Ever since the birth of the Christian church, and even long before that, Satan has been at work to nullify the gospel in one way or another. It matters little to him how this is done. If too much emphasis is given to one aspect of the gospel, or too little to another, the result is the same—the gospel is distorted and made of no effect.
For example, those who teach that the spiritual human nature of Christ was like Adam's sinless nature before the Fall have a tendency to stress the doctrine of justification by faith, and thus are in danger of undermining sanctification. They are sincerely attempting to restore the peace and joy of salvation which God's remnant has lost through an over-emphasis on the law and good works. But the practical result, in many cases, has been a lowering of the standards.
On the other hand, the "more insistent group" who hold to the view that in order to be our Example, Christ assumed the fallen, sinful nature with which all of us are born, generally emphasize sanctification by faith. The danger here is that they will undermine justification. They are sincerely trying to counteract the "new theology" (although it isn't really new at all), and return the church to "historic Adventism." But unfortunately, this group is preaching a subtle form of legalism akin to the legalistic errors into which the Judiazers side-tracked the Galatian churches.
It's my conviction that only through a correct understanding of the humanity of Christ, are we able to present the full truth of the gospel that God raised the advent movement to proclaim to the world. Ellen White described the 1888 message as "justification by faith ... its fruit is unto holiness," thus keeping both justification and sanctification in the forefront (Review & Herald, Sept. 3, 1889). To emphasize justification by faith without a balancing emphasis on sanctification, or vice versa, is to misrepresent "that most precious message" (Testimonies to Ministers, 91).
What can correct these unbalanced views of salvation and unite both camps within Adventism? Again, I believe the answer lies in a correct understanding of Christ's humanity and its relationship to the gospel.
Both parties agree that the eternal Son of God became man for our salvation. But they disagree about the kind of human nature He assumed. Those who take the pre-Fall view do so in order to uphold the sinlessness of Christ. "If Jesus shared our moral weakness, our bent toward sin," they argue, "He would be a sinner and need a Saviour Himself." Because they believe the very state in which humanity finds itself since the Fall comes under divine condemnation, they cannot agree that Jesus shared that state. Incidentally, this is the popular view of the Roman Catholic Church and most Protestant churches today.
The proponents of the post-Fall view assert that Christ assumed our fallen, sinful nature as we know it, the very nature that is in need of redeeming. In spite of this, however, He lived a perfect, sinless life and redeemed that fallen human nature at the cross. Unfortunately, many who hold this correct view go on to undermine the sin problem by insisting that our sinful nature does not make us sinners, that it is not a condemned nature until it consents to sin. They insist on this in order to counteract the argument of those taking the pre-Fall view, who believe that our sinful nature is what makes us sinners and that therefore it stands under God's condemnation.
The Bible, however, presents sin as a multi-phased problem and Christ as our Saviour from all aspects of the problem. The Bible uses a variety of words to define sin—some twelve different terms in the Hebrew Old Testament and five in the Greek New Testament. Each word emphasizes a different aspect of the sin problem. Jesus came to redeem humanity not just from one or two dimensions of sin, but from every one of them. And the only way I le could do that was to assume our sinful human nature that stood condemned and which needed redeeming. By His perfect life, sacrificial death, and resurrection, Christ fully rescued humanity from every aspect of sin. Thus He rose from the dead with a human nature that was redeemed from sin in every way as well. It was this glorified human nature that He took to heaven to represent us as our great High Priest.
If we are to fully appreciate this complete redemption in Christ, it is vital that we fully understand what constitutes the sin problem.
According to Scripture, a deliberate transgression against God's law is sin, as is the choice to live a life of lawlessness (see Romans 4:15; 1 John 3:4). Sad to say, many Adventists, especially those with a legalistic leaning, limit sin only to this act or choice. For them, sin is "the transgression of the law" (1 John3:4, KJV).
This limited definition of sin is often based on Ellen White's statement: "Our only definition of sin is that given in the word of God; it is 'the transgression of the law.' " (The Great Controversy, 493). Unfortunately, yet typically, those who use this quotation to support a limited definition of sin fail to read her full statement. The full statement reads: "Our only definition of sin is that given in the word of God; it is 'the transgression of the law;' it is the outworking of a principle at war with the great law of love which is the foundation of the divine government."
Clearly, Ellen White expands the definition of sin to include not only specific transgressions against God's law, but everything that contradicts God's selfless agape love. And this includes our very natures which are ruled by the law of sin or self, for they, too, are against the spirit of God's law and, therefore, are sin (see Romans 8:7).
Obviously, Scripture does not limit sin only to an act. This was the mistake the Jewish nation made, and we must not repeat it. For example, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus made it clear that a mental consent to a temptation is sin (see Matthew 5:27, 28; see also Romans 7:7; James 1:14; Proverbs 24:9). And according to the apostle Paul, unbelief or a deliberate rejection of a biblical truth is also sin (see Romans 14:23; see also John 3:18; 16:8, 9). Other definitions of sin mentioned in Scripture include neglect of known duties or opportunities (see James 4:17; 2:14; Luke 12:47; Matthew 23:23; 25:43-46), and doing the wrong thing or going against God's will out of ignorance (see Leviticus 5:17-19; Luke 12:28; 1 Timothy 1:13).
Even beyond this, our sinful natures, which we inherit from Adam at birth, make us sinners (see Romans 5:19, 20; Psalm 51:5; 58:3; Philippians 3:20, 21). Paul explains this in Romans chapter 7 by exposing his readers to the fact that the principle of sin resides in each of us, a force dwelling in our sinful natures which makes holy living, in and of ourselves, impossible. He actually refers to this as "sin that dwells in me" (Romans 7:17; see also verses 20-23; Matthew 23:27, 28; Luke 11:39; John 8:34). This presence of indwelling sin in each one of us is why Paul declared to the Ephesian believers that all humanity "were by nature the children of wrath" (2:3, emphasis supplied).
But if this is true, how could Christ assume our sinful nature that stands condemned—and yet remain sinless? This is a valid question and I will try to give a satisfactory answer later in this book (see chapters 12 and 15). At this point, my concern is that we honestly face the sin problem. We need to see its full extent so that we can appreciate the total solution God has provided. And that solution is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The view we hold regarding Christ's humanity will have a definite effect on the gospel we preach as well as on our own Christian experience and witness. For example, the so-called "evangelical gospel" proclaimed by some Adventist pastors, equates righteousness by faith only with justification. According to this gospel, Christ, in His sinless human nature, redeemed us only legally by His perfect life and vicarious death. Thus, the good news of the gospel is limited solely to a forensic righteousness that is imputed to the one who believes in Christ. In this view, sanctification is important, but it is not part of the good news of the gospel. It is not part of what Christ accomplished for us in His earthly mission; rather it is the believer's attempt to live a holy life, aided by the Holy Spirit and motivated by love for God's gift of justification.
But the precious message of righteousness by faith God brought to Adventism in 1888 went far beyond a merely legal or forensic redemption. It taught that in Christ's doing and dying, humanity was saved totally from sin—not just from its guilt and punishment. In Christ's holy history, justification, sanctification, as well as glorification were fully accomplished for fallen humanity (see 1 Corinthians 1:30: 6:11). This is the full gospel God raised the Advent movement to proclaim. According to this gospel, all Christian experience, including victory over sin, is based on Christ's finished work, the objective facts of the gospel. All three aspects of salvation—justification, sanctification, and glorification—constitute the good news of the gospel which we receive by faith alone (see Romans 1:17).
The emphasis of the 1888 message was that Christ assumed our sinful human nature, and that in this nature He both conquered and condemned the principle of sin (love of self) by His doing and dying. What He did, thus gives to all justified believers everlasting hope to live as He did and to overcome temptation and the flesh as He did (see Romans 13:14; Galatians 5:16; Revelation 3:21).
This complete gospel not only offers sinful human beings peace with God and full assurance of heaven now and in the judgment, but it also offers us total victory over the tyranny and power of the sinful flesh. A word of caution however! Such victorious living in the life of the believer has no merits and consequently makes no contribution to one's justification. Instead, it manifests the power of the gospel by revealing the self-sacrificing agape love of God in fallen human nature. This is the true fulfilling of the law (see Romans 13:8-10; Galatians 5:13,14). This is the mystery of godliness, "God was manifested in the flesh" (1 Timothy 3:16).
All human attempts to solve the moral degeneracy of our present selfish and wicked world have failed miserably. Therefore, reproducing Christ's character of unconditional, selfless love in the lives of Christians becomes the most important evidence of the gospel's power to save us from sin (see John 13:34, 35). Our present wicked, skeptical world desperately needs such a demonstration in the lives of Christians before the end comes. We live in an age dominated by the scientific method; people today demand clear evidence. Before they will accept the gospel's claim to be "the power of God to salvation" (Romans 1:16) they must see the evidence that it is an actual fact, not a mere theory. This is what Jesus was talking about when He said, "This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come" (Matthew 24:14, emphasis supplied).
This is why Ellen White identified the 1888 message of righteousness by faith with the three angels' messages of Revelation 14. The ultimate goal of this gospel message is to ripen the harvest (see Revelation 14:15) and produce a people who have the faith of Jesus and who demonstrate this fact by their selfless love for their fellow men. Such an experience is the true keeping of God's commandments (see Revelation 14:12; Romans 13:8-10; Galatians 5:13, 14).
In the 1888 message, the Lord actually gave His people the beginning of the latter rain and the loud cry. If they had fully received it, this message
would have lightened the earth with God's glory, culminating in the second advent. Such a gospel is far different from the popular evangelical gospel which satisfies only our egocentric concern to qualify for heaven.
At the Fall, not only did all humanity come under the condemnation of death in Adam (see Romans 5:12, 18), but our very nature was corrupted, sold into slavery to sin (see 2 Peter 2:19; John 8:34; Romans 3:9-12; 7:14). Consequently, since the Fall it has become impossible, apart from God's grace, for human beings to live holy sinless lives (John 8:34, 36; Romans 7:14-25). And therefore, "by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified" (Romans 3:20; see Galatians 2:16).
But what the law could not accomplish because of weakened human nature, God accomplished in Christ. Christ took upon His sinless, divine nature our fallen, sinful human nature, and legally saved all humanity by His holy history, His perfect life, and sacrificial death (see Romans 5:18). But even more, He also liberated fallen humanity from its slavery to sin by condemning the law of sin in the flesh (see Romans 8:2-4; John 8:32-36). Not only justification, but also sanctification is an integral part of the good news of salvation (see 1 Corinthians 6:11).
The good news of the true and complete gospel not only offers sinful humans a legal or forensic justification in Christ, but also total sanctification and glorification. Justification by faith not only makes effective in the life of the believer the legal justification Christ obtained for all humanity, but it also makes it possible for the believer to experience Christ's sanctified life and manifest His selfless love in this present evil world. And if that faith continues to the end, it will culminate in glorification at the second advent. "But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life" (Romans 6:22; see 1 John 3:8-11).
This was the essence of the 1888 message. This is the gospel, that "most precious message," that I believe God raised up the advent movement to proclaim to all nations as a witness before Christ returns to execute judgment. It is vital that we understand it and experience it. As long as we argue and attack each other over the issue of the human nature of Christ, God's purpose for this church will remain unfulfilled, and many will continue to go down into Christless graves.
Key Points in Chapter TwoThat "Most Precious Moment"