Christ: A Complete Saviour
By Kelvin (Mark) Duncan
“The Lord in His great mercy sent a most precious message to His people
through Elders Waggoner and Jones” (Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel
Workers, p. 91). What was that message? It was “the message of the gospel
of His grace … in clear and distinct lines” (Ibid., p. 92, emphasis supplied). This message includes a unique understanding of
justification by faith and its relationship to the cleansing of the heavenly
sanctuary. It also teaches that everyone has already been legally justified,
prior to having any faith. In other words there are two phases of
justification. The first phase is applicable to everyone; the second is
applicable only to the believer. This is the clear teaching of Scripture:
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom.
3:23-24).
“Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to
condemnation; even so by the righteousness of One the free gift came upon
all men unto justification of life” (Rom. 5:18).
This is also the teaching of the 1888 message:
“‘By the righteousness of One the free gift came upon all men unto
justification of life.’” There is no exception here. As the condemnation came
upon all, so the justification comes upon all. Christ has tasted death for
every man. He has given himself for all. Nay, He has given himself to every
man. The free gift has come upon all. The fact that it is a free gift is
evidence that there is no exception. If it came upon only those who have
some special qualification [i.e., faith], then it would not be a free gift
(Waggoner on Romans, pg. 101).
“The will of God is our sanctification. 1
Thess. 4:3. He wills that all men
should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. 1 Tim. 2:4 And He
‘accomplishes all things according to the counsel of His will.’ Eph. 1:11. ‘Do
you mean to teach universal salvation?’ someone may ask. We mean to
teach just what the Word of God teaches—that ‘the grace of God hath
appeared, bringing salvation to all men.’ Titus 2:11, RV. God has wrought
out salvation for every man, and has given it to him; but the majority spurn
it and throw it away. The judgment will reveal the fact that full salvation was
given to every man and that the lost have deliberately thrown away their
birthright possession” (The Glad Tidings, pp. 13, 14).
“Christ died for all men; all men were under the condemnation of the law
of God; and so He was made under its condemnation. By the grace of God
He tasted death for every man” [Heb. 2:9] (Waggoner, The Gospel in the
Book of Galatians, pp. 29, 30).
This is the foundation, the very touchstone of that “most precious
message.” The purpose of that message was to deliver Seventh-day
Adventists from the quagmire of a very subtle legalism, “that the world
should no longer say that Seventh-day Adventists talk the law, the law, but
do not teach or believe Christ” (Testimonies to Ministers, p. 92). Unless our
understanding of the gospel begins with the “free gift” of legal justification
for everyone, we will ultimately fail to escape that subtle legalism and
resultant lukewarmness. We must begin with a clear understanding of what
was accomplished on the cross for “every man” (Heb. 2:9).
But here is where some find a “stumbling stone” and a “rock of offense.”
Some seem to loathe the idea that the unbelieving sinner has the same legal
standing before God as the believer. Can we present this in a more
acceptable way? The Lord has given us a framework, in which to preach this
essential element of the gospel, which does help people to understand. We
shall refer to this as the three phases of the plan of salvation.
The Bible speaks of salvation in three tenses, the past, present, and
future. Let’s examine a few examples.
Future Tense
“Ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to
the end shall be saved” (Matt. 10:22).
“He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16).
“I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall
go in and out, and find pasture” (John 10:9)
“We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be
saved, …” (Acts 15:11).
Many more texts refer to this phase of the plan of salvation. Most of the
verses in the Bible that use the word “saved” are in the future tense.
Perhaps because of this, Seventh-day Adventists have generally failed to
acknowledge the other two phases.
Present Tense
“The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but
to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18,
NKJV).
“For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being
saved and among those who are perishing” (2 Cor. 2:15, NKJV).
The translation presented in these verses may be somewhat surprising to
those accustomed to the King James Version, which does not make it clear
that the term “save” is in the present continuous tense. However, a check of
the Greek reveals that the New King James Version is accurate. There are
other verses that speak of the second phase of salvation without using the
word “save.” For example:
“Now unto Him that is able to keep [save] you from falling, and to
present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy”
(Jude 24).
“The Lord knoweth how to deliver [save] the godly out of temptations …”
(2 Peter 2:9).
Past
Tense
Now we need to examine examples of the tense that have proven to be
the most controversial. The Bible clearly teaches salvation in the past tense
as an already accomplished reality. For example:
“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His
prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the
power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which
was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began but has now been
revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished
death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim.
1:8-10, NKJV).
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His
mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of
the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ
our Savior” (Titus 3:5-6, NKJV).
Both passages present very clearly that salvation is an already
accomplished reality. The Greek tense is aorist. It refers to an event that
happened once for all at a specific point in time in the past. These passages
apparently apply to the believer as well as the unbeliever. For example, 2
Timothy says God “saved us,” then it says He “called us.” The salvation was
accomplished for all and all are therefore “called.” “Whosoever will, let him
take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:17). The reason all are called to take
“freely” is because all have already been saved. Yet some may not be ready
to acknowledge that these verses apply to everyone. Some will insist on
applying these texts only to the believer. Fortunately, there is yet one more
reference. Ephesians chapter two provides the clearest statement of all:
“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which
you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of
disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts
of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by
nature children of wrath, just as the others” (Eph. 2:1-3, NKJV).
Here Paul describes the miserable plight of all humanity. We were all
“dead in trespasses and sins.” Then he announces the good news of what
God did for us, entirely apart from our awareness, or participation,
permission, request, or faith. That’s right. Faith is not mentioned in the
verse.
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He
loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together
with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” (Eph. 2:4, 5, NKJV).
When we realize what Paul was actually saying, it is astonishing to our
naturally legalistic, old covenant mind set, which feels we must initiate the
process of salvation. The context is very clear. Paul is not speaking of the
believer. He also makes it clear that God did not do this because of our faith.
He did it only “because of His great love.” Paul is speaking of those who are
“dead in trespasses,” and he says they were “made … alive”! He sums it up:
“by grace you have been saved.” It was not through our faith, it was “by
grace.” Clearly, the Bible teaches salvation in the past tense. It is not
speaking only of the believer, it is speaking of all men, every human being.
It is true that Ephesians speaks of salvation by faith, later in chapter two
(see verse 8). A close examination of the text reveals that the faith spoken
of is primarily a reference to the faith of Jesus, and in a secondary sense to
our faith. Believing the good news in verses 1-7 initiates the second phase of
salvation, which is through faith. But we dare not get the cart before the
horse and attempt to enjoy the fruit of salvation in the second phase, or the
hope of the gospel in the third phase, apart from believing the “Good News”
of the gospel, which concerns what God has already done for everyone in
the first phase. That would be like building our houses on sand.
Salvation in Three Phases
If this concept of salvation in three phases is correct, it would be
reasonable that we should expect to find all three phases clearly presented
in the word of God. That is exactly what we find in 2 Cor. 1:10, but let’s
begin at verse 9:
“We had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in
ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: Who delivered [saved] us from
so great a death, and doth deliver [save]: in whom we trust that He will yet
deliver [save] us.”
All three phases of salvation, past, present, and future, are clearly
articulated in one verse of scripture, although the word “save” is not used in
the passage. Paul says that God saved us from “so great a death,” and that
“great death” is the second death. Then we’re told He does save, in the
present continuous tense. And finally, we trust that when He comes again He
will yet save us. Here we have a hint as to why the process of salvation has
three phases. Sin involves a threefold problem, and each problem begins
with the letter “P”: The Penalty, the Power, and the Presence.
All men have been saved from the penalty of their sin. The penalty is
death. Jesus tasted “death for every man” (Heb. 2:9). That’s how He
“delivered us from so great a death.” That is salvation in the past tense.
Were it not for this phase of salvation, which is effective for everyone, not
one of us would be alive. Next, in the second phase of salvation, those who
believe the good news about salvation in the past, are being saved from the
power of sin, that is temptation and slavery to sin, in the present tense.
Finally, those who endure (i.e., keep the faith, Rev. 14:12), shall be saved,
from the presence of sin, at the second coming of Christ. So God has saved
us. He does save us. And we trust that some day He will save us. These are
three phases of one salvation, a threefold solution to a threefold problem.
Christ is a “complete Saviour” (see Sons and Daughters of God, p. 227).
We cannot begin to fully appreciate the grand dimensions of the plan of
salvation until we accept the biblical view of the first phase, which is the
foundation for the other two. “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). It is
the law of God that demands the death of the sinner (see 1 Cor. 15:56).
Therefore, when Jesus “tasted death for every man” (Heb. 2:9), He met the
just demands of the law for everyone. He paid every man’s debt to the law
of God. Thus, Christ’s death accomplished the legal justification of all men.
He thereby “abolished death” for “all men” (see 2 Tim. 1:10 and Heb. 2:9).
This is why no one has ever truly died, except Christ.
Embracing the Full Plan of Salvation
Many refuse to embrace this truth, in part because of a failure to
recognize the three phases of the plan of salvation. Those who understand
only the third phase, which is final and irrevocable, assume that any claim of
salvation having been accomplished for anyone in the past necessarily
demands that the individual will ultimately be in heaven. Therefore the
teaching of salvation in the past tense, especially for all men, is frequently
rejected as universalism.
In spite of this prevailing misconception, it is clear in both the Bible and
Ellen G. White’s writings, that Jesus has saved the whole world. For
example: “He redeemed Adam’s disgraceful fall, and saved the world” (The
Youth’s Instructor, June 2, 1898). This is not the heresy of universalism,
because the Bible also makes it clear that we can reject the gift of salvation
which Christ has accomplished and ultimately be lost. Jude verse 5 is a
poignant statement of this truth: “I will therefore put you in remembrance,
though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of
the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.”
Israel’s experience is an illustration or type of salvation. All of Israel was
“saved” from Egypt, which represents the bondage of sin. This salvation was
accomplished only through the cross represented by the Passover lamb.
Through the death of the lamb, all the candidates for deliverance,
represented by Israel, were “saved.” Israel in this type of salvation
represents the whole world helplessly enslaved and in need of salvation.
Christ, through His death, saved us all from the penalty of our sin. Yet after
the mighty deliverance from Egypt, those who did not believe, failed to
appreciate the redeeming sacrifice and were destroyed in the wilderness.
Thus they never reached the promised land, which represents heaven.
In the antitype, which is the actual plan of redemption, Jesus has done
something for the whole world. “He redeemed Adam’s disgraceful fall, and
saved the world” (op cit., June 2, 1898). This is the good news of the gospel
for all men. And it is the power of God unto salvation [the second phase] for
all that believe (see Rom. 1:16). None will be lost because of their sins.
“Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3). Those
who are finally ultimately lost, will be lost, because they refused to believe
the gospel, which teaches they have been saved (see Mark 16:16).
Christ: A Complete Saviour
Therefore we conclude that Jesus is a complete
Saviour. He is a complete
Saviour because He has saved the whole world. He is also a complete
Saviour because He is our Saviour in the past, the present, and the future.
He came into this world, for what purpose? “To seek and save that which
was lost” (Luke 19:10). He ascended back to heaven, for what purpose? “To
be a Prince and a Saviour” (Acts 5:31). He is coming again, for what
purpose? The waiting saints will understand and declare, “Lo, this is our
God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us” (Isa. 25:9). He came to
earth to save. He went back to heaven to save. He is coming again to save.
Christ is a complete Saviour.
[Note: All texts are from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. All
emphasis supplied.]
Originally published in 1888 Glad Tidings, Vol. 20, No. 4, May 2004. A
publication of the
1888 Message Study Committee.
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