“New Theology” in Adventism

As I see it is summarised in this way:

Justification is seen primarily as a legal adjustment in heaven (i.e. objective salvation only or “counting right” only not “making right” as well).

Sanctification (or “perfection”) is me doing the best I can and God fills in the gaps. Hence sanctification becomes faith + works. It’s not part of salvation, it’s what happens “after you are saved.” Which begs the question, “what actually happens when you are saved?” The answer will be a change in legal standing (a narrow definition of “justification”). This results in a belief in imperfection until Jesus comes. (This is in contrast to descriptions of “dying to sin”, “crucified with Christ”, “not I that live, but Christ living in me”. God clearly calls for “perfection” in the Bible. I feel the reason “New Theology” proponents have difficulty accepting this Biblical position is because of how they define “perfection”.)

I am really reluctant to use the terms Justification and Sanctification and Perfection in this setting because they are quite strictly defined in various ways by different people. Thus they carry a lot of baggage – they are loaded. Baptist and Methodist theology have always rigidly separated Justification and Sanctification. Whereas in reality, they are probably simply two models (one legal, one ceremonial) of describing the same change!

This “New Theology” viewpoint naturally develops from a purely forensic/legal model of looking at the sin problem. One that comes through the Magisterial Reformation and influenced by Anselm, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin and Arminius (all of whom were concerned with some sort of debt owed to God which demanded some sort of price/payment/penance/punishment). It misses the fact that Adventist soteriology developed from a Radical Reformation basis and progressed far away from Lutheran and Calvinist views. Adventist “Righteousness by Faith” brought out by the 1888 controversy is radically different from the conventional Protestant Righteousness by Faith taught today.

In “New Theology”, Sin is primarily our status (it is our nature or we are in great debt or we are under a death penalty). And hence salvation is primarily a change of this legal status. The emphasis on choice, that sin is a product of our misuse of free-will, is lost in Calvinistic TULIP. As a result, we are “sinful because we are sinners” (wrap your head around that one), we can’t help it, we were born that way – it’s in our nature. God (almost) appears to be the enemy. After all it is He who has determined our legal standing as lost or saved. And he’s blaming us for a nature we can’t help!

This naturally leads to a belief that Christ had a completely “sinless nature” (i.e. He was not like us in every way, but without sin). “There needs to be something Christ had that we don’t have access to, otherwise why do we keep sinning? Jesus can’t have all of the faulty equipment we have (otherwise He’d need a saviour too). We don’t have a choice in the matter, we’re imperfect and will be until Christ comes.”

But we are not condemned because of faulty equipment. Christ was “tempted in every way that we are” (in our equipment) “yet he did not sin” (Heb 4:15; 1 Peter 2:22). Yet even on the cross, Jesus is described (albeit by His mockers) as “trusting in God” (Matthew 27:43). We are condemned because we allow our temptations and faulty thought patterns to make us distrust God (make God the enemy). That’s what makes us sinners. John emphasises (1 John 4:2; 2 John 7) that is important to believe that Jesus Christ came in the flesh (and you will never find “holy” or “sinless” flesh in the bible – “flesh” is always a description of the fallen human condition).

All God asks of us is trust. We don’t need new “equipment”. We need healing of the “equipment” we have. Look at how the bible describes this “renewing of the mind” Rom 12:2, 2 Cor. 4:16, Eph 4:23, Col 3:10, Titus 3:5 (a great list of verse: http://www.christinyou.net/pages/renewmind.html). There is a real subjective change of heart described by the Bible of the saved. A change of heart leads to a change of action. But it’s not I that live but Christ in me (Gal 2:19-20). God now works in me (Heb 13:20-21).

I believe you don’t have to take any of the “New Theology” views to arrive at a fully grace-based soteriology. I believe that perhaps a trust-healing model could negate the necessity to adopt “New Theology” to find assurance and a loving God.

John 15:3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

Jesus’ disciples hearts had become teachable. Their hearts now cleansed, trusted in God. Christ calls the “clean” before the Cross! He says they are clean because of the “word”! There is far more to salvation than a legal acquittal of charges (although that is a fair way to describe one aspect of salvation).

Here is a statement by E.J. Waggoner in Christ Our Righteousness p. 69

The taking away of the filthy garments [Zechariah 3:1-5] is the same as causing the iniquity to pass from the person. And so we find that when Christ covers us with the robe of His own righteousness, He does not furnish a cloak for sin but takes the sin away. And this shows that the forgiveness of sins is something more than a mere form, something more than a mere entry in the books of record in heaven, to the effect that the sin has been canceled. The forgiveness of sins is a reality; it is something tangible, something that vitally affects the individual. It actually clears him from guilt, and if he is cleared from guilt, is justified, made righteous, he has certainly undergone a radical change.