Salvational Issues Vs. Not

The purpose of this article is to help determine what is and what is not a salvational issue. We see a need to write such article because we find that many people want to make salvational issues out of everything from eating a lollipop to the intellectual acceptance of the Sanctuary message and whether or not there are two or three people in the Godhead. What is worse, is often it appears that they want to urge such teachings upon you as if they were salvational, which often results in turning people away from Christ, or, in bringing people into a legalistic mindset. Here we attempt to clarify these matters.

The Person of Jesus is Not a Salvational Issue.

Yes, that is correct. Will not many be saved who have never even heard the name of Jesus? We read from Scripture,

“And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.” Zechariah 13:6.

In the new earth, while Christians may ask Jesus what the wounds are in His hands, it only stands to reason that a Christian would not need to ask such question, but rather one who was not acquainted with the circumstances of His death, resurrection, and life afterwards.

“‘I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.’ Revelation 21:1. The fire that consumes the wicked purifies the earth. Every trace of the curse is swept away. No eternally burning hell will keep before the ransomed the fearful consequences of sin.

“One reminder alone remains: Our Redeemer will ever bear the marks of His crucifixion. Upon His wounded head, upon His side, His hands and feet, are the only traces of the cruel work that sin has wrought. Says the prophet, beholding Christ in His glory: ‘He had bright beams coming out of His side: and there was the hiding of His power.’ Habakkuk 3:4, margin. That pierced side whence flowed the crimson stream that reconciled man to God–there is the Saviour’s glory, there ‘the hiding of His power.’ ‘Mighty to save,’ through the sacrifice of redemption, He was therefore strong to execute justice upon them that despised God’s mercy. And the tokens of His humiliation are His highest honor; through the eternal ages the wounds of Calvary will show forth His praise and declare His power. {The Great Controversy, 674.1, 2}

Thus, if someone can be saved that is oh so ignorant concerning the death of Jesus, as though he had never even heard of Him, and this when “there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved,” (Acts 4:12), how then, can man, arbitrarily decide that the intellectual assent to 2520 “time prophecy” is a salvational issue?

While it is true that, “Error is never harmless…. It is always dangerous,” (Testimonies for the Church, Volume 5, 292.2) shall we then make a salvational issue over a spoon? Shall we say that unless someone accepts that a spoon is a spoon and not a fork or a knife, that they will be lost and exempted from the kingdom of God? Such conclusion, as we would say, is far out.

We are aware that no one that we know of, as yet, has sought to make a salvational issue out of a spoon, however, the point remains the same. The person of Jesus, to all reasonable deduction, is not inherently a salvational issue. How then, can anyone make such bold claims as to say that those who do not believe in the Sanctuary message, 2520, Investigative Judgement… etc., cannot be saved at last in the kingdom of God?

So then, if even the person of Jesus is not a salvational issue (much less the proper understanding of any and/or all portions of Daniel and Revelation, and even the whole Bible itself for that matter), what then, is a salvational issue for me, and what is a salvational issue for you? Here we attempt to clarify. If you find anything Scripturally wrong with our deductions, please feel free to correct them by commenting below.

The Salvational Issues

While we hold that there is only one salvational issue, we will break it down into two parts for sake of clarification.

Part #1 (a):

The only inherently salvational issue is how man chooses to respond to the workings of the Holy Spirit upon his heart. The problem that arises, is when man attempts to dictate to us what the Holy Spirit is moving upon us to do or believe. If the Holy Spirit is pleading with me or you to forsake some sin, and we reject the Spirit’s pleading, this is a salvational issue because holding onto sin unfits us for heaven. We would not desire to be there.

“In his sinless state, man held joyful communion with Him ‘in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.’ Colossians 2:3. But after his sin, he could no longer find joy in holiness, and he sought to hide from the presence of God. Such is still the condition of the unrenewed heart. It is not in harmony with God, and finds no joy in communion with Him. The sinner could not be happy in God’s presence; he would shrink from the companionship of holy beings. Could he be permitted to enter heaven, it would have no joy for him. The spirit of unselfish love that reigns there –every heart responding to the heart of Infinite Love –would touch no answering chord in his soul. His thoughts, his interests, his motives, would be alien to those that actuate the sinless dwellers there. He would be a discordant note in the melody of heaven. Heaven would be to him a place of torture; he would long to be hidden from Him who is its light, and the center of its joy. It is no arbitrary decree on the part of God that excludes the wicked from heaven; they are shut out by their own unfitness for its companionship. The glory of God would be to them a consuming fire. They would welcome destruction, that they might be hidden from the face of Him who died to redeem them.” {Steps to Christ, 17.2}

Another problem that arises, is when man attempts to dictate for another man what the Holy Spirit is impressing upon that other man’s heart is sin. One brother once told us that it was a sin to eat a lollipop, and they made it a salvational issue and a sufficient reason for church discipline and disfellowshipment. This is all out of harmony with the word God. While that which is defined by Scripture as “sin” (transgression, abomination…etc) is to be a sufficient reason for church discipline, when matters of principle is involved (a lollipop isn’t necessarily good for the health of God’s temple [See 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20; 10:31; Romans 12:1]), every man is to be fully persuaded in his own mind.

“In matters of conscience the soul must be left untrammeled. No one is to control another’s mind, to judge for another, or to prescribe his duty. God gives to every soul freedom to think, and to follow his own convictions. ‘Every one of us shall give account of himself to God.’ No one has a right to merge his own individuality in that of another. In all matters where principle is involved, ‘let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.’ Romans 14:12, 5.” {Desire of Ages, 550.6}

And the seemingly last problem that arises, is when man attempts to dictate for us what the Holy Spirit is impressing upon us is truth. No man, nor group of men, have the right to dictate to others what is and is not truth.

“Many claim that a position of trust in the church gives them authority to dictate what other men shall believe and what they shall do. This claim God does not sanction. The Saviour declares, ‘All ye are brethren.’ All are exposed to temptation, and are liable to error. Upon no finite being can we depend for guidance.” {Desire of Ages, 414.3}

In the history of Adventism, we read from Ellen White:

“I saw the people of God joyful in expectation, looking for their Lord. But God designed to prove them. His hand covered a mistake in the reckoning of the prophetic periods. Those who were looking for their Lord did not discover this mistake, and the most learned men who opposed the time also failed to see it. God designed that His people should meet with a disappointment. The time passed, and those who had looked with joyful expectation for their Saviour were sad and disheartened, while those who had not loved the appearing of Jesus, but embraced the message through fear, were pleased that He did not come at the time of expectation. Their profession had not affected the heart and purified the life. The passing of the time was well calculated to reveal such hearts. They were the first to turn and ridicule the sorrowful, disappointed ones who really loved the appearing of their Saviour. I saw the wisdom of God in proving His people and giving them a searching test to discover those who would shrink and turn back in the hour of trial. {Early Writings, 235.3}

Now, we as Adventists believe that God was behind that movement in which, God Himself, intentionally placed His hand over a mistake in the reckoning of the prophetic periods. He did this on purpose to test His people. That movement, and message as a whole, was led by God, and God used error, yea, God specifically hid the truth, and thus had a detail of error remain in a message that He had others proclaim to the world under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for the express purpose of carrying out the Divine will.

The lesson to be learned is this. If God will intentionally hide the truth, and let error be proclaimed in a message that He Himself had others proclaim throughout all the world, who then, will dare to say that He will not do it again? Even if their message, as a whole, is sanctioned by the Lord of all heaven, and He has given it to them proclaim to all the world, it does not, it cannot stand as evidence that no part of that message is erroneous and that it is all perfectly true.

“There is no excuse for any one in taking the position that there is no more truth to be revealed, and that all our expositions of Scripture are without an error. The fact that certain doctrines have been held as truth for many years by our people, is not a proof that our ideas are infallible. Age will not make error into truth, and truth can afford to be fair.” {Review and Herald, December 20, 1892 par. 1}

Thus, no man can dictate to another what is and is not truth, and that, even if God inspires the proclamation of the message that contains the issue over which the controversy lies.

We would however, like to clarify that something so small as a lollipop could be a salvational issue for someone as an individual. If the Holy Spirit is working on your heart, impressing you to take care of your body (temple of the Holy Spirit), and you reject His impressions, then you have chosen the service of sin (disobedience to the will of God) and cannot be saved in such condition. “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” James 4:17.

But while eating a lollipop may be a salvational issue for me, I have no place to seek to make it a salvational issue for you. The Holy Spirit may have convinced me on the matter eating cheese, but He may not have ever impressed this matter upon your heart. He may be instead seeking to get you to stop smoking, to stop lying to your wife, to spend more time with you children, to stop cherishing that secret sin… etc. He may be impressing you upon entirely different issues than He has and is impressing upon me, and I have no place to try to play the role of Holy Spirit and seek to be your conscience.

Part #1 (b)

To the idea that a certain doctrine is a salvational issue, we respond thus:

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14.

“Christ was not exclusive, and He had given special offense to the Pharisees by departing in this respect from their rigid rules. He found the domain of religion fenced in by high walls of seclusion, as too sacred a matter for everyday life. These walls of partition He overthrew. In His contact with men He did not ask, What is your creed? To what church do you belong? He exercised His helping power in behalf of all who needed help.” {Desire of Ages, 86.3}

“The only question asked in the judgment will be, “Have they been obedient to My commandments?” Petty strife and contention over questions of no importance has no part in God’s great plan. Those who teach the truth should be men of solid minds, who will not lead their hearers into a field of thistles, as it were, and leave them there.  {Gospel Workers 315.1}

In the judgment, the lovely Jesus who is the same, “yesterday, and to day, and for ever,” will not be found asking, “What did they believe? To what church did they belong?” The only question considered in the great judgment is, “Have they been obedient to My commandments?”

But again, the acceptance of a certain doctrine could be a salvational issue, but it is all wholly dependent upon what the Holy Spirit is impressing upon the individual’s heart.

Part #2:

“The condition of eternal life is now just what it always has been,–just what it was in Paradise before the fall of our first parents,–perfect obedience to the law of God, perfect righteousness. If eternal life were granted on any condition short of this, then the happiness of the whole universe would be imperiled. The way would be open for sin, with all its train of woe and misery, to be immortalized. ” {Steps to Christ, 62.1}

Thus, the acceptance of the character of Christ (principles of the law of God in action) in the heart and life is the only salvational issue. This goes hand in hand with how we respond to the workings of the Holy Spirit upon our hearts, for the Holy Spirit is always seeking to draw out our souls to accept in our hearts and lives the principles of righteousness. Let us imagine a case.

A man grows up an atheist, with atheist parents, in a atheist community, and it is so deeply engrained in their head that God doesn’t exist and that Christ was nothing more than a lying impostor, that it is virtually impossible for them to even consider otherwise, much less accept it. However, this atheist is awed at the magnificent beauty of righteousness. He determines to accept into his heart and life these principles of righteousness, and live up to all the light that he has, and in the end, actually does so his whole life. Will such a man be lost? We decidedly answer, no. Why not? Because even though he rejected the thought of God and the person of Jesus, he accepted into his heart and life the character of Jesus, and the principles of God’s government. He loved those principles, and lived by them even in the face of death, and thus, their reward will be the same as the Christian who meets this same standard.

We would here like to warn against man determining for another what the character of Christ (the acceptance or rejection of which is a salvational issue) is. Remember, no man can decide for another what is and what is not true.

Summary Conclusion

The only salvational issue is how we respond to the workings of the Holy Spirit upon our hearts. The Holy Spirit works upon us as individuals, and how we respond to His workings upon our hearts as individuals, is what we will be held accountable for in the day of judgment. We will not be held accountable to man and what man has sought to urge upon us, but for what Christ has sought to woo our hearts into accepting into our minds and lives, through the means of the Holy Spirit. Thus, no one has a right to make a salvational issue of anything, not even if it is the person of Jesus Christ.

“In matters of conscience the soul must be left untrammeled. No one is to control another’s mind, to judge for another, or to prescribe his duty. God gives to every soul freedom to think, and to follow his own convictions. ‘Every one of us shall give account of himself to God.’ No one has a right to merge his own individuality in that of another. In all matters where principle is involved, ‘let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.’ Romans 14:12, 5.” {Desire of Ages, 550.6}