Historic Baptist Contribution to Seventh-day Adventists

Many today are aware that a careful study of the Seventh-day Adventist church reveals that it is indebted to a Baptist preacher by the name of William Miller for their acceptance of the Bible doctrine about the premillennial second coming of Christ and also for their acceptance of the Bible model of prophetic timeline interpretation where a prophetic day represents in literal year in places like Daniel 9 (the 70 weeks of Daniel 9 as 490 real years) - so also we have the same day for year model Daniel in 7 (1260 days as 1260 years of the dark ages after the fall of the Romans Empire) and the 2300 years in Daniel 8 (2300 days as 2300 years).

What comes as a surprise to some is that the Seventh-day Adventist church is also indebted to a Seventh-day Baptist by the name of Rachael Oaks whose witness and testimony for God was instrumental in introducing Sunday-keeping Adventists to the subject of the 4th commandment and God's original intent in that regard.

With these two individuals alone it can be affirmed that the Baptist contribution to the Adventist Church has been significant in forming the Seventh-day Adventist denomination.

The Adventist Church began in the 1860's with a unique emphasis on end-time doctrine, health reform and education. Thursday May 23, 1863 the Seventh-day Adventist Church formally organized into a church. [1] Seventh-day Adventist 150th Anniversary

The November 2005 National Geographic and a book, The Blue Zones (2008), profiled how Adventists are the longest-living people in the United States. In 2011, USA Today reported the Seventh-day Adventist Church was among the fastest-growing denominations in this country with approximately 1.1 million members out of more than 17 million world wide.

The Seventh-day Adventist educational system is the second-largest Christian school system in the world, after the Roman Catholic system. Adventist Education World Wide

However the historic contributions to Adventist doctrine and thinking by evangelical groups does not stop with William Miller and Rachael Oaks. Well known historic "Confessions of Faith" were also widely read at the time that the 19th century Adventist leaders were coming together to form the Seventh-day Adventist church. And 19th century evangelists such as Dwight L. Moody were affirming the importance of the Ten Commandments (including the Sabbath Commandment) at the same time that the Adventists were meeting to create the Seventh-day Adventist church.

Confessions of Faith Affirming God's Ten Commandments

The Baptist Confession of Faith 1689, the Westminster Confession of Faith and C.H. Spurgeon's edited version of the Baptist Confession of Faith all have similar characteristics in that they bring out the following points.

1. The Law of God was given to Adam in Eden before the fall.
   
2. The Law of God given to Adam remained in place after the fall and is the same Law of God given at Sinai as the Ten Commandments.
   
3. The fourth commandment (the Sabbath Commandment) is found in Genesis 2:1-3 as well as Exodus 20:8-11.
   
4. The Ten Commandments are called the "moral law" and are applicable to the saints today under the New Covenant.
   
5. The Law of God written on the mind and heart (Jer 31:31-33) under the New Covenant includes the Ten Commandments.
   
6. Keeping the Commandments of God is not contrary to the Gospel - but rather "sweetly complies with it".
   
7. The civil laws and the ceremonial laws given at Sinai are no longer binding.
   

Baptist Confession of Faith 1689

The Baptist Confession of Faith 1689 in its original form tells us that the Sabbath Commandment was given in Genesis 2:1-3 and the

THE LAW OF GOD

19.1 God gave to Adam a law of universal obedience written in his heart, and a specific precept not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and :evil.
By :this he bound him and all his descendants to personal, total, exact, and perpetual obedience. God promised life on fulfilling it, and threatened death on :breaching it, and he endued him with power and ability to keep it.

(1) Gen 1:27; Ecc 7:29; Rom 2:12a,14-15
(2) Gen 2:16-17
(3) Gen 2:16-17; Rom 10:5; Gal 3:10,12

19.2 The same law that was first written in the human heart continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness after the fall. It was delivered by God upon Mount :Sinai2 in Ten commandments (written in two tables) the first four containing our duty towards God, and the other six our duty to our fellow beings.

(1) For the Fourth Commandment: Gen 2:3; Exo 16; Gen 7:4; 8:10,12. For the Fifth Commandment: Gen 37:10. For the Sixth Commandment: Gen 4:3-15. For the Seventh :Commandment: Gen 12:17. For the Eighth Commandment: Gen 31:30; 44:8. For the Ninth Commandment: Gen 27:12. For the Tenth Commandment: Gen 6:2; 13:10-11
(2) Rom 2:12a,14-15
(3) Exo 32:15-16; 34:4,28; Deu 10:4

19.3 Besides this law, commonly called the moral law, God was pleased to give the people of Israel ceremonial laws' containing several typical ordinances. :These were :partly concerning worship, and in them Christ was prefigured—his graces, actions, sufferings, and benefits.1 They also gave instructions about various :moral duties. All of these ceremonial laws were appointed only until the time of the New Testament, when Jesus Christ abrogated them and took them away, for he was :the :true Messiah and only law-giver, and was empowered to do this by the Father. [2]

19.4 To the people of Israel he also gave various judicial laws which lapsed when they ceased as a nation. These are not binding on anyone now by virtue of their :being part of the laws of that nation,1 but their principles of equity continue to be applicable in modern times.2

(1) Luk 21:20-24; Act 6:13-14; Heb 9:18-19 with 8:7,13; 9:10; 10:1
(2) 1Co 5:1; 9:8-10

(1) Mat 19:16-22; Rom 2:14-15; 3:19-20; 6:14; 7:6; 8:3; 1Ti 1:8-11; Rom 13:8-10; 1Co 7:19 with Gal 5:6; 6:15; Eph 4:25-6:4; Jas 2:11-12
(2) Jas 2:10-11
(3) Mat 5:17-19; Rom 3:31; 1Co 9:21; Jas 2:8

Baptist Confession of Faith 1689, Section 19

Charles Haddon Spurgeon: Baptist Confession of Faith - Section 19

Charles Haddon Spurgeon's Edited Baptist Confession of Faith

It should be noted that in later years, C.H. Spurgeon (1834-1892) edited the 1689 version of Baptist Confession of Faith and came up with a version that looks very similar to the Westminster Confession of Faith 1646. [3]

The Law of God

1. God gave to Adam a law of universal obedience which was written in his heart, and He gave him very specific instruction about not eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. By this Adam and all his descendants were bound to personal, total, exact, and perpetual obedience, being promised life upon the fulfilling of the law, and threatened with death upon the breach of it. At the same time Adam was endued with power and ability to keep it.
2. The same law that was first written in the heart of man continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness after the Fall, and was delivered by God upon Mount Sinai in the Ten Commandments, and written in two tables, the first four containing our duty towards God, and the other six, our duty to man.
3. Besides this law, commonly called the moral law', God was pleased do give the people of Israel ceremonial laws containing several typical ordinances. These ordinances were partly about their worship, and in them Christ was prefigured along with His attributes and qualities, His actions, His sufferings and His benefits. These ordinances also gave instructions about different moral duties. All of these ceremonial laws were appointed only until the time of reformation, when Jesus Christ the true Messiah and the only lawgiver, Who was furnished with power from the Father for this end, cancelled them and took them away.
4. To the people of Israel He also gave sundry judicial laws which expired when they ceased to be a nation. These are not binding on anyone now by virtue of their being part of the laws of that nation, but their general equity continue to be applicable in modern times.
5. The moral law ever binds to obedience everyone, justified people as well as others, and not only out of regard for the matter contained in it, but also out of respect for the authority of God the Creator, Who gave the law. Nor does Christ in the Gospel dissolve this law in any way, but He considerably strengthens our obligation to obey it.
6. Although true believers are not under the law as a covenant of works, to be justified or condemned by it, yet it is of great use to them as well as to others, because as a rule of life it informs them of the will of God and their duty and directs and binds them to walk accordingly. It also reveals and exposes the sinful pollutions of their natures, hearts and lives, and using it for self-examination they may come to greater conviction of sin, greater humility and greater hatred of their sin. They will also gain a clearer sight of their need of Christ and the perfection of His own obedience. It is of further use to regenerate people to restrain their corruptions, because of the way in which it forbids sin. The threatenings of the law serve to show what their sins actually deserve, and what troubles may be expected in this life because of these sins even by regenerate people who are freed from the curse and undiminished rigours of the law. The promises connected with the law also show believers God's approval of obedience, and what blessings they may expect when the law is kept and obeyed, though blessing will not come to them because they have satisfied the law as a covenant of works. If a man does good and refrains from evil simply because the law encourages to the good and deters him from the evil, that is no evidence that he is under the law rather than under grace.
7. The aforementioned uses of the law are not contrary to the grace of the Gospel, but they sweetly comply with it, as the Spirit of Christ subdues and enables the will of man to do freely and cheerfully those things which the will of God, which is revealed in the law, requires to be done.

Dwight L. Moody on the Sabbath Commandment

As mentioned at the top of this article, Dwight L. Moody (a well known evangelical preacher in the 19th century) preached a sermon on the Ten Commandments that included the following statements about the Sabbath Commandment.

"THERE HAS BEEN an awful letting-down in this country regarding the Sabbath during the last twenty-five years, and many a man has been shorn of spiritual power, like Samson, because he is not straight on this question. Can you say that you observe the Sabbath properly? You may be a professed Christian: are you obeying this commandment? Or do you neglect the house of God on the Sabbath day, and spend your time drinking and carousing in places of vice and crime, showing contempt for God and His law? Are you ready to step into the scales? Where were you last Sabbath? How did you spend it?

I honestly believe that this 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." (Mark 2:27)

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.

The Sabbath was binding in Eden, and it has been in force ever since. The fourth commandment begins with the word remember, showing that the Sabbath already existed when God wrote this 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?

I believe that the Sabbath question today is a vital one for the whole country. It is the burning question of the present time. If you give up the Sabbath the church goes; if you give up the church the home goes; and if the home goes the nation goes. That is the direction in which we are traveling.

The church of God is losing its power on account of so many people giving up the Sabbath, and using it to promote selfishness." [4]

References

1. http://www.adventist.org/150/ 150th Anniversary of Seventh-day Adventists
2. Baptist Confession of Faith 1689, Section 19
3. Charles Spurgeon Edited Baptist Confession of Faith, section 19
4. D.L. Moody Sermon on the Ten Commandment