📖 Wagalatia — Somo la Kina — Sehemu ya 12: Ndugu Katika Kiini — Waadventista wa Sabato📖 Galatians Intensive — Unit 12: Brothers in the Core — Seventh-day Adventists

Kifungu cha msingi: Warumi 14:1-6; 15:7 — pamoja na Wakolosai 2:16-17 (na tofauti yake na Wagalatia 1:6-9) (SUV)Anchor: Romans 14:1-6; 15:7 — with Colossians 2:16-17 (and the contrast of Galatians 1:6-9) (NKJV)

Neno Kabla HatujaanzaA Word Before We Begin

Sehemu hii ya mwisho inachukua mwelekeo tofauti. Katika sehemu tatu zilizotangulia tulijifunza kwa nini mafundisho fulani ni "injili nyingine," ambayo hatuwezi kushiriki nayo ushirika wa injili. Sasa ni lazima tujihadhari na kosa lililo kinyume chake: kumtendea kila mwamini anayetofautiana nasi katika mambo madogo kana kwamba alihubiri injili nyingine. Kipimo kilekile cha mzizi kilichoyafichua madhehebu potofu, katika jambo hili, kitawathibitisha ndugu wa kweli. Kwa hiyo tunawaendea Waadventista wa Sabato si kama dhehebu potofu la kukanushwa, bali kama Wakristo wenzetu wa kueleweka — huku bado tukisema kwa uaminifu juu ya tofauti halisi na muhimu. Kama kawaida, tunapima kwa Neno la Mungu na kushika kweli katika upendo (Waefeso 4:15).This final unit takes a different turn. In the three units before it we learned why certain teachings are "another gospel," with which we cannot share the fellowship of the gospel. Now we must guard against the opposite error: treating every believer who differs from us on lesser matters as though he preached another gospel. The very root-test that exposed the cults will, in this case, vindicate true brothers. So we come to the Seventh-day Adventists not as a cult to be refuted but as fellow Christians to be understood — while still speaking honestly about real and important differences. As always, we test by the Word of God and speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).

Waadventista wa Sabato ni Akina Nani?Who Are the Seventh-day Adventists?

Kanisa la Waadventista wa Sabato lilitokana na vuguvugu la Wamilleri la miaka ya 1840. William Miller alikuwa ametabiri kwamba Kristo angerudi mwaka 1844; alipokosa kurudi, siku hiyo ikajulikana kama "Masikitiko Makuu." Kutoka katika vuguvugu hilo kundi liliundwa ambalo lilikuja kushika Sabato ya siku ya saba (Jumamosi) na, baada ya muda, likajipanga kama dhehebu mwaka 1863. Ellen G. White alikuwa mmoja wa waanzilishi na mtu aliyeliunda kwa kiasi kikubwa. Leo Waadventista ni kanisa la ulimwenguni pote lenye mamilioni mengi ya watu, linalojulikana sana kwa shule zake, hospitali zake, na msisitizo wake juu ya afya. Kazi yetu ni kupima mafundisho yao kwa uaminifu: kwanza wanasimama wapi kuhusu mzizi wa injili, na kisha tunatofautiana wapi.The Seventh-day Adventist Church grew out of the Millerite movement of the 1840s. William Miller had predicted that Christ would return in 1844; when He did not, the day became known as "the Great Disappointment." Out of that movement a body formed that came to observe the seventh-day (Saturday) Sabbath and, in time, organized as a denomination in 1863. Ellen G. White was a founding and shaping figure. Today the Adventists are a worldwide church of many millions, widely known for their schools, hospitals, and emphasis on health. Our task is to weigh their teaching honestly: first where they stand on the root of the gospel, and then where we differ.

Wanasimama Wapi Kuhusu MziziWhere They Stand on the Root

Hili ndilo jambo la kuamua, na linawatenga Waadventista na makundi ya sehemu zilizotangulia. Kuhusu mzizi wa injili wanasimama pamoja na Ukristo wa kihistoria. Wanaukiri Utatu — "Mungu mmoja: Baba, Mwana, na Roho Mtakatifu, umoja wa Nafsi tatu zilizo za milele pamoja" (tamko lao rasmi; waanzilishi wao wa mwanzo si wote walioamini Utatu, lakini kanisa lililimaliza jambo hili na leo linalithibitisha waziwazi). Wanaukiri Uungu kamili na wa milele wa Yesu Kristo na ufufuo wake wa mwili. Wanaukiri upatanisho wa kubeba mahali petu — kwamba Mungu "yeye asiyejua dhambi alimfanya kuwa dhambi kwa ajili yetu." Na, jambo la kuamua, wanakiri kwamba wokovu ni kwa neema kupitia imani katika Kristo: kwa maneno yao wenyewe, "Wokovu wote ni wa neema wala si wa matendo." Kuhusu Mungu ni nani, Kristo ni nani, na jinsi mwenye dhambi anavyookolewa, Waadventista wanamshika Kristo wa kweli kwenye mzizi na neema kama kipawa. Kwa kipimo cha mzizi cha Sehemu ya 8, wanafaulu pale madhehebu potofu yalipoanguka.Here is the decisive matter, and it sets the Adventists apart from the groups in the previous units. On the root of the gospel they stand with historic Christianity. They confess the Trinity — "one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a unity of three co-eternal Persons" (their official statement; their early pioneers were not all Trinitarian, but the church settled this and affirms it plainly today). They confess the full and eternal deity of Jesus Christ and His bodily resurrection. They confess the substitutionary atonement — that God "made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us." And, decisively, they confess that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ: in their own words, "Salvation is all of grace and not of works." On who God is, on who Christ is, and on how a sinner is saved, the Adventists keep the true Christ at the root and grace as the gift. By the root-test of Unit 8, they pass where the cults failed.

Tunapotofautiana (1): Sabato ya Siku ya SabaWhere We Differ (1): The Seventh-day Sabbath

Waadventista hushika Jumamosi, siku ya saba, kama Sabato, na huiona kuwa ya lazima kwa Wakristo. Hapa tunaiheshimu dhamiri yao lakini tunatofautiana, kwa maana Maandiko huitazama Sabato kama kivuli kilichotimizwa katika Kristo: "mtu asiwahukumu ninyi katika vyakula au vinywaji, au kwa sababu ya sikukuu au mwandamo wa mwezi au sabato; mambo hayo ni kivuli cha mambo yatakayokuja, bali mwili ni wa Kristo" (Wakolosai 2:16-17). Na siku tunayoabudu ni aina hasa ya jambo ambalo Paulo anasema waumini wanaweza kutofautiana: "Mtu mmoja afikiri siku hii kuwa bora kuliko siku hii, mwingine afikiri siku zote kuwa sawasawa. Kila mtu athibitike katika akili zake mwenyewe" (Warumi 14:5). Tunaamini kwamba Bwana alifufuka siku ya kwanza na kwamba Wakristo wako huru katika jambo hili; Mwadventista anaamini kwamba siku ya saba bado inalazimu. Baadhi ya Waadventista wamelisukuma jambo hili mbele zaidi, wakifundisha kwamba ibada ya Jumapili itakuwa "chapa ya mnyama" katika siku za mwisho, na hilo tungewasihi kwa upole waliweke kando. Lakini siku ya ibada si mzizi wa injili; ni, kwa maneno ya Paulo mwenyewe, jambo la dhamiri ya kila mtu.The Adventists keep Saturday, the seventh day, as the Sabbath, and hold it binding upon Christians. Here we honor their conscience but we differ, for Scripture treats the Sabbath as a shadow fulfilled in Christ: "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). And the day on which we worship is exactly the kind of matter on which Paul says believers may differ: "One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind" (Romans 14:5). We believe the Lord rose on the first day and that Christians are free in this; an Adventist believes the seventh day still binds. Some Adventists have pressed this further, teaching that Sunday worship will become the "mark of the beast" in the last days, and that we would gently urge them to lay aside. But the day of worship is not the root of the gospel; it is, in Paul's own words, a matter for each conscience.

Tunapotofautiana (2): Ellen G. White na Roho ya UnabiiWhere We Differ (2): Ellen G. White and the Spirit of Prophecy

Waadventista humwona Ellen G. White kuwa alikuwa na karama ya unabii, na huthamini sana maandiko yake kama kile wanachokiita "Roho ya Unabii." Rasmi wanamwita "nuru ndogo" inayoelekeza kwenye "nuru kubwa" ya Maandiko, na wanathibitisha kwamba Biblia ndiyo mamlaka ya mwisho. Hata hivyo, kwa vitendo, maandiko yake yamekuwa na uzito mkubwa sana. Hapa tunashika kwa uthabiti sola scriptura (Maandiko pekee): orodha ya vitabu vya Maandiko imefungwa na inatosha, na hakuna maneno ya mwandishi wa baadaye ye yote yanayoweza kusimama kama mamlaka kando ya Biblia. Hili ndilo fundisho lao la pekee linaloweza zaidi kuleta shida, na tungewasihi kwa upendo rafiki zetu Waadventista wayaache Maandiko peke yake yawe neno la mwisho na la kutosha. Lakini kumkadiria mwalimu vibaya, ingawa ni jambo zito, si sawa na kuikana injili, na Waadventista wengi kweli huichukulia Biblia kuwa mahakama yao ya mwisho.The Adventists regard Ellen G. White as having had the gift of prophecy, and they value her writings highly as what they call the "Spirit of Prophecy." Officially they call her a "lesser light" pointing to the "greater light" of Scripture, and they affirm that the Bible is the final authority. In practice, however, her writings have carried very great weight. Here we hold firmly to sola scriptura: the canon of Scripture is closed and sufficient, and no later writer's words may stand as an authority beside the Bible. This is the distinctive most likely to cause trouble, and we would lovingly plead with our Adventist friends to let Scripture alone be the final and sufficient word. Yet a mistaken estimate of a teacher, serious as it is, is not the same thing as denying the gospel, and many Adventists do treat the Bible as their final court.

Tunapotofautiana (3): 1844, Hukumu ya Upelelezi, na Hali ya WafuWhere We Differ (3): 1844, the Investigative Judgment, and the State of the Dead

Baada ya Masikitiko Makuu, Waadventista walianza kufundisha kwamba mwaka 1844 Kristo aliingia Patakatifu pa Patakatifu pa hekalu la mbinguni ili kuanza "hukumu ya upelelezi," akipitia kumbukumbu za wale wanaokiri kuwa waumini. Hatuoni msingi wa kibiblia wa fundisho hili; lilikua kama tafsiri mpya ya tarehe iliyoshindwa, na wasiwasi wetu mkubwa zaidi ni kwamba linaweza kulifunika hakikisho la wokovu ambalo ni mali ya wote walio ndani ya Kristo. Kwa maana upatanisho ulikamilika msalabani — "Imekwisha" (Yohana 19:30) — na "kwa toleo moja amewakamilisha hata milele hao wanaotakaswa" (Waebrania 10:14). Hili ndilo zito zaidi kati ya mafundisho ya pekee ya Waadventista, na tungewasihi kuhusu jambo hili; lakini kanisa lenyewe linathibitisha msalaba uliokamilika na wokovu kwa neema, na Waadventista wengi huweka tumaini lao kwa Kristo. Waadventista pia hufundisha kwamba wafu hawana fahamu mpaka ufufuo (mara nyingi huitwa "usingizi wa roho") na kwamba waliopotea hatimaye huangamizwa badala ya kuteswa milele (kutokufa kwa masharti). Hizi ni tofauti halisi, zinazoshikiliwa pia na Wakristo wengine, na zinastahili kujifunzwa kwa makini; lakini haziipindui injili.After the Great Disappointment, the Adventists came to teach that in 1844 Christ entered the Most Holy Place of a heavenly sanctuary to begin an "investigative judgment," reviewing the records of professed believers. We find no biblical basis for this teaching; it grew as a reinterpretation of a failed date, and our deeper concern is that it can cloud the assurance that belongs to all who are in Christ. For the atonement was finished at the cross — "It is finished" (John 19:30) — and "by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified" (Hebrews 10:14). This is the most serious of the Adventist distinctives, and we would plead with them about it; yet the church itself affirms the finished cross and salvation by grace, and most Adventists rest their hope on Christ. The Adventists also teach that the dead are unconscious until the resurrection (often called "soul sleep") and that the finally lost are destroyed rather than tormented forever (conditional immortality). These are real differences, held by some other Christians as well, and worth careful study; but they do not overturn the gospel.

Injili Nyingine, au Ndugu Aliyekosea?Another Gospel, or a Brother in Error?

Basi, kwa nini tunasema "hakuna ushirika" kwa Mashahidi wa Yehova, Watakatifu wa Siku za Mwisho, na injili ya mafanikio, lakini "ndugu" kwa Waadventista wa Sabato? Kwa sababu kipimo ni mzizi. Madhehebu potofu yalibadilisha mzizi — Mungu tofauti, Kristo tofauti, au injili ya matendo na faida — na hivyo neno zito la Paulo likawaangukia: "ijapokuwa sisi, au malaika wa mbinguni, atawahubiri ninyi injili yo yote isipokuwa ile tuliyowahubiri, na alaaniwe" (Wagalatia 1:8). Lakini Waadventista wanaushika mzizi: Mungu wa kweli wa Utatu, Kristo wa milele aliyesulubiwa, upatanisho uliokamilika, na wokovu kwa neema kupitia imani. Makosa yao — siku, mwalimu, fundisho la hekalu, hali ya wafu — ni halisi na yanastahili kushindaniwa, lakini si mzizi, wala si injili nyingine. Na mtume yule yule aliyetamka laana pia aliandika, "Wewe u nani unayemhukumu mtumishi wa mwingine?... Kila mtu athibitike katika akili zake mwenyewe" (Warumi 14:4-5). Kumtendea ndugu wa kweli anayekosea katika mambo ya daraja la pili kana kwamba alihubiri injili nyingine ni kuanguka katika upande uliokithiri ulio kinyume cha kutojali — upande uliokithiri wa ukali wa kimadhehebu. Huu si uamuzi mpya. Mwaka 1955 na 1956, mtetezi wa imani wa Kiinjili Walter Martin, pamoja na Donald Barnhouse, walifanya mazungumzo mapana ya kimafundisho na wanatheolojia wakuu wa Waadventista, wakiwapima jambo kwa jambo dhidi ya mzizi uleule ambao madhehebu potofu huukana. Matokeo, yaliyochapishwa kama Questions on Doctrine (Maswali Kuhusu Mafundisho, 1957), yalihitimisha kwamba Waadventista walishika mambo ya msingi ya injili na walisimama ndani ya mzunguko wa imani ya Kikristo ya kihistoria — hitimisho lililozua mabishano ya kweli, kwa kuwa si kila Mwinjilisti alishawishika, na tahadhari kuhusu baadhi ya mafundisho ya pekee ya Waadventista inaendelea kwa baadhi ya watu hadi leo. Lakini kiini cha hukumu hiyo kimesimama: tofauti na Mashahidi au Watakatifu wa Siku za Mwisho, mtu anaweza kuwa Mwadventista wa Sabato na pia mfuasi wa kweli wa Yesu Kristo, na kwa watu kama hao, ushirika unapaswa kutolewa.Why, then, do we say "no fellowship" to the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Latter-day Saints, and the prosperity gospel, but "brothers" to the Seventh-day Adventists? Because the test is the root. The cults changed the root — a different God, a different Christ, or a gospel of works and gain — and so Paul's solemn word fell upon them: "even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8). But the Adventists keep the root: the true and triune God, the eternal and crucified Christ, the finished atonement, and salvation by grace through faith. Their errors — a day, a teacher, a sanctuary doctrine, the state of the dead — are real and worth contending over, but they are not the root, and they are not another gospel. And the same apostle who pronounced the curse also wrote, "Who are you to judge another's servant?... Let each be fully convinced in his own mind" (Romans 14:4-5). To treat a true brother who errs on secondary matters as though he preached another gospel is to fall into the opposite extreme from indifference — the extreme of sectarian harshness. This is not a novel judgment. In 1955 and 1956, the evangelical apologist Walter Martin, together with Donald Barnhouse, undertook extensive doctrinal dialogues with leading Adventist theologians, testing them point by point against the very root the cults deny. The result, published as Questions on Doctrine (1957), concluded that Adventists held the essentials of the gospel and stood inside the circle of historic Christian faith — a conclusion that provoked real controversy, since not every evangelical was persuaded, and caution about certain Adventist distinctives persists among some to this day. But the substance of that verdict has held: unlike the Witnesses or the Latter-day Saints, one may be a Seventh-day Adventist and a true follower of Jesus Christ, and to such, fellowship should be extended.

KukaribishanaReceiving One Another

Kwa hiyo tunawakaribisha Waadventista wa Sabato kama ndugu na dada katika Kristo. Hatujifanyi kwamba tofauti hazipo; tunaweza kujadiliana nao kwa bidii kuhusu Sabato, kuhusu Ellen White, na kuhusu 1844, tukifurahi kusahihishwa na Maandiko au kuwashawishi kwa Maandiko. Lakini hatuwaondoi katika kanisa, wala hatumnyimi Mwadventista anayeamini Meza ya Bwana, wala hatuwatendei kama tunavyopaswa kuyatendea madhehebu potofu. "Mkaribishane, kama Kristo naye alivyotukaribisha sisi, kwa utukufu wa Mungu" (Warumi 15:7). Na hapa somo zima linapata uwiano wake. Tunailinda injili kwa wivu dhidi ya kila injili nyingine — hilo ndilo funzo la Wagalatia na la sehemu tatu zilizotangulia hii. Na tunampenda kila ndugu wa kweli kwa ukarimu licha ya tofauti zetu ndogo — hilo ndilo funzo la Warumi 14. Kipimo cha mzizi kinatulinda tusiangukie mitaro yote miwili: kuliita dhehebu potofu ndugu, na kumwita ndugu dhehebu potofu. Mungu atupe ujasiri kwa lile la kwanza na neema kwa lile la pili, ili katika mambo yote Kristo aheshimiwe na kanisa lake la kweli lisimame kama kitu kimoja.So we receive the Seventh-day Adventists as brothers and sisters in Christ. We do not pretend the differences away; we may reason earnestly with them about the Sabbath, about Ellen White, and about 1844, glad to be corrected by Scripture or to persuade by it. But we do not unchurch them, nor withhold the Lord's Table from a believing Adventist, nor treat them as we must treat the cults. "Receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God" (Romans 15:7). And here the whole course finds its balance. We guard the gospel jealously against every other gospel — that is the lesson of Galatians and of the three units before this one. And we love every true brother generously across our lesser differences — that is the lesson of Romans 14. The root-test keeps us from both ditches: from calling a cult a brother, and from calling a brother a cult. May God give us courage for the first and grace for the second, that in all things Christ may be honored and His true church may stand as one.

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