BY RON THOMSEN

HE GREAT CONTROVERSY theme has played a major role in Seventh-day Adventist theology. It explains how sin originated, why God permitted it to continue, how God works to resolve it, and how God will finally destroy sin and sinners on the final judgment day.

But Adventist ideas on this subject have also created a great controversy of sorts. On the one hand, many traditionalist (so-called "historic") Adventists are very strong to uphold the 1844 sanctuary doctrine as one of the pillars inherited from Ellen White and the pioneers. They contend that we need to preach the Adventist distinctives, since the other churches will preach the love of God. On the other hand, many who prefer to emphasize "the gospel" say that since the atonement was completed at the cross, we don't need 1844. Many of us still remember the spirited questioning of the sanctuary doctrine in the late seventies/early eighties. In the resulting upheaval several Adventist pastors resigned, or had their services terminated.

Controversy has also come from outside the church--some evangelicals using the Adventist sanctuary doctrine to brand the church as a non-Christian cult. In their view, the sanctuary doctrine destroys the atonement of Christ.

So what should we make of all this?

Consider an Example
The first thing to say is that we should never discard any truth revealed in the Bible. God is a God of perfect order and detail. Everything counts. On the other hand, however, we should keep everything in proper perspective, recognizing the difference between primary truths (around which our faith centers) and supporting truths.

We may liken this phenomenon to a bicycle wheel. If you remove the center axle, the outer rim, or the tire, the bicycle absolutely will not work. It will work if some spokes of the wheel are removed, but the more of them that you damage or remove, the less efficiently it'll work. And eventually, it'll break down altogether.

A lot of confusion would vanish if we looked at the great controversy with an understanding of the various elements of truth and how they work together. Consider, as an example, the three phases of most earthly governments, and how they work together.

First, the legal aspect. The law requires us to observe certain standards of conduct; and for those who violate such standards, it demands penalties. You cannot have a meaningful law without some kind of penalty for its violation.

The second is the political. In this aspect of government, you persuade others to accept your way of doing things. (Some might prefer the word "relational," given the negative connotations of the word "political." However, "political" fits better with the point I'm trying to make here.)

Finally, there is the military (or the police). This entails the use of force to bring people into line, and isolating by imprisonment or banishment; or even the forfeiture of life. The military (or police) serve as the means of enforcing the legal, which otherwise would be useless.

How Do These All Apply?
1. The Legal Factor. When God created the universe, He set up the perfect law of liberty, containing two major parts. The first enjoins us to love God supremely--with our heart, our soul, our strength, and our mind. The second enjoins us to love others as ourselves. If we follow this law perfectly, God has promised life. If we break it, then it demands the penalty of eternal death.¹ Some raise the charge that wrath and love are mutually exclusive--that a loving God could never punish and destroy humans. But this ignores one important consideration, namely, that sin being so destructive to everything it touches, God must respond in wrath against it.²

When God created humanity, everything was perfect. He created us with a free will, for love could not be complete without the possibility of rejection. When we sinned, God was faced with a dilemma: to find a way to fulfill the requirements of His righteous wrath against sin, while at the same time bringing us back into His favor. The plan of salvation, scripted from the foundation of the world, called for Jesus Christ as the Son of God to be our Savior. Thus it was necessary for Him to become human. As God, Jesus was equal to the law. As human, placed under the law, He could make the sacrifice required to take the penalty for our sin. And only as the God-human did He have the standing to credit His righteousness to us.

Jesus came to earth as true God and true human. Conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, He thereby avoided sin, which had tainted all of Adam's race (see Romans 5). He lived the perfect life on our behalf, and in His ministry showed the true character of God. Finally, at the appointed time, He offered Himself as a sacrifice on the cross for us. When He cried out: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46), the One who knew no sin was being made sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21). When He said, "It is finished," the perfect life and sacrifice had been fully accomplished. Then on the third day He sealed it all by rising from the dead (Rom. 4:25).³

This was the centerpiece of the apostolic gospel (1 Cor. 15:1-11). Legally, absolutely nothing remains to do in accomplishing our righteousness. The only thing necessary is that we be brought to faith. God does not even need an 1844, pre-Advent judgment to figure out whom to take to heaven. The Lord already knows those who are His (2 Tim. 2:19).

2. The Political Dimension. God does not need a pre-Advent judgment, but that's where another consideration comes into play--namely, the political. God wants His creation to serve Him out of love rather than coercion or fear. Central to the law is loving God supremely and others as oneself. When love for God reigns supreme, love for one another comes naturally. When Lucifer started a rebellion against God (see Isa. 14; Eze. 28), a strictly legal and military solution would have been to annihilate him and his demon followers immediately. God's military power has never been the issue. He who created the universe and all its inhabitants by speaking them into existence could have obliterated anybody just as rapidly. However, had God annihilated Satan, many of the loyal angels would have started serving God out of fear instead of love, leading to resentment and a perpetual cycle of similar outbreaks. Without love, the law is only a curb or restraint against evil. To resolve the "political" issues, God had to allow sin to manifest its ugly head so that all would see its evil results, and then trust God fully.

When humanity fell into sin, Satan became the "accuser of the brethren" (Rev. 12:10).⁴ Implied in all this was the idea that God would have to do one of two things. The first would be to destroy all sinners (which was "politically" unpalatable), or else restore Satan himself back into heaven (which would have upset the law).

The main consideration was to persuade the universe of the love and justice of His ways. It helps us as Christians to understand the "political" issues involved in the great controversy; and the 1844 sanctuary doctrine plays a role in this, resolving the question as to how God can save some sinners (through the blood of Christ) and not others. Through the ministry of the heavenly sanctuary, God presents the evidence necessary to show the universe both His love and righteousness in forgiving penitent sinners and restoring them to His favor. Ultimately the "political" will play out in a manner in which both loyal and rebellious will acknowledge God to be "just and true," with Satan totally discredited (see Rev. 15:3).

3. Military Force. Once all these "political" issues have been resolved, and everything laid out on judgment day, then God will use "military force" to bring the great controversy to an end, by meting out the full penalties required by the law, and finally destroying sinners so that sin will never trouble the universe again.

The Bigger Picture
Adventist theology has much to offer in regard to understanding the "political" dimensions of the issues before us, and how God persuades the universe of His love and justice. The state of the dead and the final annihilation of the wicked show God to be a God of love rather than a vengeful being who would inflict eternal torment upon the creatures of His hand. But we should not allow our emphasis to get distorted. We should recognize that there is little in the "political" that is imperative to salvation. As far as we know, Job never knew about the "political" interplays at work in his case. Thus that knowledge was not essential to his salvation or destiny.

The story of the six blind men and the elephant (each describing the beast from the perspective of the part closest to him--the part he could touch) should remind us of the peril of seeing a part for the whole, the peril of missing the bigger picture. The legal aspects of the great controversy are based on numerous clear texts of Scripture. In contrast, the "political" aspects are based, more or less, on indirect scriptural evidence. So-called "historic" Adventists have a point, but they often lack what I would call "saving truth," in that they confuse the "legal" and the "political" aspects of faith. This is especially true if they dismiss talk of the cross and resurrection of Christ as "propaganda" from the "apostate Sunday churches."⁵ "Gospel"-oriented Adventists correctly see such distortions, but then often discard the Adventist distinctives in favor of bland evangelicalism, focusing on the legal in a negative light.

The solution here is not to abandon any one particular truth, but to see the entire picture. Faith in Christ's resolution of the "legal" issues saves. Faith in His resolution of the "political" makes it easier for us to have love for God. And faith in the "military" aspect enables us to trust God as the all-powerful Creator of the universe who will carry out what He has promised, cleansing the universe of sin and sinners.

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¹ Incidentally, this offers a clue as to why legalism (the attempt to derive life from the law) does not work. For if we truly preach God's law in its fullness--in terms of what it demands (absolute perfection), then it soon becomes obvious that life from the law is absolutely impossible for us.
² An Israeli proverb goes "He who is merciful to the cruel is cruel to the merciful."
³ The NKJV says that He was "raised because of our justification."
⁴ The name "Satan" comes from the Hebrew word for "accuser."
⁵ After the Adventist Review published a sermon by General Conference president Jan Paulsen in which he'd emphasized the cross and resurrection of Christ as central, Paulsen received an angry letter from a legal enthusiast accusing him of distorting the gospel.

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Ron Thomsen, raised a Seventh-day Adventist, wrote this article from Katy, Texas.