From its beginning, the
Christian church has been in constant turmoil, and sometimes great
conflict, in regards to the relationships between the law and the
gospel, faith and works, and the goal of the Christian life. This
discussion has never really been resolved so that the church could
realize the practical application of Biblical counsel to the daily life.
Questions such as, "What is the duty of man in response to God's
commands?", and, "What is the mission of the church to the
world?", have not been answered to the place where the laity can
readily relate their spiritual experience to their personal and
collective lives. Furthermore, little headway has actually taken place
in the theological areas of sanctification and the transformation of the
believer's character. For many church members, the call to higher
standards of ethical and moral living appears to be theoretically
correct, but in actual practice, it becomes a source of frustration and
of perpetual failures. In short, the church has not been able to clarify
the relationship of the theory of salvation to the experience of the
believer.
Attempts have been made to bridge the
gap between theory and practice; yet, they have been inadequate because
there has not been proper attention to a basic tenet of Christian
living, known as the everlasting covenant of God. This doctrine holds
the key to the problem because it provides a setting for the gospel that
allows God to determine rightly what He expects from man and what man
should expect from Him.
Several men have recognized the
covenant concept as being the solution to this gap. Peter De Jong
described American Protestantism as lacking any "unified and
unifying conception of the Christian life" because it has failed to
understand the covenants.1
He further states, "Too much of our religious life, also in its
practical expression, is at loose end."2
This is due to improper concepts of the Christian life. David Neilands,
another Reformed writer, suggests that the church has failed to
understand the promises of God or the covenants, as given in the Old
Testament; there is a need to establish unity between the Old Testament
and the New Testament, because those promises are still applicable
today.3
Others have also attempted to deal with
the covenant concept by interpreting the covenants as being different
periods of time in which God makes specific agreements with specific
individuals or groups with varying restrictions and requirements. This
view tends to follow the doctrines originally taught by the Anabaptists.
These two views, the Reformed and the Anabaptist, have been predominant
in today's theological world, but neither has really produced results
that fit the description of God's vision for His people. The Reformed
position has been greatly influenced by predenstinarian beliefs that
frustrate the quality of the covenant relationship. The Anabaptist-based
view focuses upon a more narrow application which fails to understand
the everlasting covenant as a whole. It also has portrayed God as One
who changes His requirements for salvation for different people.
This paper is concerned with a view
that is neither predestinarian nor dispensationalistic, although it
incorporates selected points of the two above views. This view was
primarily presented by a young Seventh-day Adventist in the 1880's,
Ellet J. Waggoner, and secondarily by his friend and close colleague,
Alonzo T. Jones. Their understanding was excitingly simple, and yet
profound. They saw history as an unfolding drama of the everlasting
covenant, from Eden before the Fall through the ages to Eden restored.
God was portrayed as One who was seeking sinful man to restore the
dynamic relationship they once had before sin entered the world.
Salvation was understood as God's means of restoring this relationship
and delivering man from its counterfeits. God's people were those who
responded to God's invitation to enter this relationship regardless of
nationality, race, or the like. The law and the gospel were uniquely
linked together without encountering the problems of legalism, or
espousing cheap grace. This view of the covenant, combined with a
special understanding of eschatology due to the doctrine of the
cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, paved the way to prepare a people
to witness to the world God's complete power to redeem sinners and make
them obedient to His law.
Not only is the view of these two men
important of itself, so also are the various steps which led up to their
presentation. The Second Great Awakening of the nineteenth century
brought about movements that should have given great strength and power
to the Christian church through the covenant concept. However, the paths
which many churches took after the middle of the century reveal serious
weaknesses inherent within their beliefs. These weaknesses are still
producing damaging consequences today.
|