Contradiction or divine paradox?

When seen through human logic, the atonement and Christian perfection seem to present insoluble contradictions; the eye of faith, however, discerns a divine paradox that results in a deeper understanding.

Eric C. Webster is director of the Voice of Prophecy Bible School, Cape Town, South Africa.

 

Seventh-day Adventists believe that the atonement was full and complete on the cross and also that it is being completed in the heavenly sanctuary. Some might feel that this is a blatant contradiction, but could it not better be described as a divine paradox? Truth often lies deeply embedded in paradox. Not because divine truth is contradictory, but because of the limited, finite nature of man's comprehension com pared with the unlimited depths of the mysteries of divine revelation.

The existence of a paradoxical element in theology is aptly illustrated by D. M. Baillie in his book God Was in Christ. He writes on page 109: "The attempt to put our experience of God into theological statements is something like the attempt to draw a map of the world on a flat surface, the page of an atlas. It is impossible to do this without a certain degree of falsification, because the surface of the earth is a spherical surface whose pattern cannot be reproduced accurately upon a plane. And yet the map must be drawn for convenience sake. Therefore an atlas meets the problem by giving us two different maps of the world, which can be compared with each other. The one is contained in two circles representing two hemispheres. The other is contained in an oblong (Mercator's projection). Each is a map of the whole world, and they contradict each other to some extent at every point. Yet they are both needed; and taken together they correct each other."

Examples of paradoxes in divine truth are not difficult to find. There is the paradox of the Incarnation, the incomprehensible truth that in Jesus Christ we have One who is at the same time truly God and truly man. Likewise we have the paradox of law and grace, the tension between those who see the last days as beginning at the cross and those who find the concept exclusively applicable to our day, and the tension between Christian liberty and a conscientious life style of healthful living.

Can we not, then, hold in tension the complete atonement on the cross and a final atonement in the heavenly sanctuary? Our most representative writer, Ellen G. White, does. Speaking of the ransom paid for our souls, she writes, "We are to rejoice that the atonement is complete; and believing in Christ as our complete Saviour, we may know that the Father loves us, even as He loves His Son." —Review and Herald, Nov. 11, 1890. She further states that Christ would not "receive the homage of His people until He knew that His sacrifice had been accepted by the Father, and until He had received the assurance from God Himself that His atonement for the sins of His people had been full and ample" (The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Ellen G. White Comments, on John 20:16, 17, p. 1150). Note her emphasis that the atonement is complete, full, and ample.

However, the same writer can also speak of a "final atonement" made in the heavenly sanctuary. "As in the final atonement the sins of the truly penitent are to be blotted from the records of heaven, no more to be remembered or come into mind, so in the type they were borne away into the wilderness, forever separated from the congregation" —Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 358.

This "final atonement" can be understood only in the light of the complete atonement made on the cross. When in the pre-Advent judgment names come up for final review, those among the dead and the living who trusted in the blood of Christ, relied upon His merits, and sought to bring forth the fruits of repentance and obedience will be found worthy of eternal life. Christ vanquishes Satan by the mighty argument of Cal vary, the once-for-all sacrifice (see Heb.

10:10, 12). The repentant sinner, clothed in Christ's character, is found in the judgment to be in perfect harmony with the law of God because of the merits of the blood of Christ. Thus the benefits of the atonement of the cross are applied in the judgment to the child of God, and he is presented to the Father without fault.

The "final atonement" adds nothing to Calvary but applies that shed blood for each saint and declares to the universe that it is on the basis of Christ's merit that each saved sinner is found to be in a state of "at-one-ment" with God.

In another sense the atonement is completed only when sin has been destroyed and when the saints are gathered into the heavenly Canaan to enjoy the true Feast of Tabernacles. "Christ's great work of atonement for man will then have been completed, and their sins will have been forever blotted out." Ibid., p. 542.

In the Scriptures it is likewise clear that a full atonement for sin was made on the cross, but that there is also a continuing work performed by our High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary. Paul says that "we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son" (Rom. 5:10, R.S.V.). Yet as our High Priest, Jesus "ever liveth to make intercession" for us (Heb. 7:25).

Baillie, in his book cited above, deals with what he calls the historical and the eternal atonement. While he speaks of a finished work on Calvary, he also says, "God's reconciling work cannot be con fined to any one moment of history. We cannot say that God was unforgiving until Christ came and died on Calvary; nor can we forget that God's work of reconciliation still goes on in every age in the lives of sinful men, whose sins He still bears." Page 191. He continues: "As regards the idea that the divine sin-bearing, the atoning work, which appeared in history once for all on Calvary, goes on ever since in the heavenly sphere, there are hints of this in the Christian tradition from the beginning." Page 194.

We must, and can, hold in tension the finished work of Christ on the cross, where He made a full atonement for sin, and the final atonement in the heavenly sanctuary, when the merits of Christ are applied eschatologically in the pre-Ad vent judgment.

Closely connected to the divine paradox of the atonement is the scriptural teaching regarding Christian perfection.

Is it possible for the Christian to live a life without sin? On the basis of the Word of God we must affirm that it is possible for the child of God, through faith in Christ and reliance upon God, to live a life of vic tory over sin. At the same moment, the paradoxical truth is that this victorious Christian is not sinless, comes far short of the purity and perfection of Jesus Christ, is in constant need of Christ's merit, and remains a sinner by nature in desperate need of the grace of God! This apparent contradiction describes the saints of Old Testament times, of the New Testament era, and of the final generation. John, in his first epistle, highlights this paradox. On the one hand the apostle says, "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God" (chap. 3:9).

He is describing not some unique experience of the final-generation Christian but the normal life of all who have been born again. On the other hand, he says in the same letter, "If we say that we have [the verb is in the present continuous tense] no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (chap. 1:8).

Likewise Paul could write of victory when he says, "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace" (Rom. 6:14).

And yet this same saint writes near the end of his life from a Roman dungeon, "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:12).

This same tension is found in the writings of Ellen White. She can say, "Christ came to this earth and lived a life of perfect obedience, that men and women, through His grace, might also live lives of perfect obedience." Re view and Herald, March 15, 1906. Two paragraphs later the balancing statement appears, "Man's obedience can be made perfect only by the incense of Christ's righteousness, which fills with divine fragrance every act of true obedience." Ibid. Another statement echoes 1 John 3:9: "To everyone who surrenders fully to God is given the privilege of living without sin, in obedience to the law of heaven." Review and Herald, Sept. 27, 1906. But the sentiments of 1 John 1:8 come to mind in this passage: "None of the apostles and prophets ever claimed to be without sin. Men who have lived the nearest to God, men who would sacrifice life itself rather than knowingly commit a wrong act, men whom God has honored with divine light and power, have confessed the sinfulness of their nature. They have put no confidence in the flesh, have claimed no righteousness of their own, but have trusted wholly in the righteousness of Christ." The Acts of the Apostles, p. 561.

Ellen White illustrates this paradox in the life of John the Beloved. After stating that "John was a living illustration of sanctification" (The Sanctified Life, p.

59) she writes, "The life of John was one of earnest effort to conform to the will of God. The apostle followed his Saviour so closely, and had such a sense of the purity and exalted holiness of Christ, that his own character appeared, in contrast, exceedingly defective. And when Jesus in His glorified body appeared to John, one glimpse was enough to cause him to fall down as one dead. Such will ever be the feelings of those who know best their Lord and Master. The more closely they contemplate the life and character of Jesus, the more deeply will they feel their own sinfulness, and the less will they be disposed to claim holiness of heart or to boast of their sanctification." Ibid., p. 79. Commenting on those who are truly growing in the Christian life she continues: "But he who is truly seeking for holiness of heart and life delights in the law of God, and mourns only that he falls so far short of meeting its requirements." Ibid., p. 81.

When these two opposing elements are not held in tension, we find ourselves in perplexity. Overemphasis of 1 John 3:9 will cause us to sink into the quagmire of perfectionism or bathe in the artificial light of our own holiness or fall back in discouragement when we are rudely awakened to the contrast between ourselves and Christ. However, to lay all our stress on 1 John 1:8 can easily destroy idealism and cause us to forget the challenging heights of victory as we settle back in the valley of mediocrity.

In attempting to understand divine truth as given in God's Word, the finite logic of our humanity may see insoluble contradiction; the eye of faith, however, discerns a legitimate paradox that when held in balance results in a deeper understanding.


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Eric C. Webster is director of the Voice of Prophecy Bible School, Cape Town, South Africa.

December 1980

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