A Misunderstood Teaching of the Church

RIGHTEOUSNESS BY FAITH

 In Seventh-day Adventist terminology, the instantaneous experience of conversion through faith in Christ, often spoken of as “justification by faith,” and the lifelong experience of Christian living, also through faith in Christ.

Seventh-day Adventists believe that the new birth, important as it is, is only the beginning of a lifelong experience of growing up into Christ, of conforming one’s life, point by point, to the perfect example set for the Christian in the life of Christ. The Seventh-day Adventist emphasis is on the fact that the same Christ who saves a person through his or her exercise of faith will also enable that person to develop a Christian character, likewise through faith; that righteousness by faith in Christ is a continuing process. SDA teaching clearly recognizes and stresses that the ability to live a Christian life comes from God, not from our own works or from compliance even with God’s moral law.

Righteousness by faith has been a doctrine of SDAs since their beginning. In 1852 James White declared: “Those who represent Sabbathkeepers as going away from Jesus, the only source of justification, and rejecting his atoning blood and seeking justification by the law do it either ignorantly or wickedly” (Review and Herald 8:24, June 10, 1852).

While this was the accepted view of early Sabbathkeeping Adventists, a study of early Adventist publications reveals little discussion of the subject. This was because of the emphasis on unique denominational beliefs. This relative silence on the subject of righteousness by faith reflects the firm acceptance of all early Seventh-day Adventists with respect to this fundamental Christian belief.

In 1874 the newly established Signs of the Times published a list of the “Fundamental Principles” of the church. This list declares that “regeneration or conversion” is “the special work of the Holy Spirit,” following “repentance and faith.” A broad concept of faith is reflected in the following statement: “We are dependent on Christ, first for justification from our past offenses, and, secondly, for grace whereby to render acceptable obedience to his holy law in time to come” (Signs of the Times 1:3, June 4, 1874).

The Signs of the Times reflects an increasing editorial interest in the subject of righteousness by faith that reached a climax in the mid-1890s.

Ellen White, who had experienced conversion in the Methodist Church, stood for a strong evangelical emphasis, as did her husband. In 1875 she wrote: “Christ perfected a righteous character here upon the earth, not for His own account, but for fallen man. His character He offers to man if he will accept it. The sinner, through repentance of his sins, faith in Christ, and obedience to the perfect law of God, has the righteousness of Christ imputed to him; it becomes his righteousness, and his name is recorded in the Lamb’s book of life” (3T 371).

Speaking of the conversion of John Wesley, in her book The Great Controversy, she says: “He continued his strict and self-denying life, not now as the ground, but the result of faith; not the root, but the fruit of holiness. . . . Wesley’s life was devoted to the preaching of the great truths which he had received—justification through faith in the atoning blood of Christ, and the renewing power of the Holy Spirit upon the heart” (1888 ed., p. 256).

These passages reflect the basic theme of Ellen White’s teaching throughout her life.

During the 1880s a few church leaders, including Ellen White, sensed a growing lack of SDA preaching on themes related to righteousness by faith. Continued emphasis on the unique Seventh-day Adventist doctrinal positions had crowded out what was the basic teaching of the gospel. This question became an issue at the General Conference session held at Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the fall of 1888. At this meeting E. J. Waggoner, editor of the Signs of the Times, gave a series of sermons on the law and the gospel. Parallel to these sermons was a series of discourses by Mrs. White in which she discussed at length the importance of a clear understanding of righteousness by faith. In one of her sermons she commented as follows on Waggoner’s topic—the relation between the law and the gospel: “There is no power in the law to save or to pardon the transgressor. What then does it do? It brings the repentant sinner to Christ. . . . The law points to the remedy for sin—repentance toward God and faith in Christ” (MS 17, 1888, p. 2).

Those at the conference of 1888 who sensed most clearly the need for increased emphasis on righteousness by faith were Ellen G. White, E. J. Waggoner, and his fellow editor, A. T. Jones. There were those who did not share their concern. Waggoner and Jones were relatively young men, and were considered enthusiasts by some of the older men. Some feared that this emphasis on faith might weaken the biblical doctrine of the importance of obedience. Misunderstanding, opposition, and division cloud the record of that meeting. However, many who were reluctant to accept this new emphasis in 1888 later changed their viewpoint. Some continued for a time to oppose it.

After the meeting was over, Ellen White, Waggoner, and Jones traveled from Massachusetts to California, preaching the message of righteousness by faith to the people, by whom it was generally welcomed. An examination of SDA literature published from 1890 to 1900 indicates a great volume of material on righteousness by faith, including Ellen White’s The Desire of Ages, Steps to Christ, Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, Christ’s Object Lessons, and Patriarchs and Prophets.  Throughout these books is a strong evangelical emphasis well summarized as follows: “Our only ground of hope is in the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and in that wrought by His Spirit working in and through us” (SC 63).

The turn of the century found Seventh-day Adventists involved in a great foreign mission advance that necessitated an emphasis on organization. During the first two decades of the new century emphasis on righteousness by faith was less than it had been in the nineties. Concern over the matter was expressed anew in the 1920s by leaders such as Meade MacGuire, Arthur G. Daniells, Carlyle B. Haynes, and I. H. Evans. This renewed emphasis was a clear restatement of the principles so forcefully enunciated in 1888 by Ellen White and her coworkers, and it exerted a strong influence at all levels.

The Christ-centered ring of this preaching is illustrated by a statement of W. W. Prescott in 1929: “The message of the cross is the good news, the blessed truth, that God in Christ has so dealt with sin that it need not any longer be a barrier between us and God, that the hindrance to the most intimate fellowship with God has been removed, and that the gift of eternal life has been brought within our reach. A crucified and risen Christ has wrought deliverance from both the guilt and the power of sin for every believing soul and from the agony of Gethsemane comes the joy of salvation. What a wonderful gospel! What a compassionate Saviour!” (The Saviour of the World, p. 48).

The doctrine of righteousness by faith is set forth in the four Gospels and in the Epistles of Paul to the Romans and the Galatians. The miracles of Jesus provide object lessons of how men are saved by faith. Many of the parables teach righteousness by faith. The parable of the prodigal son, for example, illustrates the steps in redemption. The parable of the wedding garment is equally eloquent on this point. John’s emphasis is that belief brings life: “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name” (John 20:31).

Seventh-day Adventists believe that justification comes exclusively through faith in Christ. The concept that a sinner can become right, or just, before God by faith in the vicarious sacrifice of Christ is the very heart of the gospel. God accepts as His sons those who receive and believe in Christ (John 1:12–13; 3:3, 16), “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us” (Titus 3:5). Justification is by faith alone because it cannot be attained by works. “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8, 9). No one can be justified in God’s sight by works of law, but only by faith in the power of Christ to save an individual from sin and death (Rom. 6:23; Gal. 2:16). “The just shall live by faith” (Gal. 3:11). “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”; by faith we are “reconciled to God” (Rom. 5:1, 10). Faith in Christ releases a sinner from condemnation and makes it possible for that person to stand righteous before God (Rom. 7:24 to 8:4).

Seventh-day Adventists also believe that a person who has experienced justification by faith in Christ must continue to “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). Justification places a Christian’s feet on the pathway of salvation; sanctification is the process of walking along that upward pathway toward the perfection of Jesus Christ. The person who has experienced justification by faith in Christ will not be “conformed to this world,” but will be “transformed by the renewing” of his or her mind, as that individual discovers and applies to his or her life “what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” for him (Rom. 12:1, 2).

Paul spoke of his own experience in this respect as a pressing forward “toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14). A born-again Christian himself for many years, Paul declared that he had not “already attained,” nor was he “already perfect.” He was still earnestly “reaching forth unto those things which are before” and pressing “toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (vs. 12–14). This experience SDAs commonly refer to as sanctification, which is the work of a lifetime, in contrast with justification, which requires but a moment. A Christian undergoes the chastening of God, a process of discipline through which His sons and daughters attain to maturity in Christ (Heb. 12:5, 6, 11). In a moment of time, faith restores the believing sinner to peace with God, but a lifetime is required to grow up into the full stature of Christ (Eph. 4:12–15, 22, 24). At the same time justification must be maintained.

Seventh-day Adventist convictions on this facet of the gospel have been appropriately summarized by Carlyle B. Haynes in a pamphlet entitled Righteousness in Christ:  “Becoming a Christian, then, is not the acceptance of a body of teaching, nor a mental assent to a set of doctrines, nor believing the truth of the Bible in a mere intellectual way. It is not joining the church and partaking of the ordinances. It is entering into a new personal relation to Christ. . . . Without Him there could be no gospel. He came, not so much to proclaim a message, but rather that there might be a message to proclaim. He Himself was, and is, the message. Not His teachings, but Himself, constituted Christianity” (pp. 16, 17). See also Faith and Works; Law; Law and Grace; New Birth; Sanctification.