Read for This Week’s Study
Colossians 2; Heb. 7:11; Isa. 61:3; 1 Cor. 3:6; Deut. 31:24–26; Rom. 2:28, 29; Rom. 7:7.
Memory Text:
“So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ” (Colossians 2:16, 17, NKJV).
Have you ever been asked why you keep the Sabbath? Perhaps even this week’s memory text was used as “evidence” against it. Yet, the text was written not about the fourth commandment, but in response to errors taught by some false teachers in the church. What were these errors?
First, the false teaching is described as “philosophy,” “the tradition of men,” “the basic principles of the world,” and “not according to Christ” (Col. 2:8, NKJV).
It also involved circumcision and the keeping of Jewish festivals (Col. 2:11, 16), along with Jewish purity rituals and regulations connected with food (Col. 2:16, 21). It involved the worship of or with angels or an attempt to emulate angelic worship (Col. 2:18).
And, finally, it was based on “the commandments and doctrines of men” and possibly involved ascetic practices (Col. 2:22, 23).
These false teachers were clearly religious and sincere, but they also got the gospel wrong. This week we’ll see why. And we will see why the memory verse has nothing to do with our keeping the seventh-day Sabbath.
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, March 7.
Supplemental EGW Notes
Because men are not of the same stamp of character, this is no reason why they should draw apart. If we are children of the heavenly King, we shall not be at such variance that we shall stand in one another’s way.
It is by the Lord’s orders that His servants have varied gifts. It is by His appointment that men of varied minds are brought into the church, to be laborers together with Him. We have many different minds to meet, and different gifts are needed. God’s servants are to work in perfect harmony. I thank the Lord that we are not all exactly the same, while we are all to have the same spirit—the spirit that dwelt in Christ. The apostle John was not the same as the apostle Peter. Each was to subdue his peculiarities and soften his temperament, that they might help each other, through belief in and sanctification of the truth.
It is the righteousness of Christ that goes before us. It is His character that we are to copy. And then what?—The glory of the Lord shall be our rearward. Our Leader goes before us, and as we follow Him, He imparts to us His righteousness, which is revealed in our lives by a well-ordered life and a godly conversation. It is faith and works that makes us Christians, preparing us to sit together in heavenly places with Christ.
Is Christ divided?—No. Christ abiding in the soul will not quarrel with Christ in another soul. We must learn to bear with the peculiarities of those around us. If our will is under the control of Christ’s will, how can we be at variance with our brethren? If we are at variance, we may know that it is because self needs to be crucified. He whom Christ makes free is free indeed. We are not complete in Christ unless we love one another as Christ has loved us. When we do this, as Christ has given us commandment, we shall give evidence that we are complete in Him.
We must have the faith which prophets foretold and apostles preached—the faith that works by love and purifies the soul.—This Day With God, p. 262.
The Lord Jesus acts through the Holy Spirit; for it is His representative. Through it He infuses spiritual life into the soul, quickening its energies for good, cleansing from moral defilement, and giving it a fitness for His kingdom. Jesus has large blessings to bestow, rich gifts to distribute among men. He is the wonderful Counselor, infinite in wisdom and strength; and if we will acknowledge the power of His Spirit, and submit to be molded by it, we shall stand complete in Him. What a thought is this! In Christ “dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him.” Colossians 2:9, 10.—Our High Calling, p. 152.
The above quotations are taken from Ellen G. White Notes for the Sabbath School Lessons, published by Pacific Press Publishing Association. Used by permission.