APPENDIX A
The 1888 View of the Two Covenants
IV. IS THERE BIBLE SUPPORT FOR THE 1888 VIEW?
- Paul’s discussions of righteousness
by faith are centered in the "promises" God made to Abraham.
Romans 4:3-25; Galatians 3, 4. In that context of practical day-by-day
Christian living, Paul’s attention is largely focused on Abraham’s
faith-experience.
- Initially, God made a seven-fold
promise to Abram (Genesis 12:1-3). No conditions were mentioned other
than the command to leave his "country" and
"kindred."
- The promise was repeated and detailed
further in Genesis 13:14-17.
- God spoke further emphasis in Genesis
15:4, 5. Then Abram responded.
- His response was a heart-felt, fervent
"amen" (the Hebrew for the word "believe"), an
appreciation for the grace of Christ (vs. 6; John 8:56). Paul’s
argument in Romans 4 and Galatians 3, 4 is that such a response of faith
is all that God wants from us today. Lest legalist minded Adventists
fear lowered standards, it must be remembered that Paul’s definition
of faith is a heart-response occasioned by the revelation of God’s agape
(Romans 10:10; Galatians 5:6). Thus Paul’s idea of faith is a
"faith which works" and produces the obedience that we
try so hard to emphasize. The "works" is a verb and not a
noun. In this light, Paul’s
doctrine of salvation "by grace through faith ... not of
works" is not antinomian fanaticism. Included in Abram’s response
of "believing" was the humble, contrite reconciliation of an
alienated heart to God, which includes His holy law of righteousness.
The obedience is built-in! This could have been Abram’s hymn:
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride.
This
is the only appropriate response of any human heart to God’s new
covenant.
- After his confession of faith, Abram
and Sarai stumbled into old covenant unbelief in the Hagar-Ishmael
incident (Genesis 16). Paul uses Hagar as a symbol of the old covenant
— the ever popular faith-plus-works principle (Galatians 4:24).
- Sarah (and Abraham) repented of their
old covenant unbelief. Thus by faith she became pregnant in very old age
(Hebrews 11:11). Paul cites the triumphant Sarah as a symbol of the new
covenant (Galatians 4:23, 24). Again, at no time in these episodes did
God ask for any promise from either of them. It was a basic assumption:
genuine faith would of itself produce or motivate obedience. This
was the idea that fueled the Jones/Waggoner idea of the covenants.
- Not cold, blind legalistic obedience
motivated by fear, this kind of faith eventually enabled Abraham to
offer his son Isaac (Genesis 24).
- When Israel came out of Egypt 430
years after his justification by faith experience, God proposed to renew
to them His new covenant promises to Abraham (Exodus 19:4-6):
- It is not correct to assume that God
made these promises to Israel on condition of their obedience (cf. SDA
Bible Dictionary, p. 229). Paul says that 430 years later God
could not have abrogated or "disannulled" the terms of His
promise to Abraham by requiring anything more than his faith, because
He had confirmed it to Abraham by a solemn oath pledging His throne
and existence (Galatians 3:17,18; Romans
4:13-16; Hebrews 6:13-18). Our Bible Dictionary misses the
point, and so do many Adventists today. 7
- The Hebrew word in Exodus 19:5
usually understood as "obey" is rendered "hear"
some 760 times, and "hearken" 196 times, and only a
relatively few times as "obey." The context of the sentence
itself requires the meaning of "listen." (God simply wanted
their attention and that is the idea in the Hebrew meaning of shamea).
8
- The Hebrew for the verb translated
"keep My covenant" is used in Genesis 2:15 where God
told Adam to "dress and keep" the Garden of Eden. To
"obey" the garden is meaningless! The word shamar
means primarily to "guard," "give heed" (shimmur,
"night watch," root of "Samaria," meaning
"guard"). Adam was to "cherish" or
"treasure" the Garden of Eden, "prize" it highly.
There seems a play on ideas here in Exodus 19:5, as if God said to
them, If you will "treasure" My promise to Abraham, I will
"treasure" you above all people as "special." 9
- Thus the Lord said to Israel, If you
will (1) listen, hearken, to My voice, and (2) if you will cherish,
prize, appreciate, treasure the covenant I made to Abraham (promise,
Romans 4:13), then you will be a special treasure of Mine above all
people. This was to be
righteousness by faith, not righteousness by works or even partly by
works.
- God even prefaced His renewal of the
new covenant with gospel Good News: "You have seen what I did to
the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you
to Myself ..." (Exodus 19:4). The Lord did not propose making a
"contract" or "compact" with Israel based on their
promises to obey. Their job was to believe, to appreciate with
heart-felt thanks, the glorious salvation He had already
accomplished.
- Unless we involve God in
self-contradiction His statement apparently approving the Israelites’
vain promise, "They have well spoken all that they have
spoken" (Deuteronomy 5:28) must be understood
as irony. The context would seem to require it: "That was a great
speech! I just wish they had a heart ...!" Biblical irony is
common (see Section VI).
- Instead of appreciating how the Lord
"bore them on eagles’ wings," they had already begun before
reaching Sinai to murmur and complain (Exodus 15:24; 16:2; 17:3). Thus
their hearts were "hardened" (Hebrews 3:8). In this state of
unbelief they responded to God’s new covenant promise
with a "contract" mentality which was works-oriented,
self-righteous "obedience": "All that the Lord has spoken
we will do" (Exodus 19:8). This promise of the people was the
inception of the old covenant.
- God could not brush this aside.
Although they had made this contract, He had to live with it and
ratify it with animal blood. If they would not keep step with Him, He
must humble Himself and keep step with them. Now must begin a long
detour of many centuries during which the "old testament"
up-and-down history of God’s people must be tragically written. 10
It is only in this sense that Moses later could say that "the
Lord made this covenant ... with us." He specifically said
"the Lord made not" such a covenant "with our
fathers" (Deuteronomy 5:3). Thus Moses recognized in principle what
Paul was later to say, "The covenant that was confirmed before of
God in Christ, the law, which was 430 years after, cannot disannul, that
it should make the promise of none effect" (Galatians 3:17). Moses
made clear that it was not God’s original intention to
"make" the old covenant of works with Israel. He was only
forced to recognize it and to lead them on their detour.
- The terrifying events of Exodus
19:10-25, the death threat, the trumpet sounding "long ... louder
and louder," the thunders, lightnings, thick cloud, the smoke, the
earthquake — none of these had been necessary for "our
father" Abraham. God did not need to write the Law in
stone for him, for He wrote it in his heart. All of this became
necessary because of the old covenant the people had instituted.
"What purpose then does the law serve?" asks Paul. "It
was added because of transgressions" (Galatians 3:19, prostithemi,
"place beside," "increase," "increase
our faith," Luke 20:11, 12). It could be rendered
"underlined," "emphasized," "set in bold
type." "The law came in beside" not as an addition to the
new covenant, but "that the offence might abound," that the
people might see their sin more clearly pinpointed (Romans 5:20; Patriarchs
and Prophets, pp. 371, 372). "The scripture has confined
[concluded, KJV] all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus
Christ might be given to those who believe" (Galatians 3:22).
- From then on, the law was to function
as our "tutor [schoolmaster, KJV] to bring us to Christ, that we
might be justified by faith," back where "our father
Abraham" was when he "believed" the new covenant (vs.
24).
- Because of this understanding of the
new covenant in Galatians 3, Jones and Waggoner saw the law in Galatians
as the ten commandments rather than the ceremonial law. Their opposing
brethren could not grasp the new covenant idea of salvation by simply
believing God’s promise; they were mired in the mentality of Israel at
Exodus 19. They saw the old covenant as instituted by God as a
dispensational structure, part of His plan of salvation with a divinely
appointed "dispensation" ending at the cross (see illustration
at end of this appendix) whereas Jones and Waggoner saw the two
covenants as matters of heart, not of dispensations. God’s original
intention was that the old covenant "dispensation" end before
it began! 11
- Correctly understood, the new
covenant is the message of righteousness by faith, the "everlasting
gospel" of Revelation 14:6-12. In this time of the cleansing of the
sanctuary, it is "the third angel’s message in verity." God’s
promises to Abraham are promises to "all families of the
earth," the loud cry message of Revelation 18. This is why Ellen
White recognized in the 1888 message of the covenants its
"beginning" (RH, Nov. 22, 1892). Everyone is invited to
receive His promises on exactly the same terms that Abraham received
them, by saying "amen" — faith (Matthew 29:19, 20; Matthew
24:14; Acts 13:32; John 3:16; Ephesians 2:8-10, etc.). 12
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