The book of Hebrews takes up the theme of Christian perfection in the light of the incarnation, atonement, and intercession of Christ Jesus.
“If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should arise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?….
For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh to God” (Heb. 7:11-19).
“The law made nothing perfect.” Law in this context refers to the old covenant system of sacrifice and offerings. It could not bring in perfection. It merely prefigured the perfection which would be ushered in by the new and better covenant.
In chapters 9 and 10 the writer to the Hebrews expands the thought of the limitations of the earthly types and shadows. He declares that they were only carnal ordinances which “could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience (Heb. 9:9-14). Even the great services on the Day of Atonement could not make the comers thereunto perfect” (Heb. 10:1).
By His sinless incarnation, perfect life and death (Luke 1:35; John 8:46), Christ did away with those sacrifices and offerings which were unable to perfect the worshippers; that through faith in the merits of His unblemished offering –His blood– He could forgive their sins, giving them a standing of perfection in Himself, and therefore perfection also of the conscience (Heb. 10:1-14).
In the fulness of time Christ appeared as the Head of the human race as our Substitute and Surety. His life and death accomplished the will of God (Heb. 10:9-10); His blood established the eternal covenant, (Heb. 13:20); establishing a perfection which made all the animal sacrifices obsolete. Notice:- “The law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God” (Heb. 7:19). Jesus has established a perfection by which we can draw nigh unto God. We do not draw nigh to God in order that this perfection might be established. No! No! The only way to approach a holy God is in perfection — in the perfection of the righteousness character of our Substitute and Surety. It was by the oath of God and His perfection that He was “made a Surety of a better covenant” (Heb. 7:22).
We go back in the book of Hebrews and see how God has established a perfection by which we can draw nigh to Him. Hebrews chapter 1 presents to us the exalted majesty of Christ’s divine Person. He is described as “the brightness of His (God’s) glory, and the express image of His person,” the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. Hebrews chapter 2 presents to us the true manhood of Christ. He assumed our flesh and blood and in all things partook of the substance and essence of human nature–“apart from sin.” or “sin excepted” (Heb. 4:15; singular, –sinfulness–).
“For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (Heb. 2:10).
“The law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God”
—— Heb. 7:19
Here is the first instance where the word perfect is used in the book of Hebrews. Christ stood at the head of the human race. By infinite suffering He was made that perfection which the law requires of all of us. God brings many sons to glory, not by making them the perfection required, but by making “the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” His total sinlessness of nature and of life, His unblemished, spotless offering of Himself to God is sufficient to bring many sons unto glory (1 Pet. 1:19). This is the perfection that we need in order to draw nigh to God. There is no other perfection in the universe. The perfection of the angel Gabriel would be far too inadequate. No wonder we have a better hope by which we can draw nigh to God.
Again in the fifth chapter, the apostle declares:-
“Though He were a Son, learned He obedience by the things which He suffered; and being made perfect, He became the Author (cause, margin) of eternal salvation to all them that obey Him” (Heb. 5:8-9). Christ is not the merely formal cause of our salvation. He is the concrete and active cause of it. He has not merely caused or effected it, He is, as His Name, “Jesus,” implies, our Salvation itself:- “Mine eyes have seen Thy Salvation.” “All flesh shall see the Salvation of God” (Luke 2:30; 3:6). Christ is here called “Salvation.”
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His substitutionary perfection not only designates Him as Captain, but Author of our salvation, and as seen, is our Salvation itself.
Again in Chapter seven, the apostle declares:-
“….but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is perfected for ever more” (Heb. 7:28. Greek).
His substitutionary perfection designates Him not only as Captain and Author of our salvation, but as our High Priest.
We come to the eighth chapter:-
“For every High Priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: therefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer” (Heb. 8:1-3).
“It is of necessity that this man have somewhat to offer.” Before Jesus could return to heaven to be our Intercessor at the right hand of God, He must first have something to offer. The law requires perfection. Jesus had to establish this perfection for us here on earth before He could return to heaven.
“But now hath He obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also He is the Mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, He saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah” (Heb. 8:6-8).
In the old covenant the people pledged themselves to satisfy all the law required of them (Ex. 24:3, 7). In their unbelief they took upon themselves the same obligations that were imposed on sinless Adam. Both the Adamic and Sinaitic covenants were obligatory covenants, with the obligations resting upon the recipient to fulfill. The “old covenant” was in the form of a contract between God and Israel mediated by Moses. But they fell far short of the infinite standard of perfection that the law and covenant requires for eternal life. It was an agreement without a Saviour, without any provisions for forgiveness of sins (Ex. 23:21; Jos. 24:19). The covenant in itself was good, but the people were sinful, the fault lay with them.
So God said, “I find fault with them.” God then, in fulfillment of His promise “confirmed before of God in Christ” to Abraham, took upon Himself the obligations of the covenant. He gives Jesus to stand in our place before the law “as a covenant of the people” (Isa. 42:6; 49:8), to do for Israel, that which Israel could not do for herself. The covenant promise was unilateral, it was contingent upon God alone, and needed no mediator, “for God is One” (Gal. 3:17, 20). It was given to Abraham as a promise (v’s 17-18), it was not added to anything, it was delivered by God Himself to Abraham without a mediator.
Christ therefore, fulfilled all the obligations and stipulations of the Adamic and Sinaitic covenants without any mediator between Him and God, so that we could have the promissory covenants (Eph. 2:12), the better or new covenant through Christ as our Mediator. The Lord cannot find fault with our Substitute. He is well pleased with Him, for in Him humanity is all the perfection the law and covenant demands. The verdict pronounced on all who are the Israel of God, by being in Christ by faith is, “No fault.” Every sincere child in spiritual Israel stands “without fault before the throne of God” through the eternal unbroken covenantal perfection of His great Head and Captain. In Christ he has fulfilled the conditions of eternal life:- “This do and ye shall live” (Lev. 18:5; Gal 3:12).
“And you, that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight” (Col. 1:21-22). “Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless* before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 24). *Without blemish.” Same word used as in 1 Pet. 1:19).
The apostle does not say that Christ will perfect God’s people. He declares that He has perfected them with an everlasting perfection. This perfection is in their great Captain. Yet it is their perfection because Christ is theirs, and they are perfect in Him. Thus the new covenant is faultless because the people are faultless, for their great High Priest is faultless. “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified” (Heb. 10:14).
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The efficacy of Christ’s intercession at God’s right hand rest in that which He perfected for us on this earth. “The bow of promise encircles our Substitute….He reverently presents at the mercy seat His finished redemption for His people” (Test. Ministers 21). On this basis He is able to “save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him” (Heb. 7:25).
We are inclined to think that the perfection which God requires of us is like the roof of the building. But according to the book of Hebrews it is the foundation of the whole structure. While the law made nothing perfect the bringing in of a better hope has established perfection, and in the boldness and confidence of this perfection we may draw nigh to God.
“For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified……Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holies by the blood of Jesus
By a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh;
And having an High Priest over the house of God;
Let us draw near with true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb. 10:14, 19-22).
The blood of Christ ratified the “everlasting covenant” (Heb. 13:20). In Christ God imputes to the believer the fulfillment of the obligatory or old covenant, which covenant contained the conditions for eternal life. The blood represents His life, for:- “The life of the flesh is in the blood, for the blood makes atonement by reason of the life” (Lev. 17:11, margin). It is on the basis of His perfection that He is our great High Priest:-
“For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is perfected for evermore” (Heb. 7:28. Greek).
The book of Hebrews is the greatest book on perfection in the Scriptures, but its main emphasis and focus is on the perfection of the man Christ Jesus, and not on the perfection of believers, except as by faith they stand in Him, and have His perfection imputed to them. The law of God is an infinite standard, therefore, it demands an infinite perfection, that could only be fulfilled on our behalf by an infinite Being. As the Person of Christ was infinite, all His works were infinite, fulfilling and satisfying an infinite law, and therefore were of infinite value with God. He fulfilled the law perfectly by both by His active and passive obedience. It is therefore, by and in His perfection that the believer stand perfect before God in an eternal unbroken covenant oneness of perfection:-
“That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they may be one in Us….
And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one:
I in them, and thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one” (John. 17:21-23).
SUBJECTIVE PERFECTION. There is also a subjective perfection mentioned in the epistle to the Hebrews– that is to say, a perfection that is required in the believer.
The first instance is in Hebrews 5:14:- “But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age.” The margin says “perfect.” The same word is used in 1 Cor. 14:20:- “Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.” The margin reads “perfect,” or “ripe age.” (See also Phil. 3:15). Again we read:- “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect (full-grown) man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13. margin). The word clearly signifies Christian maturity, spiritual adulthood in contrast to spiritual babyhood. “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrines of Christ, let us go on unto perfection” (Heb. 6:1).
This subjective perfection (maturity) is a settled, well grounded and unshakable faith in the perfection that has been ushered in by the Mediator of the New Covenant. It means, as Paul writes to the Ephesians, to “be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14). It means to have boldness and confidence to approach the throne of God through faith in the perfection of our Substitute, to know our rights and titles through Him, as well as our responsibilities. Of course, this faith can only be matured through trial, and through steadfastly obeying all the truth, by conflict, suffering and patience. We may attain this perfection or maturity only through “slow toilsome steps.” (See Ministry of Healing 451-457. 2 Cor. 3:18). The perfection which we have in Christ does not release us from the necessity of earnestly pressing on to Christian maturity; rather it motivates us on to maturity, His perfection is our ideal. The law is satisfied with nothing less; and we can be satisfied with nothing less. Therefore, we can never be satisfied with ourselves, but always and only find our satisfaction in Him, and by faith claim the promise:- “And ye are complete in Him, which the head of all principality and power” (Col. 2:10).
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SINLESS PERFECTION. There is also a sinless perfection which shall finally be the experience of all the saints. It is mentioned towards the end of the book of Hebrews.
“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Heb. 11:13).
“And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect” (Heb. 11:39-40).
All men are born with a sinful nature in consequence of Adam’s sin. They are therefore sinners before they commit any acts of sin. Nowhere does the Bible teach that God’s people can expect to have this sinful nature eradicated from their persons in this life (Ps. 51:5; 58:3; Rom. 3:9, 19; Gal. 3:22). We cannot escape the evidence of Romans 6, 7, 8, with Gal. 5:17, and 1 Cor. 15:50-57. The sinful nature of which we mysteriously partake during conception remains in the saints until Jesus comes; yet it does not reign in the saints, for by the Spirit God’s people continue to fight and mortify their sinful inclinations. Yet all must confess indwelling sin (Rom. 7:14-25). None are sinless (1 John 1:8). “All….continue to come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23. Literal tense).
It is not until Jesus comes that the “sting of death” which “is sin” is eradicated. It is God who gives us this final victory over the sin of our nature (1 Cor. 15:55-57).
The only way God’s people can be righteous or perfect in the sight of God in this life is by grace, through faith in God’s righteousness in Christ (Rom. 3:25, 28). For, “it is by the righteousness of One the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life” (Rom. 5:18).
As believers “we are not to be anxious about what Christ and God think of us, but about what God thinks of Christ, our Substitute. ‘Ye are accepted in the Beloved'” (2 Selected Messages 32-33. Eph. 1:6).
“For by one offering He has perfected forever them that are sanctified” (Heb. 10:14).
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PRE-ADVENT JUDGMENT.
The doctrine of the pre-advent judgment for the people of God is the one unique doctrine of the Advent Movement. It is the one original contribution to Christian doctrine which Adventism has given to Christian theology.
The message of the pre-advent judgment is the message that God has commissioned His people to proclaim to the world with a loud voice. While we can be graceful to God for blessing the proclamation of this truth all over the world, we must admit that the message of the pre-advent judgment has not really arrested the attention of the world. It has not really arrested the attention of the Christian Church. It has made no impact on a host of earnest Bible students who are scattered all through the religious bodies. Nearly all of those who have some knowledge of the peculiar doctrine of the “investigative judgment” regard it as further evidence that Seventh-Day Adventists are committed legalists who do not know the power and glory of the gospel of Christ and the Pauline-Reformation truth of justification by faith.
When Adventists extol the truth of justification by the righteousness which is of faith, we can cut all the ground from under the opposition if we show that the light of the third angel’s message lifts up the truth of justification by faith far higher than they have ever dreamed. Once Seventh-Day Adventists can convince honest Christians in this way, they will listen earnestly to the testimony about the Sabbath.
Now the question arises:- How can we do this? God has given us the key. Preach the pre-Advent judgment. But says one, “That is the very doctrine which has made these Christians believe we don’t believe in or at least seriously qualify justification by faith.” The problem has not been with the God given doctrine but with our method of presenting it. Let us therefore consider the gospel significance of a pre-Advent judgment.
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All Protestant scholars have had great difficulty handling the Biblical doctrine of a final judgment as it concerns the people of God. The Bible clearly declares two great facts about the judgment:- (1). That God will judge all men. (2) That He will judge them by their works.
Evangelical Christians have real difficulty with those Bible passages which declare that God will judge all men by their works. There have been a number of attempts by some of their best scholars to deal with judgment according to works in the light of justification by faith. They are on the horns of a dilemma. They hesitate to admit that there is a final judgment according to works for God’s people, for fear they admit the Roman Catholic premise that final salvation rests on works. This would mean that the Protestant principle collapses and Rome triumphs. If, on the other hand, they insist that salvation is solely by grace, they feel they have to contend that there never will be a final judgment for God’s people. Such teaching as the “secret rapture,” along with “futurism’s” final judgment after Christ’s 1000 years reign from Jerusalem on this earth are perfectly designed by Satan to answer their dilemma. The largest section of Protestantism takes this position, but by so doing they have opened wide the door to antinomianism.
Adventism alone has the answer to the dilemma which faces Protestantism. There are two divine certainties about the judgment:-
(1). God’s people must be judged by their works (Eccl. 12:13-14; Matt. 16:24-27; 25:32; 12:36; Luke 19:11-26; 1 Cor. 4:3-5; 3:13; 6:9; 2 Cor. 5:10; Gal. 6:7; 1 Pet. 4:17 etc.
(2). God’s people must be judged before Jesus comes: that is to say, while He is still a High Priest making intercession for them, for when He comes His reward is with Him (Dan. 7:9-14; Rev. 14:6-7; Zech. 3:1-7; T5. 472-475. Matt. 16:27; Rev. 22:12).
Now these two aspects of the judgment are paradoxical; but each side must be equally stressed. When judgment according to works is upheld, the law is upheld. When Christ’s intercession in the judgment is preached, the gospel is preached. The chapter on the Investigative judgment in Great Controversy 479-491 is a wonderful example on how to maintain the tension of law and gospel in the light of the judgment. The first section of the chapter deals with judgment according to works. The law takes hold of the reader as he faces the reality of the judgment. But if the chapter had closed with judgment according to works, no soul who had any sense of his own sinfulness could have any hope in view of the judgment. But when the law has done its work, that great chapter introduces the gospel in the setting of the judgment. Now we are given to see that we shall not be judged after mercy’s day is past. We shall not be judged after Jesus has stepped down from the throne of mercy. We shall not have our lives examined in judgment after He puts off His priestly attire and comes in kingly robes. Ah, no, we shall be judged while we still have an Advocate to plead our cause, to lift His wounded hands, to present His righteousness on behalf of every repentant, believing sinner. This puts a new complexion on judgment according to works.
No soul who rests in the blood of Christ in living faith can be lost. Christ will not lose one soul who really belongs to Him. None of the works of God’s children could endure the judgment of God if there were no High Priest presenting all in the atoning cleansing blood of sprinkling, and in the incense of His merits (Heb. 12:24; Rev. 8:3-4). It is only in Him that believers can stand in an eternal unbroken covenant oneness before His ark and testimony. They must stand in Him under the rainbows of the covenant (Rev. 4:3; 10:1). He is the only Man that can stand before the judgment seat of God (Dan. 7:9-10, 13). Believers go into judgment in Him (Phil. 3:9).
Although Jesus does not cover known or unconfessed sin, disobedience, nor neglect of known duties, He does makes up for every deficiency in the quality of their obedience owing to the defilement of their sinful natures tainting all with imperfection: He does cover the saints with the merit of His own divine perfection. He presents them as faultless and perfect in Himself (Rom. 7:14-25; Jude 24). He not only asks for pardon and justification full and complete, but for a restoration as if man had never fallen. Even more, He asks that His people be given a share in His glory and a seat upon His throne (Rev. 3:5; G. C. 484). In this light judgment is good news for God’s people. They are not as defendants in the dock awaiting trial in judgment, but they are like the plaintiff who not only knows he will win the case, but that he will get a resounding victory with heavy damages against the adversary. In this light we may know what the message means when it says:- “Give glory (praise, thanks, gratitude)…for the hour of His judgment is come” (Rev. 14:7).
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This same great truth is taught in the parable of Joshua and the Angel (Zech. 3:1-5). This whole chapter in Testimonies, vol. 5, pages 467-476, is a great classic of true Pauline–Protestant theology.
The parable is first used to describe what happens when a sinner is converted. Though he stands before the Lord in “filthy garments,” the Lord decrees that they be replaced by a change of raiment. This change of raiment is clearly defined by the writer as “the righteousness of Christ imputed” (T.5. 469; B.C. 4. 1178).
Then, after a whole lifetime of sanctification, the scene changes to describe God’s people called to give final account at the time of the judgment. And lo! what do we see? God’s people are still represented as being in ” filthy garments,” still confessing their sinfulness, still pleading for purity of heart! How can it be? Because the nearer they come to Christ, the more sinful they see themselves to be. When they first stood before the Lord in conversion their only hope was in the mercy of God. At the start of the Christian life, Satan tries to discourage them on account of their sinfulness. At the end, he is still trying to discourage them on account of their sinfulness. The only real difference is that at the time of the judgment they are more conscious of it. They start with repentance. They end with repentance.
Thus does this great chapter in Zechariah 3, and Testimonies Vol. 5. 467-476, establish the primacy of justification throughout the whole Christian life. The Christian life is “a continual earnest, heart-breaking confession of sin and humbling of the heart before Him (God)” (Acts 20:19; A.A. 561; C.O.L. 158-163). Some grow tired of this way home. They despise the mourner’s bench, and want to travel a more dignified way. But the eye of the Lord is upon the poor in spirit and those who mourn, and His ear is open to their cry. Out of much weakness they are made strong. Christ stands to plead their cause in judgment, as He has done during their life of faith. He gives them a change of raiment, which Test. 5. 469 has already defined as “the imputed righteousness of Christ.”
“But,” says one, “they receive that at conversion.” Yea, and they need it and receive it in the judgment too! There is just one difference. In the judgment it is granted to them eternally –“nevermore to be defiled.” By the decree of the Judge, they will be righteous in His sight forever.
“He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels” (Rev. 3:5).
LAW AND GOSPEL.
There is no doubt that the Spirit of Prophecy writings contain a lot of statements which say that God requires perfection. These statements will continue to be misused as long as we fail to go back to the foundation of Pauline–Reformation theology, which was a proper distinction between law and gospel. God’s Word comes to man in two forms — as law and gospel. The “sharp twoedged Sword.” The law is what God requires at the hand of man, i.e. be perfect etc. Everything that tells us what we should do, how we should live, what we must be, is law. On the other hand the gospel tells us what God gives us freely in Jesus Christ. In short, He gives us all that the law demands, “for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth” (Rom. 10:4). The purpose of the law was fulfilled in Him as a means of righteousness before God. He is the “fulfillment of the law for righteousness.” As seen, He is the fulfillment of the obligatory covenants:- “This do and ye shall live.”
Law and gospel must be preserved in proper tension so that the gospel does not weaken the power and authority of the law; nor must law be used to diminish the free gift of the gospel. If they are mingled so that the gospel dilutes the law of its full strength or the law dilutes the gospel of its promises, the message becomes poison. Christ knew how to used both cutting edges of the “Sword of the Spirit.” To the woman at the well He first used the law to bring conviction of sin, then He revealed Himself–the gospel, and she was converted. To the woman taken in adultery, He first used the gospel, “neither do I condemn thee,” then He used the law, “Go and sin no more,” and she was converted. To the rich young ruler, like the woman at the well, Christ gave the law, for his need was conviction of sin, but he refused to received such conviction and act upon it, so the gospel was not for him.
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In Romans, Paul’s major thesis on law and gospel, the law’s condemnation of man because of his sinfulness of nature is set forth in chapters 1 to 3:20; when conviction of one’s lost condition because of his sinfulness of nature has been fully dealt with, the gospel is presented; chapters 3:21 to 4:25. Then he starts to introduce the Spirit works in the life, which is not fully dealt with until chapter 8. Then again in chapters 12 to 15 he uses the law as a guide in the Christian life. In all his Epistles he deals with the gospel first, then, motivated by the good news, he tells believers what they must do by way of law, so as to become what Christ has declared then to be by imputation through the gospel.
The law, being an expression of what God eternally is, demands perfection. The conditions of eternal life is the same for us as it was for man in his sinless state — perfect obedience to the law, perfect unbroken covenant oneness. That divine standard must always be upheld so that people will never get the idea that God will make a compromise by accepting a lower standard which will meet man in his fallen condition.
The Spirit of Prophecy contains much law, and because of that it demands perfection in everything. Unfortunately, Protestantism has not preserved the proper tension between law and gospel. The demands of the law have been eclipsed by a wrong emphasis on grace, and consequently the gospel has lacked power in proportion to the weaken claims of the law. But in the Spirit of Prophecy the law once again receives full emphasis so that the stage is set for the full proclamation of the gospel.
All to often people have taken these Spirit of Prophecy statements which exalt the divine standard, and having separated them from the gospel, make it appear that Ellen White must have been the greatest teacher of perfectionism of all time. But since the statements are an expression of law, what else can they demand but utter perfection and holiness?
Yet when Ellen White’s view of gospel is considered, it is seen that she does not teach that our inward experience could be great enough to satisfy the highest demands of the law. Consider how law and gospel are contrasted in these two classic statements:-
“But that which God required of Adam in Paradise before the fall, He requires in this age of the world from those who would follow Him – perfect obedience to His law. But righteousness without a blemish can be obtained only through the imputed righteousness of Christ” (Review and Herald, 9-3-1901).
“Under the covenant of grace God requires from man just what He required in Eden – perfect obedience. The believing sinner, through His divine Substitute and Surety renders obedience to the law of God” (Signs of the Times, 9-5-1892).
Now if the first part (that is to say, the law part) of these two statements were separated from the gospel part, the writer may appear to be advocating perfectionism. But viewed as a whole, she takes the orthodox Pauline–Reformation position. The statements do not say that we can meet the demands of the law or the covenant by infused righteousness — for that would be advocating the Roman Catholic concept of perfection through infused grace.
“None of the Apostles and prophets ever claimed to be without sin. Men who have lived nearest to God, men who would sacrifice life itself rather than knowingly commit a wrong act, men whom God has honored with divine light and power, have confessed the sinfulness of their nature. They have put no confidence in the flesh, have claimed no righteousness as their own, but have trusted wholly in the righteousness of Christ.”
“None need fail of attaining in his sphere, to perfection of Christian character. By the sacrifice of Christ, provision has been made for the believer to receive all things that pertain to life and godliness. God calls upon us to reach the standard of perfection and places before us the example of Christ’s character. In His humanity, perfected by a life of constant resistance to evil, the Saviour showed that through co-operation with Divinity, human beings may in this life attain to perfection of character. This is God’s assurance to us that we too may obtain complete victory.”
“Before the believer is held out the wonderful possibility of being like Christ, obedient to all the principles of the law. But of himself man is utterly unable to reach this condition. The holiness that God’s word declares he must have before he can be saved, is the result of the working of divine grace, as he bows in submission to the discipline and restraining influences of the Spirit of truth. Man’s obedience can be made perfect only by the incense of Christ’s righteousness, which fills with divine fragrance every act of obedience. The part of the Christian is to persevere in overcoming every fault” (Acts of the Apostles, 561. 531-532. 1 Selected Messages 344. 1 Pet. 2:5).
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“Is that all. Only imputed righteousness,” do we hear one say? The word “only” utterly exposes the root of the problem and the frightful blindness and sinful corruption of the human heart. Here is the promise of not only eternal pardon, but a vindication and standing in God’s sight above the angels through the everlasting righteousness of Christ— nevermore to be anything but righteous as Jesus is righteous Himself in the sight of God. This is “eternal salvation” (Heb. 5:9), “eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:24), in an “eternal covenant” (Heb. 23:20), A salvation that aways was and will be, a redemption that has no beginning and end; an unbroken covenant oneness that always was, is, and shall be. It means that in God’s sight in Christ, we were never anything else but righteous, and never will be anything else but righteous; and never have been anything else but in an unbroken covenant fellowship with Him. “The eternal righteousness of Christ is placed to the account of every believing soul.” “The Lord imputes unto the believer the righteousness of Christ and pronounces him righteous before the universe” (1 S.M. 394. 392. Rom. 3:21 to 4:25). And this great salvation in all its incomprehensible magnitude is declared to be everlastingly ours in the verdict of the Judge of all.
In the light of this, how can we dither on about other things, running this way and that way after false prophets and false teachers, who have things to offer outside of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They may have much to offer from the “tree of knowledge” but nothing to offer of the leaves of the “tree of life.”
God has provided us an infinite treasure. He knows that our first father lost his inheritance, and we lost it in him. This time He places our treasure where no thief can break in and steal it, for it is in heaven, and in Christ. The time has not fully come to enter into this inheritance. But until that time comes, He gives us a down payment for the journey– the “first-fruits of the Spirit” (Rom. 8:23; Eph. 1:14), — or as in the allegory of Pilgrim’s Progress, some spending money along the way, all that we really need, all that we can use, all that it is safe for us to have.
What we have safely in our account is Christ’s imputed righteousness. It is an exceeding and eternal weight of glory, as infinite as the Eternal God. The visible reality of the gift to us right now, would blot us out of existence. Now this spending money along the way is imparted righteousness.
Thus it is that God’s people stand now and in the judgment, in the blessing of justification by the imputed righteousness which is of faith. Thus they continually stand in forgiveness of sin. But as for the actual blotting out of sins in the books of record, that is solely by faith. The saints simply take God’s word for it. In the time of trouble, they have no evidence for it except solely by faith. Satan does not even know (Great Controversy 618-619). The only solid thing God’s people have is that faith can say:- “It is God that justifieth” (Rom. 8:33). Angels unseen put the seal on God’s people. Satan does not see them do it. Neither do the saints (Test. 5. 475). It is put in their foreheads, where they cannot see it. What then are we left with? Justification by faith alone!
When the judgment hour message is presented in the light of the “everlasting gospel” (Rev. 14:6-7), presented in its proper tension of law and gospel (i.e. judged by works and judged by an interceding Saviour) men will fear God and tremble at His judgment seat; and at the same time they enter boldly by faith in the blood of Jesus.
“Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath (plagues) through Him” (Rom. 5:9).
“All who, before the universe of heaven, are adjudged to have, in Christ, endured the penalty of the law, and in Him fulfilled its righteousness, will have eternal life, they will be one in character with Christ” (Special Instructions Relating to Review and Herald Office, p. 20).
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“The sweetest melodies that come from God through human lips — justification by faith, and the righteousness of Christ — do not call forth from them a response of love and gratitude” (Test. 6. 426).
“Several have written me, inquiring if the message of justification by faith is the third angel’s message, I have answered, ‘It is the third angel’s message in verity'” (1 S.M. 372).
“There is not one in one hundred who understands for himself the Bible truth on this subject (justification by faith) that is so necessary to our present and eternal welfare” (1 S.M. 360).
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“Our churches are dying for the want of teaching on the subject of righteousness by faith in Christ, and on kindred truths” (Gospel Workers p. 301).
“The enemy of man and God is not willing that this truth (justification by faith) should be clearly presented; for he knows that if the people receive it fully, his power will be broken” (Christ Our Righteousness. p. 70).
