THE TREE: ARE YOU CONNECTED?

Theology associate teacher Rick Langer writes a good article with just one flaw. We have a question to him. Will he answer it?

Rick Langer, an associate professor in the Biblical Studies and Theology Department of Biola University, contributes with a good and informative article to the May/June issue of Proclamation Magazine (2007), featured as the main one on the cover. It discusses the basic Christianity tree, with its different branches, and how we should check if the branch we belong to is attached or not to the original trunk.

He mentions some of the branches that seem to be related to the others, but just apparently, not for real, because a careful examination of its basis won’t show the necessary connection to the original trunk of the Apostolic faith.

So, he mentions particularly Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons as examples of movements that cannot be identified with this basic Christian trunk, something that seems to us quite obvious.

In his development of the history of how the branches developed along the centuries he refers to Martin Luther and his ideals of ecclesia reformata semper reformanda [The reformed church should be always under reform]. We know how Luther himself didn’t live up to his own ideals in that respect because he simply attached himself to the truths he had uncovered from error, but rejected other advances in the restoration of important truths and practices of the Christian faith. For example, Lutherans to this day baptize children, which has no backing in Scripture, and practice the baptism by sprinkling (which some could think is no big deal).

But, besides this supposedly not important issue, there was Luther’s neglect of reforming other things. To Luther’s credit, however, according to Lutheran historian Paul Althaus, he even suggested that the popular belief in the immortality of the soul should be discarded among the false teachings of Rome. Unhappily later Lutherans didn’t pay attention to that, even though I was informed that there are certain branches of Lutheranism that accept the teaching of immortality only in Christ and the coming back to life after death only through resurrection as the correct view on subject of man’s nature.

But if Luther advanced some steps in the right direction regarding that and the basic understanding of the justification/sanctification issue, he neglected correcting other important points. For example, his Minor Catechism on the 10 Commandments strangely keeps the same numerical order of commandments as in the Roman Catholic Church traditional catechisms. There is no commandment against the use of sculpted images, like in the Catholics doctrinal documents. Why didn’t Luther correct this according to the Biblical original Decalogue, which clearly condemns this idolatrous practice of Roman Catholicism?

And, of course, together with the neglect in correcting this failure, Luther also neglected to correct the Sabbath question. He even wrote some texts condemning the seventh-day Sabbath as a Jewish institution, in which he certainly contradicted himself completely, for he also admitted that the 10 Commandments were the pattern of Christian conduct, even saying that he tried to memorize each one of them, and taught clearly their validity in his 1539 document “Against the Antinomians”. Besides, if the Sabbath is a Jewish institution, the same applies to any of the other Decalogue’s commandments, for they belong to the same law. Why discriminate against the 4th among them, when all the others had the same origin?

Anyway, in the progress for restoring truth, there were the Baptists, certainly more advanced than the Lutherans in correcting errors neglected by the Reformer, like the immersion baptism only for those who believe (which excludes babies). The Baptists certainly are seen as plainly attached to the trunk of the original faith, aren’t they? And since Mr. Langer mentions the rule of thumbs “to check a belief by seeing if it attaches to the apostolic foundation”, which includes “the credal confessions, and the canon of Scripture”, it would be interesting to see what the Baptist Confession of Faith historically establishes as the day of rest commandment.

Differently from Luther, the Baptists (and Presbyterians in their Westminster Confession of Faith, before them) established that the “Lord’s day”, not only is a principle that comes from the creation of the world (thus being universal and moral), but should follow the pattern set by the 4th commandment—to be kept holy, without any secular or recreational activities. They even quote as Scriptural basis for their reasoning such verses as Exo. 20:8-11 (the Sabbath commandment), Isa. 58:13, 14 (how to keep the Sabbath) and even Jer. 17:21-27 (God’s punishment to transgressors of the Sabbath).

Of course they reinterpret the commandment to apply to Sunday, under the wrong allegation that the Apostles changed the seventh-day Sabbath to Sunday as the Lord’s day, but the texts quoted in that regard simply don’t serve as proof of that. They are right regarding the maintenance of the 4th commandment as unambiguously binding to the Christian community, but are in error to reinterpret it to apply to the day defined by Roman Catholic tradition as the Lord’s Day--Sunday.

Now, there were those Baptists who noticed this neglect on the part of the Reformers to correct that error, and from the seventeenth century started a new movement to put the 4th commandment in its due place, forming in England the Seventh-day Baptist Church. Aren’t they genuinely attached to the original apostolic trunk? I think Mr. Langer, or even Mr. Ratzlaff, won’t object to this statement.

Well, then the Seventh-day Baptists influenced the pioneers of Seventh-day Adventism. And SDA’s, as I have already made clear in articles above, don’t deny any of the basic Christian beliefs, like the sole authority of Scriptures to define doctrine and practice, the Trinity, the Incarnation of Christ, His glorious second coming, justification only by faith, and the keeping of God’s commandment, expressed in the Decalogue, not to obtain merits before God, but under the motivation that “we love because He loved us first” (1 John 4:19).

As to Mr. Langer mention of the Ebionites, trying to link them to Seventh-day Adventists, this is the only dissonant note in his study, otherwise profitable. He says that the connection of Ebionites with SDA’s is “obvious” for reasons that we have already proved to be totally false, “salvation as a human work . . . accomplished by a return to the Jewish law—though generally with an emphasis on a pre-flood diet that abstained from eating meat”.

Since what is “obvious” is that Seventh-day Adventists don’t teach “salvation as human work . . . accomplished by a return to the Jewish law”, as topics 9, 10 and 18 of the Creedal Adventist document makes very clear, and the “pre-flood diet that abstained from eating meat” is no requisite for salvation (which cannot be proved as an Adventist belief), his innuendo proves a big flaw in his otherwise good study.

Anyway, it is worth mentioning that vegetarianism is recognized as a good and profitable regime by many specialists, and is even suggested as causing greater impact than driving a hybrid car in the campaign to reduce CO[sub]2[/sub] gas, in an especial edition of Time magazine [April 9, 2007] with suggestions on what one can do to contribute for that—suggestion # 22. At that point Mr. Langer’s article shows a lack of better research on his part. But then, if he had taken these facts into consideration his article would hardly be approved for publication. . .

Besides, if keeping the seventh-day Sabbath is “a return to the Jewish law”, why not abstaining from utilizing sculpted images, which is the 2nd commandment of THE SAME LAW? Paul said that with his mind he served “God’s law”, which he himself identified as the one that brings the commandment, “ye shall not covet” (compare Rom. 7:25, with verses 7 and 8).

So, we have this special question to Mr. Langer: Would obedience to the commandment “ye shall not covet” be also considered a return to the Jewish law? If not, why not?




Edited by A_G_Brito (06/19/07 10:31 PM)