Sabbatismos
Perfection
Q: Is the alleged legalism in Ellen White’s writings inherent, or do people just read legalism into her writings?
A: Start reading her writings. Every Ellen White book contains legalism.
Q: What is the problem with believing that God enables believers to achieve character perfection here on earth?
A: Ellen White believes the righteous attain perfection by allowing the Holy Spirit to strengthen our self-control as we live in Christ; we are thus transformed in character
through our communion with Him.
Biblical references to perfection deal with imputed righteousness, meaning that we are considered perfect because Christ accomplished perfection for us as our substitute. Basically, the
substitutionary atonement covers our past, present, and future sins, and any doctrine of character perfection--even couched in the term "love"--is a denial of what Christ accomplished for us. You
see, character perfectionists at the most basic level must believe that Christ died for their past sins, and that at some point, they must free their present and future from all sin. That is so sad:
Christ has covered all.
Did the thief on the cross achieve character perfection before he died? Hardly! Had he been delivered from his cross, he would have sinned again. So is he safe to save? Absolutely,
because God transforms the character of believers.
Q: Is God’s law ultimately the law of love, and could we understand Ellen White’s emphasis on keeping the law as an emphasis on the universal law of love?
A: We believe Ellen White says the law is a law of love. Joe used to agree with your understanding of law---he found Alden Thompson's books particularly helpful in that respect. However, we now understand that "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness for all who
believe." The law was a manifestation of God's love, but it is not love. Therefore, the law can cease to govern the life of the Christian because the Christian is infused with the
principal of love.
God gave the law because of His love for sinful humanity who needed law as a schoolmaster to lead them to Christ. But the law itself is not love. The law is an emergency response to
sin. God IS love. And no, the law is not a transcript of His eternal character, as Ellen White claims. Ellen White taught the immutability of the law—particularly the ten commandment
law. I cannot accept the argument that Ellen White was referring to some eternal law of love when she repeatedly emphasizes law-keeping as essential for salvation.
Galatians 3 says being under the works of the law is a curse, and it also says "the law is not of faith." Gal. 3:19 actually says that the law was added because
of transgressions (denoting the beginning of the period of law), and it existed "till the seed [Christ] should come" (denoting the end of the period of law). See
Romans 4 & Romans 10 for more insights into law and the Christian life. The law is not love, and the law is not of faith. It is not a transcript of God's character. The law served its purpose for
believers by leading them to Christ, who then nailed it to His cross (Col. 2:13-15).
The problem with Ellen White is that she insists that law-keeping is essential for salvation. If one substitutes love for law, one discovers that love is essential for salvation. Isn’t it
still legalistic to obtain salvation through the works of love? Love is a by-product of salvation—it doesn’t get us salvation. We can never love enough to be “safe to save" (to
borrow a phrase from SDA theologian Graham Maxwell), but we can choose to ask God for the faith we need to be saved. Saving faith is just as much a gift of God as is salvation itself. We
could no more produce perfect love as we could produce perfect works. The only solution is acceptance of Christ's substitution of perfect love for our imperfect love.
Q: What do you do with Matthew 5:17-18, which teaches that not “one jot or one tittle shall . . . pass from the law”?
A: Christ’s statement is absolutely true: the law will remain unchanged until everything is fulfilled. While the law has clearly been set aside for believers (Rom. 10:4),
it remains in effect for non-believers (Rom. 4:14-15). Therefore, it will never be changed.
Interestingly, verse 20 states that our righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Why? Because New Covenant righteousness is not based on law-keeping (at
which the Pharisees were experts), but on faith. The law continues to expose the sins of unbelievers with a goal of leading them to Christ, “the end of the law for
righteousness to every one that believeth” (Rom. 10:4).
Print
Recommend this page