Much has been written by Seventh-day Adventist authors on the subject of Christ our righteousness. Beginning in 1888 and onward, there has been a great deal of difficulty with this subject. Our denomination faced a major crisis when in 1888, the finest leaders we had disagreed about this subject. Christ our righteousness has become such a volatile topic that when I first learned about it, my advisors in college told me to leave this subject alone, saying it would chase me out of the church. Yet I read in the Spirit of Prophecy and the Bible that this message is fundamental to the salvation of all who hear the gospel. A few people claim to know what it is all about; but there are some aspects of it that many apparently do not understand, for we as a people do not agree about this subject at all.
In order to understand why some have fought violently against the message of Christ our righteousness, you must go back and look at what took place in 1888. There was an emphasis on the subject of justification by faith in Minneapolis that has almost never been presented since then. It is the negative side of justification by faith. You may think there is nothing negative about it. It is positive and hopeful, but there is a side to it that can be looked upon as very negative. I do not like to talk about negative things, but you will never understand unless I do. There is an aspect to this subject that, as first presented in 1888, some people detest.
This somewhat negative theme is the most basic element of the subject of justification by faith. Leaving out this theme prevents us from experiencing it. Justification by faith is not to be simply a theory, but an experience. It is not enough to just understand it. It is something you must practice every day. We must put it into effect in our lives. It must do something for us, otherwise it is just an abstract theory that does no one any good. And we do not necessarily practice it just because we can preach about it or talk about it to our friends and neighbors.
This negative aspect to Christ our righteousness and justification by faith is the starting point for true righteousness. It was this aspect that brought so much opposition to the message of Jones and Waggoner in 1888. There was a lot of argument and debate over subjects like the Trinity, but those subjects did not intimidate people. This negative aspect that we are discussing caused much opposition, even though it was not argued or debated, or in fact even discussed to any significant degree.
This negative aspect is found in Ellen White’s definition of justification by faith. “What is justification by faith? It is the work of God in laying the glory of man in the dust, and doing for man that which it is not in his power to do for himself.” TM 456. We like the last part of that sentence where it talks about God doing for man that which we cannot do for ourselves. But many do not like the part about laying the glory of man in the dust. It is the work of God to lay the glory of man in the dust—those things about which we could boast. You cannot have the last part without also having the first part. You cannot have God do for you that which you cannot do for yourself unless first of all He lays your glory in the dust. So the negative part of justification by faith is having the Lord lay our glory in the dust.
How would you like to have been a prominent person living back in the days when this message was first taught? Imagine two messengers sent by God standing up and telling you that all your righteousness is “filthy rags.” The implication is that, if Christ is your righteousness, then you do not have any. If He must be my righteousness, I cannot produce it of myself. Worse still, it says to me that all the righteous deeds I have been trying to do are not righteous. All the Sabbath-keeping, all the tithe paying, all the missionary work, all the preaching, all the Bible work—none of these are righteousness. If Christ must be your righteousness, then all of your righteousness is nothing. We must admit that we do not hear much about this. The reason is that preachers do not like to talk about it. The reason we preachers do not like to talk about it is because it condemns us as well as you. No one can escape, for it does not make any exceptions, except for Jesus.
We like to talk about the positive aspects of justification by faith—how Christ is my righteousness, how righteousness is a free gift, imputed and imparted to me; but we almost always leave out the part about laying my glory in the dust. Many just do not like it. But we cannot teach Christ our righteousness and justification by faith without putting this in. We have been trying to do it for a long time, and all we are doing is tickling our ears and not changing our hearts.
You can be as lost teaching and believing Christ our righteousness as you can by being a legalist and a Pharisee. There were some pretty prominent people in the 1888 movement (and afterwards) who believed this doctrine and yet who are lost. The two most prominent men, Jones and Waggoner, went out, not because they were wrong about the subject, but apparently they got lost some place, didn’t they? This is why people warned me that this is a dangerous subject.
The devil would like us to distort this subject. Why? Because when Christ our righteousness is correctly taught and preached, it deprives me of all that past righteousness that I thought was my ticket to heaven! When I almost had heaven in my grasp, some preacher comes along and tells me I am not going to make it because I do not have any righteousness of my own. I must have the Lord’s righteousness to be saved. Therefore, our natural inclination will be to omit this from the subject, and only talk about the positive aspects.
When those men whom Ellen White called the “leading brethren” listened to Jones and Waggoner talk about this, they cringed to imagine themselves standing in the pulpit before the audience that had literally thought that they were faultless. Church members do often expect our ministers and leaders to be faultless; and I am amazed at how many young people think that preachers are a different order of being. When they discover we are not, they are greatly let down and almost depressed. How can we follow such failing leaders, they ask?
Ministers and church leaders have a terrible hang-up about this subject because we have to put up a façade to please the members. Imagine some well-known church leader in 1888 standing up and saying, “Brethren, I am sorry but I have to confess that I have been a very selfish man, a very proud person.” That never happened. Some leaders feared that the people thought they were too perfect; and the people would wonder how that person ever got into such a high office. They would feel like they had been deceived. So those leading brethren imagined themselves being castigated and evicted by the members of the church—if they confessed their weaknesses and sins. Would you be big enough to do that? There were not many who were big enough then, and there are not many who would today. That is why we do not have altar calls in most of our churches anymore. That is why we do not require people to come down front and give their heart to Christ. That is degrading to some people, not elevating. Why do you require them to do that?
The correct preaching of justification by faith intimidates people, at least at the beginning. The Bible teaches us that we must be righteous. The teaching of justification by faith says that we are not righteous, and if I am not righteous, I do not satisfy the Bible requirement. Therefore, I am a condemned, lost soul. That is the negative side of it. It turns people off when we preach the truth about justification by faith.
The Jews had the same problem. “For they, being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” Romans 10:3. This ignorance was willing. They learned about the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, but they rejected it. They were seeking to establish their own. Therefore they did not submit themselves to His. The next verse tells us “For Christ is the end [the fulfillment] of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.” To those who believe that Christ is their righteousness, He is the fulfillment of the law for them. But if I am seeking to establish my own righteousness— even just a tiny bit of my own righteousness—will I ever accept His? It is impossible.
Somehow there must come an awareness of my condition before I will ever look for righteousness elsewhere. As long as I am satisfied with my own righteousness, or any portion of it, I will never seek righteousness from Him, because I am content. If my Sabbath-keeping is good enough for me, if my tithe paying is good enough for me, if my work for the Lord is good enough for me and I am satisfied with it (rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing), I do not have need of His righteousness. I already have it, I have already attained. I can go to church every Sabbath and go home feeling very happy and content thinking I have got it made. I think that I literally do not need Christ as my righteousness. And if as a pastor I tell you that you do need it, many would say, “Why are you criticizing me? I am just as good as you are [and you are]; and therefore what right do you have to tell me I am not righteous?” We can rise up on our high horse and be intimidated by the whole thing, and go along accepting only our own righteousness. You would be amazed at how easily we can do this. We just automatically fall into this rut and go our own way, thinking we are not that bad and do not have to worry about any other righteousness. I have the truth, and I have been following it, have I not? So as far as I am concerned, that is righteousness, and that is good enough.
We like anything that elevates self, but we dislike anything that depreciates self. Nowadays preachers like to talk about “self worth.” It has a nice ring to it. You are somebody. Be proud of yourself. We talk about self-love, and we take that marvelous text “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and conclude that if you do not love yourself you cannot love your neighbor. And we say, “Oh, goody! I always wanted to love myself, and now I am told it is alright.” We have sensitivity sessions where we discover that the things we feared about ourselves, other people have, too. And since they are not afraid of them, why should I be? Maybe I am not so bad after all. We like all these things that enhance self, but don’t tell us any more about the things that depreciate self.
Jones and Waggoner did not avoid the negative side of Christ our righteousness. In fact, Waggoner made it very prominent. Here are a few statements he made to the not-so-appreciative crowd there in Minneapolis. He used several texts from the Psalms. “When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers; the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; what is man, that Thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that Thou visitest him?” “My heart was hot within me; while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue. Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, which it is; that I may know how frail I am. Behold, Thou hast made my days as an hand-breadth; and mine age is as nothing before Thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity.” “Put them in fear, O Lord: that the nations may know themselves to be but men.” “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.” Psalms 8:3,4; 39:3-5; 9:20; 146:3.
Ecclesiastes 3:19,20 is another text he dwelt upon. “For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast; for all is vanity.”
There were two texts from Isaiah. “All nations before Him are as nothing; and they are counted to Him less than nothing, and vanity.” “The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever,” Isaiah 40:17; 40:6-8. All of these verses were put into Waggoner’s preaching of justification by faith. He said these texts show that God is everything, and that man is nothing.
Before I chase you away, I must pause and say that in all of the preaching by Jones and Waggoner about the nothingness of man, they were always pointing out that God loved man and counted him so precious that He gave for man the most valuable thing in all heaven—the Lord Jesus. And the reason why sinners are valuable is because of the price paid for them, and because originally they were made in the image of God. It is not because we are so good, but rather because of what God made us in the beginning, and because of what God thought about us when He gave Jesus for us. It is God’s estimation of man that makes us good and valuable, not our estimation of ourselves. In Christ we are valuable. In ourselves we are nothing.
You need to ponder for a long time that we, like the flowers and grass, are nothing. We do not worry when a blade of grass or a flower dies. It is here for a short while and then gone. Our goodness is like flowers that are here for a few days, and then gone. Can you put your trust in that? No, of course not. We must put out trust in something far better than that.
Waggoner also used some New Testament texts. “I am the Vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.” John 15:5. “For I know that in me dwelleth no good thing.” Romans 7:18. Can you imagine the apostle Paul, who did so much for the Lord at all times, saying this about himself?
Paul also wrote in Philippians 3:8 that he counted “all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” Those things included monetary loss, losing his position in the Sanhedrin, and the prestige he once held amongst his brethren; but there was something else that Paul lost. He said he was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. A Pharisee is proud of his own righteousness. Paul had to discard his own righteousness. Paul had to look upon himself as having nothing but filthy rags, in and of himself, prior to the time of his conversion. Paul is talking about the willing death of self. What is good in self that it should be enhanced, or fostered, or that you should take credit for?
I have had people say to me, “Elder Lehman, you do terrible things to us. All my life I’ve looked forward to some kind of success or achievement, and now you come along and with one swoop you wipe me out and say I cannot have it.” This was not my idea. I did not invent it. It has always been in the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. Friend, if we have missed it, we have been deceived, and we have grossly neglected the things that will get us to the kingdom. These days I fear we are willingly neglecting some of these things. We keep hoping that there is some other way that we can circumvent the death of self, that some way we can have self and Christ as our righteousness at the same time. We keep hoping and praying that some magnificent pastor will come along who has deciphered the Bible correctly and can show us how to have both. Or perhaps someone will write a book that says we can have both, and that will allow self to be inflated all it wants, yet still have the righteousness of Christ.
Only needy souls will ever plead for the righteousness of Christ. Only those who see themselves as unrighteous will sense a need for that. Only the ones who hunger and thirst for righteousness will request it. As long as you are content for self to do what it wants to, and call that righteousness, you will never hunger and thirst after His righteousness. Self must be cast into the dust. This is the beginning point for true preaching of justification by faith—the laying the glory of man in the dust, which is the work of God, and not the work of the preacher or anyone else. It is the work of God. He does it, which is a good thing for us; and we must accept it.
When the children of Israel came out of Egypt, they had many distortions of the truth. They lived in a heathen land where they had come to believe that God was angry with them, and that they must somehow appease Him and court His favor. They attempted to become righteous in their own energy and works. The Lord had to change that attitude. I sense that today He has the same job to do with many of us. The Lord gave them something called the old covenant, but they could not be saved under the provisions of that old covenant. God gave them that covenant to teach them lessons that they must learn, or they would never need Him. They would always be content in their own ways and in their own righteousness.
Ellen White explained the old covenant and why God gave it to the nation of Israel at Sinai. “Another compact—called in Scripture the ‘old’ covenant—was formed between God and Israel at Sinai…The Abrahamic covenant…is called the ‘second,’ or ‘new,’ covenant….But if the Abrahamic covenant contained the promise of redemption, why was another covenant formed at Sinai? In their bondage the people had to a great extent lost the knowledge of God and of the principles of the Abrahamic covenant….Living in the midst of idolatry and corruption, they had no true conception of the holiness of God, of the exceeding sinfulness of their own hearts, their utter inability, in themselves, to render obedience to God’s law, and their need of a Saviour. All this they must be taught [emphasis supplied]. God brought them to Sinai; He manifested His glory; He gave them His law, with the promise of great blessings on condition of obedience….The people did not realize…that without Christ it was impossible for them to keep God’s law…Feeling that they were able to establish their own righteousness, they declared, ‘All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient.’ Exodus 24:7….yet only a few weeks passed before they broke their covenant with God, and bowed down to worship a graven image….now, seeing their sinfulness and their need of pardon, they were brought to feel their need of the Saviour….Now they were prepared to appreciate the blessings of the new covenant.” PP 371,372.
God gave the old covenant to teach His people some crucial lessons. In the process of learning those lessons, they “were prepared to appreciate the blessings of the new covenant.” Many today need to be taught those same lessons. They essentially come into the church under the old covenant. They hear the law and realize that it is good. They vow to keep it (go read your baptismal vows). Yet soon they realize that they cannot keep it in their weak flesh. So this next quote applies not only to the ancient Israelites, but to modern Israel as well: “Before there could be any permanent reformation, the people must be led to feel their utter inability in themselves to render obedience to God…While they trusted in their own strength and righteousness, it was impossible for them to secure the pardon of their sins; they could not meet the claims of God’s perfect law, and it was in vain that they pledged themselves to serve God. It was only by faith in Christ that they could secure pardon of sin and receive strength to obey God’s law. They must cease to rely on their own efforts for salvation, they must trust wholly in the merits of the promised Saviour, if they would be accepted of God.” PP 524. That is good news. We often do not like its implications, but it is good news.
Keeping these quotes in mind, look at these words from the gospel prophet. “Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished [no more strife, no more struggle, no more battling], that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” Isaiah 40:1,2. Why does He say that? When Christ is your righteousness, what about the struggles? What about the wars? What about the battles? When Christ becomes my righteousness, the struggle to become righteous in myself ceases. The warfare stops. I am righteous only in Christ, never in myself. He is my righteousness. The struggle, the warfare, stops the instant I accept Him as my righteousness, as my justification. “Her warfare is accomplished…her iniquity is pardoned.” Therefore, “speak comfortably to her.” You can take it easy now, for the warfare is over. Comfort the people with Christ our righteousness. You do not have to struggle to attain righteousness. In Christ you have attained. In Christ you have achieved. He is our victory. He is our success. He is the victor for all humankind. He is our King, and in Him we are accepted. We must cease to rely on our own efforts for salvation, and must trust wholly in the merits of the promised Savior, if we would be accepted of God.
“Come with humble hearts, not thinking that you must do some good work to merit the favor of God, or that you must make yourself better before you can come to Christ. You are powerless to do good, and cannot better your condition. Apart from Christ we have no merit, no righteousness. Our sinfulness, our weakness, our human imperfection make it impossible that we should appear before God unless we are clothed in Christ’s spotless righteousness. We are to be found in Him not having our own righteousness, but the righteousness which is in Christ.” “The righteousness of Christ is presented as a free gift to the sinner if he will accept it. He has nothing of his own but what is tainted and corrupted, polluted with sin, utterly repulsive to a pure and holy God. Only through the righteous character of Jesus Christ can man come nigh to God.” 1SM 333,342.
This next quote is one to be treasured: “None but God can subdue the pride of man’s heart. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot regenerate ourselves. In the heavenly courts there will be no song sung, To me that loved myself, and washed myself, redeemed myself, unto me be glory and honor, and blessing and praise. But this is the keynote of the song that is sung by many here in their world. They do not know what it means to be meek and lowly in heart; and they do not mean to know this, if they can avoid it. The whole gospel is comprised in learning of Christ, His meekness and lowliness.” TM 456.
This subject is not a difficult one to understand, but it is a difficult one to accept. The proud heart rises up against it. A man in his late sixties who was a member of my church comprehended the thoughts of all this in a sermon I gave one Sabbath. He was usually a talkative man, but that day he was as silent as could be. At home while eating Sabbath lunch, he sat sullenly at the table with his wife and a lady who was a resident in their home. He did not touch a bite of food although his wife was an excellent cook. He just sat there and moped. After ten or fifteen minutes, he finally uttered, “If that preacher is right, everything I’ve been doing for the last forty years is no good.” The two ladies, like a chorus that had rehearsed for years, responded, “That is right!” If you had hit him in the head with a ball bat, it would not have hurt as much.
That man literally did not speak for six straight weeks. He could speak, but he did not. After prayer meetings he would usually hang around outside and talk to everyone. He was an elder in that church. He had been after his son for over twenty years to go back to church. The son told me later that for some strange reason his dad had stopped nagging him. The man was in absolute misery. It was complete torture for him, night and day. He was distressed, frustrated, confused. He was completely upset, because he had lost his ticket to heaven; but it was a supposed ticket that would never get him there. His dear wife, who loved him very much, had longed for the day when he would discover that all his righteousness is as filthy rags. For years he had treated her like many legalists and self- righteous people treat others who do not live up to their standards.
By observing others and myself, I have found that when you discover the negative side of justification by faith, it can be a most unpleasant experience. Some hang on the fence, vacillating back and forth. The Lord very patiently and kindly tries to comfort us, tries to help us make a decision. But until we turn our backs on vile self, we can never have Christ as our righteousness. I do not care how well you know this topic or how well you can teach it, or how much you say you believe it; until we turn our backs on self, Christ is not all in all, and we really do not need His righteousness. Ours is good enough.
The Lord wants us to have an experience where Christ is supreme, where He is unto us both salvation and righteousness. When Seventh-day Adventists in all walks of life become filled with the glory of this subject, when they make their decision for Jesus completely as their righteousness, as well as their Savior, the work will be finished in a hurry. We will see revivals everyplace. And then the Lord Jesus can say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
May God help us to realize that the only thing we are going to lose is something very bad, which is sinful self; and that the Giver of every good and precious gift will take away no good thing from us. He will only take away the bad things. May we trust Him and look to Him for our righteousness, for this will make us extremely happy, and we will find tremendous comfort. “Speak ye comfortably to My people,” the Lord says.