Evangelical Adventism is authentic Adventism, Adventism as God meant it to be. The evangelical emphasis is most consistent with the original purpose of Seventh-day Adventists as a people called to prepare the world for the second coming of Christ by the proclamation of the biblical gospel. Theologically, evangelical Adventists identify the gospel’s meaning and practical implications as their chief concern. Their understanding of the gospel is rooted in their conviction that the Bible is the only basic rule of faith and practice for the Christian.

Scripturally, the “gospel” is the “good news” that God reconciles (justifies, “counts righteous,” redeems, forgives, saves) the lost sinner on the basis of the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ when received through faith apart from the works of the law (2 Cor. 5:19; Rmns. 3:21–28; 4:23–25; Eph. 2:8–10; Col. 1:13–14,19,20). The inevitable experiential result of this belief is a personal relationship with God, a dedication to an ever-deepening understanding of God’s will and character, and a transformation of the heart that produces genuine love and concern for others as well as a passion for personal holiness.

Evangelical Adventists believe that God raised up the Seventh-day Adventist church to help prepare the world for Christ’s return by preaching this gospel clearly with power. While finding much affinity with non-Adventist evangelicals, they remain Seventh-day Adventists, believing that many of this denomination’s unique insights, when clearly grounded in the cross, enhance our presentation of the gospel. However, our distinctive Adventist beliefs must never be allowed to eclipse the gospel or become the focus of our evangelism.

Seventh-day Adventism initially found its identity as a movement commissioned to proclaim the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14. The pioneers of the movement understood the “everlasting gospel, (verse 6) to be the good news of Christ’s soon return, the “commandments of God” (verse 12) as the ten commandments, especially the fourth, and the “faith of Jesus” (verse 12) as New Testament Christianity. When the first state conference, (Michigan), was organized in 1861, delegates covenanted to “keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus,” taking the name “Seventh-day Adventists” which was believed to express the two most prominent and distinguishing doctrinal features of the movement.

While early Adventists were clearly committed to scripture, they did not understand how to interpret it. They often used a proof-text method of biblical interpretation to defend their distinctive beliefs and consequently missed the overall, uniting purpose of scripture as a revelation of God’s salvation as accomplished in Jesus Christ. They understood that God had called them to proclaim the gospel in order to prepare the world for Christ’s return, yet they did not understand the meaning of the gospel. Consequently, early Adventism focused mostly on distinctive Adventist beliefs while neglecting some of the more common, core truths of Christianity, including a clear proclamation of the death of Christ as the only basis for salvation, apart from works.

The 1872 statement “Fundamental Principles of Seventh-day Adventists” reveals a religious group totally committed to Scripture, and opposed to any creed other than the Bible, though they did not at that time understand the Trinity, the eternal deity of Christ, or the atonement completed at the cross.

During the 1870s and 80s, a number of individuals within Adventism began to develop a clearer understanding of the gospel and the necessity of making it central in Adventist doctrine and evangelism. Woodrow Whidden, in his article, “The Way of Life Engravings: Harbingers of Minneapolis,” (Ministry, October, 1992) documents a major shift in James and Ellen White’s understanding of Seventh-day Adventism. In 1874 James White published the “Way of Life From Paradise Lost to Paradise Restored” lithograph depicting the Law-Tree as its central, most prominent feature, revealing the basic law orientation of the church during its first decades.

James White, just prior to his death in 1881, planned to revise the older law-centered lithograph, making Christ and the cross larger and central, and renaming it “Christ, the Way of Life. From Paradise Lost to Paradise Restored.” Though James died before he could complete the project, Ellen White and her sons published the revised picture in 1883, as Mrs. White herself moved towards a new emphasis on a more Lutheran, by faith alone, understanding of justification.

Whidden attributes this new perspective in part to the influence of James White, Ellen White’s own study of the Reformation in preparation for publication of “The Spirit of Prophecy,” volume 4 (1884), and a personal concern that “there was unwitting legalism creeping into the ranks of Seventh-day Adventism.” Whidden writes, “For Ellen White the uplifting of the cross and a renewed emphasis on justification by faith were not matters of mere side interest or theological curiosity, but were the very heart of the great Adventist proclamation.”

Ellen White, therefore, became the major contributor towards a new emphasis and direction in Seventh-day Adventist theology. Her new insights led her to endorse the emphasis on the death of Christ and the relation of the righteousness of Christ to the law during the controversial 1888 Minneapolis General Conference (Manuscript 15, Nov. 1, 1888). Two years later, she wrote that the message of justification by faith was the third angel’s message in verity (Selected Messages, volume 1, p. 372). Her writings after 1888 reflect her new commitment to Christ and the cross as central to every other truth, the new direction of her thinking having begun in the early 1880’s. See Steps to Christ (1892), Desire of Ages (1898) and Appendix C in Questions on Doctrine (1957). Evangelical Adventists believe that Mrs. White, especially from the year 1883 on, was the most important influence in the direction of an evangelical kind of Adventism.

While the 1888 General Conference session did not end with any kind of consensus within Adventism regarding righteousness by faith versus righteousness by law, the newly proposed emphasis on righteousness by faith in the cross of Christ, supported by Ellen White was accepted by a number of other prominent leaders. Others, who did not accept the initial presentation on Christ’s righteousness, came to endorse and proclaim it in subsequent years. However, the lack of official denominational clarification allowed for both the law-centered approach and the gospel-centered approach to co-exist within Adventism. Examples of the gospel-centered stream include A. G. Daniells’ emphasis on righteousness by faith in the 1920’s. See Christ Our Righteousness, commissioned in 1924 and published in 1941, and the 1952 Bible Conference. (Our Firm Foundation, 1 and 2,1953).

In 1957, with the publication of Questions on Doctrine, denominational leaders clarified which theological stream represented official Seventh-day Adventism. Among the theological positions taken in Questions on Doctrine are the following: Scripture, not the writings of Ellen G. White, is the basis of Christian faith and practice; Jesus Christ is eternally God and sinless in his human nature; the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ for the salvation of sinners was finished at the cross, though he continues a mediatorial work in heaven; justification is through faith on account of Christ’ s accomplishments and is not in any way based on our obedience to the law; Jesus Christ and him crucified is to be the center of Seventh-day Adventist belief and practice; and there are genuine, spiritually mature Christians outside of Seventh-day Adventism. Evangelical Adventists consider the positions taken in Questions on Doctrine to be an expression of both authentic and evangelical Adventism.

We believe there are four reasons why evangelical Adventism represents authentic Adventism:

1. Evangelical Adventism best fulfills the historic commission and purpose of Adventism. Evangelical Adventists believe God raised up the Seventh-day Adventist church to help fulfill the great commission by proclaiming the gospel and building a community of devoted followers of Christ who would eagerly anticipate his imminent second coming. However, the church has not always understood the full meaning of the gospel though it has always been committed to Scripture where the meaning may be found. At first, Seventh-day Adventists understood the “everlasting gospel” of Revelation 14:6 as the message of Christ’s return. In the early 1880’s, some Adventists’ understanding of the essence of the gospel began to change as they realized that the message of Christ’s second coming is terrifying unless the message of his first coming has been clearly proclaimed.

Evangelical Adventists understand the biblical gospel to be an explanation of how God saves lost sinners. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting men’s sins against them” (2 Cor. 5:19). This concept is also at the very heart of Jesus’ teachings on the kingdom and most clearly explained in Paul’s epistles to the Galatians and Romans.

According to Romans 1:16,17, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation and the means by which God’s righteousness is revealed. Because “all have sinned and come short of God’s glory” (Rom. 3:23), they “are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood” (verses 24,25). This atonement, Christ’s death in our place, received by faith, is the essence of the gospel message. See also Romans 4 and 5.

The Biblical doctrine of justification by faith clearly explains the relationship of Christ’s substitutionary death, faith and the law. justification is a legal term indicating that all the claims of the law have been satisfied by Christ’s obedience unto death received by faith on the part of the sinner. Though the sinner deserves to die for his or her sins, Jesus Christ, the sinless lamb, has died in the sinner’s stead; though the believer has no personal perfect righteousness to claim, God regards that person to be perfectly righteous on account of Christ’s obedience unto death. This marvelous exchange is explained in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For God made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

Evangelical Adventists believe that those who accept this sacrifice can have assurance that they stand accepted before God today. They deny that the Christian is accepted before God on the basis of his or her own good works, including those done through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. They also believe that Christ’ s death was more than a mere display of God’s love but was in fact a necessary satisfaction of the penalty of sin.

This understanding of the gospel is necessary in order to fulfill the church’s commission of preaching Christ and preparing Christians who are secure in their standing before God, rather than insecure and fearful of his second coming. When other doctrines begin to crowd out the gospel and take center stage in Adventist belief and evangelism, the church is unable to offer either assurance of salvation or power to live the Christian life, and it is unable to fulfill its mission.

2. Evangelical Adventism maintains the balance and relevance of the gospel. Many people today believe that indepth discussions of the meaning of justification and the biblical gospel amount to theological hair splitting. Others hold that the gospel was present truth for New Testament times but the newer, distinctive understandings of the Seventh-day Adventist church are present truth for today and therefore deserve greater attention. Yet Scripture holds the gospel to be the central issue of Christianity. Paul said “I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). By insisting on maintaining the cross as the central truth of Adventist doctrine and evangelism, evangelical Adventism guards against the temptation to make distinctive Adventist doctrine into the gospel. As precious as truths like the Sabbath and the state of the dead may be, belief in these doctrines does not bring salvation.

Evangelical Adventism would elevate the gospel and its expression, justification by faith on account of Jesus, not in an attempt to deny or minimize other aspects of the great plan of salvation (sanctification, glorification, God’s vindication before the universe), but in order to give them relevance. It is only those who continue trusting in Christ’s finished work on their behalf who experience assurance of salvation (Rom. 5) as well as progressive Christ-like character development accompanied simultaneously with a deepening humility (Rom. 6-8). Furthermore, it is only on the basis of Christ’s substitutionary death that Satan’s charges against God are answered (Rom. 3:23-26; Rev. 12:10,11).

3. Evangelical Adventism is a continuation of the historically “always reforming” church. Historically, a renewed understanding of justification by faith has accompanied all the great revivals and reformations of the church. Paul’s explanation of the gospel as justification through faith on account of Christ clarified for New Testament Christians the important law-gospel relationship so necessary for spiritual renewal. The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century resulted from renewed emphasis on salvation as the free gift of God apart from works, according to Paul’s gospel. The Great Awakening of the 18th century led by

Whitfield and the Wesleys came from a similar renewed emphasis on gospel and discipleship. John Wesley himself (from whose Methodist movement Adventism descended) traces his spiritual awakening to Aldersgate Chapel where he felt his heart strangely warmed by a reading of Luther’s commentary on Romans and, for the first time, found assurance of salvation. The whole thrust of the book Great Controversy is that Adventism is heir to this continually reforming and growing tradition. As already noted, the reform-inspiring emphasis on the gospel took root in Adventism over 100 years ago and continues in evangelical Adventism today

4. Evangelical Adventism bases its understanding of the gospel on Scripture alone. Evangelical Adventists, again in the same tradition as the 16th century reformers, insist upon letting Scripture interpret itself (sola scriptura) as the only basic rule of faith and practice for the Christian and the church. They have arrived at their understanding of the gospel and its implications through consistent application of this principle.

While respecting human reason and logic, evangelical Adventists do not make these the final criteria and test of truth. Though they respect Mrs. White as an inspired co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist church, they do not recognize her authority in interpreting Scripture, an authority reserved for Scripture itself, even as Mrs. White insisted (Selected Messages, volume 1, p. 416). Neither do evangelical Adventists give their ultimate allegiance to church tradition or fundamental belief statements, which are merely the current thinking of the majority of the members at the time a particular statement is composed. All of these, church creeds, the inspired counsels of Ellen White, human reason and logic, must bow to the authority of Scripture.

Evangelical Adventists insist that, when interpreting Scripture full weight be given to human and divine factors in the process of inspiration/ revelation. They also require that the word of God be understood in terms of the meanings of words and phrases of the original language in their original historical, cultural and literary setting. When these interpretive principles are applied, the meaning of the gospel and its implications emerge with overwhelming clarity and power. 

Evangelical Adventism is committed to making the gospel of Jesus Christ and the authority of Scripture central in Seventh-day Adventist doctrine and evangelism. It does not see itself as a “new theology” but rather as the continuation of a gospel-centered emphasis that began in Adventism over 100 years ago, and can be traced as a stream flowing throughout Christian history back to the early church. Evangelical Adventists believe that this emphasis does not reject the importance of distinctive Adventist doctrine, but rather gives it a firm foundation and enables the church to truly fulfill the great commission of Jesus to prepare a people ready for his return.