am tempted o f God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man” (James 1:13). The Adventist Christ is not the Christ o f the Bible, who said when He was here upon the earth: "Which o f you convinceth me o f sin?” (John 8:46.) Dr. C. I. Scofield had this to say: "Were the teaching of the Seventh-day Adventist church true, we would have a monstrosity— deity inheriting a sinful nature. If this could have been so, there could have been no sinless sacrifice, no hope for sinners, no Saviour.” True, the Father allowed the devil to tempt Christ, and while it was a bona fide temptation "in all points like as we are,” yet there was never any risk involved for there was nothing in our holy, spotless Saviour to respond to Satan’s solicitations. T his Adventist conception that Christ obtained vic tory over His sinful nature in the same manner that we do comes very close to making Christ just what the Christian Scientists have made of Him— just a "wayshower,” not a Saviour at all. L. A. Wilcox, editor and prominent Adventist of the early days, wrote in The Signs o f the Times, March 1927: "In His (Christ’s) veins was the incubus o f a tainted heredity, like a caged lion, ever seeking to break forth and destroy. Temptation attacked Him where by heredity He was weakest—attacked Him in unexpected times and ways. In spite of bad blood and inherited meanness, He con quered ’ (ital. are mine). Again this same author stated in the December 1928 issue o f The Signs o f the Times, "Jesus took humanity, with all its liabilities, with all its dreadful risks o f yielding to temptation.” I want to tell you, my friends, that at no time was there any possibility that the Son of God would fall into sin, or fail to accomplish our salvation. Back in the Garden o f Eden the Father had promised: . . it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Gen. 3 :15). The prophet Isaiah spoke long before Calvary as if it were an accomplished fact, as it was in the mind o f God: "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement o f our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:5). In Revelation 13:8 we read that He was "the Lamb [o f God] slain from the foundation o f the world.” In His High Priestly prayer before He went to the cross, Jesus said, "I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do” (John 17:4). Shortly after that He cried on the cross, "It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost” (John 19:30). Mrs. White could not have been more mistaken than she was when she wrote in Desire o f the Ages, p. 49: "Into the world where Satan claimed dominion God permitted His Son to come, a helpless Babe, subject to the weakness of humanity. He permitted Him to meet life’s peril in com mon with every human soul, to fight the battle as every child of humanity must fight it, at the risk of failure and eternal loss” (ital. are mine). No wonder the Adventists are never sure o f their salva tion, with that conception of the Lord Jesus Christ. Seventh-day Adventism and Salvation It is not surprising to find after these revelations of their dealings with Christ personally that Adventism should
be in error in their understanding of the way of salvation. It is the logical outcome of lack of trust in a perfect Saviour. It is here that this cult is so deceptive. They do not tell the complete story of their doctrines in the writings they first distribute to inquirers or in their radio broadcast The Voice o f Prophecy. But when one searches very far into their basic teachings, he finds they do not hold an evangeli cal position at all in relation to salvation. In the first place, they do not believe in salvation by faith alone. Here is the definite statement: "The . . . dangerous error is, that belief in Christ releases men from keeping the law of God; that since by faith alone we become partakers of the grace o f Christ, our works have nothing to do with our redemption . . . The condition o f eternal life is now just what it always has been . . . perfect obedience to the law o f God” ( Steps to Christ, pp. 65, 67; 1908 ed.; ital. are mine). The answer to this is found in Ephesians 2 :8 ,9 : "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of your selves; it is the gift of God; Not o f works, lest any man should boast.” Mrs. White declared: "The desire for an easy religion • ••has made the doctrine o f faith, and faith only, a popu lar doctrine . . . the testimony o f the Word o f God is against this ensnaring doctrine o f faith without works” (The Great Controversy, p. 472; 1911 ed.). This "ensnaring doctrine” appears in the Word o f God. The entire books of Galatians and Romans are built upon it. We quote only two passages: "Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by the law is the knowledge o f sin. "But now. the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness o f God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe” (Rom. 3:20-22). "But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not o f faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them” (Gal. 3:11, 12). T T 'T ’ nder the lens o f Holy Writ, Adventism is found I to utterly repudiate the doctrine o f salvation by I grace through faith in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ alone. Theirs is a salvation by works, by keeping the law. Their criticism of evangelical Christians for not regard ing the law o f Moses as they do is based upon a willful ig norance of the true Christian position— that having be lieved upon the Lord Jesus Christ, we seek to please Him by our lives and works and service, not as a means of sal vation. That is the law o f the spirit o f life in Christ Jesus. We cannot save ourselves by anything we do. He did it all for us on Calvary. But every born-again believer loves his Saviour, and his greatest joy is to walk worthy of his calling as a Christian. There is no disregard on the part of real believers of the exhortations o f the Word of God to walk in holiness, in separation from the world and to be about the Father’s business without ceasing. The Adventist cannot have real assurance of his salvation if he believes it must be by his own works. We read again in Galatians 5:4: "Christ is become o f no effect unto you, whosoever o f you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.” MORE ^
APRIL, 1955
17
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker