By Paul Penno : December 2009
We hear a lot about how after initial conversion to Christ, we must seek the second phase of salvation, which is sanctification. The impression is left that once Christ has launched us with the new birth, then we must do all we can throughout the rest of our life in pursuing holiness. Some evangelicals call this the second blessing theology. The initial phase of forgiveness and justification is Christ’s work, the next phase is our work for Christ.
This has been adopted into our circles with the 40 days of prayer with a specific methodology from evangelical sources.
What rejoiced Ellen White’s heart most in hearing the more mature Gospel presented in our 1888 history was the union of justification by faith with sanctification by faith. “I have had the question asked, “What do you think of this light that these men are presenting?” Why, I have been presenting it to you for the last forty-five years—the matchless charms of Christ. This is what I have been trying to present before your minds. When Brother Waggoner brought out these ideas in Minneapolis, it was the first clear teaching on this subject from any human lips I had heard, excepting the conversations between myself and my husband. I have said to myself, It is because God has presented it to me in vision that I see it so clearly, and they cannot see it because they have never had it presented to them as I have. And when another presented it, every fiber of my heart said, Amen.” [1]
What she heard was the unique understanding of SDAs regarding the sanctuary cleansing as justification by faith. The heavenly sanctuary can only be cleansed when the hearts of God’s people are cleansed through the atonement message.
She was asked, “What is justification by faith?” “Several have written to me, inquiring if the message of justification by faith is the third angel’s message, and I have answered, ‘It is the third angel’s message in verity.’” [2]
The third angel’s message is, “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Rev. 14:12). In other words, it is the sanctuary message.
Referring to the message of Jones and Waggoner she said: “This message was to bring more prominently before the world the uplifted Saviour, the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. It presented justification through faith in the Surety; it invited the people to receive the righteousness of Christ, which is made manifest in obedience to all the commandments of God.” [3] Again, justification by faith is the righteousness of Christ manifest in obedience to all the commandments, which is the sanctuary message. There is a union of justification with sanctification.
The evangelicals do not see this union because they do not understanding the sanctuary message. They want to keep justification and sanctification separate or distinct. They view justification as the work of Christ in the past when He died on the cross. Christ atoned for our sins. When you believe that perfect work of Christ, you are legally set free from sin.
However, there is no experiential reconciliation of the alienated heart with God through believing this doctrine. If Christ atoned for our sin, then, in the strictest sense of the word, atonement means reconciliation and harmony with sin. Sin becomes a separate entity from the sinner, which God is OK with now because of the cross. Justification legally takes care of all past, present, and future sinning.