Discovering the New Covenant by Greg Taylor - exAdventist Outreach

DISCOVERING THE NEW COVENANT
148
Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you
now being made perfect by the flesh? Gal. 3:1-3
The Galatians heresy did not teach that people come to
Christ by the works of the Law. It taught that one must come
to Christ by faith alone. So far so good! But—here is the
subtle twist—after coming to Christ and receiving the Spirit
by faith, they were then taught that they were required to
keep the Law, specifically circumcision, the food laws, and
the Sabbath laws. These were to be kept in order to maintain
salvation. That is what made the Galatians’ heresy so subtle
and bewitching. It taught grace to start out with, but soon it
took away the joy and freedom by requiring specific laws in
order to remain saved.
This was the Galatian heresy, and I am convinced that
the Seventh-day Adventist Church embodies the modern day
version of it. While SDAs do not require law in order to be
saved, they do require it in order to remain saved. They may
not require circumcision like the Judaizers did, but they do
require the food laws and the Sabbath. In fact, this requirement,
specifically the Sabbath observance on Saturday is to
them the sign that distinguishes them as God’s last true
remnant church. All other churches and Christians are
outside of God’s will and must one day submit to the
Sabbath teaching or be lost. While those who do not
understand this might be saved outside of Adventism, no one
who has been exposed to this “truth” and does not stay with
it, will be saved.
There are some Adventists who are not pushy about
their beliefs. There are some who are not out to convert
others into their particular brand of Christianity. There were
several like this in the church we had pastored. Once we had
been asked to resign, I sat down with the elders and
discussed our journey and the scriptural reasons for our
convictions. Several of them had read the appendix to our