The Essentials of
the Jones-Waggoner Message
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In every
aspect, the 1888 message was predominantly "good news,"
and thus "the everlasting gospel" for these last days.
Both messengers felt constrained to declare that it is
"easy" to be saved and "hard" to be lost if
one understands the pure "truth of the gospel"
unadulterated with the "mixture of poisonous error.74
Discouragement and defeats are not normal Christian experience in
its truest sense; they are always the result of a lack of faith.75
God loves you actively and persistently; He will not let you be
lost unless you insist on crucifying Christ afresh.76 The Holy
Spirit is constantly striving against the evil impulses of our
sinful nature, the "flesh," so that the believer
"cannot do the [evil] things" that his sinful nature
prompts him to do."77
This is not
"quietism," nor is it passive manipulation which
over-rides the free will of the human agent; it is justification
by faith in which "faith works by love and purifies
the soul."78 The believer is "crucified with
Christ," so that his will is constantly surrendered to God
through faith in the blood of Christ.79 The gospel becomes for him
"the power of God unto salvation."
The believer is not
to worry about his personal salvation because the Lord will finish
what He started. In fact, as the believer "sees" Christ
"just as He is," all insecurity rooted in egocentric
concern is transcended by the larger concern he now feels for the
honor and vindication of Christ in the "great
controversy" The church feels a concern for Him similar to
that of a bride for her husband.80
Both
"messengers" taught a beautiful view of the "two
covenants." The "old covenant" experience is
inspired solely by self-centered concern and is our vain promise
to do what is right.
Theologians assume
that God makes bargains with men in which both parties pledge
mutual obligations, but God never makes bargains with men for He
knows they cannot keep their promises in human strength (which is
nothing.)81 Therefore the "new covenant" is founded on
"the better promises" of God Himself; it is His promise
to write the law in the heart of the believer.82 Our salvation
therefore does not depend on our keeping our vain promises to God
(which would be impossible) but upon our believing His
promise to us "in Christ."83 Several statements exist in
which Ellen White says she was "shown" that Waggoner’s
view of the two covenants is correct.84
(The Seventh-day
Adventist Bible Commentary and
Bible Dictionary both present the view of those who opposed
the 1888 message. And the Sabbath School lessons as recently as
the second quarter of 1986 likewise perpetuated the 1890s
opposition.)
The
possibility of sinless living in sinful flesh made the 1888
message
a true heart preparation for the coming of Christ.
Notes:
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7 BC 942 Jones: RH Sept. 1,1896 (this series of
articles is relevant; RH Sept. 18,1900; The Everlasting
Covenant, p. 66. [return to
text]
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CHR 58, 69-84. Compare James Buchanan, The Doctrine
of Justification, p. 388 where he teaches that
"declension and backsliding—marred and defiled by
remaining sin—obscured and enveloped in doubt by clouds and
thick darkness" is the normal "case of a
believer." In complete contrast, Jones and Waggoner taught
that "faith is the victory," even in tribulation. See
Waggoner, ST Mar. 25, 1889; Feb. 27, 1896; GT 42,
43, 96, 97. [return to text]
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Waggoner: ST Nov. 21,1895; The Glad Tidings p.
89; ST Jan. 1896; Mar.12, 1896; Aug. 6, 1896; Jones: RH
Sept.22,1896; Ellen G. White: SC 27; DA 58, 403; OHC
11, 26; GC 543. [return to
text]
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Acts 26:14; Gal. 5:17. Jones: RH Sept. 18, Oct. 2,1900.
[return to text]
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Waggoner: CHR 29, 30; ST Mar. 12, 1896; Jones: RH
Sept. 22, 29, Oct. 13, Nov. 10, 1896; CW 123-125; GCB
1893, pp. 207, 208, 402, 403; GCB 1895, pp. 447, 350.
[return to text]
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Jones: GCB 1893, pp. 257-266; RH July 18, 25,
Aug. 1,1899; Waggoner. GT 42-48. [return
to text]
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See Rev. 19:6-9 and Eph. 5:23-32 for "the bride of
Christ" theme clearly stated. Jones and Waggoner did not
forcefully enunciate this particular theme but did break away
from the egocentric radius to a larger concern for the honor and
glory of Christ. See CW 120-122; and GCB 1901, pp.
146-149 where the thought is implicit in Waggoner’s
presentation. Jones: GCB 1903, pp. 42, 43; GCB
1895, pp. 395-398. [return to
text]
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For Waggoner, see GT 71-78, 98-104. For Jones, see his
series on Galatians in RH beginning Aug. 29, 1899; GCB
1895, p. 475, 477. [return to
text]
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Jones: GCB 1895, p. 348. Waggoner: GT 76, 77.
[return to text]
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Waggoner: CHR 74, 75; GT 104; see Jones GCB
1895, p. 217, 479, 480, 494, 495. [return to
text]
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Letters 30, 59, 1890; see PP 370-373 for EGW’s view,
which agrees with Waggoner. [return to
text]
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