Mrs. White also teaches that salvation is by faith alone, …

Comment on The Sabbath and the Covenants (Old vs. New) by Sean Pitman.

Mrs. White also teaches that salvation is by faith alone, not by works or human effort outside of the unmerited grace of God. However, as the Bible itself points out, those who live by the Spirit of God will be led to obey the moral Law of Love (detailed in the Ten Commandments) through the Power of the Spirit – which includes the 7th-day Sabbath for those who are aware that this is the Will of God for the Christian. Over and over again Mrs. White writes very clearly that salvation is by grace alone apart from works lest anyone should boast. Consider a few of the passages along these lines:

There is not a point that needs to be dwelt upon more earnestly, repeated more frequently, or established more firmly in the minds of all than the impossibility of fallen man meriting anything by his own best good works. Salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ alone…

Should faith and works purchase the gift of salvation for anyone, then the Creator is under obligation to the creature. Here is an opportunity for falsehood to be accepted as truth. If any man can merit salvation by anything he may do, then he is in the same position as the Catholic to do penance for his sins. Salvation, then, is partly of debt, that may be earned as wages. If man cannot, by any of his good works, merit salvation, then it must be wholly of grace, received by man as a sinner because he receives and believes in Jesus. It is wholly a free gift. Justification by faith is placed beyond controversy. And all this controversy is ended, as soon as the matter is settled that the merits of fallen man in his good works can never procure eternal life for him. (Mrs. White, Through Faith Alone, Part 1, General Manuscript)

He who is trying to become holy by his own works in keeping the law, is attempting an impossibility. All that man can do without Christ is polluted with selfishness and sin. It is the grace of Christ alone, through faith, that can make us holy… Instead of releasing man from obedience, it is faith, and faith only, that makes us partakers of the grace of Christ, which enables us to render obedience. We do not earn salvation by our obedience; for salvation is the free gift of God, to be received by faith. But obedience is the fruit of faith… (Mrs. White, Steps to Christ, p. 57-58

“Many do not fully understand the principles of salvation by faith. Only by fully believing in Christ and receiving the Holy Spirit can we understand the saving truths of the gospel and receive the blessings that are given to those who accept Jesus as their personal Saviour. Thus only can we obtain power to become the sons of God, and thus only receive the earnest of our inheritance—a foretaste of the blessedness of heaven… The Law of God will be magnified.” (Mrs. White, Ms 90, 1903).

Here we see a clear teaching that salvation is by faith alone, but once a person is walking in a saving relationship with God, He provides the Power so that the moral Law is magnified in that person’s life so that a true life of love toward God and toward one’s neighbor can actually be lived. Because, outside of the Spirit, such a life of love is impossible. Consider also the following thoughts:

“Satan is working by every deception he can command, in order that we may not discern that love. He will lead us to think that our mistakes and transgressions have been so grievous that the Lord will not have respect unto our prayers and will not bless and save us. In ourselves we can see nothing but weakness, nothing to recommend us to God, and Satan tells us that it is of no use; we cannot remedy our defects of character. When we try to come to God, the enemy will whisper, It is of no use for you to pray; did not you do that evil thing? Have you not sinned against God and violated your own conscience? But we may tell the enemy that “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7. When we feel that we have sinned and cannot pray, it is then the time to pray. Ashamed we may be and deeply humbled, but we must pray and believe. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” 1 Timothy 1:15. Forgiveness, reconciliation with God, comes to us, not as a reward for our works, it is not bestowed because of the merit of sinful men, but it is a gift unto us, having in the spotless righteousness of Christ its foundation for bestowal.” (Mrs. White, TFMoB, p. 115-116).

Sean Pitman Also Commented

The Sabbath and the Covenants (Old vs. New)
Response to a comment of a friend of mine posted in another forum:

    “Before the way of FAITH IN CHRIST was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, UNTIL the way of faith was revealed. The law was our guardian UNTIL Christ came; it protected us UNTIL we could be made right with God through FAITH. And now that the way of FAITH has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian. For you are all children of God through FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS.” Gal3:23-26

Faith is certainly what saves. This has always been true since the very beginning. Even those righteous persons who lived before Jesus was born into this world as a human being, even Moses or David for instance, were not saved by the works of the Law, but by Faith. The purpose of the Law was never to save, but to convict the sinner of a need of a Savior – since all have sinned against the “Royal Law.” It is faith in the Savior that saves. The work of the Law, carefully considered, is to lead us to know that our only hope of salvation is faith in what Jesus, our Savior, did for us and is doing for us. Yet, this faith does not nullify the Law or make the Law pointless when it comes to its job to constantly remind us of our need of a Savior – a saving Power outside of ourselves. Rather, the Power realized through this faith actually enables us to keep the Spirit of the Law as it was originally intended to be kept – through selfless love for God and for our neighbors.

Paul, in his letter to the Romans, makes this point particularly clear:

Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law. – Romans 3:31

For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but it is the doers of the law who will be declared righteous. Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the work of the law is written on their hearts… If a man who is not circumcised keeps the requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? – Romans 2:13-15, 26

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! – Romans 6:15

What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” … So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good… For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. – Romans 7:7, 11, 22-25

For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit… The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. – Romans 8:3-4, 7

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. – Romans 13:8-10


The Sabbath and the Covenants (Old vs. New)
Pastor Bill Loveless often used the term “mysticism” in a rather unique way which Mrs. White would have never applied to herself. She often spoke against spiritualism and mysticism as it relates to spiritualism. Here is an example of what she wrote against mysticism vs. true sanctification in Christ:

All this spiritualistic love is a mysticism that saints will not for one moment allow their minds to be drawn away to—considering the presumptuous thought of sanctifying adultery to become lawful. We all need now to come to a knowledge of saving truth by a living, daily, proved experience of the sanctifying of the soul through the truth. Coming to Christ in living surrender of the soul is the coming to a personal Saviour to be a partaker of His divine nature, having overcome the corruption that is in the world through lust. It is by the Holy Spirit’s direct guidance that each believing soul may sanctify himself through love of the pure principles of the truth. (Mrs. White, False Ideas of Sanctification, MS 241, 1902)


The Sabbath and the Covenants (Old vs. New)
Neither Venden or MacCarty believe or teach that faith removes individuality or personality or free will. Rather, as Mrs. White puts is, they promote the idea that faith allows the Spirit of God to create in us growing oneness of mind, character, and purpose with God in our daily walk with Him while still maintaining our own individual personalities.

Here the position of Jesus Christ in reference to his Father is brought to view. While they are one in purpose, and one in mind, yet in personality they are two. May we not learn from this that there is to be unity between believers? There is no reason why one should feel that it is necessary for him to bring others to the exact line of his own individuality. So long as we are subject to the temptations of Satan, we shall each have all we can possibly attend to, in order to maintain a right relation to God, that Christ may do for us his atoning work. And though we may differ in the form of words, and in the expression of our individuality, yet our words may be sanctified, and our characters purified through the sacrifice of Christ. (Mrs. White, R&H, 1907).

This is not spiritualism or mysticism, but the true Christian walk that is also based on faith in the Power of God to lead us in His way.


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