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Commentary on "From Slaves to Heirs"
Day 7: Friday, November 18, 2011 - Further Study
Overview
As always, the lesson ends with Further Study in Ellen White's writings.
Observations
If you pick and choose Ellen White statements carefully enough, you can make her say anything you want. Clearly the authors of this lesson want to make her sound like she believed that salvation was entirely by grace and that works have nothing to do with salvation. But she has so many statements to the contrary. Here are just a small sampling:
"We are not God's people unless we are such entirely. Every weight, every besetting sin, must be laid aside." Testimonies, vol 5, p 83.
"Why do you not cease from sin? You may overcome if you will co-operate with God. Christ's promise is sure....He who through His own atonement provided for man an infinite fund of moral power will not fail to employ this power in their behalf." Review and Herald, vol 4, p 232.
"If you will only watch, continually watch unto prayer, if you will do everything as if you were in the immediate presence of God, you will be saved from yielding to temptation, and may hope to be kept pure, spotless, and undefiled till the last." Gospel Workers, p 128
"The soul temple must not be defiled by loose or unclean practice. Those whom I [God] will acknowledge in the courts of heaven must be without spot or wrinkle." SDA Bible Commentary, vol 7, p 969.
"Not one of us will ever receive the seal of God while our characters have one spot or stain upon them. It is left with us to remedy the defects in our characters, to cleanse the soul temple of every defilement."Testimonies, vol 5, p 214.
"All who receive the seal must be without spot before God--candidates for heaven." Testimonies, vol 5, p 216.
"Letters have been coming in to me, affirming that Christ could not have had the same nature as man, for if He had, He would have fallen under similar temptations. If He did not have man's nature, he could not be our example. If He was not a partaker of our nature, He could not have been tempted as man has been. If it were not possible for Him to yield to temptations, He could not be our Helper. It is a solemn reality that Christ came to fight the battles as man, in man's behalf. His temptation and victory tell us that humanity must copy the pattern." Selected Messages, book 1, p 408.
"He who has not sufficient faith in Christ to believe that He can keep him from sinning has not the faith that will give him entrance into the kingdom of God." Selected Messages, book 3, p 360.
"Everyone who by faith obeys God's commandments, will reach the condition of sinlessness in which Adam lived before his transgression. They testify to their love of Christ by obeying all His precepts." SDA Bible Commentary, vol 6, p 1118.
"Every thought and word and deed of our lives will meet us again. What we make of ourselves in probationary time, that we must remain to all eternity. Death brings dissolution to the body, but makes no change in the character. The coming of Christ does not change our characters; it only fixes them forever beyond all change." Testimonies, vol 5, p 466.
"...the character you bear in probationary time will be the character you will have at the coming of Christ. If you would be a saint in heaven, you must first be a saint on earth. The traits of character you cherish in life will not be changed by death or by the resurrection....Jesus does not change the character at His coming. The work of transformation must be done now. Our daily lives are determining our destiny." Adventist Home, p 16.
The refreshing or power of God comes only on those who have prepared themselves for it by doing the work which God bids them, namely, cleansing themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." Testimonies, vol 1, p 619.
Which is the "real" Ellen White; the one telling us that our works and merits will not get us into heaven, or the one telling us that obtaining heaven depends entirely on our work? Is it any wonder that SDAism teaches such a confused gospel that is so filled with "but"s?
Summary
The lesson concludes that "To relate to God on the basis of rules and regulations alone would be foolish." The real foolishness is trying to relate on to our Father on the basis of rules and regulations at all. The book of Galatians isn't promoting the idea of faith plus rules and regulations; it is promoting faith alone. Paul was writing against some teachers in Galatia that wanted to add rules and regulations as the next step to go beyond where faith had taken believers.
"O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? …Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?"
Copyright 2011 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised November 2, 2011. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.
Official Adventist Resources
Standard Edition Study Guide Week 8
Teacher's Edition Study Guide Week 8
Easy Reading Edition Study Guide Wk 8
Search the Complete Published Ellen G. White Writings
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