27 June 2002 Editorial:
Salvation: Do the Math

Editorial #107

Larry Kirkpatrick

It has become more and more common within Adventism to separate justification from sanctification. The work that God does for us in forgiving us and for us in changing us increasingly are placed in separate stacks. The first stack is within the gospel, and the second stack is outside of the gospel, although many will state that such works are the necessary fruit of the first.

So let's get this straight. The gospel includes justification, God counting me right so they say, and excludes sanctification, God making me right. The first I must have in order to be saved, the second I want to have but it does not really impact my salvation. Sanctification is precious, wonderful, etcetera, but not part of the gospel.

However, perhaps we need to do the math. Now by the metaphor of "doing the math:" we do not mean to imply that salvation can be narrowed down to a mathematical equation that will encompass everything there is to say about it. But there are some very basic elements where perhaps we can "do the math," and learn.

Let us then take this assertion. I am saved entirely by accepting God's gift of forgiveness/justification. That is included in the gospel. Sanctification follows and is a necessary fruit of salvation, but is outside of the gospel.

Hmm.

I must have justification to be saved, but sanctification is not necessary to my being saved, but it is a necessary result of my being saved.

Tangled. Because it is fallacious. If sanctification is a necessary result of my being saved, then it is linked back to the initial point. Some will say salvation is by justification alone, but can we pose the question in that way and relegate sanctification and obedience to the status of mere following result, and then say they are a necessary result? If they are a necessary result then they are fundamentally linked with justification and salvation, so fundamentally linked that we are in the realm of necessity. If they are necessary result, that which automatically flows from justification, then is justification alone? And if they are necessary then does not salvation require sanctification?

The fact is that without faith it is impossible to please Him. Without faith I cannot be saved. The fact is that the person who is not connected to God through faith lacks the power to obey. It is also plain from numerous Bible and Spirit of prophecy statements that obedience is necessary for salvation. Thus I must exercise faith to obey, and I must obey to exercise faith.

Think about it: how can I even receive God's gift of salvation unless I exercise faith and say "I accept"? My faith is charged with power that is not my own. My exercise of faith only becomes possible because God initiates. His supernatural energy is made operational by Him in my spiritually lifeless faculties. He makes possible my having a desire to obey. He makes possible my choosing to obey. And when I do choose to obey, He gives faith to obey in the same moment, in the same transaction.

The separation of one aspect from another appears to be done by some for the purpose of protecting certain theological points. We mustn't forget that our age is the age of the negation of God's law. The understanding of what Christian salvation means in our culture today is derived from a mostly obedience-emasculated Christianity. Views on salvation are often little more than obscure melanges of poorly-processed second-hand thinking. Pet ideas are difficult to shed. This is not to say that those holding differing views are automatically unthinking, but that so much of what we have been led to weigh on the questions surrounding salvation has been derived from those who are, whether intentionally or not, at war with the ideological core we hold.

We truly believe that God is preparing a people who will live the Ten Commandments and through whom will be demonstrated an obedience that is mature and complete and appealing. We needn't and mustn't wait for better opportunities to follow our Lord in obedience. We needn't and mustn't wait until we have sufficiently emptied the gospel of meaning that we can then say we are obeying even while we are not. When we sin, we break the connection between ourselves and God. But in all eternity we won't do that, even once after we're home in heaven and the new earth. Now is the time for fitting up. Now is the time to learn obedience by what we suffer.

Truly, salvation includes justification and sanctification, or as popularly defined, counting right and making right. A title for heaven and a fitness for heaven are included in salvation. To sin is to hand over my title to heaven to Satan, who I may be assured will be most glad to receive it. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, including devilish sin in your life and mine.

Will we permit Him to? Here is the underlying question. I am wary of any explanation purporting to open up another way to heaven besides the way of sin removal by Jesus. Let there be no mistake, to say that my salvation means Jesus takes some of my sin away is altogether different than a gospel which says that Jesus saves His people from their sins. The difference is between some sin and all sin.

Salvation is a gift unearned by us. But it involves our thorough cooperation with the supernatural God, a coming-close to Him that changes us, makes us conduits for His healing and power. The light set on a hill is to burn brightly, not dimly or at half-strength. God grant us care in understanding His gospel, so that our lives will reflect what heaven intends them to, and so that our rationalizations shall fall away into the silence where they belong. What God has said about salvation stands, and the most creative theologizing won't change what heaven expects and salvation demands.

Pastor Larry Kirkpatrick is an ordained minister of the gospel. Since 1994 he has served in the American Southwest as pastor to several churches. He received his BA in Religion from Southern Adventist University in 1994 and a Master of Divinity from Andrews University in 1999 with a specialization in Adventist Studies. While in Michigan he was employed by the General Conference at the White Estate Berrien Springs branch office. More important than his scholastic preparation has been his immersion in the biblical and Spirit of Prophecy materials. He is author of the 2003 book Real Grace for Real People. Presently he serves as Pastor of the Mentone Church of Seventh-day Adventists, located near Loma Linda, California. Larry is married to Pamela. The couple presently live in Highland, California along with their two children, Etienne and Melinda.