRETHREN QUOTES ABOUT THE SABBATH With the views of the law and the Sabbath we once held ... and which are still held by perhaps the great majority of the most earnest Christians, we confess that we could not answer Adventists. What is more, neither before or since have I heard or read what would conclusively answer an Adventist in his Scriptural contention that the Seventh day is the Sabbath (Ex. 20:10). It is not 'one day in seven' as some put it, but 'the seventh day according to the commandment.' —Words of Truth and Grace, p. 281. CATHOLIC QUOTES ABOUT THE SABBATH It is well to remind the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and all other Christians, that the Bible does not support them anywhere in their observance of Sunday. Sunday is an institution of the Roman Catholic Church, and those who observe the day observe a commandment of the Catholic Church. —Priest Brady, in an address, reported in the Elizabeth, NJ ‘News’ on March 18, 1903. Protestants ... accept Sunday rather than Saturday as the day for public worship after the Catholic Church made the change... But the Protestant mind does not seem to realize that ... in observing Sunday, they are accepting the authority of the spokesman for the Church, the pope. —Our Sunday Visitor, February 5th, 1950. Of course these two old quotations are exactly correct. The Catholic Church designated Sunday as the day for corporate worship and gets full credit – or blame – for the change. —This Rock, The Magazine of Catholic Apologetics and Evangelization, p.8, June 1997 Q. Have you any other proofs that they(Protestants) are not guided by the Scripture? A. Yes; so many, that we cannot admit more than a mere specimen into this small work. They reject much that is clearly contained in Scripture, and profess more that is nowhere discoverable in that Divine Book. Q. Give some examples of both? A. They should, if the Scripture were their only rule, wash the feet of one another, according to the command of Christ, in the 13th chap. of St. John; —they should keep, not the Sunday, but the Saturday, according to the commandment, "Remember thou keep holy the SABBATH-day;" for this commandment has not, in Scripture, been changed or abrogated;... —Rev. Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism; New York in 1857, page 101 Imprimatuer Q. Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept? A. Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her; —she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority. —Rev. Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism; New York in 1857, page 174 Q. In what manner can we show a Protestant, that he speaks unreasonably against fasts and abstinences? A. Ask him why he keeps Sunday, and not Saturday, as his day of rest, since he is unwilling either to fast or to abstain. If he reply, that the Scripture orders him to keep the Sunday, but says nothing as to fasting and abstinence, tell him the Scripture speaks of Saturday or the Sabbath, but gives no command anywhere regarding Sunday or the first day of the week. If, then he neglects Saturday as a day of rest and holiness, and substitutes Sunday in its place, and this merely because such was the usage of the ancient Church, should he not, if he wishes to act consistently, observe fasting and abstinence, because the ancient Church so ordained? —Rev. Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism; New York in 1857, page 181 Question: Which is the Sabbath day? Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath day. Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday? Answer: We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday. —Rev. Peter Geiermann C.SS .R., The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, p. 50 Q. Must not a sensible Protestant doubt seriously, when he finds that even the Bible is not followed as a rule by his co-religionists? A. Surely, when he sees them baptize infants, abrogate the Jewish Sabbath, and observe Sunday for which [pg. 7] there is no Scriptural authority; when he finds them neglect to wash one another's feet, which is expressly commanded, and eat blood and things strangled, which are expressly prohibited in Scripture. He must doubt, if he think at all. … Q. Should not the Protestant doubt when he finds that he himself holds tradition as a guide? A. Yes, if he would but reflect that he has nothing but Catholic Tradition for keeping the Sunday holy; ... —Controversial Catechism by Stephen Keenan, New Edition, revised by Rev. George Cormack, published in London by Burns & Oates, Limited - New York, Cincinnati, Chicago: Benzinger Brothers, 1896, pages 6, 7. The Church, on the other hand, after changing the day of rest from the Jewish Sabbath, or seventh day of the week, to the first, made the Third Commandment refer to Sunday as the day to be kept holy as the Lord's Day. The Council of Trent (Sess. VI, can. xix) condemns those who deny that the Ten Commandments are binding on Christians. —The Catholic Encyclopedia, Commandments of God, Volume IV, © 1908 by Robert Appleton Company, Online Edition © 1999 by Kevin Knight, Nihil Obstat - Remy Lafort, Censor Imprimatur - +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York, page 153. The [Roman Catholic] Church changed the observance of the Sabbath to Sunday by right of the divine, infallible authority given to her by her founder, Jesus Christ. The Protestant claiming the Bible to be the only guide of faith, has no warrant for observing Sunday. In this matter the Seventh-day Adventist is the only consistent Protestant. —The Catholic Universe Bulletin, August 14, 1942, p. 4. All of us believe many things in regard to religion that we do not find in the Bible. For example, nowhere in the Bible do we find that Christ or the Apostles ordered that the Sabbath be changed from Saturday to Sunday. We have the commandment of God given to Moses to keep holy the Sabbath Day, that is the 7th day of the week, Saturday. Today most Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the Church outside the Bible. —The Catholic Virginian, To Tell You The Truth,” Vol. 22, No. 49 (Oct. 3, 1947). ... you may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify. —The Faith of Our Fathers, by James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, 88th edition, page 89. Originally published in 1876, republished and Copyright 1980 by TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., pages 72-73. Deny the authority of the Church and you have no adequate or reasonable explanation or justification for the substitution of Sunday for Saturday in the Third - Protestant Fourth - Commandment of God... The Church is above the Bible, and this transference of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact.' —Catholic Record, September 1, 1923. But since Saturday, not Sunday, is specified in the Bible, isn't it curious that non-Catholics who profess to take their religion directly from the Bible and not the Church, observe Sunday instead of Saturday? Yes, of course, it is inconsistent; but this change was made about fifteen centuries before Protestantism was born, and by that time the custom was universally observed. They have continued the custom, even though it rests upon the authority of the Catholic Church and not upon an explicit text in the Bible. That observance remains as a reminder of the Mother Church from which the non-Catholic sects broke away - like a boy running away from home but still carrying in his pocket a picture of his mother or a lock of her hair. —The Faith of Millions Perhaps the boldest thing, the most revolutionary change the Church ever did, happened in the first century. The holy day, the Sabbath, was changed from Saturday to Sunday. "The Day of the Lord" (dies Dominica) was chosen, not from any directions noted in the Scriptures, but from the Church's sense of its own power. The day of resurrection, the day of Pentecost, fifty days later, came on the first day of the week. So this would be the new Sabbath. People who think that the Scriptures should be the sole authority, should logically become 7th Day Adventists, and keep Saturday holy. —Sentinel, Pastor's page, Saint Catherine Catholic Church, Algonac, Michigan, May 21, 1995 If Protestants would follow the Bible, they would worship God on the Sabbath Day. In keeping the Sunday they are following a law of the Catholic Church. —Albert Smith, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, replying for the Cardinal, in a letter dated February 10, 1920. The observance of Sunday by the Protestants is homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] Church. —Monsignor Louis Segur, ‘Plain Talk about the Protestantism of Today’, p. 213. What Important Question Does the Papacy Ask Protestants? Protestants have repeatedly asked the papacy, "How could you dare to change God's law?" But the question posed to Protestants by the Catholic church is even more penetrating. Here it is officially: You will tell me that Saturday was the Jewish Sabbath, but that the Christian Sabbath has been changed to Sunday. Changed! but by whom? Who has authority to change an express commandment of Almighty God? When God has spoken and said, Thou shalt keep holy the seventh day, who shall dare to say, Nay, thou mayest work and do all manner of worldly business on the seventh day; but thou shalt keep holy the first day in its stead? This is a most important question, which I know not how you can answer. You are a Protestant, and you profess to go by the Bible and the Bible only; and yet in so important a matter as the observance of one day in seven as a holy day, you go against the plain letter of the Bible, and put another day in the place of that day which the Bible has commanded. The command to keep holy the seventh day is one of the ten commandments; you believe that the other nine are still binding; who gave you authority to tamper with the fourth? If you are consistent with your own principles, if you really follow the Bible and the Bible only, you ought to be able to produce some portion of the New Testament in which this fourth commandment is expressly altered. —Library of Christian Doctrine: Why Don't You Keep Holy the Sabbath-Day? (London: Burns and Oates, Ltd.), pp. 3, 4. There is but one church on the face of the earth which has the power, or claims power, to make laws binding on the conscience, binding before God, binding under penalty of hell-fire. For instance, the institution of Sunday. What right has any other church to keep this day? You answer by virtue of the third commandment (the papacy did away with the 2nd regarding the worship of graven images, and called the 4th the 3rd), which says 'Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.' But Sunday is not the Sabbath. Any schoolboy knows that Sunday is the first day of the week. I have repeatedly offered one thousand dollars to anyone who will prove by the Bible alone that Sunday is the day we are bound to keep, and no one has called for the money. It was the holy Catholic Church that changed the day of rest from Saturday, the seventh day, to Sunday, the first day of the week. —T. Enright, C.S.S.R., in a lecture delivered in 1893. Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act. And the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters. —C. F. Thomas, Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons, in answer to a letter regarding the change of the Sabbath, November 11, 1895. Tradition, not Scripture, is the rock on which the church of Jesus Christ is built. —Adrien Nampon, Catholic Doctrine as Defined by the Council of Trent, p. 157 The Pope is of so great authority and power that he can modify, explain, or interpret even divine law". The pope can modify divine law, since his power is not of man, but of God, and he acts a vicegerent of God upon earth —Lucius Ferraris, Prompta Bibliotheca, art. Papa, II, Vol. VI, p. 29. The leader of the Catholic church is defined by the faith as the Vicar of Jesus Christ (and is accepted as such by believers). The Pope is considered the man on earth who "takes the place" of the Second Person of the omnipotent God of the Trinity. —John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, p. 3, 1994 ...pastoral intuition suggested to the Church the christianization of the notion of Sunday as "the day of the sun", which was the Roman name for the day and which is retained in some modern languages.(29) This was in order to draw the faithful away from the seduction of cults which worshipped the sun, and to direct the celebration of the day to Christ, humanity's true 'sun'. —John Paul II, Dies Domini, 27. The day of Christ-Light, 1998 (Prominent protestant leaders agree with this statement - See here for a statement by Dr. E. T. Hiscox, author of the ‘Baptist Manual’) The Sun was a foremost god with heathen-dom…The sun has worshippers at this hour in Persia and other lands…. There is, in truth, something royal, kingly about the sun, making it a fit emblem of Jesus, the Sun of Justice. Hence the church in these countries would seem to have said, to 'Keep that old pagan name [Sunday]. It shall remain consecrated, sanctified.' And thus the pagan Sunday, dedicated to Balder, became the Christian Sunday, sacred to Jesus. —William Gildea, Doctor of Divinity, The Catholic World, March, 1894, p. 809 The retention of the old pagan name of Dies Solis, for Sunday is, in a great measure, owing to the union of pagan and Christian sentiment with which the first day of the week was recommended by Constantine to his subjects - pagan and Christian alike - as the 'venerable' day of the sun. —Arthur P. Stanley, History of the Eastern Church, p. 184 When St. Paul repudiated the works of the law, he was not thinking of the Ten Commandments, which are as unchangeable as God Himself is, which God could not change and still remain the infinitely holy God. —Our Sunday Visitor, Oct. 7, I951. Question: How prove you that the Church hath power to command feasts and holydays? Answer: By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same Church. —Henry Tuberville, An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine (1833 approbation), p.58 (Same statement in Manual of Christian Doctrine, ed. by Daniel Ferris [1916 ed.], p.67) Some theologians have held that God likewise directly determined the Sunday as the day of worship in the NEW LAW, that he himself has explicitly substituted Sunday for the Sabbath. But this theory is entirely abandoned. It is now commonly held that God simply gave His church the power to set aside whatever day or days she would deem suitable as holy days. The church chose Sunday, the first day of the week, and in the course of time added other days as holy days. —Vincent J. Kelly, Forbidden Sunday and Feast-Day Occupations, Washington, DC, Catholic University of America Press, Studies in Sacred Theology, No. 70.,1943, p. 2. If we consulted the Bible only, we should still have to keep holy the Sabbath Day, that is, Saturday, with the Jews, instead of Sunday; ... —A Course in Religion for Catholic High Schools and Academies, by Rev. John Laux M.A., Benzinger Brothers, 1936 edition, Part 1. Sunday is a Catholic institution, and... can be defended only on Catholic principles.... From beginning to end of Scripture there is not a single passage that warrants the transfer of weekly public worship from the last day of the week to the first. —Catholic Press, Aug. 25, 1900 The Sabbath was Saturday, not Sunday. The Church altered the observance of the Sabbath to the observance of Sunday. Protestants must be rather puzzled by the keeping of Sunday when God distinctly said, 'Keep holy the Sabbath Day.' The word Sunday does not come anywhere in the Bible, so, without knowing it they are obeying the authority of the Catholic Church. —Canon Cafferata, The Catechism Explained, p. 89. Reason and sense demand the acceptance of one or the other of these alternatives: either Protestantism and the keeping holy of Saturday, or Catholicity and the keeping holy of Sunday. Compromise is impossible. —John Cardinal Gibbons, The Catholic Mirror, December 23, 1893. CHRISTIAN CHURCH QUOTES ABOUT THE SABBATH I do not believe that the Lord's day came in the room of the Jewish Sabbath, or that the Sabbath was changed from the seventh to the first day, for this plain reason, where there is no testimony, there can be no faith. Now there is no testimony in all the oracles of heaven that the Sabbath is changed, or that the Lord’s Day came in the room of it. —Alexander Campbell, in The Reporter, October 8, 1921 It has reversed the fourth commandment by doing away with the Sabbath of God's Word, and instituting Sunday as a holiday. —Dr. N. Summerbell, History of the Christian Church, Third Edition, p. 415 There is no direct scriptural authority for designating the first day the Lord's day. —Dr. D. H. Lucas, Christian Oracle, Jan. 23, 1890. The first day of the week is commonly called the Sabbath. This is a mistake. The Sabbath of the Bible was the day just preceding the first day of the week. The first day of the week is never called the Sabbath anywhere in the entire Scriptures. It is also an error to talk about the change of the Sabbath. There never was any change of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. There is not in any place in the Bible any intimation of such a change. —First-Day Observance, pp. 17, 19. CHURCH OF CHRIST QUOTES ABOUT THE SABBATH But we do not find any direct command from God, or instruction from the risen Christ, or admonition from the early apostles, that the first day is to be substituted for the seventh day Sabbath." "Let us be clear on this point. Though to the Christian 'that day, the first day of the week' is the most memorable of all days ... there is no command or warrant in the New Testament for observing it as a holy day. The Roman Church selected the first day of the week in honour of the resurrection of Christ. ... —Bible Standard, May, 1916, Auckland, New Zealand. ... If the fourth command is binding upon us Gentiles by all means keep it. But let those who demand a strict observance of the Sabbath remember that the seventh day is the ONLY sabbath day commanded, and God never repealed that command. If you would keep the Sabbath, keep it; but Sunday is not the Sabbath. The argument of the 'Seventh-day Adventists' is on one point unassailable. It is the Seventh day not the first day that the command refers to. —G. Alridge, Editor, The Bible Standard, April, 1916. There is no direct Scriptural authority for designating the first day the Lord's day. —DR. D. H. LUCAS, Christian Oracle, Jan. 23, 1890. The first day of the week is commonly called the Sabbath. This is a mistake. The Sabbath of the Bible was the day just preceding the first day of the week. The first day of the week is never called the Sabbath anywhere in the entire Scriptures. It is also an error to talk about the change of the Sabbath. There never was any change of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. There is not in any place in the Bible any intimation of such a change. —First-Day Observance, pages 17, 19. It has reversed the fourth commandment by doing away with the Sabbath of God's Word, and instituting Sunday as a holiday. —DR. N. SUMMERBELL, History of the Christian Church, Third Edition, page 4I5. It is clearly proved that the pastors of the churches have struck out one of God's ten words, which, not only in the Old Testament, but in all revelation, are the most emphatically regarded as the synopsis of all religion and morality. —ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, Debate With Purcell, page 214. I do not believe that the Lord's day came in the room of the Jewish Sabbath, or that the Sabbath was changed from the seventh to the first day, for this plain reason, where there is no testimony, there can be no faith. Now there is no testimony in all the oracles of heaven that the Sabbath was changed, or that the Lord's day came in the room of it. —ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, Washington Reporter, Oct. 8, 1821. CHURCH OF ENGLAND QUOTES ABOUT THE SABBATH Many people think that Sunday is the Sabbath. But neither in the New Testament nor in the early church is there anything to suggest that we have any right to transfer the observance of the seventh day of the week to the first. The Sabbath was and is Saturday and not Sunday, and if it were binding on us then we should observe it on that day, and on no other. —Rev. Lionel Beere, All-Saints Church, Ponsonby, N.Z. in Church and People, Sept. 1, 1947. Nowhere in the Bible is it laid down that worship should be done on Sunday. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. ...! That is Saturday. —P. Carrington, Archbishop of Quebec, Oct. 27, 1949; cited in Prophetic Signs, p 12. The observance of the first instead of the seventh day rests on the testimony of the church, and the church alone. —Hobart Church News, July 2, 1894; cited in Prophetic Signs, p 14. Where are we told in Scripture that we are to keep the first day at all? We are commanded to keep the Seventh; but we are nowhere commanded to keep the first day. The reason why we keep the first day holy instead of the seventh is for the same reason that we observe many things, not because the Bible, but because the Church, has enjoined them. —Rev. Isaac Williams, Ser. on Catechism, p. 334. The seventh day, the commandment says, is the Sabbath of The Lord thy God. No kind of arithmetic, no kind of almanac, can make seven equal one, nor the seventh mean the first, nor Saturday mean Sunday. ... The fact is that we are all Sabbath breakers, every one of us. —Rev. Geo. Hodges. Not any ecclesiastical writer of the first three centuries attributed the origin of Sunday observance either to Christ or to His apostles. —SIR WILLIAM DOMVILLE, Examination of the Six Texts, pages 6, 7. (Supplement). There is no word, no hint, in the New Testament about abstaining from work on Sunday. . . . Into the rest of Sunday no divine law enters…, The observance of Ash Wednesday or Lent stands exactly on the same footing as the observance of Sunday. —CANON EYTON, 'The Ten Commandments, pages 52, 63, 65. Is there any command in the New Testament to change the day of weekly rest from Saturday to Sunday? None. —Manual of Christian Doctrine, page 127. The Lord's day did not succeed in the place of the Sabbath....The Lord's day was merely an ecclesiastical institution. It was not introduced by virtue of the fourth commandment, because for almost three hundred years together they kept that day which was in that commandment...The primitive Christians did all manner of works upon the Lord's day, even in times of persecution, when they are the strictest observers of all the divine commandments; but in this they knew there was none. —BISHOP JEREMY TAYLOR, Ductor Dubitantium, Part I, Book II, Chap. 2, Rule 6. Sec. 51, 59. Sunday being the day on which the Gentiles solemnly adore that planet and called it Sunday, partly from its influence on that day especially, and partly in respect to its divine body (as they conceived it), the Christians thought fit to keep the same day and the same name of it, that they might not appear causelessly peevish, and by that means hinder the conversion of the Gentiles, and bring a greater prejudice than might be otherwise taken against the gospel. —T. M. MORER, Dialogues on the Lord's Day, pages 22, 23. The Puritan idea was historically unhappy. It made Sunday into the Sabbath day. Even educated people call Sunday the Sabbath. Even clergymen do. But, unless my reckoning is all wrong, the Sabbath day lasts twenty-four hours from six o'clock on Friday evening. It gives over, therefore, before we come to Sunday. If you suggest to a Sabbatarian that he ought to observe the Sabbath on the proper day, you arouse no enthusiasm. He at once replies that the day, not the principle, has been changed. But changed by whom? There is no injunction in the whole of the New Testament to Christians to change the Sabbath into Sunday. —D. MORSE-BOYCOTT, Daily Herald, London, Feb. 26, 1931. The Christian church made no formal, but a gradual and almost unconscious transference of the one day to the other. —F.W. FARRAR, D.D., The Voice From Sinai, page 167. Take which you will, either of the Fathers or the moderns, and we shall find no Lord's day instituted by any apostolical mandate; no Sabbath set on foot by them upon the first day of the week. —PETER HEYLYN, History of the Sabbath, page 410. Merely to denounce the tendency to secularise Sunday is as futile as it is easy. What we want is to find some principle, to which as Christians we can appeal, and on which we can base both our conduct and our advice. We turn to the New Testament, and we look in vain for any authoritative rule. There is no recorded word of Christ, there is no word of any of the apostles, which tells how we should keep Sunday, or indeed that we should keep it at all. It is disappointing, for it would make our task much easier if we could point to a definite rule, which left us no option but simple obedience or disobedience. . . . There is no rule for Sunday observance, either in Scripture or history. —DR. STEPHEN, Bishop of Newcastle, N.S.W., in an address reported in the Newcastle Morning Herald, May 14, 1924. CONGREGATIONAL QUOTES ABOUT THE SABBATH The Christian Sabbath [Sunday] is not in the Scripture, and was not by the primitive [early Christian] church called the Sabbath. —Timothy Dwight, Theology, sermon 107, 1818 ed., Vol. IV, p. 49 Note: Timothy Dwight (1752-1817) was president of Yale University from 1795-1817. It is quite clear that, however rigidly or devoutly we may spend Sunday, we are not keeping the Sabbath ... The Sabbath was founded on a specific divine command. We can plead no such command for the obligation to observe Sunday ... There is not a single sentence in the New Testament to suggest that we incur any penalty by violating the supposed sanctity of Sunday. —Dr. Dale, The Ten Commandments, pp. 106, 107. It must be confessed that there is no law in the New Testament concerning the first day. —Buck's Theological Dictionary page 403. There is no command in the Bible requiring us to observe the first day of the week as the Christian Sabbath. —ORIN FOWLER, A.M., Mode and Subjects of Baptism. The current notion that Christ and His apostles authoritatively substituted the first day for the seventh, is absolutely without any authority in the New Testament. —DR. LYMAN ABBOTT, Christian Union, Jan. 18, 1882. DISCIPLES OF CHRIST QUOTES ABOUT THE SABBATH There is no direct Scriptural authority for designating the first day ‘the Lord’s Day.’ —Dr D.H. Lucas, Christian Oracle, January, 1890 EPISCOPALIAN QUOTES ABOUT THE SABBATH We have made the change from the seventh day to the first day, from Saturday to Sunday, on the authority of the one holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church of Christ. —Bishop Symour, Why We keep Sunday. The Bible commandment says on the seventh-day thou shalt rest. That is Saturday. Nowhere in the Bible is it laid down that worship should be done on Sunday. —Phillip Carrington, quoted in Toronto Daily Star, Oct 26, 1949 [Carrington (1892-), Anglican archbishop of Quebec, spoke the above in a message on this subject delivered to a packed assembly of clergymen. It was widely reported at the time in the news media]. INFIDEL QUOTES ABOUT THE SABBATH Probably very few Christians are aware of the fact that what they call the 'Christian Sabbath' (Sunday) is of pagan origin. The first observance of Sunday- that history records is in the fourth century', when Constantine issued an edict (not requiring its religious observance, but simply abstinence from work) reading, 'let all the judges and people of the town rest and all the various trades be suspended on the venerable day of the sun.' At the time of the issue of this edict, Constantine was a sun-worshipper; therefore it could have had no relation whatever to Christianity. —HENRY M. TABER. Faith or Fact (preface by Robert G. Ingersoll), page 112. I challenge any priest or minister of the Christian religion to show me the slightest authority for the religious observance of Sunday. And, if such cannot be shown by them, why is it that they are constantly preaching about Sunday as a holy day? … The claim that Sunday takes the place of Saturday, and that because the Jews were supposed to be commanded to keep the seventh day of the week holy, therefore the first day of the week should be so kept by Christians, is so utterly absurd as to be hardly worth considering....That Paul habitually observed and preached on the seventh day of the week, is shown in Acts 18:4-'And be reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath' (Saturday). —Id., pages ,114, 116. LUTHERAN QUOTES ABOUT THE SABBATH The observance of the Lord's Day (Sunday) is founded not on any command of God, but on the authority of the Church." Augsburg Confession of Faith. They [the Catholics] allege the Sabbath changed into Sunday, the Lord's day, contrary to the Decalogue, as it appears, neither is there any example more boasted of than the changing of the Sabbath day. Great, say they, is the power and authority of the church, since it dispensed with one of the Ten Commandments. —Augsburg Confession of Faith, Art. 28, par. 9. They [Roman Catholics] allege the change of the Sabbath into the Lord's day, as it seemeth, to the Decalogue [the ten commandments]; and they have no example more in their mouths than they change of the Sabbath. They will needs have the Church's power to be very great, because it hath dispensed with the precept of the Decalogue. —The Augsburg Confession, 1530 A.D. (Lutheran), part 2, art 7, in Philip Schaff, the Creeds of Christiandom, 4th Edition, vol 3, p64 [this important statement was made by the Lutherans and written by Melanchthon, only thirteen years after Luther nailed his theses to the door and began the Reformation]. For up to this day mankind has absolutely trifled with the original and most special revelation of the Holy God, the ten words written upon the tables of the Law from Sinai. —Crown Theological Library, page I78. The Christians in the ancient church very soon distinguished the first day of the week, Sunday; however, not as a Sabbath, but as an assembly day of the church, to study the Word of God together, and to celebrate the ordinances one with another: without a shadow of doubt, this took place as early as the first part of the second century. —Bishop GRIMELUND, History of the Sabbath, page 60. The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always only a human ordinance. —AUGUSTUS NEANDER, History of the Christian Religion and Church, Vol. 1, page 186. I wonder exceedingly how it came to be imputed to me that I should reject the law of Ten Commandments...Whosoever abrogates the law must of necessity abrogate sin also. —MARTIN LUTHER, Spiritual Antichrist, pages 71, 72. We have seen how gradually the impression of the Jewish Sabbath faded from the mind of the Christian church, and how completely the newer thought underlying the observance of the first day took possession of the church. We have seen that the Christian of the first three centuries never confused one with the other, but for a time celebrated both. —The Sunday Problem, a study book by the Lutheran Church (1923) p.36 But they err in teaching that Sunday has taken the place of the Old Testament Sabbath and therefore must be kept as the seventh day had to be kept by the children of Israel .... These churches err in their teaching, for scripture has in no way ordained the first day of the week in place of the Sabbath. There is simply no law in the New Testament to that effect —John Theodore Mueller, Sabbath or Sunday, pp.15, 16 LUTHERAN FREE CHURCH QUOTES ABOUT THE SABBATH For when there could not be produced one solitary place in the Holy Scriptures which testified that either the Lord Himself or the apostles had ordered such a transfer of the Sabbath to Sunday, then it was not easy to answer the question: Who has transferred the Sabbath, and who has the right to do it? —George Sverdrup, ‘A New Day.’ METHODIST QUOTES ABOUT THE SABBATH This 'handwriting of ordinances' our Lord did blot out, take away, and nail to His cross. (Colossians 2: 14.) But the moral law contained in the Ten Commandments, and enforced by the prophets, He did not take away.... The moral law stands on an entirely different foundation from the ceremonial or ritual law. ...Every part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind and in all ages. —JOHN WESLEY, Sermons on Several Occasions, 2-Vol. Edition, Vol. I, pages 221, 222. No Christian whatsoever is free from the obedience of the commandments which are called moral. —Methodist Church Discipline, (I904), page 23. The Sabbath was made for MAN; not for the Hebrews, but for all men. —E.O. HAVEN, Pillars of Truth, page 88. The reason we observe the first day instead of the seventh is based on no positive command. One will search the Scriptures in vain for authority for changing from the seventh day to the first. The early Christians began to worship on the first day of the week because Jesus rose from the dead on that day. By and by, this day of worship was made also a day of rest, a legal holiday. This took place in the year 321. The reason we observe the first day instead of the seventh is based on no positive command. One will search the Scriptures in vain for authority for changing from the seventh day to the first... Our Christian Sabbath, therefore, is not a matter of positive command. It is a gift of the church... —CLOVIS G. CHAPPELL, Ten Rules for Living, page 61. Sabbath in the Hebrew language signifies rest, and is the seventh day of the week... and it must be confessed that there is no law in the New Testament concerning the first day. —Charles Buck, A Theological Dictionary, Sabbath In the days of very long ago the people of the world began to give names to everything, and they turned the sounds of the lips into words, so that the lips could speak a thought. In those days the people worshiped the sun because many words were made to tell of many thoughts about many things. The people became Christians and were ruled by an emperor whose name was Constantine. This emperor made Sunday the Christian Sabbath, because of the blessing of light and heat which came from the sun. So our Sunday is a sun-day, isn't it? —Sunday School Advocate, Dec. 31, 1921. The moral law contained in the Ten Commandments, and enforced by the prophets, He [Christ] did not take away. It was not the design of His coming to revoke any part of this. This is a law which never can be broken... Every part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind and in all ages; as not depending either on time or place, or any other circumstances liable to change, but on the nature of God and the nature of man, and their unchangeable relation to each other. —JOHN WESLEY, Sermons on Several Occasions, Vol. I, Sermon XXV. The Sabbath instituted in the beginning, and confirmed again and again by Moses and the prophets, has never been abrogated. A part of the moral law, not a jot or a tittle of its sanctity has been taken away. —New York Herald 1874, on the Methodist Episcopal Bishops Pastoral 1874 MISCELLANEOUS QUOTES ABOUT THE SABBATH You will tell me that Saturday was the Jewish Sabbath, but that the Christian Sabbath has been changed to Sunday. Changed! But by whom? Who has authority to change an express commandment of Almighty God? When God has spoken and said, 'Thou shalt keep holy the seventh day,' who shall dare to say, 'Nay, thou mayest work and do all manner of business on the seventh day; but thou shalt keep holy the first day in its stead'? This is a most important question, which I know not how you can answer. You are a Protestant, and you profess to go by the Bible and the Bible only; and yet in so important a matter as the observance of one day in seven as a holy day, you go against the plain letter of the Bible, and put another day in the place of that day which the Bible has commanded. The command to keep holy the seventh day is one of the Ten Commandments; you believe that the other nine are still binding; who gave you authority to tamper with the fourth? If you are consistent with your own principles, if you really follow the Bible and the Bible only, you ought to be able to produce some portion of the New Testament in which this fourth commandment is expressly altered. —The Library of Christian Doctrine, pages 3, 4. The first precept in the Bible is that of sanctifying the seventh day: 'God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.' Genesis 2:3. This precept was confirmed by God in the Ten Commandments: 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep It holy. ...The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.' Exodus 20: 8, 10. On the other hand, Christ declares that He is not come to destroy the law, but to fulfil it. (Matthew 5: 17.) He Himself observed the Sabbath: 'And, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.' Luke 4: r6. His disciples likewise observed it after His death: 'They . . . rested the Sabbath day, according to the commandment.' Luke 23: 56. Yet with all this weight of Scripture authority for keeping the Sabbath or seventh day holy, Protestants of all denominations make this a profane day and transfer the obligation of it to the first day of the week, or the Sunday. Now what authority have they for doing this? None at all but the unwritten word, or tradition of the Catholic Church, which declares that the apostle made the change in honour of Christ's resurrection, and the descent of the Holy Ghost on that day of the week. —JOHN MILNER, The End of Religious Controversy, page 71. Sabbath means, of course, Saturday, the seventh day of the week, but the early Christians changed the observance to Sunday, to honour the day on which Christ arose from the dead. —FULTON OURSLER. Cosmopolitan, Sept. 1951, pages 34, 35. I do not pretend to be even an amateur scholar of the Scriptures. I read the Decalogue merely as an average man searching for guidance, and in the immortal 'Ten Words' I find a blueprint for the good life. —Id., page 33. Most certainly the Commandments are needed today, perhaps more than ever before. Their divine message confronts us with a profound moral challenge in an epidemic of evil; a unifying message acceptable alike to Jew, Moslem, and Christian. Who, reading the Ten in the light of history and of current events, can doubt their identity with the eternal law of nature? —Id., page 124. The Sabbath is commanded to be kept on the seventh day. It could not be kept on any other day. To observe the first day of the week or the fourth is not to observe the Sabbath. . . . It was the last day of the week, after six days of work, that was to be kept holy. The observance of no other day would fulfil the law. —H. J. FLOWERS, B.A., B.D., The Permanent Value of the Ten Commandments, page 13. The evaluation of Sunday, the traditionally accepted day of the resurrection of Christ, has varied greatly throughout the centuries of the Christian Era. From time to time it has been confused with the seventh day of the week, the Sabbath. English speaking peoples have been the most consistent in perpetuating the erroneous assumption that the obligation of the fourth commandment has passed over to Sunday. In popular speech, Sunday is frequently, but erroneously, spoken of as the Sabbath. —F. M. SETZLER, Head Curator, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institute, from a letter dated Sept. 1, 1949. He that observes the Sabbath aright holds the history of that which it celebrates to be authentic, and therefore believes in the creation of the first man; in the creation of a fair abode for man in the space of six days; in the primeval and absolute creation of the heavens and the earth, and, as a necessary antecedent to all this, in the Creator, who at the close of His latest creative effort, rested on the seventh day. The Sabbath thus becomes a sign by which the believers in a historical revelation are distinguished from those who have allowed these great facts to fade from their remembrance. —JAMES G. MURPHY, Commentary on the Book of Exodus, comments on Exodus 20: 8-11. MOODY BIBLE INSTITUTE QUOTES ABOUT THE SABBATH The Sabbath was binding in Eden, and it has been in force ever since. This fourth commandment begins with the word 'remember,' showing that the Sabbath already existed when God wrote the law on the tables of stone at Sinai. How can men claim that this one commandment has been done away with when they will admit that the other nine are still binding? —D.L. MOODY, Weighed and Wanting, page 47. I honestly believe that this commandment [the fourth, or Sabbath commandment] is just as binding today as it ever was. I have talked with men who have said that it has been abrogated, but they have never been able to point to any place in the Bible where God repealed it. When Christ was on earth, He did nothing to set it aside; He freed it from the traces under which the scribes and Pharisees had put it, and gave it its true place. 'The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.' It is just as practicable and as necessary for men today as it ever was-in fact, more than ever, because we live in such an intense age. —Id., page 46. This Fourth is not a commandment for one place, or one time, but for all places and times. —D.L. Moody, at San Francisco, Jan. 1st, 1881. PRESBYTERIAN QUOTES ABOUT THE SABBATH The Christian Sabbath (Sunday) is not in the Scriptures, and was not by the primitive church called the Sabbath. —Dwight's Theology, Vol. 14, p. 401. A further argument for the perpetuity of the Sabbath we have in Matthew 24:20, Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter neither on the Sabbath day. But the final destruction of Jerusalem was after the Christian dispensation was fully set up (AD 70). Yet it is plainly implied in these words of the Lord that even then Christians were bound to strict observation of the Sabbath. —Works of Jonathon Edwards, (Presby.) Vol. 4, p. 621. We must not imagine that the coming of Christ has freed us from the authority of the law; for it is the eternal rule of a devout and holy life, and must therefore be as unchangeable as the justice of God, which it embraced, is constant and uniform. —JOHN CALVIN, Commentary on a Harmony of the Gospels, Vol. 1, page 277. God instituted the Sabbath at the creation of man, setting apart the seventh day for the purpose, and imposed its observance as a universal and perpetual moral obligation upon the race. —American Presbyterian Board of Publication, Tract No. 175. The observance of the seventh-day Sabbath did not cease till it was abolished after the [Roman] empire became Christian, ... —American Presbyterian Board of Publication, Tract No. 118. The moral law doth for ever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof; and that not only in regard to the matter contained in it, but also in respect of the authority of God the Creator who gave it. Neither doth Christ in the gospel in any way dissolve, but much strengthen this obligation. —Westminster Confession of Faith, Chap. 19, Art. 5. The Sabbath is a part of the Decalogue-the Ten Commandments. This alone for ever settles the question as to the perpetuity of the institution ... Until, therefore, it can be shown that the whole moral law has been repealed, the Sabbath will stand...The teaching of Christ confirms the perpetuity of the Sabbath. —T.C. BLAKE, D.D., Theology Condensed, pages 474, 475. Sunday being the first day of which the Gentiles solemnly adored that planet and called it Sunday, partly from its influence on that day especially, and partly in respect to its divine body (as they conceived it) the Christians thought fit to keep the same day and the same name of it, that they might not appear carelessly peevish, and by that means hinder the conversion of the Gentiles, and bring a greater prejudice that might be otherwise taken against the gospel —T.M. Morer, Dialogues on the Lord's Day There is no word, no hint in the New Testament about abstaining from work on Sunday. The observance of Ash Wednesday, or Lent, stands exactly on the same footing as the observance of Sunday. Into the rest of Sunday no Divine Law enters. —Canon Eyton, in The Ten Commandments. Some have tried to build the observance of Sunday upon Apostolic command, whereas the Apostles gave no command on the matter at all.... The truth is, so soon as we appeal to the litera scripta [literal writing] of the Bible, the Sabbatarians have the best of the argument. —The Christian at Work, April 19, 1883, and Jan. 1884 PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL QUOTES ABOUT THE SABBATH The day is now changed from the seventh to the first day ... but as we meet with no Scriptural direction for the change, we may conclude it was done by the authority of the church. —‘Explanation of Catechism’ SOUTHERN BAPTIST QUOTES ABOUT THE SABBATH The sacred name of the Seventh day is Sabbath. This fact is too clear to require argument [Exodus 20:10 quoted]… on this point the plain teaching of the Word has been admitted in all ages… Not once did the disciples apply the Sabbath law to the first day of the week, -- that folly was left for a later age, nor did they pretend that the first day supplanted the seventh. —Joseph Hudson Taylor, ‘The Sabbatic Question’, p. 14-17, 41. The first four commandments set forth man's obligations directly toward God.... But when we keep the first four commandments, we are likely to keep the other six. . . . The fourth commandment sets forth God's claim on man's time and thought.... The six days of labour and the rest on the Sabbath are to be maintained as a witness to God's toil and rest in the creation. . . . No one of the ten words is of merely racial significance.... The Sabbath was established originally (long before Moses) in no special connection with the Hebrews, but as an institution for all mankind, in commemoration of God's rest after the six days of creation. It was designed for all the descendants of Adam. —Adult Quarterly, Southern Baptist Convention series, Aug. 15, 1937. Previous Back to Contents Next Top

返回研究目录 上一篇 下载中文 下一篇 基督是不是上帝 (四部份) 基督是不是上帝？（一） 1. 基督是不是父上帝？ 耶稣说过80多次祂不是父上帝。耶稣与父虽然保持着意志上的合一，但祂们明显是两个分开不同的生物，我们之前也看过了这一点。父在超过一次的场合上从天上对耶稣说话。（马太福音3:17）“从天上有声音说：这是我的爱子，我所喜悦的。” 要么耶稣与父是两个不同的生物，要么耶稣是一个专业的腹语术表演者。 给复临信徒参考： “基督本体的神性没有变为人性，而人子的人性也没有变成神性，而两者是在人类的救主身上神秘地混合在一起的。祂不是父，但神本性一切的丰盛都有形有体的居住在祂里面。” （怀爱伦著，《信函8a》1890年7月7日） “人子耶稣基督不是主神全能者，然而基督与父原为一。” （怀爱伦著，《文稿140号》1903年） “基督与祂门徒之间所存在的合一没有毁灭他们双方的位格。他们在意志、思想、品格上合而为一，但在本体位格上他们是分开的。上帝与基督也是这样合而为一的。” （怀爱伦著，《教会证言卷八》原文第269页第4段，1904年） 2. 耶稣是不是永在的父？ “因有一婴孩为我们而生，有一子赐给我们，政权必担在他的肩头上，他名称为奇妙，策士，全能的神，永在的父，和平的君。”（以赛亚书 9:6） 答案在于希伯来文本的正确翻译。巴恩斯（Albert Barnes）的《圣经注释》（Notes on the Bible ）解释说：“《迦勒底文本圣经》（The Chaldee）把这词翻译成‘永存者’。《通俗拉丁文本圣经》（The Vulgate）译成‘未来岁月之父’。《洛斯版本圣经》（Lowth）则译成‘永恒岁月之父’。在其字面意义上，就是指永恒之父。” 所以在希伯来文本当中，这词句按照字面解读就是“永恒之父”，而不是“永在的父”。故此，以赛亚书9:6并不是表达基督是父上帝，而是表达祂是将来永恒岁月之父。《杨氏直译本》（Young's Literal Translation）和《达秘译本》（Darby Bible）是少数把这词翻译得正确无误的两本译本。 “因有一婴孩为我们而生，有一子赐给我们，君权必担在他的肩头上，祂称他名为奇妙，策士，全能的神，永恒之父，和平之君。”（以赛亚书 9:6 《杨氏直译本》） “因有一婴孩为我们而生，有一子赐给我们，政权必担在他的肩头上，他名称为奇妙，策士，全能的神，永恒之父，和平之君。”（以赛亚书 9:6 《达秘译本》） 耶稣创造了万物，而同样的，祂也是受造物之父（来1:2；约1: 3 ；西1:16, 17）。还有意思的是，耶稣和使徒们所引用的希腊文《七十士译本》（Septuagint）并不含这个词语。那么这个大多数译本都错误翻译的词语到底是怎样进入希伯来文圣经的呢？ 《七十士译本》的以赛亚书9:6是这样翻译的：“因有一婴孩为我们而生，有一子赐给我们，政权必担在他的肩头上，他名称为伟大策士的使者，因我必给众君王带来和平，并给他健康。” 耶稣所引用的旧约希腊文《七十士译本》透露了以赛亚书9:6原本最有可能的说法。它是由70至72位犹太学者于公元前300至200年间翻译的，所以它是取自最古老及最可靠的手抄本。然而，希伯来文的旧约圣经是由一批马所拉学士于公元第6世纪编制的。公认的事实是，在第六和第七世纪间，很多文本变体和添加悄悄然地进入了希伯来文本之中。那么以赛亚9:6这句添加的文本是从哪里来的，而且还被大多现代学者错误翻译呢？ 有一件事无人能否认的是，只有其中一个翻译本是正确的。但是哪一个呢？是从最古老的手抄本翻译的《七十士译本》呢，还是那些于第六和第七世纪之间出现变体的后期版本呢？ 3. 我与父原为一？ 在约翰福音10:30中，基督宣告说：“我与父原为一。” 这一节经文应该是当今最被三位一体论信徒误用误解的经文了。许多人结论说，这意味着耶稣和父是同一位生物，正如三位一体论的解说。然而这一节不应该被误解，因为耶稣在约翰福音中稍后解释了祂这句话的具体意思。所以这是一个典型的例子，显示这么多三位一体论信徒如何已经被满脑子灌入了先入为主的观念。 对于神性生物的数目所产生的混淆，一部分是来自人们对“一”字的误解。简单来说，《圣经》所说的“一”不一定代表数量。《圣经》经常用“一”字来代表团结合一。 我们看到这个原则在《圣经》中很早就已经立定了。创世记2:24 “因此，人要离开父母，与妻子连合，二人成为一体。” 这里的“一体”不代表两个人结婚后就融化成为一个人的意思，而是说两人结合成为一家人。罗马书12:5 “我们这许多人，在基督里成为一身，互相联络作肢体，也是如此。” 那么这是否把我们大家都变成单一的基督徒呢？如果你按照三位一体论的方程式的话，答案就必须是肯定的！ 犹太领袖听了耶稣在约翰福音10:30这一番话，就勃然大怒，于是想办法处死祂，因为他们认为耶稣自称自己与上帝同等。约翰福音10:33： “犹太人回答说：我们不是为善事拿石头打你，是为你说僭妄的话，又为你是个人，反将自己当作神。” 再过三节我们看到耶稣澄清祂这话的意思，自称是上帝的儿子。约翰福音10:36 ：“父所分别为圣，又差到世间来的，他自称是上帝的儿子，你们还向他说：你说僭妄的话吗？” 所以耶稣没有说祂与圣父是同一位，因为圣父跟圣子是不同的一位，圣子跟圣父也是不同的一位。根据《约翰•吉尔圣经注释》对约翰福音10:30的解释，另一个显示耶稣与圣父不是同一位的证据是，这一节中的动词是复数的，因此应该翻译成“我与父，我们原为一。” 无论如何，我们不需要猜测耶稣所说祂与祂父原为一的意思，因为稍后在约翰福音里基督自己的话显示了祂话中的确切含意。基督的意思是合一，因为祂祷告祈求，叫祂门徒也能合一，如同祂与祂父合一一样。这个祷告不是叫12个门徒变成一个12头的门徒，而是叫12个门徒在合一中同心协力的合作同工。 约翰福音17:22 “你所赐给我的荣耀，我已赐给他们，使他们合而为一，像我们合而为一。” 约翰福音17:11 “圣父阿，求你因你所赐给我的名保守他们，叫他们合而为一像我们一样。” 约翰福音14:11也是经常被错误引用来指圣父和圣子是同一位上帝。在这里，耶稣说：“我在父里面，父在我里面。” 按照这种误解的逻辑，不知道这些人要怎样解释我们也在祂里面，而祂也在我们里面这句话。约翰福音14:20 “到那日你们就知道我在父里面，你们在我里面，我也在你们里面。” 约翰福音17:21 “使他们都合而为一，正如你父在我里面，我在你里面，使他们也在我们里面...。” 既然三位一体论教导说有三位全方位同等的生物，那么按照这个说法，约翰福音10:30应该是这样写的：“我与父与圣灵原为一。” 但事实并不是这样的。的确有三个实体，但只有两个生物。 给复临信徒参考： “基督本体里的神性没有变为人性，而人子的人性也没有变成神性，而两者是在人类的救主身上神秘地混合在一起的。祂不是圣父，但神本性一切的丰盛都有形有体的居住在祂里面。” （怀爱伦著，《信函8a》1890年7月7日） “人子耶稣基督不是主神全能者，不过基督与圣父原为一。” （怀爱伦著，《文稿140号》1903年） “基督与祂门徒之间所存在的合一并不毁灭他们双方的位格。他们在意志、思想、品格上合而为一，但在本体位格上他们是分开的。上帝与基督也是这样合而为一的。” （怀爱伦著，《教会证言卷八》原文第269页第4段，1904年版） “基督祷告叫祂的门徒都能合而为一，像祂与父合而为一一样。” （怀爱伦著，《评阅宣报》，1888年5月29日） 4. 人看见了我就是看见了父 在约翰福音14:9中，耶稣说：“人看见了我，就是看见了父。” 基督是不是说祂自己就是父，或者说祂是祂父“本体的真像”，从而有同样的本性、特性和荣耀呢？换句话说，人看见了一个，就等于看见了另一个。下面我们来看两位学者的评论。 《约翰•吉尔圣经全释》对约翰福音14:9的解释是： “人看见了我，不是用肉眼来看，而是用慧眼来看，人看见了我里面的神性完美，就是看见了父，在祂里面的完美。因为在我里面的，也同样在祂里面，而在祂里面的，也同样在我里面。我是祂的真形像，我有和祂同样的本性、特性和荣耀，以至人看见了一个，就是看见了另一个。” 基督是祂父的真像。哥林多后书4:4 “此等不信之人，被这世界的神弄瞎了心眼，不叫基督荣耀福音的光照着他们，基督本是上帝的像。” 《巴恩斯圣经注释》对哥林多后书4:4的解释是：“谁是上帝的像？基督被称为上帝的像： （1）是基于祂的神性，祂在祂的神性特性和完美上与上帝一模一样。参阅西1:15和来1:3。 （2）是在祂身为中保的道德特性上，祂向人展现出圣父的荣耀。祂像上帝。在祂里面，我们看见了祂所体现和发出的神性荣耀和完美。 由于祂在各方面都像上帝，所以祂被称为上帝的像。通过祂，神性一切的完美得以向人彰显。撒但最讨厌最憎恨的，就是基督作为上帝的像，祂的荣耀照在人身上，并充满他们的心。撒但恨这个像，他恨人们变得像上帝，他恨一切与伟大荣耀的耶和华相似的人物。” 歌罗西书1:15 “爱子是那不能看见之上帝的像，是首生的，在一切被造的以先。” 希伯来书1:3 “他是上帝荣耀所发的光辉，是上帝本体的真像，常用他权能的命令托住万有，他洗净了人的罪，就坐在高天至大者的右边。” 儿子或多或少是他父亲的复制品。他在某种程度上有他父亲的特征和个人品质，当然不是完全一模一样，因为在人类当中是没有十全十美的复制的。但在上帝或祂的任何创造当中是没有不完全的，所以基督是父本体的“真像”。 由此可见，耶稣的意思是，祂是祂父的真像，并有同样的本性、特性和荣耀。基督的话不可能意味着祂就是父，因为《圣经》告诉我们，约翰一书4:12说： “从来没有人见过上帝，我们若彼此相爱，上帝就住在我们里面，爱他的心在我们里面得以完全了。” 只有基督才看见过独一真神父上帝。约翰福音6:46 “这不是说：有人看见过父，惟独从上帝来的［耶稣］，他看见过父。” 给复临信徒参考： “基督明显地烙印在门徒的脑海中这个事实，他们只能凭信心看见父上帝。没有人能看见上帝的外形。唯独基督能向人类彰显父上帝。［引用约14:9］” （怀爱伦著，《评阅宣报》，1897年10月19日） 根据三位一体论的教导，这一节应该是这样写的：“人看见了我，就是看见了父和圣灵。” 但是事实并非如此。神里面虽然有三个实体，但只有两个是生物。第三个是他们的灵。 5. 多马是否相信耶稣是圣父 约翰福音:20:28 “多马说：我的主，我的上帝。” 我们只能推测多马为什么会这么说，但既然他被称为“怀疑”的多马，我们可以理解，他这句话或是在惊奇和难以置信的顷刻间脱口而出的。多马是犹太人，所以有可能是用了旧约时代一种普遍的表达方式，就是把上帝所认可的代表都称为“上帝”。希伯来语用elohim来指上帝，但同时也可以指下列的任何例子。 （1）统治者、审判官，在神圣地点供职的神圣代表人，或反映出神圣威严与大能者。 （2）神物，超乎人类的生物，包括上帝和天使。 因此，多马不是称呼耶稣为上帝，至少在三位一体论的意义上，而可能是称呼祂为一位反映神性大能与威严的人，或是一位统治者。如果不是这样的话，那下面是为何多马这么说的最大可能性原因。 按着正当的文法范畴来说，我们发现“我的主，我的上帝”这句话称呼了两个不同的个体。不过，按原文的文法来看，多马是对耶稣一个人说的。 所以我们必须找出一个不违背文法的诠释。这是可行的，只要我们明白，多马在说这句话的时候，虽然他是对着耶稣说的，但他同时也称呼在耶稣里面的父上帝。它的上下文也支持这个论点。我们来看耶稣之前与怀疑的多马和腓力所谈的一段话。 约翰福音:14:5-10 “多马对他说：主阿，我们不知道你往那里去，怎么知道那条路呢？耶稣说我就是道路、真理、生命；若不借着我，没有人能到父那里去。你们若认识我，也就认识我的父，从今以后，你们认识他，并且已经看见他。腓力对他说：求主将父显给我们看，我们就知足了。耶稣对他说：腓力，我与你们同在这么长久，你还不认识我吗？人看见了我，就是看见了父，你怎么说：将父显给我们看呢？我在父里面，父在我里面，你不信吗？我对你们所说的话，不是凭着自己说的，乃是住在我里面的父作他自己的事。” 腓力当着多马的面告诉耶稣说，他能看见父也就知足了。耶稣回答多马和腓力说，看见了祂（耶稣）就等于看见了父，因为父在祂里面。但是多马还是不明白。 多马下一次与耶稣对话是在约翰福音20:28。现在多马已经明白父在耶稣里面做工，甚至叫耶稣从死里复活，所以看见了耶稣，也就是看见了父。因此多马才会发出这样的惊叹：“我的主（耶稣），我的上帝（父）！” 多马并没有称呼耶稣为他的“主和上帝”。 我们也知道，怀疑的多马不可能宣告耶稣是那独一真神上帝。原因是在上面几节，在约翰福音20:17，约翰记载了复活的耶稣向末大拉的玛利亚显现，并告诉她说，“不要摸我，因我还没有升上去见我的父，你往我弟兄那里去，告诉他们说：我要升上去，见我的父，也是你们的父，见我的上帝，也是你们的上帝。” 耶稣说祂的上帝是祂父亲，而祂的上帝也是玛利亚的上帝。耶稣有没有告诉玛利亚说祂是她的上帝呢？没有，相反的，耶稣非常具体地说祂的上帝也是玛利亚的上帝。 既然复活的基督称呼圣父为“我的上帝”，那耶稣怎么可能是上帝，如果连祂自己都有上帝呢？约翰确实不可能说多马用三位一体论的意义来称耶稣为“我的上帝”，因为约翰刚才记载了耶稣称呼父为“我的上帝”。多马不可能称耶稣为上帝，因为约翰写道，耶稣升上去见玛利亚和多马两人的同一位上帝。 再说，在多马承认了耶稣之后的仅仅一节里，约翰福音20:30-31，约翰就结论说： “耶稣在门徒面前，另外行了许多神迹，没有记在这书上。但记这些事，要叫你们信耶稣是基督，是上帝的儿子，并且叫你们信了他，就可以因他的名得生命。” 约翰没有说“要叫你们信耶稣是上帝”。如果是这样的话，那么约翰宣告耶稣为上帝就远远大于宣告祂为上帝的儿子了。 由此可见，耶稣不是父上帝，也不是上帝，而是上帝的儿子。我们若相信祂是真的上帝的儿子，我们就能因祂作为圣子的名分而得永生。阿们。 基督是不是上帝？（二） 1. 只有上帝才能赦罪吗？ 三位一体论老是聚焦于一个法利赛人所说的话，却对耶稣亲口所说的话视而不见。从这一点就能看出其迷惑人之处。有些人称耶稣就是上帝，因为这些法利赛人说只有上帝才能赦罪。 马可福音2:7“这个人为什么这样说呢？他说僭妄的话了，除了上帝以外，谁能赦罪呢？” 但是这些耶稣说进不了天国的法利赛人（马太5:20；23:13）不知道或不接受耶稣是上帝的儿子，他们也不相信父上帝已经把做这些事的权柄都交给了耶稣。三节之后，耶稣说祂已经被赋予赦罪的权柄了。 马可福音2:10“但要叫你们知道人子在地上有赦罪的权柄... ” 不单只是赦罪的权柄，耶稣也说：（马太福音28:18）“天上地下所有的权柄，都赐给我了。” 约翰也说：（约翰福音3:35）“父爱子，已将万有交在他手里。” 注意，上帝已经将“所有的权柄”、“万有”都“赐给”祂儿子了。如果圣子是上帝如同圣父是上帝一样，又如果圣子是全能者如同圣父是全能者一样，那么圣子怎能被赐予任何事物，假如祂本身是上帝呢？上帝本身自然就有这些东西，怎么可能还需要任何生物把这些东西“赐给”祂呢？上帝不依靠任何人或物来获取这些东西。但是我们清楚看到，耶稣必须依靠祂父亲来将万有交在祂手里。耶稣也照样获得了祂父亲所赐给祂的赦罪的权柄。 2. 我们应当只敬拜上帝吗？ 有人说马太福音吩咐我们应当只敬拜上帝。那么既然耶稣也受人敬拜，他们就结论说耶稣必定是上帝。 马太福音4:10“耶稣说：撒但退去吧。因为经上记着说：『当拜主你的上帝，单要事奉他。』 当耶稣说“因为经上记着说”这句话的时候，祂是在引用申命记6:13，祂所用的是希腊文旧约的《七十士译本》，它上面是这样说的：“你要敬畏耶和华你的上帝，并且要单单事奉他。” 我们注意到的第一点是，这两个章节在技术上并没有说“要单单敬拜上帝”。它只说“要单单事奉上帝”。然而，在这一节中，“事奉”这两个字带有敬拜的色彩。无论如何，耶稣曾教导说，我们应当事奉别人，不过这一节的“事奉”明显不是这个意思。再说，上帝也曾命令众天使敬拜祂儿子，所以这里的事奉也不是敬拜的意思。（希伯来书1:6）“再者，上帝使长子到世上来的时候，就说：『上帝的使者都要拜他。』” 不要忘记腓立比书2:6 “他本有上帝的形像，不以自己与上帝同等为强夺的。” 这告诉我们耶稣在本性上与上帝同等，所以祂是全然神性的，祂因此当然配得敬拜。耶稣也说：（约翰福音5:23）“叫人都尊敬子如同尊敬父一样。不尊敬子的，就是不尊敬差子来的父。” 那么耶稣对撒但所说的是什么意思呢？那么多人误会了祂的意思。其实答案并不难找。在马太福音4:10，耶稣说“因为经上记着说”。那么这意味着耶稣是指着旧约圣经中某个相关的例子。要找到答案，我们只需看耶稣所指的是什么，再应用到祂对撒但所说的话。我们来看看耶稣所引用的章节。 申命记6:13-15“你要敬畏耶和华你的上帝，事奉他，指着他的名起誓。不可随从别神，就是你们四围国民的神。因为在你们中间的耶和华─你上帝是忌邪的神，惟恐耶和华─你上帝的怒气向你发作，就把你从地上除灭。” 这段经文凸显了所争议的课题，就是关于拜偶像，或拜假神。敬拜基督并事奉祂不等于拜偶像。以赛亚书14:12-14告诉我们说，撒但要像至高者上帝一样受敬拜。耶稣在旷野受试探时，撒但要耶稣俯伏在地向他下拜，拜他为神，因此耶稣就引用旧约圣经应对他，说，你不可敬拜或“随从别神”。所以基督的话必须从他所引用的经文语境中去了解。很多基督徒经常都无视经文的上下文语境，结果错误的应用了特定的词句而偏离了经文原来的意思。 所以我们要敬拜真神上帝，不要拜假神。因此这不排除我们对祂儿子的敬拜，因为祂儿子与父亲是同等的。而我们也当事奉上帝，不事奉假神，所以这也不排除事奉基督。 3. 耶稣叫自己从死里复活吗？ 那些声称耶稣必定是上帝的人，是根据约翰福音10:18里耶稣的一句话。他们声称基督叫自己从死里复活。但是他们却忽略了《圣经》至少22次明白地说，是祂父亲叫祂从死里复活的。 翻译成“权柄”的希腊原文“exousia”，它的意思还包括“权威”、“管辖权”、“自由”、“能力”、“权利”和“力量”。在这里适当的翻译成“权柄”。 约翰福音10:18 “没有人夺我的命去，是我自己舍的。我有权柄舍了，也有权柄取回来，这是我从我父所受的命令。” 英王钦定本把它翻译成“能力”，于是让一些人误以为耶稣有能力叫自己复活。如果翻译对了，这一节就会呈现全新的意义，从而消除一切看似自相矛盾的问题。下面是所有说明是上帝叫祂儿子从死里复活的经文。 使徒行传2:24 “上帝却将死的痛苦解释［解除］了，叫他复活... 。” 使徒行传2:32 “这耶稣，上帝已经叫他复活了... ” 使徒行传3:15 “你们杀了那生命的主，上帝却叫他从死里复活了... ” 使徒行传4:10 “... 这人得痊愈，是因你们所钉十字架，上帝叫他从死里复活的，拿撒勒人耶稣基督的名。” 使徒行传5:30 “你们挂在木头上杀害的耶稣，我们祖宗的上帝已经叫他复活。” 使徒行传10:40 “第三日上帝叫他复活，显现出来... ” 使徒行传13:30 “上帝却叫他从死里复活。” 使徒行传13:33 “上帝已经向我们这作儿女的应验，叫耶稣复活了... ” 使徒行传13:34 “论到上帝叫他从死里复活，不再归于朽坏... ” 使徒行传13:37 “惟独上帝所复活的，他并未见朽坏。” 使徒行传17:31 “... 并且叫他从死里复活，给万人作可信的凭据。” 罗马书4:24 “也是为我们将来得算为义之人写的，就是我们这信上帝使我们的主耶稣从死里复活的人。” 罗马书6:4 “... 像基督借着父的荣耀，从死里复活一样。” 罗马书10:9 “你若口里认耶稣为主，心里信上帝叫他从死里复活，就必得救。” 哥林多前书6:14 “并且上帝已经叫主复活，也要用自己的能力叫我们复活。” 哥林多前书15:15 “... 因我们见证上帝是叫基督复活了，若死人真不复活，上帝也就没有叫基督复活了。” 哥林多后书4:14 “自己知道，那叫主耶稣复活的，也必叫我们与耶稣一同复活，并且叫我们与你们一同站在他面前。” 加拉太书:1:1 “作使徒的保罗，（不是由于人，也不是借着人，乃是借着耶稣基督，与叫他从死里复活的父上帝）” 以弗所书:1:20 “就是照他在基督身上，所运行的大能大力，使他从死里复活，叫他在天上坐在自己的右边，” 歌罗西书2:12 “你们既受洗与他一同埋葬，也就在此与他一同复活，都因信那叫他从死里复活上帝的功用。” 帖撒罗尼迦前书1:10 “等候他儿子从天降临，就是他从死里复活的，那位救我们脱离将来忿怒的耶稣。” 彼得前书1:21 “你们也因着他，信那叫他从死里复活，又给他荣耀的上帝... 。” 基督是不是上帝？（三） 1. 以赛亚书43:11或何西阿书13:4证明耶稣是上帝吗？ 既然这两节说，除了耶和华上帝以外，再没有救主了，而其他经文例如约翰壹书4:14 则说耶稣是我们的救主，那么很多人就争论说，耶稣必定是那个耶和华上帝了。但这个论点是站不住脚的。 以赛亚书:43:11 “惟有我是耶和华，除我以外没有救主。” 何西阿书:13:4 “自从你出埃及地以来，我就是耶和华你的上帝，在我以外，你不可认识别神，除我以外并没有救主。” 在这两节里翻译成“救主”的希伯来词最普遍的翻译是“拯救”或“得救”，也有被翻译成“拯救者”的。在摩西的时代，上帝拯救了祂的子民脱离埃及的势力，而在以赛亚的时代，上帝拯救了他们脱离亚述国的势力。再没有其他人可以拯救他们脱离这些势力，所以经文清楚地显示，除了上帝以外，他们并没有其他的救主。 《巴恩斯圣经注释》对以赛亚书第43章做了这样的解释：“这一章... 主要是针对上帝给祂被掳到巴比伦的子民所应许的拯救。上帝的子民依然被先知看为在长时间痛苦的掳掠中受苦受罪，而先知的目的是以拯救的保证来安慰他们。” 何西阿书13:4当然是指上帝拯救祂的子民脱离埃及人那个时候。 当然耶稣是我们的救主。但是在这些经文中，上帝是祂子民以色列的救主这个背景，是关乎拯救他们脱离巴比伦和埃及的奴役，而不是拯救他们脱离他们的罪。那是基督为全人类所做的事。人类最大的拯救是脱离罪恶的权势，而这就是上帝交给祂儿子的任务了。 2. 还没有亚伯拉罕，就有了我 另一个备受争议的经文是约翰福音8:58。“还没有亚伯拉罕，就有了我。” 但所争议的主要是英文版圣经。英皇钦定本圣经KJV翻译成“还没有亚伯拉罕之前，我是。” “我是”这两个词也意味着“我存在”。有人称耶稣在约翰福音8:58里宣告自己为上帝，因为他用了“我是”这两个字。他们错误地把“我是”这两个字与出埃及记3:14联系在一起。从这节经文，他们便引出一个结论说，耶稣在隐喻一个神性的名字并以此来告诉犹太人祂是上帝。三位一体论信徒进一步尝试支持他们的论点，说这就是为什么犹太人拿起石头要打死祂的原因。但这其实是因为耶稣在约翰福音第8章的整篇中对他们说了许多事情，而逐步的激怒了他们。最后因为耶稣说祂比他们的国父亚伯拉罕还要大，而彻底让他们忍无可忍了。所以耶稣称祂的权柄比先祖亚伯拉罕还要大，这也意味着祂也比他们大。 约翰福音8:58的“我是”这两个字，是来源于两个希腊词“ego”跟“eimi”。《斯特朗圣经词典》的定义是：ego是指“我”（只作强调性用词）。eimi则是指“我存在”（只用于强调性），我是... 你想耶稣应该如何回应犹太人这句话：（约翰福音8:57） “犹太人说：你还没有五十岁，岂见过亚伯拉罕呢？” 法利赛人不知道耶稣早在亚伯拉罕之前就已存在，于是他们说，你怎么可能见过亚伯拉罕呢，你都还没有50岁呀！既然希腊文中的“我是”也意味着“我存在”或“我已存在”，那么还没有亚伯拉罕就已存在的基督，来自祂的回应明显应该怎么翻译呢？ “耶稣对他们说，我实实在在地对你们说，还没有亚伯拉罕之前，我是。” 或者是 “耶稣说：我实实在在的告诉你们，还没有亚伯拉罕，就有了我。” 两个版本都是合法的译本，但是大部分的圣经译本实际上跟第二个版本相吻合。这是有充分理由的。这两个词也可翻译成“我存在”、“我是（过去式或现在完成式）”。除了在约翰福音8:58，还有其他章节也出现这两个词的。比如说，在路加福音19:22，ego eimi 被翻译成“我是（过去式）”。 这两个词是犹太人和基督徒以及第一世纪在新约圣经中普遍常用的词语。它不是任何神明的名字，圣经的上帝也好，其他神明也好，都不用这个名字的。它从来都没有被犹太人或基督徒理解作宣告自身为上帝的词语。如果他们认为是这样的话，那犹太人肯定不会把这两个字用在他们自己身上，不过事实却相反，他们经常都用这两个字。彼得、保罗、加百列和撒迦利亚都说过“我是...某某 ”。但是他们没有一个宣称自己为上帝的。 路加福音1:18 “撒迦利亚对天使说：我凭着什么可知道这事呢？我已经老了［原文作：我是（ego eimi）一个老人］，我的妻子也年纪老迈了。” 路加福音1:19 “天使回答说：我是（ego eimi）站在神面前的加百列...” 约翰福音1:27 “就是那在我以后来的，给他解鞋带，我是（ego eimi）不配的。” 使徒行传10:21 “于是彼得下去见那些人，说：我就是（ego eimi）你们所找的人... ” 使徒行传21:39 “保罗说：我本是（ego eimi）犹太人，生在基利家的大数... 。” 连那生来瞎眼的人也说“我是”或“是我”来介绍自己。 约翰福音9:9 “有人说：是他，又有人说：不是，却是像他，他自己说：是我（ego eimi）。” 也没有一个犹太人认为这个瞎子在宣告自己为上帝。 下面是耶稣在四福音中说ego eimi的所有其它章节。没有一句可以被理解为耶稣自称为上帝。马太福音24:5、马可福音13:6、路加福音21:8、约翰福音8:24, 28；13:19 “我是基督”。约翰福音18:5, 6, 8 “我就是”。马太福音20:15 “我作［我是］好人”。马太福音28:20 “我就常与你们同在... ” 马可福音14:62 “耶稣说，我是（上帝的儿子）...” 路加福音22:27 “... 我在你们中间，如同服事人的。” 路加福音22:70 “他们都说：这样，你是上帝的儿子吗？耶稣说：你们所说的是。” 约翰福音6:35, 48, 51“耶稣说：我就是生命的粮...” 约翰福音7:34 “我所在的地方... ” 约翰福音12:26；17:24；14:3 “我在哪里... ” 约翰福音8:12 “我是世界的光... ” 约翰福音8:18 “我是为自己作见证... ” 约翰福音8:23 “... 我是从上头来的，... 我不是属这世界的。” 约翰福音10:7, 9 “我就是（羊的）门...” 约翰福音10:11, 14 “我是好牧人... ” 约翰福音11:25 “复活在我，生命也在我［原文作：我是复活和生命］” 约翰福音14:6 “我是道路... ” 约翰福音15:1, 5 “我是真葡萄树... ” 约翰福音:17:14, 16 “我不属世界... ” 约翰福音18:37 “你说我是王... ” 到了基督行将结束祂的布道工作时，有关祂的消息已经传遍远近四方。这时，犹太人理解基督自称祂是谁？他们又告祂什么控状呢？ 马太福音26:63 “耶稣却不言语。大祭司对他说：我指着永生上帝，叫你起誓告诉我们，你是上帝的儿子基督不是。” 马太福音27:40 “...你如果是上帝的儿子，就从十字架上下来吧。”马太福音27:43 “他倚靠上帝，上帝若喜悦他，现在可以救他，因为他曾说：我是上帝的儿子。” 马可福音14:61 “... 大祭司又问他说：你是那当称颂者的儿子基督不是。” 马可福音14:62 耶稣说：我是（ego eimi）... ” 马可福音15:39 “对面站着的百夫长，看见耶稣这样喊叫断气，就说：这人真是上帝的儿子。” 路加福音22:67 “你若是基督，就告诉我们。” 路加福音22:70 “他们都说：这样，你是上帝的儿子吗？耶稣说：你们所说的［我］是（ego eimi）。” 约翰福音19:7 “犹太人回答说：我们有律法，按那律法，他是该死的，因他以自己为上帝的儿子。” 在以上的几节经文中，有两次耶稣回答说，“我是”（ego eimi）。他不是在说他是上帝，而是在证实他是上帝的儿子。犹太人明显从来不以为耶稣宣告自己为上帝。假如耶稣宣告自己为上帝的话，那么这骇人听闻的事就必传遍远近四方。整本新约圣经都没有记载到有任何人问他是不是上帝。所以在约翰福音8:58节中犹太人怎么可能会以为他在宣告自己为上帝呢？ 另外我们也当注意，出埃及记3:14的这个词组“我是自有永有的” （英皇钦定本翻译成“我是那我是”）它的具体意思也有各种说法。《通俗拉丁文本圣经》翻译成“我是那我是”。《七十士译本》翻译成“我是那存活的”。《约拿单的塔古姆》希伯来圣经意译本和《耶路撒冷塔古姆》将这词组意译为“祂那一说，世界就有了，祂那一说，万物就存在了。” 原文的字面意义是“我会是那我会是的。” 如果用希腊文旧约《七十士译本》来对照一下出埃及记3:14和约翰福音8:58，我们会发现上帝说：“我是那生物（ego eimi ho ohn， OHN翻译成英文的BEING，也是“是”字的进行式，中文和合本翻译成“自有的”），而耶稣则说：“还没有亚伯拉罕，我是（ego eimi）。” 由此可见，上帝的名其实是Ho Ohn (The Being 那生物/那自有的）而不是ego eimi（我是）。出埃及记3:14的最后一句也进一步证明这一点。“那自有的（Ho Ohn）打发我到你们这里来。” 经文不是说“我是（ego eimi）打发我到你们这里来。” 无论这词组翻译成什么，ho ohn跟ego eimi 是不同的。所以出埃及记的“我是”和约翰福音的“我是”两者之间并没有必然的关系。约翰福音8:58不可能将耶稣等同于上帝，除非是用不正确的译本和错误的文法持着自己的偏见去推断出来的。 总结来说，约翰福音8:58的正确含义，中文和合本圣经还是翻译得正确的。“还没有亚伯拉罕（的存在），就有了我（的存在）。” 今天的研究再次证明耶稣是上帝的儿子，而不是上帝本身。好了，本期的节目就到这里，愿上帝继续保守我们各人，更深的认识祂并爱祂，使我们的生命重新得力。我们下次再会。 基督是不是上帝？（四） 1. 阿拉法与俄梅戛，初与终 启示录1:8 昔在今在以后永在的全能者，主上帝说我是阿拉法，我是俄梅戛。 （【以上乃此经文的正确翻译。整段话是耶稣说的，祂说祂的父（那昔在今在以后永在的全能者主上帝）说祂（耶稣）是阿拉法、俄梅嘎。】 启示录21:6 他又对我说：都成了。我是阿拉法，我是俄梅戛，我是初，我是终。我要将生命泉的水白白赐给那口渴的人喝。 启示录22:13 我是阿拉法，我是俄梅戛，我是首先的，我是末后的，我是初，我是终。 初，就是起初/开始（the beginning） 终，就是终结/结束（the end） 有些人相信“阿拉法”与“俄梅戛”这两个概念是指基督没有开始，也没有结束。但是圣经没有这样讲。启示录说，基督是某一件事的首先或初始，和末后或终结。不止这个，一个开始是指某一事物的根源，而一个终结是指某一事物的终止/结束。永恒就是没有开始的，也是没有结束的。许多基督徒对圣经中的开始/起初有着错误的观念。我们知道上帝是没有开始的，祂是常存的。“阿拉法”是希腊字母中的第一个字母，所以它是希腊字母的“初/开始”，而“俄梅戛”是希腊字母中的最后一个字母，所以它是希腊字母的“终/结束”。所以这些词只不过是指某一件事的开始和结束。那是什么事呢？我们不要作任何假设，只要看圣经怎么说，还有这些话对犹太人有着什么样的意义。 我们注意到，凡是提到阿拉法和俄梅戛的章节每一次都是随着基督复临和世界末日的景象而来的。这并不是什么巧合。基督创造了这个世界，给世界带来了一个全新的开始，而到了世界末日，基督要从天降临，给世界带来毁灭的结局。所以说，基督是阿拉法与俄梅戛，是开始也是结束，是第一个也是最后一个。这三种说法都是同一个意思的。在启示录1:17, 18，耶稣说：“我是首先的，我是末后的。又是那存活的；我曾死过，现在又活了，直活到永永远远。” 谁是阿拉法与俄梅嘎（最先和最后的），那曾死过而现在又活到永远的呢？就是基督。 我们也注意到，启示录21:1-8和22:12-14虽然谈到了末时，但也直接地透露，那些遵守上帝诫命的人必能吃生命树的果子，而那些行邪术的、淫乱的、杀人的、拜偶像的、并一切喜好说谎言编造虚谎的（启21:8和22:15），都必永远灭亡。注意启示录21:7（启21:7 得胜的，必承受这些为业，我要作他的上帝，他要作我的儿子。） 如何连系到启示录2:7（启2:7 圣灵向众教会所说的话，凡有耳的，就应当听。得胜的，我必将神乐园中生命树的果子赐给他吃。），而2:7又连系到启示录22:14，这里说那些能吃生命果的人，就是那些遵守上帝诫命的人。（启示录22:14［和合本］ 那些洗净自己衣服的有福了，可得权柄能到生命树那里，也能从门进城。［英皇钦定本］那些遵行他诫命的有福了，可得权利能到生命树那里，也能从门进这城。） 那么我们发现，阿拉法和俄梅嘠这句话的上文是关于世界末日和基督再来的。而这句话的直接下文是关于两件末日之后所要马上发生的事。有太多证据显明这不是什么巧合。既然启示录是圣经的结局篇，同时也是关于末后的事，那么这就说明为什么这几个章节只提到“终”。那如果“终”是指这世界的结局的话，那么“初”明显是指世界的起初了。这起初就在圣经的开头，比如创世记1:1，和其它提到创世记第一章的经文。我们至今所看过的一切告诉我们，阿拉法俄梅嘎这几个章节是指基督复临和世界末日，到那时，那些忠心遵守上帝诫命的人必然吃到生命树的果子，而其他人则必灭亡。 《克拉克圣经注释》对启示录1:8所作的分析，说明了这句话如何被犹太人所用和理解。犹太人有没有把这句话诠释成基督永远存在而且祂又是上帝呢？这当然又与箴言第8章产生矛盾，那里说基督是生出的。所以这怎么说也是说不过去的。 如犹太人对这句话的意思之理解，从起初和圣经的第一本书，直到末后和圣经的最后一本书，耶稣都包含了一切。犹太人实际上明白这句话的含义，这样，他们必不同意三位一体论的说法。这几节经文所提到的初与终，初是指这世界被基督创造的开始，而终则是指基督复临和世界末日还有新天新地的产生。基督造成这世界的开始，祂也把世界带到她的结局。 启示录所说的起初与终结既然是指这世界的创造和开始，那我们就来看看下面这几个章节。 创世记1:1 “起初，上帝创造天地。‘ 箴言8:23 “从亘古，从太初，未有世界以前，我已被立。” 约翰福音1:1-3 “太初有道，道与上帝同在，道就是神。这道太初与上帝同在。 万物是借着他造的，凡被造的，没有一样不是借着他造的。” 以弗所书3:9 “又使众人都明白，这历代以来隐藏在创造万物之神里的奥秘，是如何安排的。” 希伯来书1:10 又说：『主阿，你起初立了地的根基，天也是你手所造的。』 这样，在这个背景下，所有提到起初的经文，贯彻始终都是一致的。这也进一步支持阿拉法和俄梅嘎这两个词的意思。 给复临信徒参考： “基督说，我是真实的见证。我是阿拉法与俄梅戛，初与终，首先的和末后的。” （怀爱伦著，《证道与短讲》第一集，原文第231页） “... 甚至从创世记至启示录，基督是阿拉法，福音链的第一环，也是俄梅戛，福音链的最后一环。这条链是在启示录里鋳成的。”（怀爱伦著，《文稿汇编》第10集，原文第171页） “祂是我们信心的创始成终者，是阿拉法与俄梅戛，初与终，首先的与末后的。” （怀爱伦著，《1888年资料集》，原文第783页） “所以说，祂是上帝创造的开始或首领这句话的意思是，受造之物的开始都在祂里面，如祂自己所说，祂是阿拉法与俄梅戛，初与终，首先的与末后的。启21:6; 22:13。祂是万物的起源。”（瓦格纳著，《基督与祂的义》原文第20页，1890年） 上一篇 返回研究目录 下一篇 到最頂

All trinity studies Previous Download Next The Heavenly Trio The Heavenly Trio There are three living persons of the heavenly trio. Seeming Objection: “The Father is all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and is invisible to mortal sight. The Son is all the fullness of the Godhead manifested. The Word of God declares Him to be “the express image of His person.” “God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Here is shown the personality of the Father. “The Comforter that Christ promised to send after He ascended to heaven, is the Spirit in all the fullness of the Godhead, making manifest the power of divine grace to all who receive and believe in Christ as a personal Saviour. There are three living persons of the heavenly trio; in the name of these three great powers --the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit--those who receive Christ by living faith are baptized, and these powers will co-operate with the obedient subjects of heaven in their efforts to live the new life in Christ.”-- Special Testimonies, Series B, No. 7, pp. 62, 63. (1905)” {Evangelism, pp. 614, 615} Short Answer: The heavenly “trio” are: God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and their Holy Spirit (not a trio of gods!). There is one God, and one Lord and one Spirit (the Spirit of Christ), not a trio of co-equal divine beings (see Romans 8:9-11). Detailed Answer: The Father is all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He is invisible to us mortals. The only way we can know God (His Godhead) is if He is manifested. Christ inherited the Godhead (divinity) of His Father and is therefore “all the fullness of the Godhead manifested” All the fullness that dwells in the Son of God is His birthright and inheritance (Hebrews 1:4). This divine fullness dwells in Christ because it pleased the Father (Colossians 2:9; 1:19). Christ possessed, by divine birth, the glory of His Father (Hebrews 1:3; John 1:14; 2 Corinthians 4:6. “In Christ is gathered all the glory of the Father. In Him is all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He is the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of His person. The glory of the attributes of God are expressed in His character.” {E. G. White, S.D.A. Bible Commentary Vol. 7, p. 907} “The love of God, manifested toward fallen man in the gift of his beloved Son, amazed the holy angels. "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." The Son was the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person. He possessed divine excellence and greatness. He was equal with God. It pleased the Father that in him all fullness should dwell.” {E. G. White, The Spirit of Prophecy Vol. 2, p. 38} But, what of the Spirit? From the Bible we learn a very important definition: “Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him?” Isaiah 40:13 “For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?” Romans 11:34 “You have the Bible. Study it for yourself. The teachings of the divine directory are not to be ignored or perverted. The divine mind will guide those who desire to be led.” {E. G. White, This Day with God, p. 188} “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth…” John 16:13 “The same divine mind that is working upon the things of nature is speaking to the hearts of men and creating an inexpressible craving for something they have not. The things of the world cannot satisfy their longing. The Spirit of God is pleading with them to seek for those things that alone can give peace and rest--the grace of Christ, the joy of holiness. Through influences seen and unseen, our Saviour is constantly at work to attract the minds of men from the unsatisfying pleasures of sin to the infinite blessings that may be theirs in Him.” {E. G. White, Steps to Christ, p. 28} “Character is influence. Christ's work was to draw minds into sympathy with his own divine mind.” {E. G. White, Review and Herald, September 29, 1891 par. 14} “Fallen men, in one sense, could not be companions for Christ, for they could not enter into sympathy with his divine nature, and hold communion with the world's Redeemer.” {E. G. White, The Signs of the Times, December 11, 1879 par. 3} Now we are plainly given an explanation of “his divine nature”: “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." Christ is not here referring to his doctrine, but to his person, the divinity of his character.” {E. G. White, Review and Herald, April 5, 1906 par. 12} So when Christ was talking about the Spirit, He was actually referring “to his person, the divinity of his character”! We saw earlier that this is also called “his own divine mind” and “his divine nature”. How easy it is to harmonize the Testimonies when we allow them to be their own key! Since Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, He has inherited that spirit, that mind, that divine character (nature) from His Father. They both share the one Spirit (Romans 8:9); this spirit is the mind of God and Christ. ““Now if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” This is close language. Who can stand the test? The word of God is to us a daguerreotype of the mind of God and of Christ, also of man fallen, and man renewed after the image of Christ, possessing the divine mind.” {E. G. White, Review and Herald, June 22, 1886 par. 4} (Daguerreotype means: a picture image or exact copy) Speaking of God’s mind, or God’s thoughts, we read this wonderful description: “By coming to dwell with us, Jesus was to reveal God both to men and to angels. He was the Word of God,--God's thought made audible.” {E. G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 19} “Who is Christ?--He is the only begotten Son of the living God. He is to the Father as a word that expresses the thought,--as a thought made audible. Christ is the word of God.” {E. G. White, The Youth’s Instructor, June 28, 1894 par. 9} Having established this fact now let us read on and see what Mrs. White continues to say (with more context): “The Comforter that Christ promised to send after He ascended to heaven, is the Spirit in all the fullness of the Godhead, making manifest the power of divine grace to all who receive and believe in Christ as a personal Saviour. There are three living persons of the heavenly trio. In the name of these three powers,--the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, those who receive Christ by living faith are baptized, and these powers will cooperate with the obedient subjects of heaven in their efforts to live the new life in Christ. … He who has continual faith in the Father and the Son has the Spirit also. The Holy Spirit is his comforter, and he never departs from the truth.” {E. G. White, Bible Training School, March 1, 1906} The Comforter is sent to us “in all the fullness of the Godhead”. This fullness we have seen to be the Godhead and divinity (the divine mind) of the Father which His Son inherited and manifests to us by sending us His spirit which He inherited from the Father. Since the Spirit is the very life and soul of Christ (John 10:15, 17; Luke 23:46), then when He sends it to us we partake of its fullness. “The Father gave His Spirit without measure to His Son, and we also may partake of its fullness.” {E. G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 477} There is a flow of glory/life from the Father to the Son coming to us through the channel of the Spirit. Two divine beings send us their life and glory by the channel of the Spirit (not by a third divine being), thus she says we are to have faith in those two divine beings, not three “He who has continual faith in the Father and the Son has the Spirit also”. As by faith we trust the Father and the Son they (not someone else) will abide with us by their very own personal presence, which is their holy spirit. “By the Spirit the Father and the Son will come and make their abode with you.” {E. G. White, Bible Echo, January 15, 1893 par. 8}. “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” John 14:23 “The sinner then stands before God as a just person; he is taken into favor with Heaven, and through the Spirit has fellowship with the Father and the Son.” {E. G. White, Selected Messages Book 3, p. 191} This is the true meaning of the above statement when we allow the Testimonies to explain themselves. But, what of the expression “There are three living persons of the heavenly trio”? We should also ask ourselves: What is the time and the place (and the situation) that called forth the above Testimony? From the context (Dated November 1905 and found in Special Testimonies Series B #7 , pp. 60-64) we learn that it is regarding the issue of Dr. Kellogg and the teaching he was promoting. For example: “Letters have come to me with statements made by men who claimed to have asked Dr. Kellogg if he believes the testimonies that Sister White bears. He declares that he does, but he does not.” {Ibid, p. 60} “The ministers of God are being drawn in and deceived by his science.” {Ibid, p. 61} “I am so sorry that sensible men do not discern the trail of the serpent. I call it thus; for thus the Lord pronounces it.” {Ibid, p. 61} In plain words which cannot be mistaken, Sister White declared that Kellogg had joined forces with Satan! “God does not accept Dr. Kellogg as His laborer, unless he will now break with Satan.” {Ibid, p. 64} She refers to a doctrine he was teaching as “advanced scientific ideas.” She says that right after quoting the Bible passage speaking of the “depths of Satan” (see Revelation 2:24). What was Kellogg teaching that caused Ellen White to use this strong language? What doctrine was Kellogg trying to teach that originates with Satan? While most are aware of Kellogg’s pantheistic teachings, many are not aware of Dr. Kellogg’s Trinitarian theology (see appendix I p. 25 for evidence). Sister White was refuting the Trinitarian theology that Kellogg had come to believe and promote, namely, God the Father – God the Son – God the Holy Spirit (Yes, he was teaching a trinity of 3 co-eternal, co-equal god-beings!). From this we immediately know her statement cannot counter and teach the trinity both at the same time! It is in this context that we are to read that statement talking about the heavenly trio. Mrs. White would be contradicting herself if she condemned Kellogg’s doctrine and then went on to teach the very same thing! Therefore, the statement she makes cannot be taken to teach a trinity. She must mean something, the meaning of which does not lie on the immediate surface. We know she and Kellogg did not teach the same thing, so what can she possibly mean? This statement needs to be set in its correct order. In Ellen White’s original handwritten manuscript, it was corrected to read: “Here are the living three personalities of the heavenly trio…” So she doesn’t say “three living persons of the heavenly trio” but she actually says “the living three personalities of the heavenly trio”. Some may be inclined to think there is no difference between the two, but the prophet herself saw a difference in that she corrected it. She obviously thought there was enough difference to warrant a correction, lest she be misunderstood (as is the case today) to be teaching a trinity. If these two words both conveyed the same meaning in her mind, the change would not have been necessary. Allowing the Testimonies to interpret themselves, here are the “heavenly trio” as defined by her: “They have one God and one Saviour; and one Spirit--the Spirit of Christ--is to bring unity into their ranks.” {E. G. White, Testimonies Volume 9, p. 189} “Christ tells us that the Holy Spirit is the Comforter, and the Comforter is the Holy Ghost, "the Spirit of truth, which the Father shall send in My name." … This refers to the omnipresence of the Spirit of Christ, called the Comforter.” {E. G. White, Manuscript Releases Vol.14, p. 179} “Cumbered with humanity, Christ could not be in every place personally; therefore it was altogether for their advantage that He should leave them, go to His father, and send the Holy Spirit to be His successor on earth. The Holy Spirit is Himself divested of the personality of humanity and independent thereof. He would represent Himself as present in all places by His Holy Spirit, as the Omnipresent.” {E. G. White, Manuscript Releases Vol.14, p. 23} As can be plainly seen from above, the spirit is “the spirit of Christ”; it is Christ’s very own omnipresence by which He (not someone else) represents Himself “as the Omnipresent”. As in all her other writings, she maintained that God the Father and His Son were the only divine beings. “The Father is all the fullness of the Godhead”, “The Son is all the fullness of the Godhead” {Evangelism, p. 615}. This is her consistent belief in ALL her writings. This was the belief of the entire denomination at that time. Having established this faith of two beings who are the fullness of the Godhead, she then said the “Comforter is the spirit in all the fullness of the Godhead” meaning the comforter brings us the fullness of the Godhead which is the Father and the Son. This Comforter is defined by her: “This refers to the omnipresence of the Spirit of Christ, called the Comforter” which she described as Christ Himself “divested of the personality of humanity”. This is the third “personality” according to her own definitions; not another separate divine being. There was no “third being” - no third separate divine individual. She sums it all up by affirming: “The Father and the Son alone are to be exalted.” {E. G. White, The Youth’s Instructor, July 7, 1898 par. 2} “The divine Spirit that the world's Redeemer promised to send is the presence and power of God.” {E. G. White, Signs of the Times, November 23, 1891} Previous All trinity studies Next Back to top

All trinity studies Previous Download Next Uriah Smith on the Trinity Uriah Smith on the Trinity More words from one of the founding members of the Seventh day Adventist Church and the truth the Adventist Church was founded on. “In 1 Cor. 15, I find that it is not the natural man that hath immortality; yet Paul assures the Romans that by patient continuance in well doing all could obtain immortality and eternal life. The doctrine called the trinity, claiming that God is without form or parts; that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, the three are one person, is another. Could God be without form or parts when he “spoke unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto a friend?” [Ex. 33:11] or when the Lord said unto him, Thou canst not see my face; for there shall no man see me and live? And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by; and I will take away my hand and thou shalt see my back parts; but my face shall not be seen. Ex. 33:20, 22, 23. Christ is the express image of his Father's person. Heb. 1:3.” — (Uriah Smith, Review and Herald, July 10, p. 87, 1856) “To the Lamb, equally with the Father who sits upon the throne, praise is ascribed in this song of adoration. Commentators, with great unanimity, have seized upon this as proof that Christ must be coeval with the Father; for otherwise, say they, here would be worship paid to the creature which belongs only to the Creator. But this does not seem to be a necessary conclusion. The Scriptures nowhere speak of Christ as a created being, but on the contrary plainly state that he was begotten of the Father. (See remarks on Rev. 3:14, where it is shown that Christ is not a created being.) But while as the Son he does not possess a co-eternity of past existence with the Father, the beginning of his existence, as the begotten of the Father, antedates the entire work of creation, in relation to which he stands as joint creator with God. John 1:3; Heb. 1:2. Could not the Father ordain that to such a being worship should be rendered equally with himself, without its being idolatry on the part of the worshiper? He has raised him to positions which make it proper that he should be worshipped, and has even commanded that worship should be rendered him, which would not have been necessary had he been equal with the Father in eternity of existence. Christ himself declares that “as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.” John 5:26. The Father has “highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name.” Phil. 2:9. And the Father himself says, “Let all the angels of God worship him.” Heb. 1:6. These testimonies show that Christ is now an object of worship equally with the Father; but they do not prove that with him he holds an eternity of past existence.” — (Uriah Smith, Daniel And The Revelation, p. 430, 1882) “God alone is without beginning. At the earliest epoch when a beginning could be,—a period so remote that to finite minds it is essentially eternity,—appeared the Word. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1. This uncreated Word was the Being, who, in the fulness of time, was made flesh, and dwelt among us. His beginning was not like that of any other being in the universe. It is set forth in the mysterious expressions, “his [God's] only begotten Son” (John 3:16; 1 John 4:9), “the only begotten of the Father” (John 1:14), and, “I proceeded forth and came from God.” John 8:42. Thus it appears that by some divine impulse or process, not creation, known only to Omniscience, and possible only to Omnipotence, the Son of God appeared. And then the Holy Spirit (by an infirmity of translation called “the Holy Ghost”), the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, the divine afflatus and medium of their power, representative of them both (Ps. 139:7), was in existence also.” — (Uriah Smith, Looking Unto Jesus, p. 10, 1898) “When Christ left heaven to die for a lost world, he left behind, for the time being, his immortality also. but how could that be laid aside? That it was laid aside is sure, or he could not have died; but he did die, as a whole, as a divine being, as the Son of God, not in body only, while the spirit, the divinity, lived right on; for then the world would have only a human Saviour, a human sacrifice for its sins; but the prophet says that “his soul” was made “an offering for sin.” Isa. 53:10.” — (Uriah Smith, Looking Unto Jesus, pp. 23, 24, 1898) “God The Father, And His Son Jesus Christ Titles of the Father The following titles of supremacy belong alone to Him who is from everlasting to everlasting, the only wise God: “The Eternal God.” Deut. 33:27. “Whose Name alone is Jehovah.” Ps. 83:18. “Most High God.” Mark 5:7. “The Ancient of Days.” Dan. 7:13. “God Alone.” Ps. 86:10. “Lord Alone.” Neh. 9:6. “God of Heaven.” Dan. 2:44. “The Only True God.” John 17:8. “Who Only hath Immortality.” 1 Tim. 6:16. “The King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible.” 1 Tim. 1:17. “The Only Wise God.” 1 Tim. 1:17. “Lord God Omnipotent.” Rev. 19:6. “The Blessed and only Potentate.” 1 Tim. 6:15. “Besides Me there is no God.” Isa. 44:6. “God the Father.” 1 Cor. 8:6. “The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory.” Eph. 1:17. “God and Father of all, who is above all.” Eph. 4:6. “The Almighty God.” Gen. 17:1. “I Am that I Am.” Ex. 3:14. “Lord God Almighty.” Rev. 4:8. Declarations Concerning the Son He is the beginning of the creation of God. Rev. 3:14. The first born of every creature. Col. 1:15. The only begotten of the Father. John 1:18; 3:18. The Son of the Living God. Matt. 16:16. Existed before he came into the world. John 8:58; Micah 5:2; John 17:5, 24. Was made higher than the angels. Heb. 1:14. He made the world and all things. John 1:1-3; Eph. 3:3, 9. Was sent into the world by God. John 3:34. In Him dwells all the fullness of the God-head bodily. Col. 2:9. He is the resurrection and the life. John 11:25. All power is given to him in heaven and earth. Matt. 28:18. He is the appointed heir of all things. Heb. 1:2. Anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows. Heb. 1:9. God has ordained him to be judge of quick and dead. Acts 17:31. Reveals his purposes through him. Rev. 1:1. The head of Christ is God. 1 Cor. 11:3. Jesus had power to lay down his life and take it again. John 10:18. He received this commandment from the Father. John 10:19. God raised him from the dead. Acts 2:24, 34; 3:15; 4:10; 10:40; 13:30, 34; 17:31; Rom. 4:24: 8:11; 1 Cor. 8:14; 15:15; 2 Cor. 4:14; Gal. 1:1; Eph. 1:20; Col. 2:12; 1 Thess. 1:10; Heb. 13:20; 1 Pet. 1:21; Jesus says he could do nothing of himself. John 5:19. That the Father which dwelt in him did the works. John 14:10. That the Father which sent him, gave him a commandment what he should say and what he should speak. John 12:49. That he came not to do his own will, but the will of him that sent him. John 6:38. And that his doctrine was not his, but the Father's which sent him. John 7:16; 8:28; 12:49; 14:10, 24. With such inspired declarations before us, ought we to say that Jesus Christ is the Self-existent, Independent, Omniscient and Only True God; or the Son of God, begotten, upheld, exalted and glorified BY THE FATHER?” — (Uriah Smith, The Bible Students Assistant, pp. 42-45, 1858. Also found in Review and Herald, June 12, p. 27, 1860) “J. W. W. Asks: “Are we to understand that the Holy Ghost is a person, the same as the Father and the Son? Some claim that it is, others that it is not.” Ans.—The terms “Holy Ghost”, are a harsh and repulsive translation. It should be “Holy Spirit” (hagion pneuma) in every instance. This Spirit is the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of Christ; the Spirit being the same whether it is spoken of as pertaining to God or Christ. But respecting this Spirit, the Bible uses expressions which cannot be harmonized with the idea that it is a person like the Father and the Son. Rather it is shown to be a divine influence from them both, the medium which represents their presence and by which they have knowledge and power through all the universe, when not personally present. Christ is a person, now officiating as priest in the sanctuary in heaven; and yet he says that wherever two or three are gathered in his name, he is there in the midst. Mt. 18:20. How? Not personally, but by his Spirit. In one of Christ's discoursed (John 14-16) this Spirit is personified as “the Comforter,” and as such has the personal and relative pronouns, “he,” “him,” and “whom,” applied to it. But usually it is spoken of in a way to show that it cannot be a person, like the Father and the Son. For instance, it is often said to be “poured out” and “shed abroad.” But we never read about God or Christ being poured out or shed abroad. If it was a person, it would be nothing strange for it to appear in bodily shape; and yet when it has so appeared, that fact has been noted as peculiar. Thus Luke 3:22 says: “And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him.” But the shape is not always the same; for on the day of Pentecost it assumed the form of “cloven tongues like as of fire.” Acts 2:3, 4. Again we read of “the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.” Rev. 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6. This is unquestionably simply a designation of the Holy Spirit, put in this form to signify its perfection and completeness. But it could hardly be so described if it was a person. We never read of the seven Gods or the seven Christs.” — (Uriah Smith, Review and Herald, October 28, 1890) “It may not then be out of place for us to consider for a moment what this Spirit is, what its office is, what its relation to the world and to the church, and what the Lord through this proposes to do for his people. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God; it is also the Spirit of Christ. It is that divine, mysterious emanation through which they carry forward their great and infinite work. It is called the Eternal Spirit; it is a spirit that is omniscient and omnipresent; it is the spirit that moved, or brooded, upon the face of the waters in the early days when chaos reigned, and out of chaos was brought the beauty and the glory of this world. It is the agency through which life is imparted; it is the medium through which all God's blessings and graces come to his people. It is the Comforter; it is the Spirit of Truth; it is the Spirit of Hope; it is the Spirit of Glory; it is the vital connection between us and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; for the apostle tells us that if we “have not the Spirit of Christ,” we are “none of his.” It is a spirit which is tender; which can be insulted, can be grieved, can be quenched. It is the agency through which we are to be introduced, if ever we are introduced, to immortality; for Paul says that if the spirit of Him that raised up Christ from the dead dwell in you, he shall quicken also your mortal bodies by that Spirit which dwelleth in you; that is, the Spirit of Christ. Rom. 8:11. ... You will notice in these few verses the apostle brings to view the three great agencies which are concerned in this work: God, the Father; Christ, his Son; and the Holy Spirit.” — (Uriah Smith, General Conference Daily Bulletin, March 14, 1891, pp. 146, 147) Previous All trinity studies Next Back to top

Back to Contents Previous Download 看中文 Next Written in Stone! As crime and violence overrun our cities and homes, doesn’t it make sense that to secure peace and safety, we all should obey the laws of the land? Well, centuries ago, God wrote His own law in stone—and the Bible says we’re still supposed to keep it today. Violating any part of God’s law always brings negative consequences. But most important, keeping all of God’s law secures our peace and safety. Since so much is at stake, isn’t it worth your time to take a few minutes to seriously consider the place God’s Ten Commandments have in your life? 1. Did God really write the Ten Commandments Himself? “He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God. …Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets” (Exodus 31:18; 32:16). Answer: Yes! The God of heaven wrote the Ten Commandments on tables of stone with His own finger. 2. What is God’s definition of sin? “Sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). Answer: Sin is the breaking of God’s Ten Commandment law. The law of God is perfect (Psalm 19:7), and its principles cover every conceivable sin. The commandments cover “man’s all [the whole duty of man]” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Nothing is left out. 3. Why did God give us the Ten Commandments? “Happy is he who keeps the law” (Proverbs 29:18). “Keep my commands; for length of days and long life and peace they will add to you” (Proverbs 3:1, 2). Answer Answer A: As a guide for happy, abundant living. God created us to experience happiness, peace, long life, contentment, accomplishment, and all the other great blessings for which our hearts long. God’s law is a road map that points out the right paths to follow in order to find this true, supreme happiness. “By the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20). “I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ‘You shall not covet’ ” (Romans 7:7). "By the law is the knowledge of sin." Romans 3:20. "I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." Romans 7:7. Answer B: To show us the difference between right and wrong. God’s law is like a mirror (James 1:23–25). It points out wrongdoing in our lives much like a mirror points out dirt on our faces. The only possible way for us to know we are sinning is to carefully check our lives by the mirror of God’s law. Peace for a mixed-up world can be found in God’s Ten Commandments. It tells us where to draw the line! “The Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes [commandments] … for our good always” (Deuteronomy 6:24). “Hold me up, and I shall be safe, and I shall observe Your statutes continually. You reject all those who stray from Your statutes” (Psalm 119:117, 118). Answer C: To protect us from danger and tragedy. God’s law is like a strong cage at the zoo that protects us from fierce, destructive animals. It protects us from falsehood, murder, idolatry, theft, and many other evils that destroy life, peace, and happiness. All good laws protect, and God’s law is no exception. “By this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments” (1 John 2:3). Answer D: It helps us to know God. Special Note: The eternal principles within God’s law are written deep in every person’s nature by the God who created us. The writing might be dim and smudged, but it is still there. We were created to live in harmony with them. When we ignore them, the result is always tension, unrest, and tragedy—just as ignoring the rules for safe driving can lead to serious injury or death. 4. Why is God’s law exceedingly important to you personally? “Speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty” (James 2:12). Answer: Because the Ten Commandment law is the standard by which God examines people in the heavenly judgment. 5. Can God’s law (the Ten Commandments) ever be changed or abolished? “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail” (Luke 16:17). “My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips” (Psalm 89:34). “All His precepts [commandments] are sure. They stand fast forever and ever” (Psalm 111:7, 8). Answer: No. The Bible is clear that the law of God cannot be changed. The commandments are revealed principles of God’s holy character and are the very foundation of His kingdom. They will be true as long as God exists. This chart shows us that God and His law have the exact same characteristics, revealing that the Ten Commandment law is actually God’s character in written form—written so that we can better comprehend God. It is no more possible to change God’s law than to pull God out of heaven and change Him. Jesus showed us what the law—that is, the pattern for holy living—looks like when expressed in human form. God’s character cannot change; therefore, neither can His law. GOD IS THE LAW IS Good Luke 18:19 1 Timothy 1:8 Holy Isaiah 5:16 Romans 7:12 Perfect Matthew 5:48 Psalms 19:7 Pure 1 John 3:2,3 Psalms 19:8 Just Deuteronomy 32:4 Romans 7:12 True John 3:33 Psalms 19:9 Spiritual 1 Corinthians 10:4 Romans 7:14 Righteousness Jeremiah 23:6 Psalms 119:172 Faithful 1 Corinthians 1:9 Psalms 119:86 Love 1 John 4:8 Romans 13:10 Unchangeable James 1:17 Matthew 5:18 Everlasting Genesis 21:33 Psalms 111:7,8 6. Did Jesus abolish God's law while He was here on earth? “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law. … I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. … Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled” (Matthew 5:17, 18). Answer Answer: No, indeed! Jesus specifically asserted that He did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill (or keep) it. Instead of doing away with the law, Jesus magnified it (Isaiah 42:21) as the perfect guide for holy living. For example, Jesus pointed out that “You shall not murder” condemns anger “without a cause” (Matthew 5:21, 22) and hatred (1 John 3:15), and that lust is a form of adultery (Matthew 5:27, 28). He said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). 7. Will people who knowingly continue to break God’s commandments be saved? “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). “He will destroy its sinners” (Isaiah 13:9). “Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). Answer: The Ten Commandment law guides us into holy living. If we ignore even one of the commandments, we neglect an essential part of the divine blueprint. If only one link of a chain is broken, its entire purpose is undone. The Bible says that when we knowingly break a command of God, we are sinning (James 4:17) because we have refused His will for us. Only those who do His will can enter the kingdom of heaven. Of course, God will forgive anyone who genuinely repents and accepts Christ’s power to change him or her. 8. Can anyone be saved by keeping the law? “By the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight” (Romans 3:20). “By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8, 9). Answer: No! The answer is too plain to miss. No one can be saved by keeping the law. Salvation comes only through grace, as a free gift of Jesus Christ, and we receive this gift by faith, not by our works. The law serves as a mirror that points out the sin in our lives. Just as a mirror can show you dirt on your face but cannot clean your face, so cleansing and forgiveness from that sin come only through Christ. 9. Why, then, is the law essential for improving a Christian’s character? “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all [whole duty]” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). “By the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20). Answer: Because the full pattern, or “whole duty,” for Christian living is contained in God’s law. Like a six-year-old who made his own ruler, measured himself, and told his mother that he was 12 feet tall, our own standards of measure are never safe. We cannot know whether we are sinners unless we look carefully into the perfect standard—God’s law. Many think that doing good works guarantees their salvation even if they ignore keeping the law (Matthew 7:21–23). Hence, they think they are righteous and saved when, in fact, they are sinful and lost. “By this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments” (1 John 2:3). 10. What enables a truly converted Christian to follow the pattern of God’s law? “I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts” (Hebrews 8:10). “I can do all things through Christ” (Philippians 4:13). “God did by sending His own Son … that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us” (Romans 8:3, 4) Answer: Christ not only pardons repentant sinners, He also restores in them the image of God. He brings them into harmony with His law through the power of His indwelling presence. “Thou shalt not” becomes a positive promise that the Christian will not steal, lie, murder, etc., because Jesus lives within us and is in control. God will not change His moral law, but He made a provision through Jesus to change the sinner so we can measure up to that law. 11. But isn’t a Christian who has faith and is living under grace freed from keeping the law? “Sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin [break the law] because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!” (Romans 6:14, 15). “Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law” (Romans 3:31). Answer: No! The Scriptures teach the very opposite. Grace is like a governor’s pardon to a prisoner. It forgives him, but it does not give him the freedom to break another law. The forgiven person, living under grace, will actually want to keep God’s law in his or her gratitude for salvation. A person who refuses to keep God’s law, saying that he is living under grace, is sorely mistaken. 12. Are the Ten Commandments of God also affirmed in the New Testament? Answer: Yes—and very clearly so. Look over the following very carefully. The Law of God in the Old Testament. The Law of God in the New Testament. 1. "You shall have no other gods before Me" (Exodus 20:3). 1. "You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve" (Matthew 4:10). 2. "You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments" (Exodus 20:4–6). 2. "Little children, keep yourselves from idols" (1 John 5:21). "Since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising" (Acts 17:29). 3. "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain" (Exodus 20:7). 3. "That the name of God and His doctrine may not be blasphemed" (1 Timothy 6:1). 4. "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it" (Exodus 20:8–11). 4. "He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: 'And God rested on the seventh day from all His works.' There remains therefore a rest ["keeping of a sabbath," margin] for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His" (Hebrews 4:4, 9, 10). 5. "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you" (Exodus 20:12). 5. "Honor your father and your mother" (Matthew 19:19). 6. "You shall not murder" (Exodus 20:13). 6. "You shall not murder" (Romans 13:9). 7. "You shall not commit adultery" (Exodus 20:14). 7. "You shall not commit adultery" (Matthew 19:18). 8. "You shall not steal" (Exodus 20:15). 8. "You shall not steal" (Romans 13:9). 9. "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor" (Exodus 20:16). 9. "You shall not bear false witness" (Romans 13:9). 10. "You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's" (Exodus 20:17). 10. "You shall not covet" (Romans 7:7). 13. Are God’s law and Moses’ law the same? Answer: No—they are not the same. Study the following contrasts: Moses’ law contained the temporary, ceremonial law of the Old Testament. It regulated the priesthood, sacrifices, rituals, meat and drink offerings, etc., all of which foreshadowed the cross. This law was added “till the Seed should come,” and that seed was Christ (Galatians 3:16, 19). The ritual and ceremony of Moses’ law pointed forward to Christ’s sacrifice. When He died, this law came to an end, but the Ten Commandments (God’s law) “stand fast forever and ever” (Psalm 111:8). That there are two laws is made clear in Daniel 9:10, 11. Note: God’s law has existed at least as long as sin has existed. The Bible says, “Where there is no law there is no transgression [sin]” (Romans 4:15). So God’s Ten Commandment law existed from the beginning. Men broke that law (sinned—1 John 3:4). Because of sin (or breaking God’s law), Moses’ law was given (or “added”—Galatians 3:16, 19) till Christ should come and die. Two separate laws are involved: God’s law and Moses’ law. MOSES' LAW GOD'S LAW Called "the law of Moses" (Luke 2:22). Called "the law of the Lord" (Isaiah 5:24). Called "law ... contained in ordinances" (Ephesians 2:15). Called "the royal law" (James 2:8). Written by Moses in a book (2 Chronicles 35:12). Written by God on stone (Exodus 31:18 32:16). Placed in the side of the ark (Deuteronomy 31:26). Placed inside the ark (Exodus 40:20). Ended at the cross (Ephesians 2:15). Will stand forever (Luke 16:17). Added because of sin (Galatians 3:19). Points out sin (Romans 7:7 3:20). Contrary to us, against us (Colossians 2:14). Not burdensome (1 John 5:3). Judges no one (Colossians 2:14-16). Judges all people (James 2:10-12). Fleshly (Hebrews 7:16). Spiritual (Romans 7:14). Made nothing perfect (Hebrews 7:19). Perfect (Psalms 19:7). 14. How does the devil feel about people who pattern their lives after God’s Ten Commandments? “The dragon [the devil] was enraged with the woman [true church], and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God” (Revelation 12:17). “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God” (Revelation 14:12). Answer: The devil hates those who uphold God’s law because the law is a pattern of right living, so it is not surprising that he bitterly opposes all who uphold God’s law. In his war against God’s holy standard, he goes so far as to use religious leaders to deny the Ten Commandments while at the same time upholding the traditions of men. No wonder Jesus said, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? … In vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:3, 9). And David said, “It is time for You to act, O Lord, for they have regarded Your law as void” (Psalm 119:126). Christians must wake up and restore God’s law to its rightful place in their hearts and lives. 15. Do you believe it is essential for a Christian to obey the Ten Commandments? Answer: Thought Questions 1. Doesn’t the Bible say the law was (or is) faulty? No. The Bible says the people were faulty. God found “fault with them” (Hebrews 8:8). And in Romans 8:3 the Bible says that the law “was weak through the flesh.” It is always the same story. The law is perfect, but the people are faulty, or weak. So God would have His Son live within His people “that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us” (Romans 8:4) through the indwelling Christ. 2. What does it mean when Galatians 3:13 says we are redeemed from the curse of the law? The curse of the law is death (Romans 6:23). Christ tasted “death for everyone” (Hebrews 2:9). Thus He redeemed all from the curse of the law (death) and in its place provided eternal life. 3. Don’t Colossians 2:14–17 and Ephesians 2:15 teach that God’s law ended at the cross? No. These passages both refer to the law containing “ordinances,” or Moses’ law, which was a ceremonial law governing the sacrificial system and the priesthood. All of this ceremony and ritual foreshadowed the cross and ended at Christ’s death, as God had intended. Moses’ law was added till the “Seed should come,” and that “Seed … is Christ” (Galatians 3:16, 19). God’s law could not be involved here, for Paul spoke of it as holy, just, and good many years after the cross (Romans 7:7, 12). 4. The Bible says “love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10). Matthew 22:37–40 commands us to love God and to love our neighbors, ending with the words, "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." Do these commands replace the Ten Commandments? No. The Ten Commandments hang from these two commands as our 10 fingers hang from our two hands. They are inseparable. Love to God makes keeping the first four commandments (which concern God) a pleasure, and love toward our neighbor makes keeping the last six (which concern our neighbor) a joy. Love fulfills the law by taking away the drudgery of mere obedience and by making law-keeping a delight (Psalm 40:8). When we truly love a person, honoring his or her requests becomes a joy. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). It is impossible to love the Lord and not keep His commandments, because the Bible says, “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). “He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4). 5. Doesn’t 2 Corinthians 3:7 teach that the law engraved in stone was to be done away? No. The passage says that the “glory” of Moses’ ministration of the law was to be done away, but not the law. Read the whole passage of 2 Corinthians 3:3–9 carefully. The subject is not the doing away with the law or its establishment, but rather, the change of the location of the law from tables of stone to the tables of the heart. Under Moses’ ministration the law was on stones. Under the Holy Spirit’s ministration, through Christ, the law is written upon the heart (Hebrews 8:10). A rule posted on a school bulletin board becomes effective only when it enters a student’s heart. Likewise, keeping God’s law becomes a delight and a joyful way of living because the Christian has true love for both God and man. 6. Romans 10:4 says that “Christ is the end of the law.” So it has ended, hasn’t it? “End” in this verse means purpose or object, as it does in James 5:11. The meaning is clear. To lead men to Christ—where they find righteousness—is the goal, purpose, or end of the law. 7. Why do so many people deny the binding claims of God's law? "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His" (Romans 8:7–9). 8. Were the righteous people of the Old Testament saved by the law? No one has ever been saved by the law. All who have been saved in all ages have been saved by grace. This “grace … was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began” (2 Timothy 1:9). The law only points out sin. Christ alone can save. Noah “found grace” (Genesis 6:8); Moses found grace (Exodus 33:17); the Israelites in the wilderness found grace (Jeremiah 31:2); and Abel, Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and many other Old Testament characters were saved “by faith” according to Hebrews 11. They were saved by looking forward to the cross, and we, by looking back to it. The law is necessary because, like a mirror, it reveals the “dirt” in our lives. Without it, people are sinners but are not aware of it. However, the law has no saving power. It can only point out sin. Jesus, and He alone, can save a person from sin. This has always been true, even in Old Testament times (Acts 4:10, 12; 2 Timothy 1:9). 9. Why worry about the law? Isn’t conscience a safe guide? No! The Bible speaks of an evil conscience, a defiled conscience, and a seared conscience—none of which is safe. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12). God says, “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool” (Proverbs 28:26). Previous Back to Contents Next Top

本事工认为怀爱伦所写的作品是上帝所默示的，与圣经一致，是耶稣基督本身的直接见证——预言之灵（启示录 19:10），因此其神圣的权威不亚于其他圣先知所写的经书。 "...信耶和华你们的上帝、就必立稳。信他的先知就必亨通。" 历代志下 20：20 我们相信上帝藉着怀爱伦向其末世余民传达重要讯息，而钻研上帝所默示的话语为每一代基督徒的本份。 怀爱伦 E llen G. White 预言之灵 事工对怀爱伦著作的立场 本事工认为怀爱伦所写的作品是上帝所默示的，与圣经一致，是耶稣基督本身的直接见证——预言之灵（启示录 19:10），因此其神圣的权威不亚于其他圣先知所写的经书。 "...信耶和华你们的上帝、就必立稳。信他的先知就必亨通。" 历代志下 20：20 我们相信上帝藉着怀爱伦向其末世余民传达重要讯息，而钻研上帝所默示的话语为每一代基督徒的本份。 怀爱伦的简介 传述上帝的启示 在1844年10月22日的大失望后，几乎所有的复临信徒都认为过去的运动是完全没有对的地方了。有人甚至把许多明显的上帝圣灵的工作和普遍引起人注意上帝审判的临近的良好果效，都看为是错误的。在此年12月，预言之灵就开始临到主所拣选的器皿了，怀爱伦（此时尚为哈门·爱伦女士）在友人海尼斯夫人家里聚会时，初次见到了异象。她在异象中见众人在沿一窄路走向天城，离天城尚有一段距离，面前虽有拦阻的势力，但主的恩典是够大家用的。他们以前所走的路是主引领的，是不应怀疑的。出异象后，她就将所见到的告诉了别人，初次听到她陈述的六十 多位复临信徒，既清楚她为人的真诚，就毫不置疑地接受了。 不久后，她又见到第二次异象，指明她所必受的试炼和责任，异象中主答应必在人 的反对中，支持她。出异象后，她因为怕人的反对和担任这样重大的责任，就祷告了数日，求主拣选别的比她刚强的人，但主却不允许。怀氏心中极感徨恐，家人和教会中的同道都不明白她心中的痛苦，不能安慰她，在他们一起恳求主时，怀氏重新感觉愿为主作工。黑暗散开，光亮出现，见一光明火球降在她身上，她自己就失去了气力，得到主的命令说：“把我所指示你的告诉别人。”在她醒后，皮尔逊老伯就站起来说话了，他是因生风湿病而未能与大家一起下跪祷告的。他说：“我看见想不到的事了，一个火球从天而降，到了哈门爱伦姐妹的心中，我见到了！我见到了！我永远不能忘记这件事！这已改变了我全身。爱伦姐妹阿！要有主里面的勇敢。从今日起，我永不再怀疑了，我们以后将帮助你，必不使你灰心。”这是上帝为他所立的先知给人的证据。 从此怀爱伦就开始了传述上帝启示的工作。据统计，她在开始的二十三年中就见到异象约有二百次之多，她在见异象时的情形和但10 ：7-11；16-18的记载完全符合。 领人避免异端 在大失望后的一个阶段中，魔鬼想尽了办法，要使人走错误的道路，但这一切都由于上帝给怀氏的指示而被揭穿了。当时的错误派别有极端主义派、狂热派、催眠术、灵学、再定主再来日期的派别，透纳氏等领导的因恩门已关而不必作工的派别等。预言之灵就在此时开始了工作，藉着怀爱伦的写作、演说、及劝勉，使人们避免了这些异端，阻止了它们的扩散。 广泛的著作 怀爱伦写了许多著作，范围包括有对上帝救赎计划的阐明，对教会各种合时的证言，对教育和饮食卫生的讨论，指示医药布道及其他各种布道的方法，和其他各种解释圣经真理的书籍、文件，已整理出版的书约有二万页，杂志稿件约二千篇。此外尚有地方性和私人性的成千上万页未出版的文件。 工作生涯 怀氏生于世界历史、宗教、政治的高涨点，她反对美国的奴隶制度，提倡饮食节制等等。她并不占有教会的高位，而是以一平信徒的身份，为主传述指示。她平时与常人生活无异，是人们的邻舍朋友。在家中是贤妻良母。她一生被教会和邻里重视。 除了流动性的旅行外，她住在美国的巴特格勒有30年，欧洲有2年，大洋洲9年，美国的圣赫勒拿15年。总共作主的使者的年数是七十年（1844-1915）。 (资料来源自百度百科) 怀爱伦是上帝的使者吗? “不要消灭圣灵的感动，不要藐视先知的讲论，但要凡事察验，善美的要持守。”（帖前5:19-21） 注：圣经中固然有警告说，末时将有撒但的工作，假先知的兴起（帖后2:9；启16:14），但也有应许说，主来前有预言的恩赐出现于余民教会中（启12:17；19:10；珥2:28-32）。主耶稣警告我们要谨防假先知（太24:4,24），可是并非说所有的先知都是假的，主教我们“凭着他们的果子，就可以认出他们来。”（太7:15-20）。 古时的以色列人是不善于分别先知的真假的。他们常接待假先知（结22:28），而杀害上帝的真先知（太23:37）。但圣经已给了我们下面几点断定诸灵是否出于上帝原则： ⑴ 与“训诲和法度”相符（赛8：20），就是这灵应不是违反上帝在圣经中的指示和他圣洁、公义、良善的律法的。 ⑵ 不叫人事奉别神（申13：1-5），就是不使人走上远离上帝的道路的。 ⑶ 有好果子（约一4：1-3；太7:16），也就是先知要有良好的行为和工作果效的。 ⑷ 所说的预言是应验的（申18：20-22），因为唯有出于上帝的才会准确地预言将来。（赛41：21-24，44：24-28）。 我们用以上四项原则来衡量怀爱伦的工作，就可断定她确是一位上帝的先知。前三项可由基督复临安息日会的信仰和工作符合圣经真意可以看出。因为这正是在怀爱伦肯定和阐明下发展起来的。 怀爱伦也曾说过不少预言。这些预言都是圣经预言对现时代的推广及应用。这种地方性和时代性的预言包括有教会、国家、城市等方面。这一切预言已具体地应验，或正在应验中。我们简略地列举两件事作为说明： （甲）旧金山城的倾复：自1902年起，怀爱伦即警告，有大城市将遭灾祸。因城市中人口多，罪恶的势力亦较乡间为强。怀氏更明确指出了旧金山及奥克兰二城之名（奥克兰与旧金山隔河由桥相联而附属其住宅区）。在1902年她写道：“不久，这些城市将受主的审判了。旧金山及奥克兰正变成所多玛及蛾摩拉的样子，主将在忿怒中，临到他们。”（1902年文稿114）在1903年4月20日，怀氏又再次警告称，旧金山及奥克兰不久将接受审判。在1906年4月16日，怀氏又见异象，见到许多游戏场、戏院旅馆和富户的房屋都被摇动坍倒在地。空气中充满了惊恐和死伤者的呼号。这月的18日，就是她见异象后的第二天，旧金山就因地震及大火而毁灭了。奥克兰虽被主慈怜的手留下（拿4：10-11），但亦已饱受了警告。 （乙）灵学的发展：1848年美国海兹未城姓幅格丝的两女子家中有一种奇异的响声出现，此即灵学（又名招魂术）的发起。在起初是没有多少人相信的，也无教会的组织形式。人大多以为这是骗局，但怀氏在1849年即称此事将变为普遍，披着宗教的外衣，使人离开圣灵之教训。以后又多次指出这事的严重性。这些警告都是在很少人注意灵学的时候发出的。果然，到1858年，灵学信徒已有一百五十万，神媒四万个，到1880年已发展到许多国家。今日更已普遍到国外各教会中，以为这是一种宗教上的“复兴”，是要改正许多缺点的。实则这是完全违背圣经教训的一种学说。 所说预言的应验满足了证明一位先知是出于上帝的所有四项原则。怀爱伦著作出于上帝是看过的人都可以作见证的。这些著作“不是用智慧委婉的言语，乃是用圣灵和大能的明证。”（林前2：4） 我们必须信上帝的先知吗？ “信耶和华你们的上帝就必立稳；信他的先知就必亨通。”（代下20：20）。 (资料来源自百度百科) 怀爱伦的写作简介 怀爱伦写了大量的作品，事实上她是美国的最多产的女作家之一。她有超过二千五百万字的作品。内容是非常的广泛，除了写出对圣经的领受，以及属天的启示，还包括许多家庭教育、卫生健康、节制。当然，她最重要的是五部善恶斗争丛书，以及达到五千页的对教会的证言。其中包括了许多对个人的辅导、劝勉和警戒。还有关于对圣经要道的注释都是重要的部分。特别有40年之久，她写了许许多多的文章，发表在本会的公报和主要的刊物上。所以不论就数量和质量讲，怀爱伦姐妹所留给世界和教会的是极重大的遗产。现在由怀氏著作托管委员会监管这一切。我们现在简单的来介绍一下她的著作。 她的第一本书叫《早期著作》是很多复临信徒所珍爱的一本书。虽然这本书只有二百页的篇幅，但是它包含了许多宝贵的内容。其中有怀爱伦所见的第一个异像。我们以前提到，这是在1844年大失望以后，对忠贞的复临信徒一个极大的安慰和鼓舞。让他们看到，顺着上帝的呼召而走在天路上的余民有大光在照耀着他们。他们一步一步地走向新耶路撒冷，在那里，上帝为他们预备了筵席。但同时在《早期著作》中，又有提醒和警戒，就是当时还是不断的有人为主的再来设定时日，为了避免他们重蹈一再失望的覆辙，在《早期著作》里面这样的写到：“1844年以后，时间再也不成为一个试验，而且也永远不再作为一个试验。”而就在复临运动经受考验的时候，在1844年，在纽约的一家，有所谓鬼敲墙的事发生，当时有许多人感到很困惑，思想上也很混乱，这倒底是出于上帝的呢？还是一种自然的现象呢？或者是一种神奇的奥秘呢？当时众说纷纭，但是上帝的子民无需在黑暗当中彷徨，因为藉着爱伦姐妹传出这样信息：在纽约和其它地方所谓的神秘传说是出于撒但的能力。而且在《早期著作》86页讲到：这样的事情将来越来越多，而且披上了宗教的外衣。当时许许多多的人受了迷惑，中了撒但的诡计和恶天使的愚弄。但是复临信徒由于得到上帝的指示，知道这些工作是出于撒但，结果就使他们避免了危险。而《早期著作》另外一个更重要之处是：包含了以后历代斗争丛书的雏形。虽然它的笔触很简单，但是已经把善恶斗争的一个纲要提示了出来。在当时尽管复临信徒稀少，经费非常有限，但却承受了这样一个宝贵的遗产，就是为后人提供了属灵的光照。 怀爱伦姐妹不断地得到进一步的启示，所以她的篇幅和内容也不断地扩充，成为现在的五部斗争丛书。即《先祖与先知》、《先知与君王》、《历代愿望》、《使徒行述》、《善恶之争》。这五本斗争丛书非但在它的内容和历史时期和圣经是平行，而且是从创世一直到将来新天新地，其中指出了一条大纲----基督和撒但，善恶之间的一个大斗争。 《先祖与先知》一书几乎概括了三千年的历史。在十九世纪中叶，正是进化论出笼的时候，也是新神学派、高级评经家大肆活动的时候，结果就动摇了许多人对圣经的信仰。尤其是对创世的记录和故事表示怀疑，但是《先祖与先知》以清楚的笔调，讲到世界的起源以及上帝对待人类大家庭的作为。在怀爱伦的论述当中，她清楚的指出，圣经中的创世记是有关我们世界历史开端的可靠记录。她多次在异像当中得蒙看见那些最原始的景象，另外对创世记第6-9章的洪水有更细腻的描述。由于在异像当中所见到的景象是栩栩如生，所以在她的笔下也呈现出一幅更为动人的景象，也是惊人的景象。而在当时的进化论以及所谓地质学家，他们要想起来推翻圣经记载的时候，本书起了极其重要的见证作用。 《先知与君王》是讲到旧约圣经的后半部。不少教会和团体对以色列国以及这个民族有着或左或右的观点。一方面有许多人以犹太人犯罪为理由，无故地肆意迫害他们，而另外一面，许多人也误解圣经的许多篇幅和章节，认为犹太民族至今还是上帝的选民，还会全家得救。但从这一本《先知与君王》里面非常清楚的看见，上帝在人国中掌权。上帝是慈爱的，也是公义的，他是历史的真正主宰。而以色列的历史只是作为世上万国万族的一个前车之鉴。这从所罗门王直到被掳归回的历史和教训足以提供给世界上每一个国家、每一个君王或者领袖。以及宗教界和普通的百姓，许多的宝贵的指示、安慰和警戒。 第三本是《历代愿望》，这是讲述耶稣基督生平教训的最重要的、最伟大的著作。有人访问预言之声的创办人理查士牧师，问他：“在预言之灵的书中哪一本，那一章对你特别有意义呢？”他回答是：我觉得《历代愿望》和《喜乐的泉源》两本书都非常好，但要我选出哪一本最好就很难下结论。对我来说，《历代愿望》是有史以来最伟大的书，读者曾经是一边读一边流泪，我也不例外。理查士牧师的见证代表了许许多多读过这本书的人，她把耶稣基督写得这么的神圣，又这么的平凡；这样的威仪又这样的仁慈。真是在世人面前高举了基督，让人看到基督是人类的救主、人类的唯一希望。据说在美国的国会图书馆当中，这本书列在许多类似的书当中，首屈一指，而且它文笔的优美、内容的深刻以及信息的感人，使它成为不少美国大学的文学读物。我个人也有这样的体会，往往读这本书就好象把自己带到了基督的脚前，来瞻仰他的荣美以及体会上帝的爱。这本书在四福音的基础上令许多篇幅成了更细致动人，千秋不朽的故事，也焕发了新的启示和亮光。 第四本是《使徒行述》，它概括了作为第一部教会历史的使徒行传，保罗书信及通称的教会书信。总之，涵盖了四福音之外的一切新约书卷。对使徒行传的阐述详尽深刻，许多历史的教训，教会的成败经验，尤其是圣灵的工作都陈述得非常动人，而对保罗书信有独到之处，有助于后世从第一代教会的经历及领受中得到教益。 最后，来到大斗争丛书的最后一本《善恶之争》。这本书概括了人类的几千年的历史。当然重点是在耶稣时代以后，直到末世所有的善恶大斗争。这本书中的历史部分既是旁徵博引，又是禀受上天的灵感和启示，指出了人类所面临的一切重大的问题，特别讲到世界末了所必然要发生的一些灵界的斗争以及届时背道势力的猖獗，和上帝子民最终的得胜。凡是被善恶之争这亮光所鼓舞、所启示的人往往对这卷书爱不释手。因为通过这本书，基督的门徒既知道他们的过去，也看到他们的将来，并知道他们怎样来处理现在。在《善恶之争》这本书的导言中面，怀爱伦姐妹说：上帝的灵集中圣经中几件伟大真理向我指明，并将过去和未来的种种景象显给我看，就吩咐我将启示我的事告诉众人。要我循着历史上善恶战争的史迹叙述出来。藉以显明那即将临近，未来战争的真相。可以说，作者曾蒙圣灵的光照得以看到善与恶之间长期战争的种种景象，并多次蒙主的允许得以目睹生命之君，我们救恩的创始者基督，与那邪恶之君，罪恶的创始者----就是第一个违犯上帝律法的撒但之间历代的大争战。这就形成了这本书的一个纲，或者是一个金线，也是最扣人心弦的地方。她也讲到，在异像当中，所有这些都好象是栩栩如生的现实一样。而且她难以用笔墨来形容这一切斗争的情景，所以这五本历代斗争丛书就体现了神圣历史的哲学。它告诉人生活的哲学，解释了历史，以及所发生的事件的真实的意义。这是我们余民教会所承受的宝贵的遗产，也是值得自豪、并乐于与其他所有的人分享的真理。 第二大类就是给教会的证言。这几乎有五千页之多，一共形成九卷，就是《证言卷一》到《证言卷九》，此外还有《证言选辑》。如果说以上五本斗争丛书是向普世的人提供的，那么这些证言是特别对教会、教会的领袖及教会里面的信徒所写的。我们记得预言之灵不就是为耶稣做见证的吗？这就是传达耶稣的证言，整个宇宙都关怀着地球及与人类有关的救赎的计划。而天上的上帝也是时时关心着地上的大家庭对此所作的反映。上帝为此就对他末世的信徒给与及时的信息和亮光。怀爱伦姐妹在《证言卷五》661面说:上帝在古时的时候藉着先知和使徒的口对人说话，而这些日子，他是藉着他圣灵的证言来对他们说话。上帝要他的百姓追求明白他的旨意和所提供给他百姓的殷切的教导。从1855年开始，她就经常的发表给教会的证言，而这些信息都是非常的实际，所处理的问题包括守安息日、包括作为父母的责任，以及教会当中效法世界的光景。还有论到因信称义或者研究圣经去应付那些背道者的反对。并提到传道人和他们的妻子，以及如何作上帝的管家，并怎样预备迎见主。她写道：主要责备那些自称是遵守他律法之人的错误，他指出他们的罪，而且公开他们的罪，是为了要他们和罪、和邪恶完全脱离。并且在敬畏他之中，能够达到完美的圣洁，去准备自己，或者是在主里面安睡，或者是变化升天。上帝责备、训戒他们、纠正他们，以致他们能够被炼净、升华，而最后能够被提升到他的宝座面前。这些都是写证言的目的。有的时候，也藉着证言纠正那些传错道的，上帝为了给那些人再一次悔改的机会，甚至于也包括指出一些生活当中隐秘的事情。证言中就是把圣经的真理、教义、真理的原则和发生在教会和信徒当中的具体的事项给予属天的信息，和属灵的亮光。既安慰、鼓励、也有劝勉和责备。这就是先知一贯所担任的工作。折毁、拔出、毁坏，为要建立、栽种、建造。 第三大类是关于健康卫生的著作。在复临运动和基督复临安息日会的早期，上帝就一步一步的带领他们能够离开那些会毁损健康的食物，并指引出一条健康的康庄大道。给了他们卫生、健康、节制的信息。十九世纪的中期和后期，当时绝大多数的人，甚至于医务卫生界，在有关生理学、卫生和营养上都有许多无知的成分。在今天看来，甚至于是可笑的，但出自爱伦姐妹的口和她的笔，从她过世时1915年到现在，就越来越清楚的证明了她信息是多么的正确。当时代的人并没有意识到什么胎教或是母胎时期所受的影响这回事，怀爱伦姐妹就指出了它的重要；当时的人对烟的危害还不完全明了，但怀师母已经指出，这是造成癌症的重要原因之一。她也提到了先天的缺陷是由于酒精的作用，以及食物对人的健康的影响。曾有人大量的用盐，而另一些人则认为要禁止用盐。怀爱伦说，要用一点盐，说明了她非但是采取中庸，而也证明了她奇妙的正确性，一反她当时所谓科学家的见解和结论。对待糖的危害，她早已指出，这对我们中国人很多年的传统的想法也是截然相反。我们总认为糖是非常宝贵的，极其需要的，但事实上，糖，尤其多量的糖对人类健康的影响和危害非常之大。同样，怀爱伦当时参加关于节制的运动，多次在大会上提倡要禁酒。这在今天因为酒精所引起的种种后患可以看到先知的慧眼。康乃尔大学营养系的教授麦凯，曾经讲到：当一个人读到怀爱伦所著的《服务的真诠》和《论饮食》，那么在现代营养学的亮光当中，他就会得到一个印象，认识到她著作的正确性。不管她的著作是写在现代科学的营养学很早之前这个事实。但对今天来讲，没有比这个更好的，一个全盘的指引。就连怀师母在世的时候，一个世界知名的凯洛克医生也认识到这一点。基督复临安息日会由于遵行了这些健康的证言，或者是卫生改革，所以就整体来讲，他们的健康程度比一般人为强，他们的寿命也比一般人长。这是已经经过科学研究而做出的结论。而在这些方面，确实是预言之灵藉着怀爱伦姐妹带来的福份。 第四类有关家庭和教育方面的著作。《教育论》、《复临信徒的家庭》、《儿童教育指南》这些都是非常著名而又实用的书籍。怀爱伦清楚的看到家庭的深远的影响。她曾经讲到：一个社会的健全、一个教会的成功、一个国家的兴盛，都有赖于家庭的影响。所以在预言之灵的著作当中，有相当的篇幅是对做父母的指导。她提到学前教育的重要性，尤其是父母，特别是母亲，是孩子的第一个教师。所有的教育的发展都应当依循着灵、智、体这几方面的均衡的、和谐的发展。这样可以准备学生投入今世快乐的服务中去，而且在来生进入到更广大的事奉和更快乐的境界中去。《教育论》里面提出了很多极其精辟的教育的原则，凡是能够照着这些原则去做的，不论是学校或是学生，都会蒙受极大的福份。有位哥伦比亚大学的教育系的教授，读了这本《教育论》以后，就认为这本书是超越时代五十年。另外一位日本教授在他的本国印行此书，在他书的导言中讲到：这是怀爱伦蒙受灵感的笔所写下的。更有一位大洋两岸极其知名的教育家和作家，他在欧洲他的本国担任过教育部长，当他在美国讲学的时候，他发现了《教育论》这本书，他给予高度的评价，而且他也翻译和出版了整本的书，是用萨尔维亚的语言出版的。奇怪的是，他居然据为私有，以他的名义来出版，不过从另外一个侧面也可以看到在这位知名的学者心目当中，这本书占有何等崇高的地位。另外在怀爱伦过世以后，所编纂的《复临信徒的家庭》和《儿童教育指南》都是对父母和教师有许多具体的帮助。而且怀爱伦不单是具有先知的慧眼，而且她本人也是一位贤妻良母和好的教师。她揉合了她自己的经验，在这些书中流露了深刻的感情。 而怀爱伦在她的晚年意识到她自己已不久于人世，但是还有许多的工作，觉得还没有完成，特别是她的许多的杂志和文章还没有加以整理，所以她就留下遗嘱，希望后人能够从中把这些自天而来的有用的宝贵的材料能够编纂成书，这就是形成了在1915年，怀爱伦过世以后，几乎经常有新的怀著出现的理由。她离开了世界，但是上帝藉着她所带来的信息还在继续指导着教会、关怀着他地上的儿女。《传道良助》、《证言选辑》、《证言精选》、《怀氏文稿》、《告青年书》以及《基督复临安息日会圣经注释的附编》、《怀爱伦注释》的部分，特别是有许许多多的每日灵修的晨钟课本，都是出自怀爱伦注释的内容。如《信仰的基础》、《崇高的恩召》、《主必再来》。总之在二千五百万字里面，有许多宝藏在其中。于是在重新组合的时候就发出一种新的亮光来。不论对个人的灵性、对教会的指导以及对社会的推动都起了极其重要的作用。当然讲到这里不能不提到《拾级救主》，现中文版翻译为《幸福的阶梯》或者是《喜乐的泉源》。这本小书一共十三章，就是怎样一步步的把人引导到基督面前，而且使基督徒的经验能够逐渐的登峰造极。从上帝就是爱讲起，以至告诉罪人必须仰望基督；然后就是悔改、认罪、重生、献己、信心和悦纳、信徒的试验，在基督里成长，基督徒的生活与工作，以及不断的追求认识上帝；也告诉我们祈祷的特权以及怎样应付世界上可能有的疑惧；最后达到在主里面常常喜乐这个崇高的境界。这本美丽、动人、深刻的小册子已经被翻译成一百多种文字，在世界上发行几千万册，没有任何一本宗教的书籍能和它相比的。上帝藉着这本书，已经引导了多多少少的人来就基督，建立了稳固的、基督徒灵性的基础。因着时间少，或者机会不多的人可以先介绍这本书来读。我自己也很喜欢读这本书，我的岳父几乎能把这本书全部背出来。就在他最艰难的岁月里面，不论是受到磨难或是在最后患病的期间，他都是手捧这本书，不断地读和默想主的话语，而化作他人生痛苦时的力量以及焕发他心中喜乐的一个泉源。因为这本书告诉我们，我们信仰的中心是耶稣基督，他是我们的救主，是我们荣耀的盼望，是我们在患难中随时的力量。 最后，我们说预言之灵就是上帝把这恩赐赐给了怀爱伦姐妹，让她在余民教会当中做他的信使，传达他的信息和旨意，而我们今天承受了这样丰富的一个遗产，若把它比作是（她自己所说的）小光引导到大光面前，我们是否已经被基督话语的亮光、基督生命的光照亮了我们的内心，我们人生的旅途，及照亮我们人生的幽谷呢？这些书籍就好比一张海图，可以避免我们在人生的汪洋大海当中触礁，或者是偏离航道。我们在所有这些书籍当中，能得到最健康、最丰美的食物和筵席。如果我们说百闻不如一见，那么，就接受诗人所讲的，“要尝尝主恩的滋味，便知道他是美善”，让我们多一点阅读、研究、领受这些宝贵的信息。 “我用主赐给我的权柄说出主的话，然后我就把事情交在祂手中，因为我知道我已经尽了自己的职责。 不管人们会否选择听和接受，这是我必须做的。 但我不可说出自己的话，以免削弱上帝给我的见证。” 《信函》第145号，1902年 "I speak the words of the Lord, with the authority that He gives me, and then I leave the matter in His hands, knowing that I have done my duty. This I must do, whether men will hear or whether they will forbear. But I am not to speak words of my own, lest I weaken the testimony God gives me." —Letter 145, 1902.

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三位一体 相关研究 T rinity related studies 什么是三位一体？ 大多数教会所教导的三位一体论都有这样的阐述：有三位同等（各方面同等）、同为永恒（同年龄）、全知（知道一切）、全能（万事都能）的神；但他们不是三位神 ，而是一位神 。 用亚他那修信经(Athanasian Creed )的话来说，“父是上帝，子是上帝，圣灵是上帝，但他们不是三位上帝，而是一位上帝。” 亚他那修信经（罗马天主教信条）说，一位上帝是三个神圣的位格在一个不可分割的实体或本质中。 这个不可分割的特性 构成了一个问题，因为它构成了 1+1+1=1 的一位上帝！ 就是父是上帝，耶稣是上帝，圣灵是上帝，但不是三位上帝 ，而是一位上帝 ，这就是三位一体！ ​ 教导这项教义的人会把它添上奥秘的标签，声称你永远不会明白，所以只要接受即可。他们也可能说，只因为这是天主教的教导，不一定表示它不对。所以，撒但用尽方法来欺骗人，叫人相信这个谬道，而不自己私下进行考证。有些教会在某些教义上与众不同，但在这基本的概念上，就是上帝是三位一体，所有教会的说法都与《亚他拿修信经》一模一样。天主教的信仰就是建立在这个信经上。 ​ Trinity（三位一体）一词于公元200年左右来自特土良的著作，但他并没有论述我们今天所知道的三位一体。三位一体论于公元325年来自亚他拿修，而圣灵作为第三位灵体生物的概念是于公元381年从三位卡帕多西亚人而来的。三位一体论是个人造教义，它借用了浓厚的异教和希腊哲学概念，而且是在《圣经》著作完成很多世纪之后才发展出来的。一个从罗马教产生出来的异端，它等同于星期日的敬拜，是上帝面前的一个可憎之物。这个教义是直接从罗马皇帝污秽的命令下产生的。它不过是哲学、空谈和人造的传统。它否认耶稣，传另一个耶稣、另一个灵和另一个福音。 安息日会的先贤是信三位一体的吗？ “基督复临安息日会大部分的创办人，如果他们必须接受教会目前的基本信仰的话，那么他们今天就不能加入教会了。更具体来说，大部分将不能接受信仰第二条，关于三位一体的教导。” —乔治·奈特著，《传道者》月刊，1993年10月，第10页） “Most of the founders of Seventh-day Adventism would not be able to join the church today if they had to subscribe to the denomination’s Fundamental Beliefs. More specifically, most would not be able to agree to belief number 2, which deals with the doctrine of the Trinity.” —George Knight, Ministry, October 1993, p. 10. “复临信徒的信仰过去多年来在‘现代真理’的影响之下发生了变化。最为惊人的变化，就是关于我们救主耶稣基督身份的教导。... 我们现在所持守关于上帝是三位一体的基本信仰，不是早期复临信徒所普遍持守的。” —威廉·约翰逊著，《复临信徒评论》，1994年1月6日，第10页 “Adventist beliefs have changed over the years under the impact of ‘present truth’. Most startling is the teaching regarding Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord…the Trinitarian understanding of God, now part of our fundamental beliefs, was not generally held by the early Adventsists.” —William G. Johnsson, Adventist Review, Jan 6, 1994, p. 10. “基督复临安息日会大部分的首要先锋领袖在神学上不是三位一体论的信徒，这已经成为普遍受承认的复临信徒历史了。... 如一些人所推断的一般，要么早期的先贤都错了而目前的教会没有错，要么先贤没有错而是目前的基督复临安息日会已经背离了圣经的真理。” —伍德罗·惠登、杰里·穆恩、约翰·里夫联合著作，《三位一体》第190页，2002年出版 “That most of the leading SDA pioneers were non-Trinitarian in their theology has become accepted Adventist history, surprising as it sounded to most Adventists 40 years ago when Erwin R. Gane wrote an M.A. thesis on the topic.” “More recently, a further question has arisen with increasing urgency: was the pioneers' belief about the Godhead right or wrong? “As one line of reasoning goes, either the pioneers were wrong and the present church is right, or the pioneers were right and the present Seventh-day Adventist Church has apostatized from biblical truth.” — Jerry Moon, The Trinity, Chapter, Trinity and antitrinitarianism in Seventh-day Adventist history, p. 190 “作为基本谬道，我们可以把这个伪造安息日一同归类在其他改革教徒从天主教带出来的谬道之中，例如洒水礼和三位一体论。” —怀雅各著，《评论与通讯》1854年9月12日，原文第36页。 As fundamental errors, we might class with this Counterfeit Sabbath other errors which protestants have brought away from the Catholic Church, such as sprinkling for baptism, the TRINITY. —James White, Review and Herald, September 12, 1854, page 36 “这里我们可以提出三位一体论，它毁灭了上帝的位格和祂儿子耶稣基督的位格。”——怀雅各著，《评论与通讯》1855年12月11日，原文第85页。 Here we might mention the TRINITY, which does away with the PERSONALITY OF GOD, AND OF HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. —James White, Review and Herald, December 11, 1855, page 85 "灵化者抛弃或否认独一主神和我们的主耶稣基督的方法，是首先用那古老的违反圣经之三位一体信经，说耶稣基督是那永恒的上帝，虽然他们没有任何经文来支持这种说法，我们则有丰富的清楚明白之圣经见证，证明祂是那永恒上帝的儿子。" —怀雅各著，«晨星»，1846年1月24日 The way spiritualizers have disposed of or denied the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ is first using the old UNSCRIPTURAL TRINITARIAN CREED, that Jesus Christ is the eternal God, though they have not one passage to support it, while we have plain scripture testimony in abundance that he is the Son of the eternal God. —J. S. White, The Day Star, January 24, 1846 “在公元325年于尼西亚会议成立于教会的三位一体论，摧毁了上帝的位格，和祂儿子我们主耶稣基督的位格。” —安德烈著，«评论与通讯»1855年3月6日，原文第185页 The doctrine of the TRINITY which was established in the church by the council of Nice, AD. 325. This doctrine destroys the PERSONALITY OF GOD, AND OF HIS SON JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD. —J.N. Andrews, Review and Herald, March 6, 1855, page 185 “那些试图挪去老地标的人并没有坚守，他们不记得他们是如何领受并听到道理的。那些试图引进关于上帝或基督的位格，会摧毁我们信仰根基之理论的人，都是盲目做事的人。他们试图引进不确定的因素，并使上帝的子民失去了锚而漂浮不定。” —怀爱伦著，«文稿汇编»第62号，1905年，第14段。 Those who seek to remove the old landmarks are not holding fast, they are not remembering how they have received and heard. Those who try to bring in theories that would remove the pillars of our faith concerning the PERSONALITY OF GOD OR OF CHRIST, are working as blind men. They are seeking to bring in uncertainties and to set the people of God adrift without an anchor. —EGW, Manuscript Release 62, 1905.14 “你的观念是如此神秘，以致它们对实在的物质造成破坏。而一些人的思想在我们信仰的根基方面变得混淆。如果你容自己的思想如此转移，你会使那塑造我们成为基督复临安息日信徒的工作套上一个错误的模型。” —怀爱伦著，«信函第52封»1903年4月5日 Your ideas are so mystical that they are destructive to the real substance, and the minds of some are becoming confused in regard to the foundation of our faith. If you allow your mind to become thus diverted, you will give a wrong mold to the work that has made us what we are--Seventh-day Adventists. —EGW, Letter 52, April 5, 1903 “上帝在祂的智慧中赐给余民教会的真理原则将被丢弃。我们的宗教将被窜改。那些在过去五十年里（1853-1903）维持了圣工的基本原理，将被视为谬论。一个新的组织将被成立。一种新秩序的书籍将被撰写。” —怀爱伦著，«预言之灵»卷一，原文第204页。«信函第242封»1903年10月 The principles of truth that God in His wisdom has given to the remnant church, would be discarded. Our religion would be changed. The fundamental principles that have sustained the work for the last fifty years (1853-1903) would be accounted as error. A new organization would be established. Books of a new order would be written. —Ellen G. White, 1SP, p. 204; Letter 242, October 1903 天主教 是怎么说的？ " 三位一体 的 奥秘 是天主教信仰的核心教义。天主教所有其他的教义，都是建立在 三位一体 的基础上的。" —《今日天主教徒手册》，第 11 页 “The mystery of the trinity is the central doctrine of the Catholic faith. Upon it are based all the other teachings of the church.” — Handbook for Today’s Cathol ic, p. 11 启示录 17:5 “在他额上有名写着说、 奥秘哉、大巴比伦、作世上的淫妇和一切可憎之物的母 。 ” Revelation 17:5 “And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BAB YLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH .” 三位一体 和星期日崇拜 都有异教根源 “在巴比伦人唯一的神的"合一"里，有三个位格，而且 为了象征这个三位一体的教义 ，他们如莱亚德证明的发现那样，采用了 等边三角形 ，和众所周知的罗马教会在今天所做的一样。” —两个巴比伦； 亚历山大·希斯洛普，第二章, 第16页 “In the unity of that one Only God of the Babylonians, there were three persons , and to symbolise that doctrine of the Trinity , they employed, as the discoveries of Layard prove, the equilateral triangle , just as it is well known the Romish Church does at this day. ” — The Two Babylons; Alexander Hislo p, Chapter II, p. 16 研究资料和 下载 Studies and Download Download 三位一体论的真相 [trinitytruth.org] 1-13 (共42部份) The Truth of the Trinity [trinitytruth.org] 1-13 (total 42 parts) 站内看 下载中文 Read on site Download 三位一体论的真相 [trinitytruth.org] 14-26 (共42部份) The Truth of the Trinity [trinitytruth.org] 14-26 (total 42 parts) 站内看 下载中文 Read on site Download 三位一体论的真相 [trinitytruth.org] 27-42 (共42部份) The Truth of the Trinity [trinitytruth.org] 27-42 (total 42 parts) 站内看 下载中文 Read on site Download 启示录的警告 1-10 Revelation Warning 1-10 站内看 下载中文 Read on site Download Unmasked圣经研究 Unmasked Bible Study 站内看 下载中文 Read on site Download 使我们认识祂 That We Might Know Him 站内看 下载中文 Read on site Download 我们列祖的上帝 The God of Our Fathers 站内看 下载中文 Read on site Download 上帝不是三位一体 (三部分) God Is Not a Trinity (3 parts) 站内看 下载中文 Read on site Download 让我的子民思考 Let My People Think 站内看 下载中文 Read on site Download 应当敬拜谁 Whom to Worship 站内看 下载中文 Read on site Download 圣经里的上帝是谁 Who is the God of the Bible 站内看 下载中文 Read on site Download 圣经说保惠师是谁 Who is the Comforter According to the Bible 站内看 下载中文 Read on site Download 三位一体信徒能否受上帝的印记 Can Trinitarians Receive God's Seal 站内看 下载中文 Read on site Download 父，子和圣灵 Father, Son and Holy Spirit 站内看 下载中文 Read on site Download 一上帝和一主 One God and One Lord 站内看 下载中文 Read on site Download 耶稣如何与父原为一 How is Jesus One With the Father 站内看 下载中文 Read on site Download 救恩归与谁 Who does Salvation Belong to 站内看 下载中文 Read on site Download 叫耶稣从死里复活的是谁 Who Raised Jesus from the Dead 站内看 下载中文 Read on site Download 至高的上帝是谁 Who is the Most High God 站内看 下载中文 Read on site Download 独一真神是谁 Who is the One True God 站内看 下载中文 Read on site Download 使徒约翰是不是三位一体信徒 Was the Apostle John a Trinitarian 站内看 下载中文 Read on site Download 根据圣经只有两位实体生物而不是三位 Two Beings and Not Three According to the Bible 站内看 下载中文 Read on site Download 对上帝的认识 Transforming Knowledge of God 站内看 下载中文 Read on site Download 上帝和耶稣的区别 The Differentiation between God and Jesus 站内看 下载中文 Read on site Download 圣父和圣子按着祂们的形象造男造女 Father and Son Created Man and Woman in Their Divine Image 站内看 下载中文 Read on site Download 耶稣有一位上帝-耶和华，天父上帝 Jesus has a God- Jehovah, God the Father 站内看 下载中文 Read on site Download 耶稣有一位上帝 Jesus has a God 站内看 下载中文 Read on site 路锡甫想作神圣议会的第三位成员 站内看 下载中文 路德在公会前的辩护 站内看 下载中文 载入更多 Load more 返回页面顶部 跳到研究资料和下载