To Reckon and To Answer: God’s Call Upon Advent Christians
The Advent Christian denomination has existed for 165 years. The name “Advent Christian” hearkens back to our origins rooted in the earlier Second Advent movement that advanced the grievous error of date-setting but which also very rightly re-centered Christian hope upon the literal return of Christ. Bound up in Christ’s return is the promise of resurrection and a restored creation, the very culmination of God’s redemptive work in Christ. Both then and even now this hope, so basic and centrally fixed in both Old and New Testaments, has been adulterated by a notion foreign to Christ, originating from the likes of Plato, that our utmost desire should be a purely spiritual state of existence - in the Christian frame, that we should merely hope to go to heaven when we die.
Adventists of all stripes repudiated both this notion as well as the post-millennial conception that society should gradually progress into the Kingdom of God. On this they were agreed; it was only upon other lines that they became divided. As I have recounted, Evangelical Adventists and Advent Christians divided over the doctrine of conditional immortality, particularly that the dead only exist in an unconscious state of being and that the wicked will be annihilated in the Lake of Fire. It is this division which ultimately resulted in the formation of the Advent Christian denomination.
In many ways, it can be argued that conditionalism is a fitting handmaid to Adventism. In exclamatory fashion, upon sound biblical grounds, it underscores our hope in Christ’s return and the resurrection of the dead. This combined with the opposition that has henceforth assailed Advent Christians has naturally created great zeal and devotion among our people with respect to conditional immortality. I have personally experienced the sting of rejection for adhering to these doctrines, and I am hardly alone in this regard.
Even so, I ask you to step back with me. Survey the landscape of our journey thus far. Might it be that we have become sidetracked along the way? Does it not appear that the handmaid now outshines her lady? In keeping with the purposes of lady Adventism, is it truly in her interests to narrow ourselves in this way?
Dropping the metaphor, what is God’s call upon the Advent Christian denomination? What are we doing - what are we supposed to be doing?
Perhaps this sounds audacious, but I believe I know God’s call for us. In fact, I am very confident in it, no less confident than I am of my own call to the ministry. I reckon our call to be this: that we should return to the first cause of Adventism and that our denomination should be ordered top to bottom by this commitment. This conviction stems from a combination of biblical considerations that I will relate in short order.
First, Jesus clearly says in Matthew 24:14 that his return will follow upon the Gospel being brought to the whole world, the extent of which God only knows. Accordingly, in Matthew 28:19-20 the disciples are commissioned to make disciples of all nations. Following up on this, in Acts 3:19-21, Peter preaches this Gospel and tells the gathered crowd that their repentance and faith in Christ will lead the way to his eventual return. Understood in this way, Adventism invites action in anticipation of Christ’s return, producing a zeal for the Gospel commission because we know that it will give way to Christ’s return in accordance with God’s purpose.
Likewise, we are called to act with urgency in light of the suddenness that will characterize Christ’s return, a motif repeated throughout the Gospels. As his servants, we must be ready for the Master’s return and be found diligent in the task he has set before us; Matthew 24:45-51 stands out in making this point. A look at this passage among others hints that there is a moral component, a certain expectation of how we would conduct ourselves as we go about our work.
In verses 48-49, Christ depicts the wicked servant as that one who begins to beat his fellow servants, thinking his master is delayed. While I believe this description could have broader application, I think it certainly applies to our relationship with one another as fellow Christians. Is it a stretch to say that the history of the Church has been pockmarked throughout by needless division and backbiting, perhaps even because there has been waning expectation of the Master’s return? By this I don’t mean to suggest that a parting of ways over essential doctrine is not warranted or that we should keep our careful theological distinctions to ourselves. However, on the whole, I do not think the Church has attended well enough to John 17.
In that chapter, Christ fervently prays that his disciples would be one as he and the Father are one and that the unity of their love would testify to the reality of his identity as the Son of God, the Savior of the world. His basic command to us, iconic of our discipleship, is that we would love one another (John 13:34-35). This command and prayer is not ancillary to the Gospel commission, but part and parcel of it – it substantiates our testimony to the world. If this is crucial to the Gospel commission, it stands at the very center of Adventism and signals a call for Christian unity amidst tolerable differences.
Very simply, Adventism calls for resolute commitment to the Gospel essentials and open-handedness within the bounds of biblical orthodoxy, only limiting ourselves with respect to the unavoidable constraints of practical cooperation (e.g. baptism). In the spirit of John 17, it means uniting as many people as responsibly possible in order to throw our complete weight behind advancing the Gospel to the ends of earth. We are driven to act with steadfast urgency because Christ is coming. I believe all denominations should be shaped by this conviction and none more so than the Advent Christian denomination.
Yet this is not the current situation of our denomination. Presently, we are defined by conditionalist absolutism. While the Advent Christian Declaration of Principles does not specify so many secondary and tertiary positions that might be held, not even specifying the essential doctrine of the Trinity, it spares no detail in propounding the doctrine of conditionalism. Believe what you will about predestination or the spiritual gifts or even the divinity of the Son himself, but here on conditionalism we take our stand.
Now, does this accurately reflect our stance as Advent Christians? Sadly, I think it does for some. Nonetheless, I do not believe it is a true reflection of the majority who make up our churches. Our people on the whole are committed evangelicals who reflect the values of Adventism; that is, we are devoted to the essential Gospel truths and eager to seek unity in charity for the sake of mission. If this be the case, we have a serious communication problem, a great disparity between our defining document and who we truly are on the whole. It is no wonder we are confused about our identity.
A return to Adventism as our defining ordering principle would dispel this disparity and make us coherent. If conditionalism is removed from the throne and set among all the other handmaids, she has no less place in the household - just her appropriate place.
Under conditionalist absolutism, there is no ordering principle other than the assertion of conditionalist convictions above all else. No rationale is provided as to why we should not also assert Calvinism or the gift of tongues as being of equal import. No rationale is given unless some appeal is made to the cause of Adventism - that the queen simply cannot be without her handmaid.
Yes, conditionalism is both true and helpful for Adventism, but that help ends as soon as it is erected as a fence that would bar our union with Christians of good faith that would only differ with us on this count. It might be claimed that we do not exclude these Christians, but this is self-deception.
A whole host of people in our pews and pulpits understandably feel as though they are not truly Advent Christian because they disagree with these distinctives in one way or another. They form a second class, an underclass with no stake in the denomination. Is it any wonder we struggle to encourage their involvement in the common life of the denomination? Additionally, we cannot forget all the people and ministers who might have joined us - those who understandably felt they must be unwelcome or could not truly belong based upon the strenuous statements of our Declaration.
For a denomination struggling to fill her pulpits and pews, this is of obvious practical concern. Even so, that concern is not my primary point. Once again, what is our calling brothers and sisters? If God has called us to form a broad (though bounded) union in the spirit of Adventism for the sake of the Gospel commission, how can we maintain a stance that needlessly weakens this union?
With Adventism as our ordering principle, conditionalism would be no less welcome. There are in fact some essential insights brought to surface by this doctrine that must be maintained - namely, that resurrection is the great Christian hope and that it is only God who is immortal by nature, immortality being conferred to all others, whether only unto life (conditionalists) or also unto damnation (traditionalists).
There should never be a day in this denomination in which conditionalism is unwelcome. At the same time, differing beliefs about the intermediate state and the nature of final punishment should also be formally tolerated. Unlike other denominations that stipulate eternal torment and exclude conditionalists, we should call for charity and peace on these matters rather than responding in kind. This is a call not to silence, but to that Berean spirit we exhibit in all other matters. Please consider the comments of Chris Date of Rethinking Hell (in an Advent Christian space no less) - see here and here. Consider also the comments of Gavin Ortlund of Truth Unites (see here) on annihiliationism with respect to theological triage. Both these brothers offer opinions that are consonant with this gracious posture I am proposing, even as they occupy opposite corners.
If we make this shift, some may fear that we will lose our identity and become quite unremarkable among other denominations.
First, I must say that if conditionalist absolutism is our identity, we should waste no time in losing it - we gain a much better identity under Adventism. Some may say this identity would not be very unique since every truly Christian denomination affirms the return of Christ. While this is true, it remains the case that Christ’s return is often neglected. Many Christians still fix their hope on dying and going to heaven and their denominations have done little in practice to correct this error. Additionally, I would challenge you to find a denomination ordered by Adventism as I have described it, one that is resolutely orthodox and yet so open-handed on secondary and tertiary matters. Is that not unique enough?
And why should it matter that we be unique? It is not vital that we be unique. Rather, it is vital that we be faithful both to God’s call and the preaching of the Gospel. It is enough if we become that denomination known for uniting Christians of varying convictions (even across denominations) for the central cause of bringing the Gospel to the world. While others withhold their cooperation over differences as to how the damned will suffer (among so many other differences), we will unite so the lost may hear the Gospel and be saved.
Christ has told us, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
He has told us, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations...”
He has prayed, "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
Let us act accordingly, let us answer this call, even as we cry, “Maranatha.”
Postscript
After reading this you may be thinking, “All this talk about a return to ‘Adventism’ might be alright, but what are the details?” That thought is completely warranted and I plan to publish details before long. For some months now I have been preparing a new version of the Declaration of Principles that is in keeping with everything I have described here. Some of you have reviewed it and also provided invaluable feedback on it. In keeping with that trust, I only ask that you withhold reference to it until it is publicly released. As for the rest of my gracious readers, I can only ask for your patience and that you might consider what I have shared thus far.
Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.