In the previous article, entitled, “Light in the Shadows,” we discussed the meaning and significance of the ancient sacrificial system as it came to be embodied in the Israelite sanctuary and its services. The sanctuary was a ritual parable whose function was to foreshadow the atoning death of the coming Redeemer and His priestly ministry in behalf of humankind.

Down through the centuries to Christ’s first advent, God intended for the light of the saving gospel of His Son to “shine out” from these shadow-types (cf. Heb. 4:1, 2; Isa. 56:6, 7). Unfortunately Judaism largely perverted its religious worship into a system of works. Just as Moses was forced to cover his face with a veil because the glory shining from it troubled the people, so the national perversion of the ritual prevented both Jew and Gentile from seeing and embracing the truth of God’s salvation (cf. 2 Cor. 3:7-18).

In this essay we will move from the shadow-type to the actual gospel itself—the doctrine of salvation in Christ. The light of the gospel is no longer confirmed to the “shadows” but has now come to be confirmed and realized by the actual incarnation, atoning death, and priestly ministry of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

I. Before Time Began: The Divine Secret

When God confronted the heathen Babylonians enmeshed in their idolatrous worship, He challenged their gods to demonstrate the attribute of foreknowledge as an evidence of their power and authority. “Shew the things that are to come hereafter,” He demanded through the prophet Isaiah, “that we may know that ye are gods” (Isa. 41:23). The failure of these so-called deities to do so underscored for Israel—always prone to adopt Babylonian manners—the utter futility of placing her trust in impotent idols.

By contrast, omniscience is one of the attributes of the true God of the Scriptures. Nowhere is His foreknowledge more lovingly operative than in those passages that drop hints about the “council of peace,” which at some point in eternity past formulated the plan of salvation.

When Adam and Eve through sin brought sorrow and death on the human race, the unsurprised Godhead did not speculate on the pros and cons of rescue or question the cost. Before time began, the rescue operation had been carefully devised by a loving and concerned Godhead. It was a divine secret, locked deep in the heart of the Deity.

In response to human disbelief and disobedience, divine Love disclosed to our first parents “the mystery, which [had been] kept secret since the world began” (Rom. 16:25). It was “the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory” (1 Cor. 2:7).

God had a knowledge of the events of the future, even before the creation of the world. He did not make His purposes to fit circumstances, but He allowed matters to develop and work out. He did not work to bring about a certain condition of things, but He knew that such a condition would exist. The plan that should be carried out upon the defection of any of the high intelligences of heaven—this is the secret, the mystery which has been hid from ages. And an offering was prepared in the eternal purposes to do the very work which God has done for fallen humanity.¹

It was grace—divine compassion toward undeserving sinners—that moved the Godhead to reach out to the fallen race before it even existed. Grace “was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,” the apostle Paul asserted (2 Tim. 1:9).

Let those who are oppressed under a sense of sin remember that there is hope for them. The salvation of the human race has ever been the object of the councils of heaven. The covenant of mercy was made before the foundation of the world. It has existed from all eternity, and is called the everlasting covenant. So surely as there never was a time when God was not, so surely there never was a moment when it was not the delight of the eternal mind to manifest His grace to humanity.²

We owe everything to grace, free grace, sovereign grace. Grace in the covenant ordained our adoption. Grace in the Saviour effected our redemption, our regeneration, and our adoption to heirship with Christ.³

The centerpiece of the plan was the substitutionary and atoning death of God the Son who (through the incarnation) was to become the representative head of the race—the second Adam. In this role the Saviour would bear the liability of the sins of the human family. “Ye know,” declared the apostle Peter, “that ye [were redeemed] with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you” (1 Peter 1:18-20).

In the councils of heaven, before the world was created, the Father and the Son covenanted together that if man proved disloyal to God, Christ, one with the Father, would take the place of the transgressor, and suffer the penalty of justice that must fall upon him.⁴

Sin not only brought its just penalty of death, but it also corrupted and weakened the inner nature. Man became enslaved to carnal impulses. The tyranny or power of sin in the life had to be broken as well as its penalty met. This necessary emancipation from sin’s enslavement would be accomplished by the indwelling Christ.

Writing to the Colossian believers, the apostle Paul again referred to “the mystery” which “had been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints.” In this passage the apostle emphasized a particular aspect of the plan: “God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:26-27).

This reference to Christ dwelling in the believer opens another window on the “council of peace.” The phrase intimates the role that the Holy Spirit would occupy in the redemption strategy. For it is by means of the Holy Spirit that Christ dwells in the life (see John 14:16-18). The Spirit transforms the wayward sinner, drawing him into such a close and tender bond of union with the Saviour that as a result, Christ seems to be living in him (John 3:3-8; Gal. 2:20).

The “council of peace” also determined the eternal destiny of the two “roads” the human family could take. Those sinners who agreed with God’s judgment on sin and accepted the gracious provisions for their redemption would be granted eternal life (Titus 1:2). Believers eagerly anticipate that awesome day when the righteous Judge will say: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:34).

In the agreement formulated by the Godhead, judgment was passed upon sin. The spirit of selfishness and rebellion is contrary to the loving nature of God. Since self-centeredness is incompatible with the best interests of created beings, the judgment of the Godhead upon all who would pursue and embrace it was separation and death. Only by the eradication of this rebellion and those who committed themselves to it could peace and harmony exist again in the universe. Thus, in the final judgment the sad words of sentence will be spoken to the impenitent: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41).

It is evident from Christ’s statement that it was never God’s purpose that any human being should be lost. It was the fate of the “devil and his angels” that was the focus. God designed the plan of salvation to give every child of Adam an opportunity to choose to follow Him, to elect redemption. “Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?” (Eze. 18:23). Those impenitent persons, however, who chose to identify with the archrebel of the universe would inevitably share in his final destruction.

The great summary statement on the decisions of the Godhead in the “council of peace” is found in Ephesians 1:3-12. The following is a brief analysis:

1. The basis upon which God would accept and save penitent sinners: “He hath chosen us in him [Christ] before the foundation of the world, . . . having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself,. . . he [God] hath made us accepted in the beloved [in Christ]” (vss. 4-6).

2. The status that God planned to bestow on penitent sinners: “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will” (vs. 5).

3. The transformation in character He proposed: “He hath chosen us in him. . . that we should be holy and without blame before him. . .” (vs. 4).

4. The reason penitent sinners could be accepted through a union with Jesus Christ: “In whom [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (vs. 7).

5. The ultimate objective of the plan of salvation: “That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he [God] might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him” (vs. 10).

Such wonderful decisions and gracious promises! Infinite love drew a circle around each sinner before he existed! Although he would one day live on the Earth estranged from His Father’s house, he would not be forgotten in the Father’s heart. In eternity past “He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ” (vs. 5, RSV).

In the council of heaven, provision was made that men, though transgressors, should not perish in their disobedience, but, through faith in Christ as their substitute and surety, might become the elect of God, predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. God wills that all men should be saved; for ample provision has been made, in giving His only-begotten Son to pay man’s ransom. Those who perish will perish because they refuse to be adopted as children of God through Christ Jesus.⁵

But the plan envisioned the restoration of the universe as well as sinners to full harmony with the Creator. The apostle grants us an insight into the grand sweep of the divine intention. Although sin would intrude, leaving a trail of heartache and misery across the centuries, the divine objective of a restored universe, an eternally secure universe, would be achieved. The intelligent creation would be led to comprehend the “manifold wisdom of God” and would be satisfied (Eph. 3:8-12).

Through the human experience, prophecy (oral and written) and the shadow-types of the sacrificial system, God progressively revealed to the human family the provisions of the plan of salvation. With the coming of Christ came the fullest disclosure of the intentions of divine love. In the teachings of Jesus the ancient prophecy was fulfilled: “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 13:3 5).

II. Heaven’s Constitution

The Universality of Physical Law

The development and progress of the natural sciences continues to demonstrate that our universe operates under amazing physical laws. There could be no authentic study of science if the universe were not orderly.

Plants yield seed and fruit in harmony with fixed laws determined by the Creator (Gen. 1:11-12). Sun, moon, and stars move in precise orbits according to the design of the divine will (Gen. 1:14-18). The amazing feat of landing men on the moon would not have been possible without a knowledge of and a cooperation with physical laws that govern the universe.

The Creator can still challenge man today regarding the laws that govern the stars as He once challenged the patriarch Job: “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?” (Job 38:31-33).

Living as well as nonliving nature are subject to physical laws. Absence of physical law would mean chaos in the universe. Infractions of physical law result in ruin and harm. A person may think he can defy the law of centrifugal force and go around a corner in his car at a high speed, but he will find that the laws of physics still work even if he protests, “I disagree with the law.”

Moral Law—Universal and Eternal

Another kind of law also operates in God’s universe— moral law. It has existed from eternity just as God has always existed. “From everlasting to everlasting, thou art God” (Ps. 90:2).

Moral law expresses the will of the Creator for those created beings capable of choosing between good and evil.

Divine love could design only just and good commands. Since “love worketh no ill to his neighbour,” the apostle Paul concludes that “love is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. 13:10). It follows, therefore, that both angels and men as originally created, motivated by a supreme love for their Creator, would have delighted to obey any requirement of God.

While everything in nature is governed by natural law, man alone, as an intelligent being, capable of understanding its requirements, is amenable to moral law. To man alone, the crowning work of His creation, God has given a conscience to realize the sacred claims of the divine law, and a heart capable of loving it as holy, just, and good; and of man prompt and perfect obedience is required. Yet God does not compel him to obey; he is left a free moral agent.⁶

God’s Method of Expressing His Will

Since the moral law codifies the will of God and is binding upon all intelligent beings, the question naturally arises: How is this moral law expressed? We answer, and rightly so, by the Ten Commandments. But are the angels, as well as other intelligent beings in the universe, also subject to the Ten Commandments?

The Ten Commandments, brief, comprehensive, and authoritative, define the duty of man to his God and his fellowmen. In doing so they apply the principle of love in these two relationships.

Jesus summarized the first four precepts this way: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind;” and the last six, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matt. 22:37-39). This twofold principle of love is eternal and universal because it is rooted in the very character of God (1 John 4:8).

Therefore, it follows that all intelligent beings in God’s universe are under obligation to love God supremely and show impartial love to their fellow beings. To violate either aspect of this principle would be to sin against the will of God.

The will of God is expressed in the precepts of His holy law, and the principles of this law are the principles of heaven. The angels of heaven attain unto no higher knowledge than to know the will of God, and to do His will is the highest service that can engage their powers.

But in heaven, service is not rendered in the spirit of legality. When Satan rebelled against the law of Jehovah, the thought that there was a law came to the angels almost as an awakening to something unthought of. In their ministry the angels are not as servants, but as sons. There is perfect unity between them and their Creator. Obedience is to them no drudgery. Love for God makes their service a joy.⁷

Since angels and mankind are two different orders of intelligence, it was necessary to adapt the twofold principle of love to the circumstances of each order. The Ten Commandments apply specifically to man. Obviously, the fifth and seventh precepts could not apply “word for word” to angels, since Jesus implies that angels do not marry (Matt. 22:30; Mark 12:25). Although we know that some angels “sinned” (2 Peter 2:4), and thus violated the will of God, and that Satan was a liar and a murderer (John 8:44), the Scriptures do not specify how the basic twofold principle of love is expressed to meet the circumstances of angels.

The Scriptures are silent on whether the Creator made known to the first human pair at Creation the ten specific precepts of the Ten Commandments. But it is evident that Adam and Eve were controlled by the basic twofold principle of love. In obeying whatever commands God gave to them in the Garden, they would have fulfilled the principle undergirding the first four precepts; supreme love to God.

The law of God existed before the creation of man or else Adam could not have sinned. After the transgression of Adam the principles of the law were not changed, but were definitely arranged and expressed to meet man in his fallen condition.⁸

The evidence from the book of Genesis indicates that God gave the specific precepts of the Ten Commandments to our first parents orally— and through them to their posterity. For example, murder and violence were known to be wrong by Cain and the later antediluvians (Gen. 4:6-15; 6:5, 11, 13). Abraham and the kings with whom he dealt knew that lying was wrong (Gen. 12:11-20; 20:1-18). Jacob and Esau were aware of the covetousness of the former when he stole the birthright blessing by deceiving his father Isaac (Gen. 27). Joseph refused to participate in an adulterous union, exclaiming, “How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9).

When Jacob’s family surrendered their idols in response to his appeal to consecrate themselves to God, their action tacitly admits their understanding of the first two precepts of the Decalogue (Gen. 35:1-4). The observance of the seventh-day Sabbath was known by Adam and Eve from the beginning. In their presence the Creator had blessed the day and sanctified it—that is, set it aside for holy use—for their well-being (Gen. 2:1-3). As Jesus later commented, “The Sabbath was made for man” (Mark 2:27).

The apostle Paul acknowledged in one sweeping statement the presence of the Ten Commandments in human society prior to their restatement at Sinai. “For until the law [was given at Sinai] sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law” (Rom. 5:13). The fact of sin’s presence from Adam to Moses is mute evidence of the functioning of the moral law of the Ten Commandments throughout the era (cf. 1 John 3:4).

The Center of Controversy

The law of God is central to the sin problem and Heaven’s solution to it. It reflects the character and authority of the sovereign Creator, the expression of His personal will in defining our duty to Him and our fellow beings.

The law is to be presented to its transgressors, not as something apart from God, but rather as an exponent of His mind and character. As the sunlight cannot be separated from the sun, so God’s law cannot be rightly presented to man apart from the divine Author. The messenger should be able to say, “In the law is God’s will; come, see for yourselves that the law is what Paul declared it to be—’holy, and just, and good.’”⁹

Those who profess to cling to Christ, centering their hopes on Him, while they pour contempt upon the moral law, and the prophecies, are in no safer position than were the unbelieving Jews. They cannot understandingly call sinners to repentance, for they are unable to properly explain what they are to repent of. The sinner, upon being exhorted to forsake his sins, has a right to ask, What is sin? Those who respect the law of God can answer, Sin is the transgression of the law. In confirmation of this the apostle Paul says, I had not known sin but by the law.¹⁰

It is evident that God’s moral law is an expression of His character of love, because, as we noted earlier, its precepts may be summarized in a twofold principle of love (Matt. 22:35-40; Rom. 13:8-10). We realize instinctively that any law places limits upon a person, but we do not always acknowledge that love likewise imposes limits. For whose sake does God (if He is infinite love) express His will in commands and precepts? The answer must be that He does so for our sakes— for our best interests.

When a mother forbids her child to touch a hot iron, her love has placed limits upon the child through her expressed will. Is her law arbitrary? No, it is dictated by loving concern for her youngster. Is his personal liberty thus being restricted? Would he truly be happier under the tyranny of his own perverse will, which urges him to touch the hot iron? Likewise, when God expresses His will in the form of laws or commands, He does so in loving concern for our happiness. If a command appears restrictive, it is only because, in love, God would keep us from the consequences of disobedience.

God has placed all the intelligent creation under moral law. It is with this point that Lucifer, one of the created beings of heaven, raised issue in his rebellion. The Scriptures declare: “Sin is the transgression of the law.” “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning” (1 John 3:4, 8).

From this statement we can see that Lucifer rebelled against the expressed will of God. He thus implied that he saw no need for law; he considered the law of God as a restriction to angelic liberty, just as the child might consider his mother’s warning to not touch the hot iron as an unnecessary restriction. The text indicates that Lucifer eventually spurned God’s control, threw off the yoke of divine authority, and openly defied God’s will.

To call God’s law into question is to question His character. Behind the law stands the Person of the Lawgiver. If the law, as it was expressed to angels, was unnecessary and restrictive to personal liberty, then God must have had ulterior motives in placing His creatures under law. Thus Lucifer would have reasoned.

Jesus’ description of Lucifer’s mental agitations at this point are pertinent. “He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44). Whom did Lucifer murder in heaven? No one. But the Scriptures indicate that the root of murder is hate (1 John 3:15).

This suggests the strange feelings that began to stir and be cherished in the mind of this brilliant angel. With hate in his heart against the Deity, he misrepresented the character of God, His authority, and government to the angels. Only by insidious falsifying could he ever have succeeded in persuading a large number of angels against their better judgment and experience to believe that the character of God was essentially unjust and His law and government arbitrary.

Hidden behind the challenges of God’s law and character lay the real issue—the desire of a created being to be independent and free from his Maker’s laws, rules, and control. Under the prophecy regarding the king of Babylon we discern the self-centered spirit that took possession of Lucifer. “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit. . . I will ascend. . . I will be like the most High” (Isa. 14:13-14).

The primary sin of a created being is to desire and assert his complete autonomy—to be his own god. Hence Lucifer’s revolt against the law and authority of the Creator and hence his questioning of God’s character. These issues gave him a rationale for casting off the yoke of obedience. “I don’t need you, God,” Lucifer said in effect by his rebellion. “I am fully capable of running my own life.”

From this perspective it can be seen that sin (at its root) is much more than a simple disobedience to a rule or ethic. It is essentially a rebellion against the Creator, an assertion of independence from divine authority. Conversely, it is evident that true and genuine repentance is more than a simple confession that one has broken a rule or a commandment. True repentance is a return to a dependent relationship upon God. It involves the willingness of the creature to be subject to the loving authority of the Creator.

The issues raised by Lucifer in the great rebellion came to a head about the time the earth was created. Heaven’s highest angel directly challenged the Deity, rejecting the law of God and questioning the character and motives of its Author. He asserted the right of creatures to choose freedom from divine control. Justice and mercy were challenged as incompatible—a charge which ultimately denies the validity of the plan of salvation.

Christ, the one who carried out the Father’s purpose in creating the world and who was the Father’s representative to the created universe, was the particular object of satanic envy and hatred. The great controversy between God and Satan had begun. These challenges, first voiced in heaven, were further developed and debated in the arena of human history.

Dispute about the authority of God and the binding claims of His will as expressed in the moral law of the Ten Commandments continues on earth at the center of the spiritual controversy. One of the basic purposes of the plan of salvation is to bring sinners to repentance and back into harmony with His expressed will. “He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again” (2 Cor. 5:15).

III. He Had to Die

Christ is to be preached, not controversially, but affirmatively. . . . Gather up the strongest affirmative statements regarding the atonement made by Christ for the sins of the world. Show the necessity for this atonement and tell men and women that they may be saved if they will repent and return to their loyalty to God’s law. Gather all the affirmatives and proofs that make the gospel the glad tidings of salvation to all who receive and believe on Christ as a personal Saviour.¹¹

When one studies the life of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Four Gospels, he is struck by the sense of urgency and necessity that governed the Saviour’s life, particularly as it related to His death. Here are some of the key statements illustrating this urgency:

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up” (John 3:14). “From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day” (Matt. 16:21). In the parallel Gospels of Mark and Luke the same term is used: “The Son of man must suffer. . .“ (Mark 8:31; Luke 9:22; cf. also 24:6-7).

The Gospel of John also records how the people caught this note of necessity from the Master’s teaching, for they questioned Him: “How sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up?” (John 12:34).

The terrible necessity of His death is underscored not only by His statements, but also by Christ’s earnest, heart-rending prayers in Gethsemane. “0 my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matt. 26:39). Three times He pleaded with the Father. Three times the divine silence implied a “No” answer. It was not possible for the cup to be removed, that is, if man was to be saved from the power of Satan and sin. If the objectives of the Godhead were to be obtained, Christ’s atoning death must take place. There was no other way.

The atonement of Christ is not a mere skillful way to have our sins pardoned; it is a divine remedy for the cure of transgression and the restoration of spiritual health.¹²

The divine Son of God was the only sacrifice of sufficient value to fully satisfy the claims of God’s perfect law. The angels were sinless, but of less value than the law of God. They were amenable to law. They were messengers to do the will of Christ, and before Him to bow. They were created beings, and probationers. Upon Christ no requirements were laid. He had power to lay down His life, and to take it again. No obligation was laid upon Him to undertake the work of atonement. It was a voluntary sacrifice that He made. His life was of sufficient value to rescue man from his fallen condition.¹³

What God Has Done for Us

As sinners we are helpless to effect our own salvation. The good news of the Christian message is what God has lone for us through Jesus Christ. One of the great summary texts in the New Testament centers on this divine activity in our behalf: “For he [God] hath made him [Jesus Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

Note the points being made:

1. Jesus “knew” no sin. In these brief words the apostle declares the absolute sinlessness of the Saviour’s life. This is a mystery we cannot fathom—that He lived among us “holy, harmless, undefiled” (Heb. 7:26).

2. God made Jesus to be sin for us. Now the apostle points to the vicarious nature of the Saviour’s death on the cross. The guilt of the sins of humankind were accounted to Him as if they were His own, and He bore Heaven’s judgment on sin in our stead. “The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6). “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust” (1 Peter 3:18).

3. An exchange: that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. The significance of this statement is that just as our sins were accounted to Christ as though they were His, so His righteousness is accounted to us as though it were ours. The merits of Christ’s sinless life and His atoning death are imputed to the believer who, drawn by the Spirit, reaches out to embrace his Redeemer. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:17)

Calvary marked the reconciliation or justification of the whole world in a legal or judicial sense. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them” (2 Cor. 5:19). “Therefore as by the offence of one [Adam] judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one [Christ] the free gift came upon all men unto justification) of life” (Rom. 5:18). The penalty for sin has been paid for ill time—for all persons.

This does not mean that all humanity was automatically saved at the cross. It does mean that the Godhead in their compassion have taken Their own judgment on sin upon Themselves and have satisfied justice. This is sometimes referred to as the objective atonement—what God has done in behalf of the human family. This constitutes the good news—that God has made atonement for sin and is offering salvation as a free gift to anyone who accepts it (Eph. 2:8-10). The atonement made at Calvary becomes effective for the individual life only is it is accepted.

IV. ABCs of Personal Salvation

Many of us are attracted to Christ, but because of our convictions of unworthiness, hesitate to commit ourselves. Bad habits, we reason, must first be changed. A more virtuous character, we decide, should be developed before we become Christians.

Such a concept prevents many people from receiving and experiencing the converting, transforming power of divine grace. We do not realize that Heaven’s salvation is designed for sinners. “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick,” declared the world’s Redeemer. “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Mark 2:17). And He assures us, “him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).

The fact is, Heaven can do nothing for those who consider themselves good enough to be a Christian! Salvation is a matter of divine grace not of human merit. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8).

Grace is God’s loving, merciful attitude toward undeserving human beings and His power to save us from our sins. It is estrangement from God and enslavement to sin—not righteous deeds—that make the sinner the object of God’s loving concern.

In contrasting the prayer of the convicted and distressed publican (“God be merciful to me a sinner”) with that of the self-righteous Pharisee (“God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men”), Jesus said of the publican, “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other” (Luke 18:10-14).

The ABCs of salvation begin when we realize we are not good. Man was created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26), but that image has been marred and defaced. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Our minds are bent on sin and rebellion against God and righteousness.

Both the Old and New Testaments declare emphatically man’s alienation from God. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9). “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom. 8:7).

Our education, culture, and social conventions may appear to cover this fact, but in Heaven’s sight these are but a thin veneer bonded by the human will upon an unregenerated heart.

A moral man who trusts in his own uprightness may in his pride fail to find true peace of heart. Such a man was the wealthy Nicodemus, whose complacent, legalistic religious life was shattered by Christ. Fixing His soul reading gaze upon this wealthy, educated rabbi, Christ disclosed Christianity’s greatest secret and miracle: “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5).

The apostle Paul characterized man’s nature this way:

For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Rom. 7:22-24).

The apostle answers his own heart cry in the subsequent verse: “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (vs. 25).

We cannot feel convicted about our sinful condition and salvation in Jesus Christ, however, unless the Holy Spirit brings this to our hearts (John 16:7-11). The apostle Paul observes that it is “the goodness of God” that “leadeth thee to repentance” (Rom. 2:4). Just as bread dough will not rise of itself, so divine grace, like yeast in the dough, must permeate our lives, so that they will be transformed. We can no more change our wayward moral nature than the leopard can change its spots (Jer. 13:23).

At this point we ask, How does God make sinners into new creations? How are sinners transformed in mind to have the outlook of God?

This change is so fundamental that Christ depicted it as a new birth and life. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” “Marvel not that I said into thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit” (John 3:3, 7-8). When we surrender to Christ, He produces within us characters and lives that resemble His own. Thus sinners become citizens of His kingdom.

While the process of the new birth is a mystery of divine grace, yet God has outlined the simple steps we are to take to cooperate with His plan.

The apostle Peter advises us, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19). Repentance implies sorrow for our sins and a turning away from them. Repentance involves (as the Greek word metanoia indicates) a basic change of mind that naturally leads to a new pattern of living. Hence, genuine repentance leads us to genuine conversion, a turning around from the old life in sin to pursue a new course in Christ.

Coming to Christ in heartfelt repentance for our sins, we are led by the Holy Spirit to acknowledge and confess our guilt. There can be no redemption if we stoutly justify our waywardness and deny our failings. Declares the prophet, “Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou has transgressed against the Lord thy God” (Jer. 3:13). And the writer of Proverbs adds, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Prov. 28:13).

As we confess our guilt and acknowledge our sins to Christ, we are confronted with one of the Bible’s most reassuring promises: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). The honor of the throne of heaven undergirds this heartwarming promise.

When we come to Jesus in repentance and sorrow for our sins and confess our guilt, when we willingly accept Christ as our Saviour and Lord, God forgives and cleanses us from all our sins. Heaven avers, “though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isa. 1:18).

We need not look for some great emotional flight of feeling as evidence that we have been accepted by God. Here is where many would-be Christians become discouraged. They expect some thrilling emotional experience when they accept Christ as their personal Saviour. But this may or may not happen. God has called us to move by principle and not by impulse. He implores us to live by faith in Him—not by our feelings. Faith is simply trusting God, taking Him at His word.

Faith says, “The promises are true. I have met His conditions, and He has forgiven me. I believe it—not because I feel anything, but because my heavenly Father promised it.” Jesus says, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:24).

What does Heaven really do when we come to Christ and, repenting of and confessing our sins, accept Him as our personal Saviour and Lord? The Scriptures declare we are “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24).

To “justify” a person in the biblical sense means that God declares that person righteous, without fault before Him. To justify, in legal terminology, carries the sense of “acquittal” (cf. Deut. 25:1). On what basis, therefore, can God acquit or declare us righteous? When under the wooing of the Holy Spirit, we are drawn to trust in Christ as our Saviour and to surrender our wills to His Lordship, God does three wonderful things:

1. He freely forgives our past sins. This can now be done on the basis of Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross (1 Cor. 15:3; Eph. 4:32).

2. He imputes to us the righteous character of His Son. This can now be done on the basis of Christ’s sinless life (Rom. 4:3-6; 2 Cor. 5:2 1; 1 Cor. 1:30). Christ’s perfect character stands in place of our imperfect ones. His perfect obedience stands in place of our failures.

Righteousness is obedience to the law. The law demands righteousness, and this the sinner owes to the law; but he is incapable of rendering it. The only way in which he can attain to righteousness is through faith. By faith he can bring to God the merits of Christ, and the Lord places the obedience of His Son to the sinner’s account. Christ’s righteousness is accepted in place of man’s failure, and God receives, pardons, justifies, the repentant, believing soul, treats him as though he were righteous, and loves him as He loves His Son. This is how faith is accounted righteousness.¹⁴

3. He adopts us as into His family. As penitent sinners, forgiven in Christ, accounted righteous in Christ, we are fully accepted as sons and daughters of God and may receive all the privileges of this relationship. “As many as received him [Christ], to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12; see also Rom. 8: 14-17).

Forgiven and covered by the free gift of Christ’s righteousness, we stand as penitents before God. Finding no fault in us, He graciously acquits us, declaring us righteous before Him.

He lived a sinless life. He died for us, and now He offers to take our sins and give us His righteousness. If you give yourself to Him, and accept Him as your Saviour, then, sinful as your life may have been, for His sake you are accounted righteous. Christ’s character stands in place of your character, and you are accepted before God just as if you had not sinned.¹⁵

The agency used by the Holy Spirit to bring about the new birth and life in Jesus Christ is the Word of God, the Holy Scriptures. The apostle Paul says that new Christians are “born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” (1 Peter 1:23).

Standing in Christ, justified before God, and belonging to His family do not eliminate the need for growth. The past has been forgiven, but God intends to restore in man the image that sin has defaced. The Word of God, which under the Holy Spirit brought about the new birth, is still the agency for restoring a Christlike character in each Christian.

“Grow in grace,” the apostle urges, “and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). And he points to our spiritual food supply, the Holy Scriptures, “whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).

More than this, Christ changes the heart. He abides in your heart by faith. You are to maintain this connection with Christ by faith and the continual surrender of your will to Him; and so long as you do this, He will work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. So you may say, “The life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20. . . . Then with Christ working in you, you will manifest the same spirit and do the same good works—works of righteousness, obedience.

So we have nothing in ourselves of which to boast. We have no ground for self-exaltation. 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.¹⁶

The apostle Paul describes the marvelous transformation of character that occurs as we daily live in Christ. “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18).

When we look into a mirror—or “glass” as the apostle terms it—we do not see another’s face. We see merely our own reflection. But the apostle is not talking about a literal mirror. He is speaking about the mirror of the Scriptures. When we search the Holy Scriptures, we see one great face, that of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. Constantly beholding the loveliness of His character, we become like Him.

“The Spirit and the bride [the Holy City and the glories of the eternal world, Rev. 21:9-10], say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:17).

Assurances

Becoming a Christian, entering into a life-long bond of union with Christ brings peace to mind and joy to the heart, because human beings were made to enjoy fellowship with their Creator. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30).

Committing ourselves to Christ brings unity of purpose and greatly simplifies the issues of life.

The surrender of all our powers to God greatly simplifies the problem of life. It weakens and cuts short a thousand struggles with the passions of the natural heart.¹⁷

Anchoring to Christ the eternal Rock brings stability to lives that would otherwise be tossed to and fro on the tides and currents of life’s uncertainties. When the winds and storms surge about them, Christians can say with the apostle: “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day” (2 Tim. 1:12).

The experience of the Christian is a new life in every way (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17). Being at peace with God (Rom. 5:1) brings the surge of a new and abundant life in Christ. “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly,” Christ promised (John 10:10).

• Life in Christ brings freedom from guilt and remorse. “Be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee” (Matt. 9:2; cf. Isa. 1:18; 1 John 1:9; Prov. 28:13).

• Life in Christ also brings freedom from the tyrannical rule of sin. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:1-2).

• Life in Christ bringsfreedom from the fear of death (cf. Heb. 2:14-15). Now the Christian grasps the blessed assurance of eternal life as a reality in Christ. “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; . . . These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life” (1 John 5:11-13). Though a Christian falls asleep in death, he does so with the assurance that His Lord will awaken him at the resurrection (John 6:39-40).

• Life in Christ brings freedom from corroding care and fear of want. “My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus,” the apostle Paul assured his friends (Phil. 4:19). He who provides for the earth and its teeming life in the field and forest says:

Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matt. 6:31-33)

Little wonder that the apostle Paul “determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). In the dying form of the Son of God, the Christian sees Heaven reaching out to embrace lost humanity to draw it back to the Father’s heart. The cross says to every sinner, You are of infinite worth to God. In one sense, God does not see sinful men and women as they are, but as they may become in Christ. Grace sees worth even in a devil-possessed Mary Magdalene, a dishonest tax collector like Zacchaeus, a nameless dying thief, an accused adulteress. No person is worthless in God’s sight.

The penitent finds genuine security in Christ. His life is “hid with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). Although perplexities may shadow his path and clouds of sorrow and grief envelop him for a time, nothing can really hurt the committed Christian. He trusts his Father, knowing that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28).

Whether he lives until Christ’s return or is permitted to fall asleep in death, he has this certain promise from the lips of his Saviour:

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them to me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand (John 10:27-29).

For the Christian the life of heaven begins here. The Scriptures depict it as a “fellowship” with God—as “a walk” with the Father and the Son. The apostle John wrote: “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. . . . If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:3, 7). The apostle Paul graphically describes the believer’s new status: “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God” (Eph. 2:19).

V. The Life Changer

Earlier in this article we referred to the operation of the Holy Spirit in the sinner’s conversion to Christ. We will now explore this wonderful mystery in greater depth.

The Holy Spirit is the great life changer. His ministry is an absolute necessity if sinners are to come into a saving relationship with Christ. The apostle Paul is unequivocal on this point: “No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost” (1 Cor. 12:3).

The apostle’s terse statement naturally sends us back to the terrible scene in Eden—the fall of our first parents. Deceived, yet exercising their choice, Adam and Eve chose to disobey the will of God and thus entered into rebellion against Him. Their choice corrupted their nature. In asserting their will over God’s will, they chose to be independent of Him as Lucifer and his angels had chosen earlier.

When man transgressed the divine law, his nature became evil, and he was in harmony, and not at variance, with Satan. There exists naturally no enmity between sinful man and the originator of sin. Both became evil through apostasy. The apostate is never at rest, except as he obtains sympathy and support by inducing others to follow his example.¹⁸

Had God not intervened, fallen man would have remained eternally corrupt, sharing the fate of fallen angels. However, at this point God interposed. To Satan (symbolized by the serpent) He said: “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed” (Gen. 3:15). Commenting on this divine action, Ellen White writes:

It is the grace that Christ implants in the soul which creates in man emnity against Satan. Without this converting grace and renewing power, man would continue the captive of Satan, a servant ever ready to do his bidding. But the new principle in the soul creates conflict where hitherto had been peace.¹⁹

Used in this sense, the term grace simply denotes the marvelous working of the Holy Spirit in the mind of the sinner. From the first moments of His wooing and awakening the soul to its great need until its surrender to the authority of Christ—the Holy Spirit functions creatively. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he [God] saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:5).

The imparting of grace through the Holy Spirit is an unfathomed mystery. Jesus said to Nicodemus: “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit” (John 3:7-8). Conversion is real enough; there is evidence for it in the change of attitudes and action, but “conversions are not all alike.”²⁰

Though we cannot see the Spirit of God, we know that men who have been dead in trespasses and sins, become convicted and converted under its operations. The thoughtless and wayward become serious. The hardened repent of their sins, and the faithless believe. The gambler, the drunkard, the licentious, become steady, sober, and pure. The rebellious and obstinate become meek and Christlike. When we see these changes in the character, we may be assured that the converting power of God has transformed the entire man. We saw not the Holy Spirit, but we saw the evidence of its work on the changed character of those who were hardened and obdurate sinners. As the wind moves in its force upon the lofty trees and brings them down, so the Holy Spirit can work upon human hearts, and no finite man can circumscribe the work of God.²¹

Although conversions are not all alike—some appearing to be mighty, open demonstrations of grace whereas others are more gentle, yet there are certain similar elements in every conversion:

1. Love toward God and man. The human heart does not naturally entertain this virtue. “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom. 8:7). Love toward God and man is implanted in the human mind by the Holy Spirit. In the epistle to the Galatians, the apostle speaks of “love” as being a fruit of the Spirit’s ministry (Gal. 5:22).

2. Repentance toward God. This attitude is also a gift. “Him [Christ] hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31; cf. Acts 11:18; 2 Tim. 2:25). Jesus mediates the gift of repentance to sinners through the movings of the Holy Spirit. As the sinner perceives the goodness of God under the illumination of the Holy Spirit, the attitude of repentance is implanted (cf. Rom. 2:4). As mentioned earlier, the Greek word metanoia, which is translated “repentance,” denotes a change of mind. Under the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, the sinner comes to see God in a different light, to see himself and others from a different perspective (cf. John 16:8). One can repent only as the Spirit is able to impart this gift to the mind.

3. Saving faith in God. Like love, this attitude is also a fruit or gift of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). The Holy Spirit works through the medium of the inspired Scriptures. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” (1 Peter 1:23). As the Scriptures are searched and the mind focuses on Christ, the Saviour of the world, the Spirit engenders faith. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17). Looking upon the Saviour, we come to love Him (1 John 4:19). Love leads to faith, that is to belief, trust, and commitment. The gift of faith is born from the gift of love—”faith . . . worketh by love” (Gal. 5:6).

4. Emancipation power. Jesus said, “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant [slave] of sin” (John 8:34). We have a natural bent to sin, and the carnal mind enslaves us in our sinfulness. It is the lifegiving force of the Holy Spirit that alone can emancipate the soul and break the shackles of sinful passion and evil habits. Declares the apostle, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:1-2). The “Spirit of life” simply means the Spirit who gives life. When life-giving power of the Holy Spirit rules as a law or principle in the life, it brings freedom and release from the domination of the old carnal nature. No amount of culture, education, or self-discipline can produce this resurrection to life in the sinner who is dead in sin (cf. Eph. 2:1-10). It is the gift and outworking of the Holy Spirit.

5. Sealed by the Spirit. According to the apostle Paul, the steps that lead to this moment are as follows: “In whom [Christ] ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom [Christ] also after ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise” (Eph. 1:13). Seals were used in ancient times to authenticate documents or authorize their contents. They were also used to attest or identify ownership. To be sealed by the Holy Spirit is to be identified by God as one of His children. “The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his” (2 Tim. 2:19).

In the epistle to the Romans, the apostle states the matter from a different perspective:

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father (Rom. 8: 14-15).

It is the work of the Holy Spirit to directly inculcate the conviction that the penitent sinner is now an adopted son, truly sealed and marked as belonging to God whom he can now reverently, yet familiarly, address as “Father.”

6. A temple for the Holy Spirit. Not only does the Spirit lead the sinner to God, but with his surrender to the authority of Christ, he becomes the dwelling place of the Spirit. “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” (1 Cor. 6:19).

7. The Spirit and prayer. When Jesus was on earth, His disciples requested, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples” (Luke 11:1). Guiding the believer to pray aright seems also to be one of the offices of the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God (Rom. 8:26-27).

This does not mean that the Spirit prays independently of the believer who now is seeking to reach out to the unseen God in prayer. Rather, in some wonderful manner the Spirit impresses His own mind upon the seeker so that he prays aright. Ellen White expresses this operation of the Spirit using other figurative language:

Christ, our Mediator, and the Holy Spirit are constantly interceding in man’s behalf, but the Spirit pleads not for us as does Christ who presents His blood, shed from the foundation of the world; the Spirit works upon our hearts, drawing out prayers and penitence, praise and thanksgiving. The gratitude which flows from our lips is the result of the Spirit striking the cords ofthe soul in holy memories, awakening the music of the heart.²²

8. The divine element in spiritual growth. Just as spiritual life—the new birth—begins through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, so growth and maturation in Christ result from the continued leading of the Spirit. The believer cannot live successfully apart from the Spirit’s assistance. Regarding this the apostle is quite blunt: “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Rom. 8:9). Only divine grace can subordinate the natural tendency toward sin and cause the character to bear holy fruit (Gal. 5:22-23). “If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die,” the apostle asserts, but he promises, “if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Rom. 8:13). The same Spirit that originally broke the shackles of sin and set us free will continue to enable us to assert that freedom, and eventually will complete His task of freeing us from the dominion of sin at the coming of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:11, 19-23).

VI. The Function of Faith

A chief element in the saving process is the exercise of faith. Like the clutch of an automobile— which links the car with the power of the engine— so faith is the mental attitude or disposition that enables the penitent sinner to mesh with God’s saving grace. “For by grace are ye saved through faith” (Eph. 2:8).

Through faith we receive the grace of God; but faith is not our Saviour. It earns nothing. It is the hand by which we lay hold upon Christ, and appropriate His merits, the remedy for sin.²³

How important is this believing attitude toward the promises of God? The biblical answer is plain: “Without faith it impossible to please him” (Heb. 11:6). This is an obvious conclusion since the sinner is dealing with the Creator whom he has never seen, and only a relatively few persons witnessed the life, death, and resurrection of the Saviour. We must therefore rely upon the testimony of the Scriptures. The biblical writer continues: “He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him” (Heb. 11:6).

So, one aspect of biblical faith is belief in the existence of God, but further, a commitment to the testimony of Scripture that Jesus Christ loves the sinner personally and died for him (cf. Gal. 2:20). When the Philippian jailer cried out, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” the answer came quickly, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:30-31). “With the heart,” Paul says, “man believeth unto righteousness” (Rom. 10:10). This belief in Christ is viewed as saving faith. “Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. . . . They which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham” (Gal. 3:6-9).

But a true biblical faith is more than a mental assent to the concept that there is a God and that Jesus died for one’s sins, as well as the sins of the world (cf. James 2:19). Saving faith involves a total commitment of the will to God, a total surrender to the Lordship of Christ. “If any man will come after me,” said Jesus, “let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Matt. 16:24). To bring the will into subjection to the Saviour, self must die; independence must be surrendered. It is not easy to pray, “Not my will, but thine, be done.” Only divine grace can bring about this submission.

Jesus used another figure—the symbol of the yoke—to illustrate that faith in Him requires a total commitment to His Lordship. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30). True faith, therefore, not only believes the promises made by God, but leads the believer into a committed and dependent relationship with Christ.

There is a third element in biblical faith, the element of trust. The English word faith does not appear in the Old Testament except once in Habakkuk 2:4. But a word that is commonly used to reflect its meaning is trust.

Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength [margin, “the rock of ages”] (Isa. 26:4).

Our fathers trusted in thee: and thou didst deliver them (Ps. 22:4).

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths (Prov. 3:5-6).

Since faith “works” or is motivated by love (cf. Gal. 5:6), it is only natural that this Spirit-implanted attitude would include a deep, abiding trust in God. One of Ellen White’s definitions of faith draws on this concept: “Faith is trusting God—believing that He loves us and knows best what is for our good.”²⁴

How does faith lead to salvation? It is this quality of the heart that enables the believer to fully embrace Christ as his Saviour and Lord. Believing the divine promises, trusting their gracious Author, the penitent surrenders his will and commits himself wholly to God through the merits of the Saviour. And Jesus promises: “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).

Making a decision for Christ—beginning to act out one’s faith—is a crucial moment in Christian experience. Some fail to make a wholehearted, intelligent decision for Christ at this point because they either do not understand how to do so, or they expect a marked emotional experience that may not be present.

From the simple Bible account of how Jesus healed the sick, we may learn something about how to believe in Him for the forgiveness of sins. Let us turn to the story of the paralytic at Bethesda. The poor sufferer was helpless; he had not used his limbs for thirty-eight years. Yet Jesus bade him, “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.” The sick man might have said, “Lord, if Thou wilt make me whole, I will obey Thy word.” But, no, he believed Christ’s word, believed that he was made whole, and he made the effort at once; he willed to walk, and he did walk. He acted on the word of Christ, and God gave the power. He was made whole.

In like manner you are a sinner. You cannot atone for your past sins; you cannot change your heart and make yourself holy. But God promises to do all this for you through Christ. You believe that promise. You confess your sins and give yourself to God. You will to serve Him. Just as surely as you do this, God will fulfill His word to you. If you believe the promise—believe that you are forgiven and cleansed—God supplies the fact; you are made whole, just as Christ gave the paralytic power to walk when the man believed that he was healed. It is so if you believe it.

Do not wait to feel that you are made whole, but say, “I believe it; it is so, not because I feel it, but because God has promised.”²⁵

“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him,” declared the apostle Paul to his Christian brethren in Colossae (Col. 2:6). Since the believer begins his Christian experience by faith in God-by a committed trust in his Redeemer—so he is to continue to live by an abiding trust in God.

“Now the just shall live by faith” (Heb. 10:38). It does not say that the just shall live by feeling. “Emotions are as changeable as the clouds.”²⁶ They can be affected by the weather, the food we eat, or glandular dysfunction. Like love, faith may also be viewed as a principle. The Christian’s steadfast trust in God is rooted in the promises of Scripture, not in his variable feelings. Through daily study, prayer, and communion and through the educative force of life’s experiences and tests, the Christian’s fellowship of faith can grow stronger and more enduring.

VII. Sanctification

For most conservative Christians, including Seventh-day Adventists, the doctrine of justification by faith—how a sinner is saved by faith in Jesus Christ—is relatively easy to understand. But there is considerable confusion over the doctrine of sanctification—the biblical teaching on growing up in Christ. Some Christians view it as a continuous battle against sin. Others believe that complete freedom from the power of sin and even from the desire to sin can be obtained. These Reformed and Wesleyan perspectives mingle in our own communion.

It is easy to move to extremes on this subject. Speaking of certain false views on sanctification, Ellen White wrote many years ago:

There is in the religious world a theory of sanctification which is false in itself and dangerous in its influence. In many cases those who profess sanctification do not possess the genuine article. Their sanctification consists in talk and will worship. Those who are really seeking to perfect Christian character will never indulge the thought that they are sinless. Their lives may be irreproachable, they may be living representatives of the truth which they have accepted; but the more they discipline their minds to dwell upon the character of Christ, and the nearer they approach to His divine image, the more clearly will they discern its spotless perfection, and the more deeply will they feel their own defects.

When persons claim that they are sanctified, they give sufficient evidence that they are far from being holy. They fail to see their own weakness and destitution. They look upon themselves as reflecting the image of Christ, because they have no true knowledge of Him. The greater the distance between them and their Saviour, the more righteous they appear in their own eyes.²⁷

Definition of Terms

In the Hebrew and Greek languages the terms translated into English as “to sanctify/hallow,” “to consecrate/dedicate,” “sanctification/holiness,” or “saint,” all derive from common roots in the respective languages and carry the same basic meaning—to separate—although the context may be either sacred or secular. For example, when God “sanctified” the seventh-day Sabbath, He simply separated it from the other six days—He set it apart (Gen. 2:3). Moses was told to “sanctify” the firstborn, that is, to set them apart for a special service to God (Ex. 13:2). When Eleazar the son of Abinadab was “sanctified,” he was simply separated or set apart to care for the ark in his father’s house at Kirjathjearim (1 Sam. 7:1). This “separation” may be viewed in the Scriptures from two different perspectives:

1. Sanctification as a status or standing before God. When a penitent sinner accepts Jesus as his personal Saviour and Lord, he is separated from the kingdom of darkness and brought into God’s kingdom of light. “[God] hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son” (Col. 1:13).

Thus many New Testament passages view sanctification as a past act—something that has already been accomplished. For example, the apostle Paul tells King Agrippa that God sent him to the Gentiles “to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified [have been sanctified, literal rendering] by faith that is in me” (Acts 26:18). The Corinthian Christians are greeted as those who “are sanctified in Christ Jesus”—literally, who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus (1 Cor. 1:2). Although some of them had come out of gross sins, they were now clean and sanctified. “And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus” (1 Cor. 6:11). Literally, this reads, “but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus. . .”

These passages that regard sanctification as a past act are recalling that moment when these sinful beings became believers in Christ and were separated by His power from the world to join His own kingdom. The open, public moment when this occurred would have been at the time of their baptism when they plainly declared their allegiance to God’s side.

In the New Testament the believer is commonly referred to as a “saint.” Many of Paul’s epistles begin with the expression “to the saints” (Eph. 1:1, cf. I Cor. 16:1; 2 Cor. 1:1; Phil. 1:1; etc.). This expression is not used to describe the sinlessness of these people. It simply recognizes their standing or status before God: they are separated ones. A saint is a person who has been separated from the world and now belongs to God.

From this viewpoint sanctification is not a goal toward which one strives. Rather, it is a standing he already possesses, having left the world to become part of God’s family. In his new life as a Christian he is a “saint,” a separated one, set apart for God.

In this biblical view, therefore, justification and sanctification-as-a-standing-before-God are two sides of the same coin of Christian experience. Justification emphasizes the fact that the penitent who has entered into union with Christ has been declared righteous before God. Because of the merits of Christ his sins have been forgiven and the righteous character of Christ has been accounted to him. He stands justified—faultless and accepted in God’s sight. Sanctification as a standing before God, on the other hand, emphasizes the fact that the believer has been separated from the world and set apart for God. As a separated one he belongs wholly to God. In this sense Ellen White says “we may claim sanctification.”²⁸

2. Sanctification as a process or growth. The Scriptures consistently picture the beginning of a penitent sinner’s relationship with God as the beginning of a new life. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature [creation]” (2 Cor. 5:17). So radically different are the principles of God’s kingdom from those of Satan’s that the believer is said to be “born again” (John 3:7). New Christians are “newborn babes” who are encouraged to grow up to be mature followers of God (1 Peter 2:2).

As in nature, so in the spiritual world, babies must either grow or perish. So the constant appeal of Scripture to the children of God is, “Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). “But speaking the truth in love,. . . grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ” (Eph. 4:15).

This spiritual growing is just another way of figuratively describing sanctification as a process. If the time of the Christian’s baptism is seen as the initial and public separation of the sinner from Satan’s kingdom to the control and reign of Christ, then sanctification as a process may be seen as the daily separation from sin, the cleaving to that which is good and holy subsequent to baptism. As the Christian continually matures in understanding, as he reaches out to more perfectly know his Father’s will, he becomes more sensitive to what is right and wrong.

Such spiritual development will mean a daily crucifixion of the will of God, a daily surrender. The apostle Paul says in a literal rendering of Romans 6:11, “Keep on reckoning ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” This indicates a continuous process of reaffirmation. Ellen White alludes to this in her familiar words:

Consecrate [a synonym for sanctify] yourself to God in the morning; make this your very first work. . . . Thus day by day you may be giving your life into the hands of God, and thus your life will be molded more and more after the life of Christ.²⁹

Most biblical texts on sanctification view it from this second perspective, as a continual separation from sin. “This is the will of God, even your sanctification,” the apostle Paul declared to the Thessalonians. Then he continued by showing that God was calling them to live morally pure lives and not to copy the licentiousness of their pagan environments (1 Thess. 4:3-8). His closing prayer was that “the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it” (1 Thess. 5:23-24). Thus it is clear that the Christian is to be mentally, physically, and spiritually set apart to the worship and service of God, and that he is to pursue this separation continuously.

Some Christians believe that sanctification is meant to be an instantaneous experience rather than a process. In this sense they make it a second work of grace that occurs subsequent to the Christian’s justification or initial acceptance with God. This view is sometimes referred to as “the second blessing.” But the Scriptures never view sanctification-as-a-growth as being instantaneous. This, in itself, is a contradiction in terms. Instead, the Christian is challenged to “Follow peace with all men, and holiness [sanctification], without which no man shall see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14).

Note how the apostle Paul describes his Christian experience:

Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 3:12-14)

The metaphor is striking. The apostle sees himself as a runner in the great race of life—running toward the mark—the goal. There is no stopping along the way. The track is as long as his life. Nothing here suggests that the mark toward which he runs is only half-way or three-quarters of the way down the track—at some point before life ends. The implication is that there is never any point this side of death or the coming of Christ at which a believer may stop and say, “I have achieved the full spiritual development I am capable of attaining.” Ellen White’s comments on this are plain:

This sanctification is a progressive work, and an advance from one stage of perfection to another.³⁰

So long as Satan reigns, we shall have self to subdue, besetting sins to overcome; so long as life shall last, there will be no stopping place, no point which we can reach and say, I have fully attained.³¹

Even the most perfect Christian may increase continually in the knowledge and love of God.³²

The germination of the seed represents the beginning of spiritual life, and the development of the plant is a beautiful figure of Christian growth. As in nature, so in grace; there can be no life without growth. The plant must either grow or die. As its growth is silent and imperceptible, but continuous, so is the development of the Christian life. At every stage of development our life may be perfect; yet if God’s purpose for us is fulfilled, there will be continual advancement. Sanctification is the work of a lifetime. As our opportunities multiply, our experience will enlarge, and our knowledge increase. We shall become strong to bear responsibility, and our maturity will be in proportion to our privileges.³³

As a doctrine, sanctification is rather easy to explain in its broad terms; as a lifestyle, however, it is not always easy to practice because the Christian is confronted on all sides by temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. In His prayer just before His arrest in Gethsemane Jesus said, “For their sakes [the disciples] I sanctify myself’ (John 17:19). Christ is not admitting sinfulness here, but is stressing the way He lived as a model for the disciples, He sanctified Himself, that is, He dedicated Himself wholly to God. And that is really what holiness or sanctification (same word in Greek) is all about. Holiness is serving God with all the heart, mind, and strength. In Gethsemane as Jesus struggled with the great temptation to abandon mankind to its fate, one refrain ran through His prayers: “Not my will, but thine [God’s], be done” (Luke 22:42).

This principle by which our Saviour lived and prayed summarizes the essence of sanctification as a process or growth. Note Ellen G. White’s definition:

On one occasion I spoke in reference to genuine sanctification, which is nothing less than a daily dying to self and daily conformity to the will of God. . . . Paul’s sanctification was a constant conflict with self. Said he, “I die daily.” 1 Cor. 15:31. His will and his desires every day conflicted with duty and the will of God. Instead of following inclination, he did the will of God, however unpleasant and crucifying to his nature.³⁴

The followers of Christ are to become like Him—by the grace of God to form characters in harmony with the principles of His holy law.³⁵

Neither justification nor sanctification is an achievement of human effort, although the believer responds in faith and obedience to God. The operation of the Holy Spirit is everywhere present in the saving process and woos us on to holy living.

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God (Rom. 8:13-14).

The Spirit employs the Word of God in His mysterious miracle of transformation. Jesus prayed God to “Sanctify them [the disciples] through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17). The Scriptures are a mighty cleansing agency as they are applied by the hand of the Spirit.

Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word (Ps. 119:9).

Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently (1 Peter 1:22).

The apostle Paul cites the biblical principle that operates in this area of spiritual growth: “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21). In this process of restoring the image of God from within(cf. Col. 3:10) the Spirit calls the follower of God to focus his thoughts on what is good and wholesome (cf. Phil. 4:8), particularly to meditating upon the Saviour. The cultivating of holy thoughts—of upright and wholesome thought patterns—is to root out and crowd out the unholy. We become like the One whom we choose to think about. “We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18).

A life in Christ is a life of restfulness. There may be no ecstasy of feeling, but there should be an abiding, peaceful trust. Your hope is not in yourself; it is in Christ. Your weakness is united to His strength, your ignorance to His wisdom, your frailty to His enduring might. So you are not to look to yourself, not to let the mind dwell upon self, but look to Christ. Let the mind dwell upon His love, upon the beauty, the perfection, of His character. Christ in His self-denial, Christ in His humiliation, Christ in His purity and holiness, Christ in His matchless love—this is the subject for the soul’s contemplation. It is by loving Him, copying Him, depending wholly upon Him, that you are to be transformed into His likeness.³⁶

It was said of Christ, “Thou has loved righteousness, and hated iniquity” (Heb.1:9). This same attitude toward sin and righteousness is developed by the Spirit in the heart of the Christian. He comes to love the things he once hated, and hate the things he once loved. New tastes, ideals, perspectives, and attitudes develop toward God and his fellow beings.

All true obedience comes from the heart. It was heart work with Christ. And if we consent, He will so identify Himself with our thoughts and aims, so blend our hearts and minds into conformity to His will, that when obeying Him we shall be but carrying out our own impulses. The will, refined and sanctified, will find its highest delight in doing His service. When we know God as it is our privilege to know Him, our life will be a life of continual obedience. Through an appreciation of the character of Christ, through communion with God, sin will become hateful to us.³⁷

Does this mean, then, that sinless perfection is obtainable in a Christian’s life? The Scriptures set a high ideal. The apostle Peter says, “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:15-16). No higher standard could be placed, and grace is provided for spiritual growth.

Yet—at the same time—a warning is sounded: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (I John 1:8). A few verses later the apostle writes, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he is the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:1-2).

Perhaps the tension between the ideal (“Be ye holy; for I am holy”) and the actual experience (“there is no man that sinneth not,” I Kings 8:46) is only apparent and not real—if the Christian truly enters into and maintains a bond with Christ.

We have noted that from the biblical viewpoint sanctification is both a standing with God and a process. When the believer enters into union with Christ, he stands before God both justified and sanctified. By grace he has been put right with God and consecrated wholly to Him. He is a “saint”—a separated or dedicated one. In this sense he fulfills the invitation, “be ye holy; for I am holy.” Under this umbrella of his justification and sanctification-as-a-status he continues to grow, to live the sanctified life, daily yielding his will to the will of God. This growth knows no termination point prior to death or the coming of Christ. As long as the Christian lives, his knowledge widens and his understanding matures, he will continue to grow. Thus, during each moment of his life he may have the assurance that God graciously accepts him for Christ’s sake.³⁸

Note: Materials adapted in part from author’s previous writings: Shadows of Hope (Academy text publsihed by Pacific Press Publishing Association, Mountain View, California, 1974). “We Don’t Have to Be Good” (Emphasis Eternity tract series), Southern Publishing Association, Nashville, TN.

Scriptures quoted from RSV are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyrighted 1946, 1952 © 1971, 1973.