A union conference committee was in session and the topic under discussion was the training program for our young ministers. The importance of preaching was being stressed when someone said, "We must train our young men to preach in such a way that when they present the truth the people will be able to understand what they mean."
"No, that's not good enough," rejoined a veteran among the committee members. "To be merely understood is not sufficient. We have to so train our men that when they preach they cannot be misunderstood."
That is vital. It is easy to be misunderstood at times, especially in presenting some of the tremendous truths that make up our distinctive message. Many times we have conveyed a wrong impression on some of these things. To use the vocabulary of Christianity is not sufficient. It is possible to speak the language of the church and yet fail to give the truth as it is in Jesus.
Paul writing to the Corinthians said, "We use great plainness of speech." Here was a man who was bold and emphatic. He sounded the very depths of divine love and revelation, yet he was concerned that his messages be clear and plain.
Great themes like the nature of Christ, His glorious atonement, His priestly ministry, and His gift of righteousness received by faith—these need the greatest care in their presentation. All of us may feel that we are familiar with them. We preach on these subjects frequently, and yet in presenting them we have sometimes used language that has conveyed an entirely erroneous impression. The great truth committed unto us as a people has suffered most at the hands of those who love it best.
In our eagerness to give meaning to the priestly ministry of our Lord, for example, and especially in our emphasizing the work of the judgment, we have used expressions that have implied that instead of our resting in the all-sufficient sacrifice of our Lord and His great atonement on the cross, Adventists depend rather upon what they can do through rigid obedience to the law, or what Jesus is going to do for them at some future time. We have not intended to convey such an impression, but we have nevertheless.
It is often charged that Adventists, while believing the doctrine of justification by faith, earn their sanctification by works. We are thought to believe that faithfulness in the observance of the Sabbath, or in returning to the Lord the tithe, or in baptism, or Christian help work, or through gifts and offerings, or our strict adherence to health reform—that by these we are sanctified. Now every true Adventist knows that any or all of these, good in themselves, can never be a ground for either justification or sanctification. The service we render to the cause, the office we hold in the church, our standing in the community, or our strict adherence to certain principles—these cannot be and never have been considered as a ground of hope or the means of our acceptance by the Lord. Our compliance with any ordinance or our faithfulness in any service, no matter how important, is and can be nothing other than an expression or result of our love to Him, and the evidence of the salvation that is already provided in Christ.
We are complete only in Him "who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption"; so that "he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord" (1 Cor. 1:30, 31). Righteousness by faith is one of the cardinal doctrines of our belief, and yet just what do we mean by the term? What impression do our hearers get when they hear us preach? There may be some who deliberately set themselves out to misunderstand our teachings and to confuse the issue, but these would be a small minority. The great bulk of our fellow Christians are fair-minded and ready to weigh the evidence, providing that evidence is clear and understandable.
In this issue our Theological Seminary here at headquarters is featured. What a splendid record this institution has! How rich has been its contribution! And yet the accomplishments of the past are small as compared with the opportunities for the future. We have watched the Seminary grow from its humble beginnings. Starting as an advanced Bible school it has developed within a few years to the place it now occupies. This graduate school is in many ways a model of true education. Perhaps no institution of its size has a finer-trained faculty than our Seminary here in Washington. This is a source of satisfaction, but over and above the academic qualifications of the teaching staff is the absolute dedication of these teachers to their task—the task of making preachers who under God can make the truth plain.
That command to make the message plain came to Habakkuk, one of the teachers in the ancient school of the prophets. And it is just as pertinent today. In the classrooms and in the field projects of this modern school of the prophets are workers who may well be among those who will be called to stand before judges and kings "in the courts of justice, in parliaments and councils" to bear witness to the truth "that the God who made the heavens and the earth is the only true and living God." We have quoted from one of the greatest statements ever penned by the messenger of the Lord. Here it is:
When the human agents shall exercise their faculties to acquire knowledge, to become deep-thinking men; when they, as the greatest witnesses for God and the truth, shall have won in the field of investigation of vital doctrines concerning the salvation of the soul, that glory may be given to the God of heaven as supreme, then even judges and kings will be brought to acknowledge, in the courts of justice, in parliaments and councils, that the God who made the heavens and the earth is the only true and living God, the author of Christianity, the author of all truth, who instituted the seventh-day Sabbath when the foundations of the world were laid, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted together for joy. All nature will bear testimony, as designed, for the illustration of the word of God.—Fundamentals of Christian Education, pp. 374, 375.
Of the students in those ancient schools of the prophets we are told that "the knowledge they gained was of great service to them when brought into strait places." How true that was in the days of Nebuchadnezzar! And we are warned that "history will be repeated; old controversies will arouse to new life, and peril will beset God's people on every side."—Testimonies to Ministers, p. 116. Facing the great issues of the future, our ministers surely need the training and inspiration this modern institution affords. And those who teach are dedicated men and women.
The acquiring of knowledge, the exercising of the faculties "to become deep-thinking men," learning to win "in the field of investigation of vital doctrines concerning the salvation of the soul"—these are God-given responsibilities. And these are the areas of study that challenge Seminary teacher and student alike. And what is the purpose of all such study? "That glory may be given to the God of heaven as supreme." This is and must ever be the objective of our study. "Fear God, and give glory to him" is the very heart of God's final message to a doomed world!
Our great need today is for preachers and teachers who can give that message in clarity and power and yet with winsomeness, for it must be a winning as well as a warning message. To train men who know the truth, who live the truth, and who preach that truth so clearly that those listening cannot misunderstand, yet so persuasively that people of all ranks will listen with respect and be led to yield to its claims—this is the objective of our Seminary. God bless this noble institution!
R. A. A.
