Note and Comment by F. M. W.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 8, 1916

Note and Comment

By F. M. W.

Emphasizing the Essentials

THESE are days of changing emphasis. Many fundamental principles of Christian faith are but little taught or regarded. The good old doctrine of repentance toward God, of confession of sin, and of divine acceptance is held as a theory by a large majority of professed Christians. There are some in every church who know by experience what the theory represents, and these, with us, deplore the changed attitude of the Christian church toward this, the very essence of the gospel.

The doctrine of natural philosophy has been substituted in the minds of many for a spiritual religion. Our blessed Lord is regarded as divine only as other good men might be so considered, but his deity is denied; his resurrection from the dead is regarded as a myth; his virgin birth ridiculed. In the place of these cardinal doctrines of Christianity we hear much of the departmental church, of social service reform, and of man-made devices to regenerate the human family. These are all miserable makeshifts, and possess no more power to change the human heart than do their originators. There is but one power today, the same as in all the ages of the past, which can change human nature, and that is the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Regarding these conditions which exist in the religious world, the editor of the Bible Champion for April, 1916, says:—

“Every thoughtful Christian is filled with perplexity and alarm when he considers the religious conditions almost universally prevalent. The gross sins in private life, the appalling corruption in public life, the indecency and licentiousness of popular amusements, the profanation of the Sabbath, the indifference and contempt of the majority for religion, the decreasing attendance of church members upon church worship,—all of these evils are the direct results of the greatest evil of all—the disregard, disbelief, and denial of the Holy Scriptures as the Word of God. The infidelity of the past has largely disappeared, but it has been revealed in a more dangerous form. The same doctrines concerning the Bible which were proclaimed by Paine and Ingersoll are taught today in Christian pulpits, Christian schools, and Christian books and periodicals.”

Seventh-day Adventists should resist the first temptation to depart in their teaching from the essentials of Bible truth, and from the great fundamental principles constituting the message God has given them for their fellows. The immutability of the Word of God; the exalted position of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God while at the same time the Son of man; his priestly work as typified in the earthly sanctuary and now carried forward in the heavenly temple; the law of God as the basis of divine government; the Sabbath institution as a part of that divine law; Christ as man’s only and personal Saviour; repentance and justification through his blood; the imminent return of our Lord to this earth to take his children home; the nature of man, his condition in death and his final award; Christian baptism as the outward sign of the union of the believer with his Lord; the doctrine of Christian and civil liberty; the proper support of the gospel ministry; the work of the Spirit of prophecy in connection with this movement; the ministry of holy angels; the character of Satan and his work in the earth as exemplified in the marvelous workings of the man of sin,—these, with the leading prophecies of the Scriptures showing where we are living in the stream of time, and the great issues which are involved in the final controversy, constitute the real fundamentals of the third angel’s message.

Brethren, let us emphasize these in all our teaching. Let us not get above them; let us not get away from them. Speculation may be interesting; we may see the necessity from time to time of the readjustment of some detail of the message, or the restatement of some truth, but let us not forget the great fundamental principles which God has given us to proclaim to our fellows.

We may often differ from our brethren over some detail. No harm need come from this if we do not unduly magnify the difference. It is when we spend our time upon differences and make details the great question of discussion, and magnify the technicalities of doctrinal belief, that we fall out by the way, lose confidence in one another, and work irreparable injury to the cause of the message which we are seeking to represent.

Let us admit over these details and technicalities freedom of discussion; let us accord to our brethren honesty of opinion; but let us not in our discussion forget the great fundamentals which God wants us to keep to the front. We may preach these great principles even though we may not all see alike in detail.

And let us be careful also not to make unwarranted interpretations of prophecy and wild predictions as to its future fulfilment. We should go no farther than the Word of God clearly reveals. If we do not understand some text, let us remain silent, and continue to study it, seeking the Lord meanwhile for divine enlightenment and understanding.

We need in these serious times to be vigilant, watchful, and sober, alive and alert. But coupled with these qualities, there should be calmness, self-possession, well-balanced judgment. We need an aggressiveness that will keep pace with the advancing light of God, that will lead us to act when God speaks, that will make us minutemen, giving enthusiastically and unreservedly the energies of our hearts and lives to the promotion of God’s work.

We should avoid a conservatism which refuses to move from the positions of the past because of precedent; which refuses to accept light from the Book of God because our fathers did not believe it; which leans backward instead of forward; but we need a conservatism which will not be carried away by fanciful interpretations which lead to a denial of the fundamentals of the religion of Christ, and of the holy truth we profess.

In this latter experience lies our greatest danger. Today many are rejecting the old beliefs because they are old. Let us be slow to accept new viewpoints without careful investigation and a clear teaching of Scripture. We cannot afford to drift on the great sea of speculation and idle fancy. Let us hold fast to our old-time anchorage, until we are convinced by the Word that we should unfurl sail and move from our present moorings.

Let us speak and teach that which the Word of God plainly speaks and teaches; let us remain silent on those theories and details on which the Word is silent. To all sober, thinking men this course of conduct will commend the holy cause which we espouse. F. M. W.