PREFACE
As a minister of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, I had always taught and sincerely believed that Christ assumed the fallen nature of man when He condescended to become the Son of man. However since 1957, 1 have given intensive study to the subject of the Incarnation. In 1964 as a result of obtaining a copy of a term paper prepared for the Department of Church History at Andrews University, my interest was stimulated to begin a research in depth on the history of this doctrine in our Church. This manuscript is the result. It is not claimed to be exhaustive, especially in the final chapter that surveys the period from 1952 to the present. The material presented, however, is representative, authoritative, and documented for each period of our history.
The chapter on the Holy Flesh Movement is a brief summary of the research which was begun when serving as a minister in the Indiana Conference from 1955 to 1962. Continued investigation was made with the help of a Senior student while I was head of the Bible Department at Madison College from 1962-64. This material was organized into a paper to meet the requirements for the course - Research in Theology - at Andrews University when doing graduate work in 1964-65. Further study has been made since then, which has been incorporated into the chapter in this book.
In pursuing this study and writing, I have had the constant encouragement and help of my wife, Dorothea. We have searched together to eliminate errors of typing and spelling. We have sought to see that each quotation is correctly documented, and accurately transcribed in context. We design that this publication be letter perfect, as far as our human eyes and hands can make it.' There
i
is still the possibility of errors that we missed. We would be grateful to our readers if they find mistakes to call them to our attention for correction in any future editions.
I would be remiss if I failed to acknowledge the fulfillment of the precious promise which states:
When you arise in the morning, do you feel your helplessness, and your need of strength from God? and do you humbly, heartily make known your wants to your Heavenly Father? If so, angels mark your prayers, and if these prayers have not gone forth out of feigned lips, when you are in danger of unconsciously doing wrong, and exerting an influence which will lead others to do wrong, your guardian angel will be by your side, prompting you to a better course, choosing your words for you, and influencing your actions.1
In the early morning hours when much of the writing of this manuscript was done, I was many times conscious of the presence of my unseen Guardian.
This research is being published because - "The humanity of the Son of God is everything to us" - and since it is, we need to understand the historic position of the Church which emphasized the tremendous victory which Christ achieved in our nature, that we may overcome as He overcame.
__________________________________________________________
lEllen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 3, pp. 363-364
ii
"We have nothing to fear for the future,
EXCEPT
as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us,
and His teaching in our past history."
Life Sketches, p. 196
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I
The Purpose ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1
II
From 1844 - 1888 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3
III
Ellen G. White on the Incarnation 1888 - 1915------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13
IV
The Doctrine of the Incarnation as Taught by Jones and Waggoner ----------------------------------------------- 22
V
Other Sources 1888 - 1915 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 38
VI
The Holy Flesh Movement ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 49
VII
From 1915 - 1952 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 56
VIII
Decades of Conflict and Apostasy 1952 - 1972 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 68
IX
Conclusion -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 96
APPENDIX
A - A Letter to William L. H. Baker 98
B - A sinless Life 100
C - Christ Took Adam's Fallen Nature 102
D - Excerpts from Unpublished Manuscripts by Froom 103
Page 1
I
THE PURPOSE
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Holy Flesh Movement in Indiana from 1898 to 1901. While this Movement did receive the official endorcement of the local conference committee and administration, its work and teachings did not represent the official viewpoint of the Church as a whole at that time. However, it is being introduced into this research on the doctrine of the incarnation because the teachings of the leaders of the Holy Flesh Movement in regard to the nature of the humanity of Christ have received official sanction in recent years.
In the use made of the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy, the same principles are invoked as would be used in the study of the Scriptures on any given subject. It is assumed that the inspired testimonies are not contradictory. The letter which appears to be at variance with the general tenor of the testimonies given through the years in the published sources prior to the death of Ellen G. White is discussed in an Appendix.3 Even as Adventist scholars do not begin with the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus to establish the doctrine of the non-immortality of the wicked, neither is it valid to introduce the doctrine of the incarnation as taught in the Spirit of Prophecy with a single isolated letter to an individual, counseling moderation of statement, when there is no record of what that individual said or wrote for comparison or judgment. This writer does not claim a convictionless objectivity in presenting this historical research. For this reason the title reads - An Interpretive History ..._____________________________________________________
1John 1:14 21 Timothy 3:16; 2:5; Hebrews 9:24 3See Appendix APage 3
II
FROM 1844 - 1888
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ministration of that sacrifice, Miller failed to comprehend the cleansing as it related to Christ's ministry in the Most Holy Place of the heavenly tabernacle. He did not see the two apartments and the antitypical services which they prefigured. To him verily "the door" was shut, and only He who had the "key of David" would open it at the proper time.4
While here in America the Advent Movement was very pronounced, and more definitely organized than in other sections of the world, nevertheless, during the first decades of the 19th Century, "devout men in different lands were simultaneously quickened to search the Scriptures on the subject of the second advent of Christ."5 In England, one of the men who proclaimed the Second Advent, Edward Irving, did give thought and study to the subject of the incarnation. He taught that "Christ took human nature as it was in Adam, not before the Fall, but after the Fall,"6 stating "that Christ took our fallen nature, is most manifest, because there was no other in existence to take."7 He believed that the "soul" of Christ "did mourn and grieve and pray to God continually, that it might be delivered from the mortality, corruption, and temptation which it felt in its fleshly tabernacle."8Edward Irving sought to relate the incarnation of Christ to the experience necessary for man to have victory over sin. He conceived of Christ's victory in the flesh as the atonement - the sacrifice at Calvary being merely the offering to God of that humanity which He cleansed through a lifetime struggle with sin. Thus the salvation of man depended upon his participation through faith in the same victory that Christ achieved. He did not understand the ministry of Christ as High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary. To him the "door" was. shut as it was to Miller; and thus he could not properly relate the truth of the incarnation to the final atonement.
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He left that throne of glory and of power and took upon Him the nature of fallen man. In Him were blended "the brightness of the Father's glory" and the weakness of "the seed of Abraham." In Himself He united the Lawgiver to the law-breaker - the Creator to the creature; for He was made "sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."11Ten years prior to this statement in Waggoner's book, Elder James White, in an editorial appearing in the first issue of the Signs of the Times, wrote "a brief statement of what is, and has been, with great unanimity" believed by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The Second Article of the "concise statement of the more prominent features of our faith" declared:
That there is one Lord Jesus Christ, and Son of the Eternal Father, the One by whom God created all things, and by whom they do consist; that He took on Him the nature of the seed of Abraham for the redemption of our fallen race; that He dwelt among men, full of grace and truth, lived our example, died our sacrifice, was raised for our justification, ascended on high to be our only Mediator in the sanctuary in heaven, where, with His blood, He makes atonement for our sins; ...12The major statements from 1844 - 1888 in regard to the human nature which Christ assumed at Bethlehem are to be found chiefly in the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy. These statements, however, are specific, and clearly enunciated. The first statement from the inspired testimonies appeared in 1858. In describing the time when Jesus made the announcement of the plan of redemption to the unfallen angels, the servant of the Lord pictures Jesus as revealing the fact that -
He would leave all his glory in heaven, appear on earth as a man, humble himself as a man, become acquainted by his own experience with the various temptations with which man would be beset, that he might know how to succor those who should be tempted;...13This was difficult for the angels to accept, and they offered themselves as substitutes; but Jesus informed them that the life of an angel could not pay debt for sin. He, however, assured them that they would have a part to play
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Jesus also told them that they should have a part to act, to be with Him, and at different times strengthen Him. That He should take man's fallen nature, and His strength would not be even equal with theirs.14In the 1870's as Ellen G. White began to write more fully on the life and mission of Jesus Christ, comprehensive statements in regard to the incarnation appeared. Except for two articles on the subject of tithing, all the written material from her pen appearing in the Review for the year 1874, was on the subject of the plan of redemption and the temptations of Christ. In these articles the following specific statements are found which define the nature of the humanity Christ assumed in becoming man:
The great work of redemption could be carried out only by the Redeemer taking the place of fallen Adam... What love! What amazing condescension! The King of glory proposed to humble Himself to fallen humanity! He would place His feet in Adam's steps. He would take man's fallen nature and engage to cope with the strong foe who triumphed over Adam.15 The Son of God humbled Himself and took man's nature after the race had wandered four thousand years from Eden, and from their original state of purity and uprightness. Sin had been making its terrible marks upon the race for ages; and physical, mental, and moral degeneracy prevailed throughout the human family. When Adam was assailed by the tempter in Eden he was without the taint of sin. He stood in the strength of his perfection before God. All the organs and faculties of his being were equally developed, and harmoniously balanced. Christ, in the wilderness of temptation, stood in Adam's place to bear the test he failed to endure. Here Christ overcame in the sinner's behalf, four thousand years after Adam turned his back upon the light of his home. Separated from the presence of God, the human family had been departing every successive generation, farther from the original purity, wisdom, and knowledge which Adam possessed in Eden. Christ bore the sins and infirmities of the race as they existed when He came to earth to help man. In behalf of the race, with the weaknesses of fallen man upon Him, He was to stand the temptations of Satan upon all points wherewith man would be assailed...
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In what contrast is the second Adam as he entered the gloomy wilderness to cope with Satan single-handed. Since the fall the race had been decreasing in size and physical strength, and sinking lower in the scale of moral worth, up to the period of Christ's advent to the earth. And in order to elevate fallen man, Christ must reach him where he was. He took human nature, and bore the infirmities and degeneracy of the race. He, who knew no sin, became sin for us. He humiliated himself to the lowest depths of human woe, that he might be qualified to reach man, and bring him up from the degradation in which sin had plunged him.16 The humanity of Christ reached to the very depths of human wretchedness, and identified itself with the weaknesses and necessities of fallen man, while his divine nature grasped the Eternal... Christ's work was to reconcile man to God through his human nature, and God to man through his divine nature.17 Because man fallen could not overcome Satan with his human strength, Christ came from the royal courts of heaven to help him with His human and divine strength combined. Christ knew that Adam in Eden, with his superior advantages, might have withstood the temptations of Satan, and conquered him. He also knew that it was not possible for man, out of Eden, separated from the light and love of God since the Fall, to resist the temptations of Satan in his own strength. In order to bring hope to man, and save him from complete ruin, He humbled Himself to take man's nature, that, with His divine power combined with the human, He might reach man where he is. He obtains for the fallen sons and daughters of Adam that strength which it is impossible for them to gain for themselves, that in His name they may overcome the temptations of Satan.18
During the first part of the year 1875, the articles from the pen of Ellen G. White continued to present the temptations of Christ. She commented - "How few can understand the love of God for the fallen race in that He withheld not His divine Son from taking upon Him the humiliation of humanity."19 She pointed to the fact that Satan put forth his strongest efforts to overcome Christ on the point of appetite at a time when He was enduring the keenest pangs of hunger. Then she wrote:
The victory gained was designed, not only to set an example to those who have fallen under the power of appetite, but to qualify the Redeemer for His special work of reaching to the very depths of human woe. By experiencing in Himself the strength of Satan's temptation, and of human sufferings and infirmities, He would know how to succor those who should put forth efforts to help themselves.19
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He felt both joy and grief as they feel. His body was susceptible to weariness, as yours. His mind, like yours, could be harassed and perplexed. If you have hardships, so did He. Satan could tempt Him. His enemies could annoy Him... Jesus was sinless and had no dread of the consequences of sin. With this exception His condition was as yours. You have not a difficulty that did not press with equal weight upon Him, not a sorrow that His heart has not experienced. His feelings could be hurt with neglect, with indifference of professed friends, as easily as yours. Is your pathway thorny? Christ's was so in a tenfold sense. Are you distressed? So was He. How well fitted was Christ to be an example!20About this same time, Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 2, was published. In this volume, a specific contrast between man's nature, and Christ's humanity is made. Ellen G. White wrote:
Our Saviour identifies Himself with our needs and weaknesses, in that He became a suppliant, a nightly petitioner, seeking from His Father fresh supplies of strength, to come forth invigorated and refreshed, braced for duty and trial. He is our example in all things. He is a brother in our infirmities, but not in possessing like passions. As the sinless One, His nature recoiled from evil. He endured struggles and torture of soul in a world of sin. His humanity made prayer a necessity and privilege.21Commenting further on the prayer life of Jesus, she penned the following:
He prayed for His disciples and for Himself, thus identifying Himself with our needs, our weaknesses, and our failings, which are so common with humanity. He was a mighty petitioner, not possessing the passions of our human, fallen natures, but compassed with like infirmities, tempted in all points even as we are. Jesus endured agony which required help and support from His Father.22As one reads the last two quotations, it would appear that these statements are at variance with what had been written in other places prior to, and contemporary with these statements. There is no conflict, however, when one understands how the servant of the Lord in another place understood and
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used the word - passion. The following paragraph illustrates its use, and how the phrase - "inclinations of the natural heart" - is associated together in thought in regard to the experiential knowledge of our Lord:
No man can be forced to transgress. His own consent must first be gained; the soul must purpose the sinful act, before passion can dominate over reason, or iniquity triumph over conscience. Temptation, however strong, is never an excuse for sin.... Cast yourself, helpless, unworthy, upon Jesus, and claim His very promise. The Lord will hear. He knows how strong are the inclinations of the natural heart, and He will help in every time of temptation.23In our experience, we have purposed the sinful acts; our passions have dominated over reason; iniquity triumphed over conscience. We have become possesed with evil. But not so with Christ. He did not choose to sin. Although understanding the strength of human inclination, the desires of our fallen human nature never dominated His reason or triumphed over His conscience. He conquered the tendencies of the humanity He took upon Himself. In Him were no cultivated tendencies to evil for He never permitted human passions to dominate His thinking, and thus control His actions. Another statement defining the nature of the humanity Christ assumed appeared in 1877. In this testimony a clear differentiation is made between "form" and "nature" as pertaining to fallen man, and what Christ accepted as a part of the plan devised by the Godhead for man's redemption. It reads:
It was in the order of God that Christ should take upon Himself the form and nature of fallen manht understand how to succor those who should be tempted.24Ten years later 1887 - Sister White wrote an article for the Review regarding pride that was leading to strife for supremacy. She set before the reader Christ's sacrifice as an example to be emulated. In so doing she stated
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certain facts that involved the nature of the humanity Christ assumed. Three points are clearly enunciated:
1) He was God, but the glories of the form of God He for a while relinquished. 2) He humbled Himself and took mortality upon Him. As a member of the human family He was mortal... 3) He brouqht into His human nature all the life-givinq energies that human beings will need and must receive.
Then was pictured the abuse, insult, and reproach which Jesus suffered as a man; and finally His humiliating death as a condemned criminal. In view of this, a question is asked - "Shall pride be harbored after you have seen Deity humbling Himself, and then as man debasing Himself, till there was no lower point to which He could descend?"25
Thus during the years from 1844 to 1888 - those years which have been termed the formative years of our doctrine - clear, specific statements were given through the Spirit of Prophecy in regard to the nature of Christ's humanity. Christ in becoming man, took the place of "fallen Adam" after the race had wandered four thousand years in sin. He accepted "the sins and infirmities" of humanity "as they existed when He came to earth to help man." By "experiencing in Himself" human infi mities, He came to know "how strong are the inclinations of the natural heart." He accepted not only the "form" but also the "nature" of fallen man, reaching "to the very depths of human wretchedness" "that He might be qualified to reach man, and bring him up from the degradation in which sin had plunged him." In His struggle with sin, He did not permit evil passion to possess Him; He was its master, its conqueror. His "nature" not the human He accepted in union with Himself, but that which was His - His very Self from all eternity - "recoiled from evil." He took "mortality upon Him" so that He could yield His life as a sacrifice for the sins of the world.Page 12
The victory gained qualified Him to be not only an Example, but a Redeemer from sin. Without controversy, great is the mystery of the sublime condescension.
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1Revelation 14:9-122Sylvester Bliss, Memoirs of William Miller, p. 80
3Ibid., pp. 77-8
4Revelation 3:7
5Francis D. Nichol, The Midnight Cry, p. 9
6A. H. Strong, Systematic Theology, p. 744
7Edward Irving, Works, 5:15. (Quoted by Strong, op. cit., p. 745
8Ibid.
9Edward Irving, quoted by Strong, op. cit., p. 746
10Ellen G. White, Special Testimonies, Series B, No. 2, p. 57
11J. H. Waggoner, The Atonement in the Light of Nature and Revelation, p. 161
12James White, Editorial, Signs of the Times, June 4, 1874
13Ellen G. White, Spiritual Gifts, Vol. I, p. 24
14Ibid., p. 25
15Ellen G. White, "Redemption - No. 1", Review and Herald, Feb. 24, 1874
16Ellen G. White, "The Temptation of Christ", Review and Herald, July 28, 1874
17Ellen G. White, "The Temptation of Christ", Review and Herald, August 4, 1874
18Ellen G. White, "The Temptation of Christ", Review and Herald, August 18, 1874
19Ellen G. White, "The Temptation of Christ", Review and Herald, March 18, 1875
20Ellen G. White, Letter 17, 1878, Quoted Our High Calling, pp. 57, 59
21Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 2, pp. 201-202
22Ibid., pp. 508-509
23Ibid., Vol. 5, p. 177
24Ellen G. White, Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. 2, p. 39
25Ellen G. White, "Christ Man's Example", Review and Herald, July 5, 1887
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III
ELLEN G. WHITE ON THE INCARNATION
FROM 1888 - 1915
The presentations of Dr. E. J. Waggoner and Elder A. T. Jones on the subject of Righteousness by Faith during the last decade of the 19th Century, included of necessity, a discussion of the nature of the humanity which the Son of God assumed. Their concepts on the subject of the incarnation produced opposition. Some of those who were opposed wrote to Sister White. These did not simply write to the prophetess to obtain the light she had been given in regard to the humanity of the Son of man, but to assert their doubts as the basis for questioning. To these questioners, she replied in a morning talk given at Battle Creek, Michigan on January 29, 1890. She revealed that "letters have been coming to me, affirming that Christ could not have had the same nature as man, for if He had He would have fallen under similar temptations." To this reasoning she declared:If He did not have man's nature, He could not be our example. If He was not a partaker of our nature, He could not have been tempted as man has been. If it were not possible for Him to yield to temptation, He could not be our helper. It was a solemn reality that Christ came to fight the battles as man, in man's behalf. His temptation and victory tell us that humanity must copy the Pattern; man must become a partaker of the divine nature.1In this brief answer, there is summarized the position as found in the Spirit of Prophecy, both prior to 1888, and until, Ellen G. White's death in 1915. While it is true that during this period - 1888 to 1915 - many more statements on the subject of the incarnation came from the pen of Sister White, than prior to 1888, there are no contradictions, or altering of her position from the first statement in 1858. There are two approaches which could be used in presenting the material
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on the incarnation in the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy during the period of time covered by this chapter. 1) We could simply list by year what was penned, or 2) We could bring together in an interpretive form, the statements regardless of the year sequence. Since this is "an interpretive" history of the doctrine as taught in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the latter procedure will be followed.
To Ellen G. White, the incarnation was "a mystery that will not be fully, completely understood in all its greatness until the translation of the redeemed shall take place. Then the power and greatness and efficacy of the gift of God to man will be understood."2 However, she cautioned that "the enemy is determined that this gift shall be so mystified that it will become as nothingness."3 The magnitude and the depth of the condescension revealed by the incarnation of Jesus Christ, leaves the student "breathless." In 1896, Sister White wrote:In contemplating the incarnation of Christ in humanity, we stand baffled before an unfathomable mystery, that the human mind cannot comprehend. The more we reflect upon it, the more amazing does it appear. How wide is the contrast between the divinity of Christ and the helpless infant in Bethlehem's manger! How can we span the distance between the mighty God and a helpless child? And yet the Creator of worlds, He in whom was the fulness of the Godhead bodily, was manifest in the helpless babe in the manger. Far higher than any of the angels, equal with the Father in dignity and glory, and yet wearing the garb of humanity! Divinity and humanity were mysteriously combined, and man and God became one.4It is in this union "that we find the hope of our fallen race."5 "The humanity of the Son of God is everything to us. It is the golden chain that binds our souls to Christ, and through Christ to God."6 Therefore, we need to "fix our minds on the most marvelous thing that ever took place in earth or heaven the incarnation of the Son of God."7 "We should come to this study with the
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humility of a learner, with a contrite heart. And the study of the incarnation of Christ [will be] a fruitful field, which will repay the searcher who digs deep for hidden truth."6
Where is one to begin in the study of the incarnation? The inspired counsel indicated:There are light and glory in the truth that Christ was one with the Father before the foundation of the world was laid. This is the light shining in a dark place, making it resplendent with divine, original glory. This truth, infinitely mysterious in itsel f explains other mysterious and otherwise unexplainable truths, while it is enshrined in light, unapproachable and incomprehensible.8As "one with the Father", "the Lord Jesus Christ... existed from eternity a distinct person."8 This distinct Person became the" Man Christ Jesus.
While Ellen G. White definitely states that "we cannot explain how divinity was clothed with humanity",9 her writings during this period unfold various fundamental aspects of what took place when Christ became man. In 1899, she wrote:Christ, at an infinite cost, by a painful process, mysterious to angels as well as to men, assumed humanity. Hiding His divinity laying aside His glory, He was born a babe in Bethlehem.10In creation, Christ had given "to humanity an existence outside of Himself;" but "in redemption, He takes humanity unto Himself. He makes it a part of His own being." 11 We might then ask - "Was the human nature of the Son of Mary changed into the divine nature of the Son of God? No; the two natures were mysteriously blended in one person - the man Christ Jesus."12 Or we might ask the question another way - Was the divine nature degraded by accepting the human nature formed in the womb of Mary? The answer is again - No! "In Christ, divinity and humanity were combined. Divinity was not degraded to humanity; divinity held its place, but humanity by being united to divinity withstood the fiercest test of temptation in the wilderness."1 What then is meant when
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the expression - Christ "united humanity with divinity" - is used in the Spirit of Prophecy? Note the following two quotations:
He [Christ] united humanity with divinity: a divine spirit dwelt in a temple of flesh. He united Himself with the temple.13 In His person, humanity inhabited by divinity was represented to the world.14The nature of the humanity of the Son of God - "a distinct person" in His own right from eternity - is also clearly and unmistakably set forth by the servant of the Lord. While Christ was declared to be the second Adam, He did not accept the nature of Adam in his innocency, but Adam's fallen nature. She wrote:In Christ were united the divine and the human - the Creator and the creature. The nature of God, whose law had been transgressed, and the nature of Adam the transgressor, meet in Jesus - the Son of God, and the Son of man.15Neither is there any doubt left as to the condition of the humanity which Christ accepted in connection with Himself. On this point it was written:
Think of Christ's humiliation. He took upon Himself fallen, suffering human nature, degraded and defiled by sin.13 Christ did in reality unite the offending nature of man with His own sinless nature, because by this act of condescension He would be enabled to pour out His blessings in behalf of the fallen race.16Lest she be misunderstood, what she meant by the term, "human nature", or when she stated that Christ became "flesh", Ellen G. White emphasized that it was "in the likeness of sinful flesh.". In an article for the Youth's Instructor, she penned these words - "Let children bear in mind that the child Jesus had taken upon Himself human nature, and was in the likeness of sinful flesh,* and was tempted of Satan as all children are tempted."17 In another source__________________________________________________________
* -- This should dispel forever the deception that Christ bore our fallen nature only at the time of the wilderness temptation, and that "vicariously".
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the servant of the Lord declared - "He [Christ] was not only made flesh, but He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh."18 Some might quibble over this point and hold that because Sister White used the expression, "likeness of sinful flesh" - which is a Biblical phrase - she meant that the nature that Jesus assumed was not really the sinful fallen nature, but only something which physically resembled it. However, in two published sources it is plainly stated that "He took upon His sinless nature our sinful nature",19 and "He took upon Him our sinful nature."20
While being specific as to the nature that Christ assumed, the servant of the Lord was just as pointed as to the results of such a union. She declared - "In His human nature, He maintained the purity of His divine character."21 In taking upon Himself man's nature in its fallen condition, Christ did not in the least participate in its sin."22 "No taint of sin was found on Him."23 The article in the Signs of the Times from which the last sentence was quoted bore the title - "Sin Condemned in the Flesh." In this article the various Bible texts, which refer to Christ's sinlessness are quoted, such as, "that holy thing"; "He did no sin"; "knew no sin"; "in Him was no sin"; and that Christ was "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners." Then this sentence is written - "This testimony concerning Christ plainly shows that He condemned sin in the flesh."23 One positive point Ellen G. White made in reply to the questions that came to her as a result of the preaching on the subject of Righteousness by Faith was that if Christ "was not a partaker of our nature, He could not have been tempted as man has been."1 She also recognized that -Unless there is a possibility of yielding, temptation is no temptation. Temptation comes and is resisted when man is powerfully influenced to do a wrong action, and knowing that he can do it, resists by faith, with a firm hold upon divine power.10Page 18
Then she declared - "This is the ordeal through which Christ passed." To pass through this experience presented a two-fold risk to the Godhead. 1) A risk to the Son of God personally; and 2) A risk to the unity of the eternal throne unless certain precautions were taken. From the beginning God had exercised great care lest sin become immortalized. Our first parents were driven from the garden so they could not partake of the tree of life following their disobedience.24 Now if Christ came into humanity with the immortal aspect of the Godhead - the glory He had with the Father before the world was25 - and failed, which had to be a possibility or His temptations would have been meaningless, then there would have been two Beings in eternal antagonism. The incarnation, of necessity, had to synthesize these two risks.
The Spirit of Prophecy indicated that Christ did accept in Himself this synthesis. He came as "a free agent, placed on probation, as was Adam, and as is man."10 Christ also shielded the Eternal Throne. "He humbled Himself, and took mortality upon Him. As a member of the human family, He was mortal;..."26 Thus if He sinned, "divine wrath would have come upon Christ as it came upon Adam."22 But while Christ yielded up the divine prerogatives, His place in the Godhead was held in sacred trust, and could not be lost, "while He stood faithful and true to His loyalty."27 From 1891 to 1900, Ellen G. White was in Australia. It was there in 1895 that she wrote a letter to an Australian evangelist, William L. H. Baker, which has been used extensively to mitigate the force of all that she wrote during this period on the nature which Christ assumed in becoming a man. This letter is discussed in the Appendix.28 At this very time, she was writing the book, The Desire of Ages. Nowhere in this book can be found statements which would sustain the interpretation being given to the letter to Elder Baker.
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Throughout the book The Desire of Ages the description of the humanity which Christ assumed, and the victory that He obtained in the flesh reflect the same concepts the author penned in previous publications, and in the articles appearing in the church papers during this same period. Of Christ, it is stated, He "accepted the results of the working of the great law of heredity." In context, she wrote:It would have been an almost infinite humiliation for the Son of God to take man's nature, even when Adam stood in his innocence in Eden. But Jesus accepted humanity when the race was weakened by four thousand years of sin. Like every child of Adam He accepted the results of the working of the great law of heredity. What these results were is shown in the history of His earthly ancestors. He came with such a heredity to share our sorrows and temptations, and to give us the example of a sinless life.29A pre-publication draft of this paragraph is very expressive. It reads:
Christ was to take humanity upon Him, not as it was when Adam stood in his innocence in Eden, but as weakened and defiled by four thousand years of sin. He was to come as the Son of man, like every child of Adam, accepting the results of the working of the great law of heredity. What these results were, what was the inheritance bequeathed to Jesus in His human nature, Scripture reveals in the history of those who were the earthly ancestors of our Saviour. with such a heredity, Jesus came as one of us, to share our sorrows and temptations, and to give us the example of a sinless life.30In another chapter of the book, Ellen G. White wrote that "as one of us He was to give an example of obedience. For He took upon,Himself our nature, and passed through our experiences."31
The expressions - "as one of us", and "our nature" are clearly defined in the book. In one place it is written - "Christ took upon Him the infirmities of degenerate humanity", which for four thousand years "had been decreasing in physical strength, in mental power, and in moral worth."32 "Our Saviour took humanity, with all its liabilities."32 Christ knew that it was impossiblePage 20
for man to deny the clamor of his fallen nature, and that through this channel, Satan would seek to take advantage of hereditary weakness to ensnare him, so "by passing over the ground which man must travel, our Lord has prepared the way for us to overcome."33 "By His humanity, Christ touched humanity; by His divinity, He lays hold upon the throne of God. As the Son of man, He gave us an example of obedience; as the Son of God, He gives us the power to obey."31
A statement appeared in the Youth's Instructor during 1897, which could serve as a summary of what the inspired testimonies declared in regard to the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. It reads:To human eyes, Christ was only a man, yet He was a perfect man. In His humanity, He was the impersonation of the divine character. God embodied His own attributes in His Son, - His power, His wisdom, His goodness, His purity, His truthfulness, His spirituality, and His benevolence. In Him, though human, all perfection of character, all divine excellence, dwelt.34__________________________________________________________
1Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, bk. i, p. 4082Ellen G. White, Letter 280, 1904 (5BC:1113)
3Ibid.
4Ellen G. White, Signs of the Times, July 30, 1896
5Ibid.
6Ellen G. White, Youth's Instructor, October 13, 1898
7Ellen G. White, MS 76, 1903 (7BC:904)
8Ellen G. White, Review and Herald, April 5, 1906
9Ellen G. White, Review and Herald, October 1, 1889
10Ellen G. White, MS 29, 1899
11Ellen G. White, "The Word Made Flesh" Andreasen Collection # 2
12See Footnote #2
13Ellen G. White, Youth's Instructor, December 20, 1900 (4BC:1147)
14Ellen G. White, "The Kingdom of Christ" June 13, 1896
15Ellen G. White, MS 141, 1901
16Ellen G. White, Review and Herald, July 17, 1900
17Ellen G. White, Youth's Instructor, August 23, 1894
18Ellen G. White, W-106-1896
19Ellen G. White, Medical Ministry, p. 181
20Ellen G. White, Review and Herald, December 15, 1896
21Ellen G. White, Youth's Instructor, June 2, 1898
22Ellen G. White, Signs of the Times, June 9, 1898
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23Ibid., January 16, 1896
24Genesis 3:22-23
25John 17:5
26Ellen G. White, Review and Herald, September 4, 1900 (5BC:1127)
27Ellen G. White, Signs of the Times, May 10, 1899 (5BC:1129)
28See Appendix A
29Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 49
30From photostat copy in writer's file; taken from Andreasen's Collection No. 2
31Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 24
32Ibid., p. 117
33Ibid., pp. 122-123
34 "Ellen G. White, Youth's Instructor, September 16, 1897
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IV
THE DOCTRINE OF THE INCARNATION
AS TAUGHT BY JONES AND WAGGONER
During the period of time covered in this chapter - 1888 to 1905 - the subject of the incarnation was preached mote extensively, and discussed more fully than at any time in the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church with the exception of the last decade. To understand the why of this emphasis during this period of time, it is necessary to note the messages of righteousness by faith which came to the Church at the 1888 General Conference Session and the decade following that Session. At the General Conference Session in Minneapolis (1888), the Lord sent "a most precious message to His people through Elders Waggoner and Jones."l These men enlarged and emphasized this message during the years that followed. Not only did the message present "justification through faith in the Surety," but "it invited the people to receive the righteousness of Christ, which is made manifest in obedience to all the commandments of God." Christ through the Holy Spirit, came near to His Church with the objective of "imparting the priceless gift of His own righteousness to the helpless human agent." This is "the third angel's message, which is to be proclaimed with a loud voice, and attended with the outpouring of His Spirit in a large measure."2 It needs to be understood also that Christ as High Priest in the Most Holy place of the heavenly sanctuary was desirous of completing His work for man according to covenant promise. He had upon the Cross provided a sufficient sacrifice for the sins of mankind; but as our High Priest, He was to complete His work,, "and fulfil His pledge to 'make a man more precious than fine gold; evenPage 23
a man than the golden wedge of Ophir."'3 This work of Christ is referred to in the Spirit of Prophecy as "a special atonement for Israel", or "a final atonement."4
The question of what was involved in making a man more precious than the golden wedge of Ophir, and how it was to be accomplished became the primary emphasis in the presentation of the message of Righteousness by Faith. The truth that the incarnation had a definite relationship to the atonement, as projected by Edward Irving5 - though misunderstood and misapplied by him - now came into its own; and it was seen to be an essential and vital part of the message concerning the special work that Jesus desired to accomplish in and for man.* During this period, the special messengers whom the Lord sent to the church so presented the doctrine of the incarnation. In 1890, the Pacific Press released a book by Dr. E. J. Waggoner6, which Froom avers to be an edited presentation of the messages given by him at the 1888 General Conference Session.7 After setting forth Christ's divinity, Waggoner turns to the "wonderful story of His humiliation."8 He quotes and comments on John 1:14 and Philippians 2:5-8. Then he writes: - "Other scriptures that we will quote bring closer to us the fact of the humanity of Christ, and what it means for us."9 These other texts were Romans 8:3-4, Hebrews 2:16-18, and II Corinthians 5:21. Commenting on Romans 8:3-4, he wrote:__________________________________________________________
*The doctrine of the incarnation cannot be separated from the teaching of the perfection of character which God intends His people to manifest in the final display of His glory in the earth. In His incarnate life, Christ finished the work the Father gave Him to do - "power over all flesh" - thus glorifying Him on the earth. John 17:2-4. This is to be repeated; for the final victors of earth are to overcome, "even as [Jesus] also overcame." Rev. 3:21.
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A little thought will be sufficient to show anybody that if Christ took upon Himself the likeness of man, in order that He might redeem man, it must have been sinful man that He was made like, for it was sinful man that He came to redeem... Moreover, the fact that Christ took upon Himself the flesh, not of a sinless being, but of sinful man, that is, that the flesh which He assumed had all the weaknesses and sinful tendencies to which fallen human nature is subject, is shown by the statement that He "was made of the seed of David according to the flesh."10In commenting on II Corinthians 5:21, Waggoner stated:
This is much stronger than the statement that He was made "in the likeness of sinful flesh." He was made to be sin. Here is the same mystery as that the Son of God should die. The spotless Lamb of God, who knew no sin, was made to be sin. Sinless, yet not only counted as a sinner, but actually taking upon Himself sinful nature. He was made to be sin in order that we might be made righteousness.11How does the incarnation relate to us being made righteousness? Observe the further observations of Waggoner:
He [Christ] is "touched with the feeling of our infirmity. That is, having suffered all that sinful flesh is heir to, He knows all about it, and so closely does He identify Himself with His children that whatever presses upon them makes a like impression upon Him, and He knows how much Divine power is necessary to resist it; and if we but sincerely desire to deny "ungodliness and worldly lusts", He is able and anxious to give us strength "exceeding abundantly, above all that we ask or think." All the power which Christ had dwelling in Him by nature, we may have dwelling in us by grace, for He freely bestows it unon us.12Then he adds:
What wonderful possibilities there are for the Christian! To what heights of holiness he may attain! No matter how much Satan may war against him, assaulting him where the flesh is weakest, he may abide under the shadow of the Almighty, and be filled with the fullness of God's strength.13Thus Dr. Waggoner inseparably linked the truth of the incarnation - that Christ took upon Himself the fallen, sinful nature of man - and the objective of the atonement - "that Christ may dwell in [our] hearts by faith", "that [we] might be filled with all the fulness of God." - the "heights of holiness" to which we may attain.
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At the 1891 General Conference Session, Elder Waggoner gave a series of studies on the book of Romans. In these studies the same emphasis appears as in his book - Christ and His Righteousness. During the Eighth Study, Waggoner noted the attribute of a priest as one who had compassion, and observed that the compassion of Christ was revealed by the fact that "it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren." Then he asked - "What is done by the compassion of Christ?... What benefit is the compassion of Christ to us?" To these questions, he answered:He [Christ] knows the strength we need. He knows what we need, when we need it, and how we need it. So the work of Christ as priest, is for one thing, - to deliver us from sin.His next question was - "What is the power of Christ's priesthood?" To this question, the answer was given:
He is made priest "not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life." That is the power by which Christ delivers you and me from sin this day, and this hour, and every moment that we believe in Him.Dr. Waggoner considered the power of the "endless life" as coming from two sources: 1) It was a divine power, and 2) the earthly life of Christ in the flesh was a life free from sin; therefore, "death could not hold Him." To the objection that this was good theory in the case of Christ, but we are in the flesh and sin, he replied - "That is true; but in the flesh there may be the divine life that was in Christ when He was in the flesh." 14 In the Tenth Study, Waggoner returned to the concept of the power of an "endless life" as it pertains to the individual. He asked - "Now how do we get hold of Christ? How do we get the benefit of that righteous life of His? Here was the answer:Page 26
It is in the act of death. At what point is it that we touch ...Christ, and make the connection? At what point in the ministry of Christ is it that He touches us, and effects the union? - It is at the lowest possible point where man can be touched, and that is death. In all points He is made like His brethren, so He takes the very lowest of these - the point of death, - and there it is, when we are actually dead, that we step into Christ.But since Christ arose, we too, rise to newness of life. "That new life, - that newness of life which we have, is the life of Christ, and it is a SINLESS LIFE." In this same study, Waggoner declared this to be the very heart, life, and power of the message of righteousness by faith. He said:
In all of our Christian experience we have left little loopholes along here and there for sin. We have never dared to come to that place where we would believe that the Christian life should be a sinless life. we have not dared to believe it or preach it. But in that case we cannot preach the law of God fully. Why not? Because we do not understand the power of justification by faith. Then without justification by faith it is impossible to preach the law of God to the fullest extent.15*In the Twelfth study, all the teaching of righteousness by faith was linked with the incarnation. In discussing the "old man", and our marriage to this "body of sin" as Paul presented it in Romans 7, Waggoner observed that we were one with it. Just so, when we are crucified with Christ, and rise to a new relationship, we are married to Christ, and thus one with Him. On this point, he commented:What a precious thought it is, that we are one flesh with Christ! In this we see the mystery of the incarnation appearing again. If we can believe that Christ was in the flesh, God incarnate in Christ, we can believe this, - Christ dwelling in us, and working through us, - through our flesh, just the same as when He took flesh upon Himself and controlled it.16__________________________________________________________
*Herein is the difference between justification by faith as presented in the Protestant Reformation, and the doctrine as brought to the Church in 1888. While the basic foundation was the same - the just shall live by faith - it was in the 1888 message that the full application of what it meant was made - the power to keep from sinning. In other words, a people were to be prepared of whom it could be said, - "Here are they that keep the commandments of God."
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In 1892, Elder E. J. Waggoner accepted a call to become editor of the Present Truth published in England. He did not again speak before a General Conference Session until 1897. At that Session he presented nineteen studies primarily on the first section of the book of Hebrews. In these studies, he maintained the same position on the nature of Christ's humanity that he had held six years previously. In discussing Hebrews 2:9 which states that Jesus "was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death,"17 Waggoner commented - "He was made a little lower than the angels; He was man. So that when we consider Him now, we consider Him as man, and from this point though we have Jesus before us all the time, but always as man. Never forget that."18 To emphasize how closely Jesus has identified Himself with man, Waggoner noted that Jesus did not abandon man when he sinned, but accepted the curse in Himself, even the curse man received because of sin. He asked the question - "Where is that point where the curse falls upon Christ?" In answer to his own question, he said - "Sinful flesh. Not only sinful flesh, but that which stands as the symbol of the curse that falls upon Christ - the cross."19 To Waggoner, the crucifixion did not begin at Calvary, for he declared - "Christ taking fallen, sinful humanity upon Him, is Christ crucified."20 In contrasting the difference between the two Adams, Elder Waggoner emphasized what he understood the Scripture to mean which said - "The Word was made flesh." He said, "The Word was made perfect flesh in Adam, but in Christ was the Word made fallen flesh. Christ goes down to the bottom, and there is the Word flesh, sinful flesh."21 In 1901, Elder E. J. Waggoner gave a sermon at the General Conference Session which focused on the subject of the humanity of Christ, but because
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of its timing and connection with the doctrinal issues which came before the Session, his observations will be given in the chapter on the Holy Flesh Movement.
From 1892 and onward the burden for the presentation of the Message of 1888, and the truth in regard to the incarnation at the General Conference Sessions rested upon Elder A. T. Jones. At both the 1893 and 1895 Sessions, Jones used the same theme - "The Third Angel's Message". In the Tenth Study of the 1893 series, Jones discussed the "white raiment" with which the saints are to be clothed. Of this garment, he declared:Brethren, that garment was woven in a human body. The human body the flesh of Christ - was the loom, was it not? That garment was woven in Jesus; in the same flesh that you and I have, for He took part of the same flesh and blood that we have. That flesh that is yours and mine, that Christ bore in this world - that was the loom in which God wove that garment for you and me to wear in the flesh, and He wants us to wear it now, as well as when the flesh is made immortal in the end! What was the loom? Christ in His human flesh. What was it that was made there? [Voice: The garment of righteousness.] And it is for all of us. The righteousness of Christ - the life that He lived - for you and for me, that we are considering tonight, that is the garment... It was God in Christ. Christ is to be in us, just as God was in Him, and His character is to be in us, just as God was in Him, and His character is to be woven and transformed into us through these sufferings and temptations and trials which we meet. And God is the weaver, but not without us. It is the co-operation of the divine and the human - the mystery of God in you and me - the same mystery that was in the gospel, and that is the third angel's message.22In the above statement, Elder Jones clearly indicated that the doctrine of the incarnation which teaches that Christ took upon Himself the fallen nature of man is inseparably linked with the message of righteousness by faith, and this combined message is the third angel's message. Furthermore, this whole concept was linked with the perfection that must be man's in the final hour of human history. In the Eighteenth Study, Jones discussed the demands of the law of
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God. He stated that the Law demanded "perfect love, manifested 'out of a pure hftrt, a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned."' Man can only respond, "I have not got it: I have done my best." But the Law replies:
That is not what I want; I don't want your best; I want perfection. It is not your doing I want anyhow, it is God's I want: it is not your righteousness I am after: I want God's righteousness from you: it is not your doing I want: I want God's doing in your life.What can man say to this? Nothing, absolutely nothing! What is the answer? Here is the answer that Jones gave:
But there comes a still small voice saying, "Here is perfect life; here is the life of God: here is a pure heart; here is a good conscience; here is unfeigned faith." Where does that voice come from? [Congregation: "Christ"] Ah, the Lord Jesus Christ, who came and stood where I stand, in the flesh in which I live.; He lived there; the perfect love of God was manifested there; the perfect purity of heart manifested there; a good conscience manifested there; and the unfeigned faith of the mind that was in Jesus Christ, is there.And Jones added - "The law wants to see that thing in me."23
In the 1895 series of studies given at the General Conference Session, A. T. Jones enunciated the doctrine of the incarnation and the nature of Christ's humanity more clearly and more completely than had been done before in any single presentation. Jones began the study of the humanity of Christ by noting the common source from which the humanity we possess was derived. "One man is the source and head of all human nature. And the geneology of Christ, as one of us, runs to Adam.. All coming from one man according to the flesh, are all of one. Thus"on the human side, Christ's nature is precisely our nature."24 In commenting on John 1:14 - "And the Word was made flesh" - Jones asked the question - "Now what kind of flesh is it?" In answering this question, he asked another, and amplified the answer as follows:
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What kind of flesh alone is it that this world knows? - Just such flesh as you and I have. This world does not know any other flesh of man, and has not known any other since the necessity of Christ's coming was created. Therefore, as this world knows only such fleshas we have, as it is now, it is certainly true that when "the Word was made flesh", He was made just such flesh as ours is. It cannot be otherwise.25In this argument, Jones was but echoing Edward Irving, who had declared, "That Christ took our fallen nature, is most manifest, because there was no other in existence to take."26*
Turning to Hebrews 2:9, A. T. Jones noted that Christ was not made "lower than the angels" as man was when he was created - "That was sinless flesh" but Christ was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death where "man is since he sinned and became subject to death."27 The next point in his structure of truth on the incarnation was based on Hebrews 4:14 - Christ "was in all points tempted like as we are." Concerning this Jones said:He [Christ] could not have been tempted in all points like as I am, if He were not in all points like as I am to start with... Christ was in the place, and He had the nature, of the whole human race - And in Him meet all the weaknesses of mankind, so that every man on the earth who can be twqpted at all, finds in Jesus Christ power against that temptation. For every soul there is in Jesus__________________________________________________________
*As one reads closely the six studies devoted to a discussion of the humanity of the Son of God in the incarnation which A. T. Jones gave at the 1895 General Conference Session, one is impressed with the emphasis which parallels the basic position of Edward Irving of England. One cannot help but wonder if E. J. Waggoner after arriving in England obtained Irving's Works, and sent them to his friend and co-laborer? However, Jones studiously avoided the basic error of Irving in attributing to Christ's human nature the cultivated sins of man. There can be no doubt that A. T. Jones considered this presentation of the incarnation an advanced step to any previous study on the subject. He said "We are here studying the same subject that we have been studying these three or four years; but God is leading us further along in the study of it, and I am glad." General Conference Bulletin, 1895, p. 330
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Christ victory against all temptation, and relief from the power of it. That is the truth.28In the study the following evening, Jones returned to the point of inheritance which man received from Adam. He stated that "there is not a single drawing toward sin, there is not a single tendency to sin, in you and me that was not in Adam when he stepped out of the girden." "All the tendencies to sin that are in the human race came from Adam." "Jesus Christ felt all these emptations; He was tempted upon all these points in the flesh which He derived from David, from Abraham, and from Adam." He reminded his hearers - "And there is such a thing as heredity." What did this mean in Jones' thinking as it applied to the incarnation? He stated:Now that law of heredity reached from Adam to the flesh of Jesus Christ as certainly as it reaches from Adam to the flesh of any of the rest of us;l for He was one of us. In Him there were things that reached Him from Adam; in Him there were things that reached Him from David, from Manasseh, from the genealogy away back from the beginning until His birth. Thus in the flesh of Jesus Christ, - not in Himself, but in His flesh, - our flesh which He took in the human nature, - there were just the same tendencies to sin that are in you and me.29But as each temptation sought to draw upon Him through the tendencies of the flesh, Jesus Christ "by His trust in God" received the power to say, No, "and thus being in the likeness of sinful flesh, He condemned sin in the flesh."
In making these assertions, A. T. Jones was very careful to clarify two points: 1) "There is a difference between a tendency to sin, and the open appearing of that sin in the actions." And 2) "Those sins which we have committed, - we ourselves felt the guilt of them, and were conscious of condemnation because of them. These were all imputed to Him; they were all laid upon Him."30 Thus Jones carefully differentiated between.the inherited tendencies to sin which are common to man's nature, which Christ took, and the cultivated habits
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of evil which each man developes in his own life through yielding to sin. The former Christ accepted in coming under the great law of heredity; the latter He bore vicariously when He became the sin offering at Calvary. Because of this, Jones was able to declare:
0, He is a complete Saviour. He is a Saviour from sins committed, and the Conqueror of the tendencies to commit sins. In Him we have the victory.31What does this victory mean to us? Is it imputed, or imparted? Is it just something we look at and adore, or is it something we, too, can experience? Jones discussed this point in his next study. He stated:As weak as we, sinful as we, simply ourselves, - He went through this world, and never sinned. * He was sinful as we, weak as we, helpless as we, helpless as the man is who is without God; yet by His trust in God, God so visited Him, so abode in Him, so strengthened Him, that, instead of sin ever being manifested, the righteousness of God was always manifested. But who was He? He was ourselves. Then God has demonstrated once in the world, and to the universe, that He will so come to me and you; and so live with us, as we are in the world today; and will cause His grace and His power to so abide with us; that, in spite of all our sinfulness, in spite of all our weaknesses, the righteousness and the holy influence of God will be manifested to men, instead of ourselves and our sinfulness.32__________________________________________________________
*Admittedly, Jones used "strong language" when he used the expression - "sinful as we" - in identifying Christ with man. This is another echo of Irving's teaching. But in reality, what difference in basic thought from Jones is this statement:- "With the terrible weight of the sins of the world upon Him, Christ withstood the test upon appetite, upon the love of the world, and upon that love of display which leads to presumption." (Desire of Ages, p. 117) The question is how are the Biblical expressions of Christ's identity with man to be verbalized. Paul wrote that God "hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin." Also he penned that Christ was "made a curse for us" and "abolished in His flesh the enmity." Peter stated that Christ bore "our sins in His own body to the tree." Jones was speaking of Christ in the context of the Psalms. Psalm 69:5 was quoted - "0 God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee." Jones commented - "We read here His confession of sin. This was He as ourselves, and in our place, confessing our sins." Thus, "sinful as we", is not to be understood that Christ was a sinner, but that He had put Himself in the sinner's place.
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To A. T. Jones, it would be no mystery for God to be manifest in sinless flesh. "But the wonder is that God can do that through and in sinful flesh. That is the mystery of God, - God manifest in sinful flesh." Then he stated:In Jesus Christ as He was in sinful flesh, God has demonstrated before the universe that He can so take possession of sinful flesh as to manifest His own presence, His power, and His glory, instead of sin manifesting itself. And all that the Son asks of any man, in order to accomplish this in him, is that the man will let the Lord have him as the Lord Jesus did... Then God will so take us, and so use us, that our sinful selves shall not appear to influance or affect anybody; but God will manifest His righteous self, His glory, before men, in spite of all ourselves and our sinfulness. That is the truth. And that is the mystery of God, "Christ in you, the hope of glory," - God manifest in sinful flesh.33The "false idea that [Christ] is so holy that it would be entirely unbecoming in Him to come near to us, and be possessed of such a nature as we have, - sinful, depraved, fallen human nature" had its source in "the incarnation of that enmity that is against God, and that separates between man and God, the papacy." To accomplish this, "Mary must be born immaculate, perfect, sinless" and "then Christ must be so born of her as to take His human nature in absolute sinlessness from her." But Jones declared for himself [and for all of us] - "I need some one to help me who knows something about sinful nature; for that is the nature that I have; and such the Lord did take. He became one of us." Then Jones challenged those present at the meeting that in the light of a revival of papal power, and the formation of the image to the beast - "having the form of godliness without the reality, without the power" is not the truth of the incarnation needed today as never before so that there can be proclaimed "the real merits of Jesus Christ . . . and His holiness?"34 By the time that Jones reached his Sixteenth Study, some of the delegates were either openly challenging his presentation of the incarnation by calling
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attention to the statements in Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 2, or else were beginning to study carefully what had been presented and sought an answer to what appeared to be a contradiction between Jones' presentation and the Spirit of Prophecy. At the close of the study, Jones made the following comment:
Some have found, and all may find, in the Testimonies, the statement that Christ has not "like passions" as we have. The statement is there; everyone may find it there, of course. Now there will be no difficulty in any of these studies from beginning to end, if you will stick precisely to what is said, and not go beyond what is said, nor put into it what is not said; whether it be Church or State, separation from the world, or this of Christ in our flesh.35Even though the concept that the Son of God assumed man's fallen nature had been presented with clarity during the previous four years by the messengers of the Lord.36 many were still reluctant to express themselves in regard to this1basic truth. At the beginning of his presentations on the incarnation during these 1895 studies, Jones asked the assembled delegates - "Well, then, in His human nature, when He was upon the earth, was He in any wise different from what you are in your human nature tonight?" A stenographer noted the reaction: "[A few in the congregation responded, 'NO']". To this Jones replied - for to him this concept was basic to the true teaching of righteousness by faith:I wish we had heard everybody in the house say, "No," with a loud voice. You are too timid altogether. The Word of God says that, and we are to say, That is so; because there is salvation in just that one thing. No, it is not enough to say it that way: the salvation of God for human beings lies in just that one thing. We are not to be timid about it at all. There our salvation lies, and until we get there we are not sure of our salvation. That is where it is. "In all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren." What for? - 0, "that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted." Then don't you see that our salvation lies just there? Do you not see that it is right there where Christ comes to us? He came to us just where we are
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tempted, and was made like us just where we ire tempted; and there is the point where we meet Him - the living Saviour against the power of temptation.37In the Seventeenth Study, Jones devoted the time answering the questions some had raised because of the statements found in Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 2. He began his study with these words:Now as to Christ's not having "like passions" with us: in the Scriptures all the way through He is like us, and with us according to the flesh. He is the seed of David according to the flesh. He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. Don't go too far. He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh; not in the likeness of sinful mind. Do not drag His mind into it. His flesh was our flesh; but the mind was "the mind of Christ Jesus."38In this clear differentiation, Jones was only doing what he had done previously, separated between the inherited tendencies to sin common to man, and the habits of sin which men have cultivated by yielding to temptation. On this point, he elucidated as follows:
Our minds have consented to sin. We have felt the enticements of the flesh, and our minds have yielded, our minds consented, and did the wills and desires of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. The flesh leads, and our minds have followed, and with the flesh the law of sin is served... Now the flesh of Jesus Christ was our flesh, and in it was all that is in our flesh, - all the tendencies to sin that are in our flesh were in His flesh, drawing upon Him to get Him to consent to sin. Suppose He had consented to sin with His mind; what then? Then His mind would have been corrupted, and then He would have become of like passions with us... But until that drawing of our flesh is cherished, there is no sin... Therefore Jesus Christ came in just such a flesh as ours; but with a mind that held its integrity against every temptation, against every inducement to sin, - a mind that never consented to sin, - no, never in the least conceivable shadow of a thought.39During this study, Jones quoted from two sources in the Spirit of Prophecy. One was an article in the Review and Herald, July 5, 1887, which he quoted extensively, and the other was a pre-publication copy of the Desire of Ages, which
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he referred to as "the new Life of Christ, advance copy." After quoting from this advance copy at length, Jones concluded his study with these remarks:
You see, we are on firm ground all the way, so that when it is said that He [Christ] took our flesh; but still was not a partaker of our passions, it is all straight, it is all correct; because His divine mind never consented to sin. And that mind is brought to us by the Holy Spirit that is freely given unto us. "We know that the Son of God has come, and hath given us a mind;" and "we have the mind of Christ." "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."40In 1905, the Pacific Press published, The Consecrated Way to Christian Perfection, by A. T. Jones. This book based on Hebrews, contained the same basic concepts in regard to the human nature of our Lord, which he so clearly presented in the 1895 studies at the General Conference Session. As indicated by the title, and summarized in the book, the humanity of the Son of God, and the perfection of character to be attained by the Christian cannot be separated. Here is that summary:Perfection, perfection of character, is the Christian goal - perfection attained in human flesh in this world. Christ attained it in human flesh in this world, and thus made and consecrated a way by which, in Him, every believer can attain it. He, having attained it, has become our great High Priest, by His priestly ministry in the true sanctuary to enable us to attain it. Perfection is the Christian's goal; and the High Priesthood and ministry of Christ in the true sanctuary is the only way by which any soul can attain this true goal in this world. "Thy way, 0 God, is in the sanctuary." Ps. 77:13.41Jones in his studies and presentations during a lifetime of ministry for the Church rescued the truth of the incarnation of the Son of God presented by Irving during the great Second Advent Movement in England. He freed it from misstatement and overstatement, and placed it in its rightful place in connection with the "final atonement."
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1Ellen G. White, Special Testimony to the Battle Creek Church, p. 352Ibid., pp. 35-36
3Ellen G. White, Desire of Ages, p. 790
4Ellen G. White, Early Writings, pp. 251, 253
5See Chapter II.
6E. J. Waggoner, Christ and His Righteousness (Pacific Press Publishing Company, Oakland, Calif.) October 15, 1890, 96 pp.
7L. E. Froom, Movement of Destiny, p. 189
8Waggoner, loc. cit., p. 24
9Ibid., p. 26 Emphasis supplied
10Ibid., pp. 26-27 Emphasis his.
11Ibid , pp. 27-28 Emphasis his
12Ibid., p. 30
13Ibid., pp. 30-31
14Waggoner, "Letter to the Romans - No. 8", General Conference Bulletin, 1891, pp. 130-131
15Waggoner, loc. cit., No. 10, pp. 156, 159.
16Waggoner, loc. cit., No. 12, p. 185
17Hebrews 2:9
18Waggoner, "Studies in the Book of Hebrews - No. 4", General Conference Bulletin, 1897, p. 45
19Ibid.
20Waggoner, loc. cit.,No. 6, p. 71
21Waggoner, loc. cit., No. 5, p. 57
22A. T. Jones,"The Third Angel's Message" - No. 10, General Conference Bulletin, 1893, p. 207
23Jones, loc.cit., No. 18, p. 412. Emphasis his.
24Jones, "The Third Angel's Message" - No. 13, General Conference Bulletin, 1895, p. 231
25Ibid, p. 232.
26See Chapter II, Footnote #7.
27Jones, loc.cit., pp. 232-233
28Ibid, pp. 233-234 Emphasis his.
29Jones, loc.cit., No. 14, p. 266 Emphasis supplied
30Ibid, p. 267 Emphasis supplied.
31Ibid
32Ibid., No. 15, p. 302.
33Ibid., p. 303.
34 Ibid., No. 16, p. 311.
35 Ibid, p. 312.
36See Footnote, p. 30.
37Jones, loc. cit., No. 13, p. 233.
38Ibid., No. 17, p. 327.
39Ibid., p. 328
40Ibid, p. 333.
41Jones, The Consecrated Way to Christian Perfection, p. 84 Emphasis his
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V
OTHER SOURCES - 1888-1915
The first Sabbath School Lesson Quarterly was published by the Pacific Press in 1889. This issue was preceded by three lesson pamphlets in 1888 and 1889, each of which contained lessons for six months.1 Along with the Spirit of Prophecy, these Lesson Quarterlies for the Senior Division represent an authoritative source as to what is believed and taught by the Church at any given period. During the period from 1888 through 1915, where the subject of the incarnation of Christ was either the lesson topic, or was discussed as a section of the lesson, the concepts presented harmonized with what had been taught by the Church prior to 1888. Also during this time, the statements concerning the nature of the humanity assumed by the Son of God in becoming the Son of man, became increasingly more positive and definitive. In a lesson for the 2nd Quarter of 1896 which discussed the object of the incarnation, these notes were found:Christ was not only born a man, but He was born under the law, both to be judged by the law, and to be dealt with according to the law in His own person; and as man's representative, to satisfy the law for all of man's transgressions of it... In order to meet man where he was after the fall, Christ emptied Himself of all His glory and power, becoming just as dependent on the Father for life and daily strength as sinful man is dependent upon Him.2A lesson during the 4th Quarter of the same year contained this observation:
Christ in His humanity lived a life of dependence upon the Father. This He did, not of necessity, but of choice, that He might be a perfect example to us. He did not exchange His divinity for humanity, but, clothing His divinity with humanity, He emptied Himself, and did not avail Himself of His divine attributes in His contest with evil... He won for us in our human nature a life of victory over evil, and made it possible for us to live the life
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which He lived... Christ in His humanity, subject to all the conditions and limitations of humanity, obeyed perfectly that law which He in His divinity had proclaimed with His own voice from Sinai, and thus won for us a life of obedience, which, as our High Priest, He ministers to all who yield themselves to Him.3In 1902, a lesson was studied which associated the incarnation of Christ with the tabernacle constructed at Mount Sinai. After reviewing the gospel promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the author of the lesson stated that the chief provision of these promises was the commitment "of the Son of God in the flesh as the power of the promise to restore all things." Through these promises "the same lesson was being taught which was afterward given in a more detailed form in the tabernacle and its services. The truth thus revealed was the incarnation of the Son of God and His mediatorship in the flesh... The tabernacle and its services, afterward embodied in a more permanent form in the temple, constituted a parable, a concrete revelation of the gospel. This 'tent of meeting', this 'tabernacle of witness', was constantly testifying to God's purpose that humanity should be His temple, through the gift of His Son in the flesh, who would become 'the appointed meeting-place between God and humanity.'"4 The Sabbath School classes in 1909 studied a lesson based on John 1:1-18. The note which commented on verse 14 - "The Word became flesh" - stated:Divinity tabernacled in the flesh of humanity. Not the flesh of sinless man, but such flesh as the children of earth possess. That was the glory of it. The divine Seed could manifest the glory of God in sinful flesh, even to absolute and perfect victory over any tendency of the flesh.5Six weeks later a note in the Quarterly contained this comment:
Jesus was God acting in sinful flesh on behalf of the sinner. He made Himself one with humanity. He took upon Himself the woes, the needs, and sins, of humanity, so that He felt the consciousness and keenness of it as no other soul ever felt it.6Among the topics for the First Quarter of 1913 was a study on the rela-
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tionship between the incarnation and the priesthood of Jesus Christ. The first note read:
It is very important that we should have a clear understanding of the relation of the incarnation of Christ to His mediatorial work. He was made priest "after the power of an endless life," in order that He might minister grace, mercy, and power to the weak and erring. This is accomplished by making such a close union with those needing help, that divinity and humanity are brought into personal relation, and the very Spirit and life of God dwell in the flesh of the believer. In order to establish this relation between God and sinful flesh, it was necessary for the Son of God to take sinful flesh; and thus was bridged the gulf which separated sinful man from God.7Note No. 3 concluded the lesson study for the Sabbath. It stated:
By assuming sinful flesh, and voluntarily making Himself dependent upon His Father to keep Him from sin while He was in the world, Jesus not only set the example for all Christians, but also made it possible for Him to minister to sinful flesh the gift of His own Spirit and the power for obedience to the will of God.8In this lesson not only were the positive aspects of the incarnation in relationship to the mediatorial work of Christ presented, but the false mediatorial system of the Roman Catholic church was discussed. The Dogma of the Immaculate Conception was declared to be a denial of Christ's true incarnation. It was observed that "this denial of the perfect union of Christ with sinful flesh opens the way for a series of subsidiary mediators whose duty it is to bring the sinner into saving touch with Christ."7
The lessons for the Second Quarter of 1913 continued the general theme of the Sanctuary and Christ's mediation. It was pointed out that God through the sanctuary service sought to teach the vital truth that He indeed would dwell with man. One lesson.noted the Babylonian teaching was that the God of the heavens would not dwell with flesh.9 The 18th question asked - "What is the teaching of modern Babylon concerning this same fundamental doctrine?"
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The answer read:
By the dogma of the immaculate conception of the virgin Mary, Rome teaches that the mother of Jesus was preserved from the stain of original sin, and that she had sinless flesh. Consequently she was separated from the rest of humanity. As a result of this separation of Jesus from sinful flesh, the Roman priesthood has been instituted in order that there may be some one to mediate between Christ and the sinner.10The student was referred to Note #5 which quoted a Catholic source as saying that a belief which considered Christ as assuming sinful flesh was "revolting". The note concluded - "Thus by shutting Christ away from the same flesh and blood which we have.. . modern Babylon really denies the vital truth of Christianity, although pretending to teach it. Such is 'the mystery of iniquity.'"11
During the last Quarter of 1913, the book of Romans was the subject of the Sabbath School lessons. In the first lesson, Note #5 commented upon the phrase that Christ was "of the seed of David according to the flesh." It read:Christ was, therefore, of the royal line through His mother. But He was more than this; He was the same flesh as the seed.of David, in and through which for generations had flowed the blood of sinful humanity, - Solomon, and Rehoboam, and Ahaz, and Manasseh, and Amon, and Jeconiah, and others. The Son of God took this same flesh in order that He might meet temptation for us, and overcome with divine power every trial we must meet. Christ is our Brother in the flesh, our Saviour from sin.12The study of the book of Romans reached into the first Quarter of 1914. In the lesson which included Romans 8:3-4, this note is found:What the law in sinful man could not do, God did by sending His own Son. That Son took the flesh of sinful man, and overcame where man failed, overthrew sin in the flesh; and so He can come into the flesh of those who will open their hearts to receive Him, with that same power, and conquer sin there.13During this period, an editorial appeared in the Review and Herald en-
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titled, "'Like Unto His Brethren."'14 The editorial stressed the humanity of our Lord. Beginning with Genesis 3:15, a series of texts were introduced to show Christ's identity with humanity. Both the prophecies of the Old Testament, and the confirmation of His life in the New Testament were quoted in support of this position. Then this observation followed:
And it is further declared that the flesh which Jesus took and in which He was tempted, was the same as the flesh of the other members of the human family, sinful flesh.The results of this life were also spelled out for the reader:
Jesus is a perfect Saviour because, having lived in our sinful flesh without sin, [as] the son of man, He has formed such a union between divinity and humanity that He is able to live the same life in us.The editorial portrayed the risks that confronted Christ in His acceptance of fallen human nature. Even as a child, He would be subject to Satan's temptations, but inspite of the risks involved the Godhead, "accepted the conditions which sin had imposed upon the-human family." The Desire of Ages was quoted in support of this position:Into the world where Satan claimed dominion God permitted His Son to come, a helpless babe, subject to the weakness of humanity. He permitted Him to meet life's perils in common with every human soul, to fight the battle as every child of humanity must fight it, at the risk of failure and eternal loss.15The editor believed that in the childhood experience of Jesus, the reader could find his greatest encouragement. The following parallel was drawn:
It was through being born of the Holy Spirit that Jesus entered upon His new stage of existence as the Son of man... Jesus was born again by the Holy spirit. So it must be with every child of God... The failure to see the perfect parallel between the two experiences may arise from the fact that Jesus was a perfect Being of an infinitely higher order before He was born of the Spirit as the Son of man, while we are already in the flesh as sinful beings before we are born of the Spirit. In the process of conversion we become as little children by being born again, and then
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our experience is parallel with the experience of Jesus, who was born of the Spirit. There is the same condition of weakness in both cases, and the same dependence upon the keeping power of the Father.14Reaction was quick in coming from the field. Within a month another editorial appeared answering questions raised by the readers. One asked about the risk which Christ accepted in the light of the foreknowledge of God. To this question, the editor replied:Our correspondent practically raises the old question of free will and foreordination. His position is that God knew before He sent His Son into the world that He would not fail, and therefore there was no risk of failure. In the same way Christ must have known the outcome of His mission to this earth,... In coming to these conclusions our correspondent looks at the question from the standpoint of the divinity of Christ, and does not give due weight to the considerations which arise from the humanity of Christ. God sent His Son into the world as a man, subject to the conditions and experiences of humanity. As a man Jesus sustained the same relation to the foreknowledge of God as is sustained by every man. The foreknowledge of God did not limit His freedom as a man. His freedom as a man did not interfere with the foreknowledge of God. As a man endowed with the freedom of will, the second Adam, there was the same possibility of failure as there was with the first Adam in his sinless state. otherwise there would be neither force nor comfort in the statement that He was "in all points tempted like as we are." otherwise the agony and the bloody sweat, and the cry, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" would have been merely the acting of a part, and Christ's experience on this earth would have been the same sort of an example of trust in God as is that of the villain in the play who knows that the revolver is loaded with blank cartridges, and that he will be all right again as soon as the curtain falls. As a man Christ knew, through faith in God's word, that His Father was able to keep Him from falling, just as any man may know it who will believe God. In the fulness of this faith Christ committed Himself to His Father's keeping power, and was not disappointed. The same privilege is offered to every Man.16A second editorial appeared in December because of continued reaction from the field.17 The editor began by stating - "A reader of the Review has written to the editor at some length concerning the statement made in a recent editorial to the effect that the flesh which Jesus took was sinful flesh." The orig-
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inal editorial had supported this assertion by using Romans 8:3. The reader wrote:
I notice that this Scripture does not say that God sent His own Son 'in sinful flesh', but 'in the likeness of sinful flesh.' To me this seems a very different statement. How could one in sinful flesh be perfect, be holy, be unblemished (free from stain)?"In replying to this question, the editor indicated there were two ways to answer it. One was to introduce "positive proof in support of our view." The other would be to reason from consequences which "would follow from the position taken by our correspondent." The editor decided to use both options.
As "positive" proof Hebrews 2:14-17 was introduced with these conclusions:The natural and legitimate conclusion from this declaration would be that the flesh and blood of Jesus were the same as the children had... The mission of Jesus was not to rescue fallen angels, but to save fallen man. He therefore identified Himself with man, and not with angels, and He became "in all things" like unto those whom He professed to help. The flesh of man is sinful. In order to be "in all things" like unto man, it was necessary that Jesus should take sinful flesh.The next text used was the text used in the original editorial - Romans 8:3. The editor compared the wording with Philippians 2:7 where Christ came in the likeness of men, and then asked - "Do we not rightly conclude that Jesus was really a man when we read that He was made "in the likeness of men"? - Most certainly. The only way in which He could be "in the likeness of men" was to become a man. Is it not equally clear that the only way in which God could send His Son "in the likeness of sinful flesh" would be for that Son to have sinful flesh?
Turning to the consequences of rejecting the fact that Christ accepted the fallen nature of man when He assumed humanity, the editor wrote:Page 45
If the Son of God did not dwell in sinful flesh when He was born into the world, then the ladder has not been let down from heaven to earth, and the gulf between a holy God and fallen humanity has not been bridged. It would then be necessary that some further means should be provided in order to complete the connection between the Son of God and sinful flesh. And this is exactly what the Roman Catholic Church has done... First come the priests on earth, which are known to have sinful flesh, then come those who did dwell in sinful flesh, but are now canonized by the church as saints in heaven; next the angels; and lastly the mother of Jesus. Thus the door to heaven is not Jesus, but the church, and such a price is charged for opening the door as it is believed the sinner or his friends can pay. These,are the consequences which naturally follow the doctrine that Jesus did not take sinful flesh, and we avoid these consequences by denying the doctrine, and holding to the plain teaching of the Scriptures.In answering the second part of the reader's question - "How could one in sinful flesh be perfect, be holy?" - the editor well stated:This question touches the very heart of our Christianity. The teaching of Jesus is, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." And through the apostle Peter comes the instruction, "Be ye holy; for I am holy." No one will deny that we have sinful flesh, and we therefore ask how it will be possible to meet the requirements of the Scripture if it is not possible for one to be perfect or holy in sinful flesh. The very hope of our attaining perfection and holiness is based upon the wonderful truth that the perfection and holiness of divinity were revealed in sinful flesh in the person of Jesus. We are not able to explain how this could be, but our salvation is found in believing the fact... It is the crowning glory of our religion that even flesh of sin may become a temple for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.During this period - 1888-1915 - publications from two different publishing houses of the Church taught the same fundamental doctrine in regard to the incarnation of Christ. Uriah Smith, while serving as an associate editor of the Review and Herald, released a book entitled - Looking Unto Jesus. In this book the following comments are found noting the nature of the humanity which Christ assumed as the Son of man:... He humbled Himself, and took upon Him the form of a servant,
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by consenting to take the fashion of puny, mortal, sinful man. In the likeness of sinful flesh, He reached down to the very depths of man's fallen condition, and became obedient unto death, even the ignominious death of the cross.18 He came in the likeness of sinful flesh to demonstrate before all parties in the controversy that it was possible for men in the flesh to keep the law. He demonstrated this by keeping it Himself. On our plane of existence, and in our nature, He rendered such obedience to every principle and precept, that the eye of Omniscience itself could detect no flaw therein. His whole life was but a transcript of that law, in its spiritual nature, and in its holy, just, and good demands. He thus condemned sin in the flesh, by living Himself in the flesh and doing no sin; showing that it was possible for man thus to live.19In 1911, the Pacific Press published a book, - Questions and Answers compiled by the editor, Milton C. Wilcox, from the Question Corner Department of the Signs of the Times. A question was asked concerning the text in Hebrews 2: 14-17. In answering this question, the editor noted the steps in Christ's sacrifice to "break the power of sin, unify God's broken creation, and save man." Commenting on the step, "in the likeness of men", he wrote:In this step the eternal Logos "became flesh", the same as we; for He was "born of woman, born under the law", under its condemnation, as a human, having the flesh with all the human tendencies; a partaker of the "flesh and blood" of humanity; "in all things" "made like unto His brethren," "suffered being tempted." And He met all the temptations even as you and I must meet them, by faith in the will and Word of God. There is not a tendency in the flesh of humanity but what dwelt in His. And He overcame them all.20In 1915, a revised Bible Readings for the Home Circle, was published by the Review and Herald Publishing Association. This work became the standard evangelistic publication of the Church for more than three decades. From this book many Seventh-day Adventists received their first knowledge of present truth. The chapter - "A Sinless Life" - is so completely representative of the teaching of the Church till about 1950 in regard to Christ's humanity, and the
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reproduction of that life in every believer that it is reproduced in full in Appendix B for comparison and study. The question and answer from the chapter which concisely summarized the position of the Church on the nature of the humanity which the Son of God assumed, not only for this period, but from 1844 to 1950, reads as follows:21
6. How fully did Christ share our common humanity? "Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." Verse 17. Note. - In His humanity Christ partook of'our sinful, fallen nature. If not, then He was not "made like unto His brethren," was not "in all points tempted like as we are," did not overcome as we have to overcome, and is not, therefore, the complete and perfect Saviour man needs and must have to be saved. The idea that Christ was born of an immaculate or sinless mother, inherited no tendencies to sin, and for this reason did not sin, removes Him from the realm of a fallen world, and from the very place where help is needed. on His human side, Christ inherited just what every child of Adam inherits, - a sinful nature. On the divine side, from His very conception He was begotten and born of the Spirit. And all this was done to place mankind on vantage-ground, and to demonstrate that in the same way every one who is "born of the Spirit" may gain like victories over sin in his own sinful flesh. Thus each one is to overcome as Christ overcame. Rev. 3:21. without this birth there can be no victory over temptation, and no salvation from sin. John 3:3-7.__________________________________________________________
1Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia, art. "Sabbath School Publications", p. 11272Sabbath School Lesson Quarterly, Senior Division, Second Quarter, 1896 p.11
3Ibid., Fourth Quarter, 1896, pp. 11-12
4Ibid., Second Quarter, 1902, pp. 20-21
5Ibid., Second Quarter, 1909, p. 8
6Ibid., p. 20
7Ibid., First Quarter, 1913, p. 14
8Ibid., p. 15
9Daniel 2:11
10Sabbath School Lesson Quarterly, Senior Division, Second Quarter, 1913, p. 25
11Ibid., p. 26
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12Ibid., Fourth Quarter, p. 613Ibid., First Quarter, 1914, p. 16
14Editorial, Review and Herald, November 9, 1905
15Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 49
16Editorial, "Christ and His Brethren", Review and Herald, December 7, 1905
17Editorial, "'In.... Sinful Flesh'", Review and Herald, December 21, 1905
18Uriah Smith, Looking Unto Jesus, p. 23
19Ibid., p. 30
20Milton C. Wilcox, Questions and Answers, pp. 19-20
21Bible Readings for the Home Circle, 1915 edition, p. 115
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VI
THE HOLY FLESH MOVEMENT
In evaluating the Holy Flesh Movement which involved the Indiana Conference during the years from 1898 to 1901, too often the emotional extravaganza which accompanied the movement is considered to be the movement itself. This is not true, and until the exterior facade is penetrated a proper evaluation of the lessons which this deviate movement in the history of the Church should teach us cannot be made. This movement was based in and involved basic doctrinal concepts. In retrospect, the servant of the Lord in 1907 wrote these words:During the General Conference of 1901, instruction was given me in regard to the experience of some of our brethren in Indiana, and regarding the doctrines they had been teaching in the churches. I was shown that through this experience and the doctrines taught, the enemy has been working to lead souls astray.1The two major doctrines which formed the basis of this movement were the teachings in regard to the incarnation of Christ, and the perfection of the believer. The simple fact is, and might as well be admitted in any study, these two concepts cannot be separated. One's understanding of the nature which Christ accepted in becoming the Son of man conditions his belief relative to perfection. Because the special testimony given by Sister White to the brethren assembled in Session in 1901 in regard to the Movement in Indiana2 dealt with only one of these doctrines - perfection in the flesh - the tendency is to equate the Holy Flesh Movement of Indiana with only this one teaching. However, primary source material available by which to evaluate this movement contains as much discussion in regard to the subject of the incarnation as to the doctrine of perfection in the flesh. What did the leading brethren in Indiana teach as to the nature of Christ's humanity?
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The peak of the Holy Flesh Movement was reached during the camp meetings of 1900. The meeting at Muncie, Indiana was attended by Elder S. N. Haskell and his wife, Hetty. Their experience at Muncie caused them to write to Sister White upon their return to Battle Creek. In his letter dated, September 25, 1900, Elder Haskell wrote:When we stated that we believed that Christ was born in fallen humanity, they would represent us as believing that Christ sinned, notwithstanding the fact that we would state our position so clearly that it would seem as though no one could misunderstand us. Their point of theology in this particular respect seems to be this: They believe that Christ took Adam's nature before he fell; so He took humanity as it was in the garden of Eden, and thus humanity was holy, and this was the humanity which Christ had; and now, they say, the particular time has come for us to become holy in that sense, and then we will have "translation faith", and never die.3This doctrine of the incarnation as taught by the advocates of the "Holy Flesh" revival in Indiana is a forked road. They took one fork. If Christ did take the nature of Adam before the Fall, then men in accepting Him, and becoming conformed to His image would receive the same nature He had. It was to be left to another generation of Adventist theologians to travel the other fork, that because Christ did take upon Himself a sinless humanity, it is impossible for the believer to overcome as Christ overcame. One doesn't have to have the externals - the emotional extravaganza4 - of the Holy Flesh Movement to teach and believe the doctrines which the leaders of that movement taught. While the whole Conference Committee, and most of the ministry followed the leaders of the movement - S. S. Davis, the conference revivalist, and R. S. Donnell, the conference president - one minister voiced his opposition, and gave form to his protest. He printed a tract on the "Mission Press, La Fayette",
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Indiana. The conclusion of this sixteen page tract reads:
Now, since we have been studying the humanity of Christ, let none think that we would detract from or forget His Divinity. Although Jesus "the sinbearer endured the wrath of divine justice, and for our sakes became SIN ITSELF," [Desire of Ages. p. 907] yet, through His implicit faith in His Father, He was fortified so that His divine nature overwhelmingly triumphed over His sinful nature and hereditary tendencies. Thus from the cradle to Calvary, His days of trial and probation, He lived a pure, holy, and sinless life. Thus He met the demands of a broken law, and became "the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." Now just as God in Christ, 4,000 years this side of Creation, lived a perfect, spotless life in sinful flesh, so through faith in Him, He will cleanse us from all our unrighteousness, impart to us His own righteousness, take up His abode in our hearts, and live the same kind of a life in our sinful flesh six thousand years this side of Creation. Then we can truly say, "as He is [in character] so are we in this world." I John 4:17. Yours in "the blessed hope," S. G. HUNTINGTON5"The question between the men in Indiana was not the matter of whether the gospel could preserve men from sin, or whether the power of the Holy Spirit was ample to keep human beings from sinning. The question was the humanity of Christ and its application to the life of the Christian." The demise of the Holy Flesh Movement came at the General Conference Session in 1901. The re-organization controversy at the Conference tends to over-shadow the doctrinal conflict projected by the advocates of the "Holy Flesh" doctrines. Fifteen days after the Session opened, Elder E. J. Waggoner was asked to give the evening message at 7 p. m. He chose as his text, Hebrews 10:4-10. Then he introduced a question that had been given to him, which read as follows:"Was that holy thing which was born of the virgin Mary born in sinful flesh, and did that flesh have the same evil tendencies to contend with that ours does?"6In Waggoner's answer there was left little doubt as to what he was talk-
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ing about. He mentioned the concept of sinless flesh, and declared it to be "the deification of the devil."7 He stated very specifically as to when the change would come in the flesh, and what the results would be. His words were:
The flesh will be opposed to the Spirit of God so long as we have it, but when the time comes that mortality is swallowed up of life, then the conflict will cease. Then we shall no longer have to fight against the flesh, but that sinless life which we lay hold of by faith and which was manifest in our sinful bodies, will then by simple faith be continued throughout all eternity in a sinless body.8What then is the purpose of this earthly struggle? Waggoner continued:
When God has given this witness to the world of His power to save to the uttermost, to save sinful beings, and to live a perfect life in sinful flesh, then He will remove the disabilities and give us better circumstances in which to live. But first of all this wonder must be worked out in sinful man, not simply in the person of Jesus Christ, but in Jesus Christ reproduced and multiplied in the thousands of His followers. So that not simply in the few sporadic cases, but in the whole body of the church, the perfect life of Christ will be manifested to the world, and that will be the last crowning work which will either save or condom men; and greater testimony than that there is not, and cannot be, because there is none greater than God. When God is manifest among men, not simply as God apart from man, but as God in man, suffering all that man suffered, subject to everything that man is subject to, what greater power can be manifested in the universe than that?9During the sermon, Dr Waggoner challenged those listening to settle it, each for himself, whether or not he was truly "out of the church of Rome." He then commented:There are a great many that have got the marks yet, but I am persuaded of this, that every soul who is here to-night desires to know the way of truth and righteousness, [Congregation:Amen!] and that there is no one here who is unconsciously clinging to the dogmas of the papacy, who does not desire to be freed from them. Do you not see that the idea that the flesh of Jesus was not like ours (because we know ours is sinful) necessarily involves
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the idea of the immaculate conception of the virgin Mary? Mind you, in Him was no sin, but the mystery of God manifest in the flesh, the marvel of the ages, the wonder of the angels, that thing which even now they desire to understand, and which they can form no just idea of, only as they are taught it by the church, is the perfect manifestation of the life of God in its spotless purity in the midst of sinful flesh. [Congregation: Amen!] O, that is a marvel, is it not?10The next day, April 17, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg spoke at the morning meeting on the subject of the medical missionary work. There were at least three hundred brethren present.11 At the close of the meeting, Sister White arose and presented her testimony concerning the Movement in Indiana.2 The next day, the two leaders of the movement, Donnell and Davis, made confession to the delegates. On the 19th three other members of the Indiana Conference committee added their testimonies. The Holy Flesh Movement as such was over; but the doctrinal teachings of this movement regarding the nature of Christ's humanity - that He took the nature of Adam before the Fall - was to appear again in the church. Even though the two leaders - Donnell and Davis - confessed their error and professed to accept the Testimony given, neither abandoned his belief in the incarnation as he had taught it during the Holy Flesh revival. Relieved of their ministerial responsibilities following the General Conference Session, S. S. Davis retired to his home in Elnora, Indiana, and R. S. Donnell went there to live for a few years. In 1905, Elder Donnell was called to serve the church in Raleigh, Tennessee, near Memphis. He continued his contact with S. S. Davis by correspondence. On one occasion, he sent to him a ten page manuscript which he had written on the nature of Christ and man. In this manuscript, Donnell stated:
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For one I must say, upon the authority of the Bible, that Christ never sinned, and if He never sinned, that man don't live, and never has lived that can prove that He was in sinful flesh. The only way by which one can prove it, is to point out the sins, or even one sin that He committed. He took a body which showed by its deteriorated condition, that the effects of sin was shown by it, but His life proved that there was no sin in it. It was a body which the Father had prepared for Him. Heb. 10:5. Christ's body represented a body redeemed from its fallen spiritual nature, but not from its fallen, or deteriorated physical nature. It was a body redeemed from sin, and with that body Christ clothed His divinity; thus by His life, on earth, He showed what humanity will do when filled with the divine mind. Then every member of the human race, who will renounce Satan, and his works, and will permit Christ to clothe Himself with his humanity, in that act, becomes a member of the family of heaven. That is just what it will be, if we will let the divine mind come into us. It will be divinity clothed with humanity, and that is just what Christ was. And thus clothed He did no sin. Is that putting it too strong? Well that is just the way that God wants it to be put.12In 1903, Elder I. J. Hankins, who succeeded Donnell to the presidency of the Indiana Conference, wrote to S. S. Davis in Elnora, Indiana, asking him certain questions about his beliefs. Of the eight questions asked, four of them involved the doctrine of the incarnation. To these questions, Davis replied:QUESTION NUMBER FOUR Please state in a few words your views on the nature of Christ? Answer. - Luke 1:35 "that holy thing". QUESTION NUMBER FIVE Did Christ's flesh have in it any weakness or natural tendency to sin as the result of the fall? Answer. - Testimony No. 2 the last three words on page 201, and continued on page 202 says, "was a brother in infirmities, but not in possessing like passions." That is all on that point I care to say. QUESTION NUMBER SIX Was Mary the mother of Jesus like all other women, sinful?
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Answer. - I could not say how full of sin she was but I suppose that she had her share, perhaps not as bad as some, and maybe more than some as there are degrees in heredity and depravity, and there is no evidence that she had an immaculate conception. QUESTION NUMBER SEVEN Is every child born into the world naturally inclined to evil, even before it is old enough to discern between good and evil? Answer. - Yes, unless preserved from the law of heredity in conception by the power of the Holy Ghost. See Ps. 51:5 Shapen in sin, also Eph. 2:3 "by nature children of wrath."13Of all the men involved in the "Holy Flesh" Movement, only S; S. Davis never returned to the ministry of the church. In 1920, the Davis family moved to Nebraska, where on September 26, 1926, S. S. Davis was re-ordained as a minister in the General Baptist church.__________________________________________________________
1Ellen G. White, Ms. 39, 19072Ellen G. White, "The Late Movement in Indiana", General Conference Bulletin, 1901, pp. 419-422
3 S. N. Haskell, Letter to Ellen G. White dated at Battle Creek, Michigan, September 25, 1900.
4See Selected Messages, bk. ii, pp. 35-37
5S. G. Huntington, "'The Son of Man"', p. 16
6E. J. Waggoner, "Sermon", General Conference Bulletin, 1901, p. 403
7Ibid., p. 405
8Ibid., pp. 405-406
9Ibid., p. 406
10Ibid., p. 404
11General Conference Bulletin, 1901, p. 306
12R. S. Donnell, "The Nature of Christ and Man". An unpublished manuscript in the files of the writer.
13S. S. Davis, Letter to I. J. Hankins dated at Elnora, Indiana, March 15, 1903.
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VII
FROM 1915 - 1952
Ellen G. White, Messenger to the Remnant, died in 1915. In the intervening years from that date till 1952, the belief of the Church concerning the doctrine of the incarnation can be best described in the language of the book of Joshua - "And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the Lord, that He had done for Israel." l The Sabbath School lessons for the Senior Division continued the same clear testimony in regard to the nature of Christ's humanity that had been evidenced during the preceding decades. A lesson in 1921 on the purpose of the incarnation quoted with approval a comment from a source documented only as "The I Ams of Christ." The writer had stated:Christ assumed, not the original unfallen, but our fallen humanity. In this second experiment, He stood not precisely where Adam before Him had, but, as has already been said, with immense odds against Him - evil, with all the prestige of victory and its consequent enthronement in the very constitution of our nature, armed with more terrific power against the possible realization of this divine idea of man - perfect holiness. All this considered, the disadvantages of the situation, the tremendous risks involved, and the fierceness of the opposition encountered, we come to some adequate sense both of the reality and greatness of that vast moral achievement; human nature tempted, tried, miscarried in Adam, lifted up in Christ to the sphere of actualized sinlessness.2In another lesson the same year on the Priesthood of Christ, a note commenting on the first two chapters of the book of Hebrews stated:
He who is introduced in the first chapter as Son, God, and Lord, whose deity and eternity are emphasized, meets us in the second chapter as the Son of man, with all the limitations of our common humanity. He is known now by His earthly, personal name, and as one who can taste of death (Heb. 2:9), and can be made "perfect through sufferings" (verse 10). He partook of the same flesh and blood which we have (verse 14), becoming just as truly man (verse 17) as He is truly God.3
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A further lesson in 1921 emphasized the same concept. A note taught "when the Son of God was born of a woman (Gal. 4:4) and partook of our sinful flesh (Rom. 8:3), the eternal life was manifest in a human body (I John 1:2)."4 In 1923, a Sabbath School lesson on "The Godly Life" was studied by the Senior Division. The first note of the lesson declared:
Christ took upon Himself the infirmities and sins of the flesh..;. but to every sin He died, every lust He crucified, every selfish deire He denied Himself - all for our sakes.5The first Quarter's lessons in 1928 were on the book of Ephesians. A note in comment upon Ephesians 2:15 read:Carnal, natural man cannot abolish his enmity against God. It is a part of his nature. It is intertwined in every fiber of his being. But Jesus took upon Himself our nature of flesh and blood (Heb. 2:14), "in all things... to be made like unto His brethren" (Heb. 2:17), "of the seed of David according to the flesh" (Rom 1: 3); He met and "abolished in His flesh the enmity," "the carnal mind" (Rom. 8:7), "the mind of the flesh" (Rom. 8:7 ARV). He conquered sin in the flesh for us forever.6The positive emphasis which marked the Sabbath School lessons from 1889 in regard to the nature of Christ's humanity was muted in a lesson for the Senior Division in 1941. An introductory note stated:Through sin man finds himself without hope and without God in the world. "The wages of sin is death" - death confronts every son and daughter of Eve. into this hopeless picture the Son of God presents Himself. Because of His infinite love, He took upon Himself the form of a man and the frailties of a long ancestral line. Having accepted human nature, He endured the sentence of sin in His body on the cross. He suffered the death that is ours because of sin, that we might live the life that He merited because of righteousness. This is the only avenue by which man might escape the penalty of sin and enter into life - the more abundant life here, and everlasting life in the eternal kingdom.7Three books, one printed by the Review and Herald Publishing Association, and the other two by the Southern Publishing Association, presented from two different approaches the same basic truth on the incarnation of Christ which
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marked the Sabbath School lessons during the first part of the period under review.
In 1924, Elder Meade MacGuire's book - The Life of Victory - was published. In the chapter on "The Awful Nature of Sin", after describing various manifestations of the sin problem, he stated "still another aspect of sin is set forth strikingly in Romans", where Paul indicated that in the body there is a law "warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." What is the answer to,this aspect of the sin problem? Elder MacGuire answered:There is only one means of deliverance from this inherent law of sin. That is Christ. He took humanity upon Him. He conquered sin while in a body which had come under the hereditary law of sin. He now proposes to live that same sinless life in my members. His presence completely counteracts the power of the law of sin.8In another chapter - "Delievered by Death" - this comment is found:
When Jesus bore the cross, He acknowledged the death sentence upon the sin nature. He took our nature, the Adam nature, the Saul life, and agreeing with the Father that this nature was fit only to die, He went voluntarily to the cross, and bore that fallen nature to its inevitable and necessary death... By this great sacrifice Christ made provision for the death of the Adam nature in you and me, if we are willing to bring this degenerate nature of ours to His cross and nail it there.9Approaching the subject of the humanity of Christ from another angle, Elder Christian Edwardson in 1942 discussed the text in 2 John 7 which states that the antichrist would deny that "Christ is come in the flesh." He observed there were objections in applying this identification of the antichrist to the Papacy because it is argued that the Catholic church does not deny the incarnation of Christ. To this argument, Edwardson replied:This argument, however, is based on a misunderstanding, caused by
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overlooking one word in the text. Antichrist was not to deny that Christ had come in flesh, but was to deny that He had "come in the flesh," in "the same" kind of flesh, as the human race He came to save... on this vital difference hinges the real "truth of the gospel." Did Christ come all the way down to make contact with the fallen race, or only part way, so that we must have saints, popes, and priests intercede for us with Christ who is removed too far from fallen humanity and its needs to make direct contact with the individual sinner? Right here lies the great divide that parts Protestantism from Roman Catholicism.. Through sin man has separated himself from God, and his fallen nature is opposed to the divine will... only through Christ, our Mediator, can man be rescued from sin, and again brought into connection with the source of purity and power. But in order to become such a connecting link Christ had to partake both of the divinity of God and of the humanity of man, so that He with His divine arm could encircle God, and with His human arm embrace man, thus connecting both in His own person. In this union of the human with the divine lies the "mystery" of the gospel, the secret of power to lift man from his degradation. "Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh." I Timothy 3:16. The "mystery", or secret of power to live a godly life in human flesh, was manifest in the life of Jesus Christ while on earth.. But mark! It was fallen man that was to be rescued from sin. And to make contact with him Christ had to condescend to take our nature upon Himself (not some higher kind of flesh). "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same... wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren." Hebrews 2:14, 17. This text is so worded that it cannot be misunderstood. Christ "took part of the same" flesh and blood as ours; He came in "the" flesh. To deny this is the mark of Antichrist.10Another book which presented Catholic doctrine in contrast to the plain teachings of Scripture published by the Southern Publishing Association was written by Mary E. Walsh, whose forebearers "for many generations... were confirmed believers in the doctrines of the papacy." She herself was "a faithful communicant of that religious body for 20 years."11 In the chapter - "The Immaculate Conception" - Miss Walsh wrote - "All that Mary gave to Christ was His human body. It is a law of nature that one cannot give what one does not possess, and Mary, being human in every aspect of the word, could not impart to
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her Son the nature of divinity."12 Prior to this statement she noted that Mary was a sinner in common with all mankind. Then showing both the divine and human characteristics of Jesus in His earthly ministry, and quoting such texts as Romans 8:3, and Hebrews 2:14, 17-18, the author wrote:
In the genealogy of Christ as given in Matthew we find Jesus called the Son of David and also the Son of Abraham. One has to study only the characters of Abraham and David to learn that they were very human and had a tendency to sin. Thus we see what kind of human nature Christ inherited from His progenitors.13During this period a feature article appeared in the Signs of the Times14 which contained two sentences which enemies of the Church lifted out of context, and used to attack the teaching of the Church in regard to the human nature of our Lord. In his book on Adventism, Walter Martin cited this article as one of the chief sources of the critics. He wrote:Since almost all critics of seventh-day Adventism contend that Seventh-day Adventists believe Christ possessed a sinful human nature during the incarnation, a word should be said to clarify this point. These charges are often based on an article in the Signs of the Times, March 1927, and a statement in Bible Readings for the Home Circle, .15*Martin then proceeded to quote from an evangelical source the statement found in the Signs of the Times.
The ignorance and lack of scholarship evidenced by the evangelical writer would indicate that it could be ignored with impunity were it not for the part it played in the dialogue between representatives of the Church and Barnhouse and Martin. Resulting from these conferences, L. A. Wilcox, the author of the article in the Signs, thirty years after it was written, wrote an apology______________________________________
*This statement is taken from a section of Martin's book entitled, "Author's Note." It concluded a review of positions presented in the book, Questions on Doctrine, termed "The Heart of Adventist Theology." The teachings of the book (Q on D) in regard to the incarnation will be discussed in the next chapter.
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retracting his statements. From this letter, Martin also quoted.
In analyzing Wilcox's article, there are two questions that need to be answered. How was he quoted? What had he written in context? The evangelical writer is quoted by Martin as follows:"In March 1927 he [Wilcox] wrote, 'In His (Christ's) veins was the incubus of a tainted heredity like a caged lion ever seeking to break forth and destroy. Temptation attacked Him where by heredity He was weakest, attacked Him in unexpected times and ways. In spite of bad blood and an inherited meanness, He conquered.' "15What did Wilcox write in context? The paragraphs involved are presented in full with the evangelical's quotes from the Signs' article underscored:
And I am glad for that [Christ's genealogy]. For it helps me to understand how He can be "touched with the feeling" of all my infirmities. He cam where I was. He stood in my place. In His veins was the incubus [weight] of a tainted heredity like a caged lion ever seeking to break forth and destroy. For four thousand years the race had been deteriorating in physical strength, in mental power, and in moral worth; and Christ took upon Him the infirmities of humanity at its worst. only thus could He rescue man from the lowest depths of his degradation. "If we have in any sense a more trying conflict than had Christ, then He would not be able to succor us. But our Saviour took humanity, with all its liabilities. He took the nature of man, with the possibility of yielding to temptation. We have nothing to bear which He has not endured." - "Desire of Ages" It is good to know that. He, the Son of God, became the Son of man, that I, a son of man, might become a son of God. He became as I am that I might become as He is. He partook of my human nature that I might partake of His divine nature. In every temptation that assails, it is strength to know that just such a temptation in all its overwhelming force attacked Him, - attacked Him where, by heredity, He was weakest, - attacked Him in unexpected times and ways; and that, with equal tendencies toward evil, in spite of bad blood and inherited meanness, by the same power to which I have access, He conquered. He won for me. He offers me His victory for my own - a free gift. And so in all these things I am more than conqueror through Him that loved me.14The article written by Wilcox was the answer to a single question - "Is
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there hope of overcoming our inherited tendencies toward evil?" In answering this question, Wilcox used the genealogy of Christ. He asked the reader to "look for a moment at this pedigree" - Jacob, Judah, Rahab, Ruth, David, and others. Then he wrote - "Yes Jesus came from a line of sinners." The paragraphs quoted above follow. Basically what difference is there between the thoughts expressed by Wilcox, and the thought in the Sabbath School lesson note which stated - "He [Christ] was the same flesh as the seed of David, in and through which for generations had flowed the blood of sinful humanity, - Solomon, and Rehoboam, and Ahaz, and Manasseh, and Amon, and Jeconiah, and others."16 Or what does the statement in The Desire of Ages mean when it reads - "Like every child of Adam, He [Christ] accepted the results of the working of the great law of heredity. What these results were is shown in the history of His earthly ancestors. He came with such a heredity to share our sorrows and temptations, and to give us the example of a sinless life." Or what does it mean when the servant of the Lord stated that "Christ took upon Him the infirmities of degenerate humanity;" and "Our Saviour took humanity, with all of its liabilities."17 The question is simply - Did the humanity which Jesus took ever seek expression, or was it anesthetized in the Person of Jesus Christ?
Some might quibble over Wilcox's temnology and figures of speech. The word - "incubus" - is from the Latin, incubo, lie upon.18 Did Christ accept the weight of our heredity? If not, why then did He in "the days of His flesh" find it necessary to offer "up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears" to His Father to keep Him from sinning?19 And the word - "meanness" which Wilcox used in connection with heredity is defined as "low in grade, quality, or condition."18 Isaiah pictured Christ as "a root out of a dry ground:
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He hath no form or comliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him."20 Was Isaiah's prophecy fulfilled or not?
The figure of speech used by Wilcox was also very interesting. The inherited tendencies were pictured as a caged lion seeking to break forth and destroy. This is closely parallel to the statement of the Lord to Cain - "If thou doest not well, sin as a wild beast is crouching at the door to overcome you."21 Cain did not overcome "the beast"; Christ did! At mid Century a warning came to the Church from two missionaries home on furlough from Africa. Disturbed by what they had seen and heard within the Church, Elders R. J. Wieland and D. K. Short approached the General Conference leadership with their concern. Unable to comprehend what these brethren were trying to say, the officers of the Church asked that they write out their concern. This they did in the form of a manuscript - 1888 Re-Examined. While this manuscript is primarily a re-evaluation of the events which took place at the 1888 General Conference Session, and the reaction which followed, it also contains a warning that if the message of Righteousness by Faith as given by the Lord through Waggoner and Jones is not understood as it ought to be, the door is opened for the Church to accept a false Christ, through the acceptance of false doctrines in regard to Christ. The missionaries stated their position very clearly in these words:Inasmuch as this phase [a confusion of a false Christ with the true] of the great controversy between Christ and Satan is the final death grapple between the enemy and the Body of Christ on earth, it is obvious that Satan will not content himself with mutilating the extremities of that body. He will concern himself with its very heart, its vitals. He will endeavor to secure our allegiance and service through a misconception of the third angel's message in verity. Since that verity is the message of Christ's righteousness, it follows that Satan's final effort to deceive and allure us would be an attempt to in-
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fatuate us with Babylon's understanding of the "doctrine" or "tenet" of "justification and righteousness by faith". If he can first lead Babylon into the worship of a false Christ; and then can lead us to mistake their doctrine of "faith in Christ" for the third angel's message in verity, he will have us, to all intents and purposes, confused with a false Christ, in spite of our verbal protestations.22The objective of Satan is to conquer Israel - spiritual Israel, the Church. On this point the two brethren wrote:So clever will be the misrepresentations which will precede the impersonations, that the elect art warned repeatedly. In fact, the deceptions Satan will foist upon the world have as their ultimate purpose the deception of Israel herself. Why should he labor to deceive his own children? They are already in his grasp. He is after other game than that which he has already "bagged", and that game is the Seventh-day Adventist church. Dare we suppose complacently that Satan has given up his struggle to overcome the remnant church? Does he not realize that here and now with Israel is the final battle.23If the knowledge of the true Christ is lost, it is only one step until the Church will embrace a false Christ. And this would come through false doctrines. The servant of the Lord noted that "in His work on this earth, Christ saw how, by a disregard of the injunctions of God in regard to righteousness and true doctrines, evil would be made almost indistinguishable from good."24
One of the areas in which the false Christ would manifest his teachings according to these men from the mission field would be in the area of the incarnation as it related to the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.25 This prophecy of warning was soon to be fulfilled, as the Church entered the last half of the Twentieth Century. Already the first indication of things to come had transpired. According to Froom, "in 1949, Prof. D. E. Rebok, then president of our Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, when it was still in Washington D.C., was requested by the Review and Herald to revise Bible Readings for the Home
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Circle."26 Coming to the study on "A Sinless Life", Rebok judged certain notes to be erroneous, and proceeded to make corrections. The note under the question - "How fully did Christ share our common humanity?" - was altered to read:
Jesus Christ is both Son of God and Son of man. As a member of the human family "it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren" - "in the likeness of sinful flesh." Just how far that "likeness" goes is a mystery of the incarnation which men have never been able to solve. The Bible clearly teaches that Christ was tempted just as other men are tempted - "in all points... like as we are." Such temptation must necessarily include the possibility of sinning; but Christ was without sin. There is no Bible support for the teaching that the mother of Christ, by an immaculate conception, was cut off from the sinful inheritance of the race, and therefore her divine Son was incapable of sinning. Concerning this false doctrine Dean F. W. Farrar has well said: [Farrar then quoted]27A comparison with the original note as found in the 1915 edition is most interesting as to what was omitted.28 But in re-writing this note, Rebok put himself in a very difficult position. He stated that Mary was not "cut off from the sinful inheritance of the race." However, he leaves unexplained how then Christ was cut off from such an inheritance if the note as found in the 1915 edition which reads - "On His human side, Christ inherited just what every child of Adam inherits - a sinful nature" - was wrong. The most interesting omission and alteration which Rebok made is to be found in the note under the question - "Where did God, in Christ, condemn sin, and gain the victory for us over temptation and sin?" The two notes are placed side by side for comparison:
1915 Edition
Rebok's Revision
God, in Christ, condemned sin, not by pronouncing against it mere- ly as a judge sitting on the judg- ment-seat, but by coming and living in the flesh, in sinful flesh, and
God, in Christ, condemned sin, not by pronouncing against it mere- ly as a judge sitting on the judg- ment seat, but by coming and living in the flesh, [omission] and