THE FINAL GENERATION AND PERFECTION
Michael Marsh
In this final generation two classes of people are being developed; two kinds of religion are being practiced. One religion points to the lives of the people of God on earth as being the fulfillment of “the righteousness of God”. The other points to the life of Jesus Christ as being that fulfillment. If you’ve got ears, listen.
The righteousness of God is not the obedience of the saints! Observe:
“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Rom. 3:20-23.
In these verses it is directly stated that the “righteousness of God” is not and cannot in this life be manifest adequately by the obedience of the saints, for we all “come short of the glory of God (present continuous tense, Greek.).” Instead, it says that that righteousness is now revealed “without the law”, that is, apart from our obedience to the law. It is revealed in the righteous character of Jesus Christ.
Even the witness to this righteousness is not the obedience of the saints. The full and complete witness to the righteousness of God is not the lives of God’s people; the witness is “the law and the prophets”. The “law and the prophets” is the message which the people of God proclaim. The righteousness of Jesus Christ proclaimed in the Bible is their message. The obedience of the saints is not their message. The promise of eternal life made to Abraham is not to be obtained by sanctified law keeping.
“For the promise, that he should be heir of the world, was not to Abraham or his seed, through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of no effect.” Rom. 4:13-14.
Because we all continue to “fall short of the glory of God,” it is directly stated that the promise to Abraham or his seed was not “through the law”. That is, the promise is not to be obtained by sanctified law-keeping, “but by the righteousness of faith.” Until Abraham inherits the world the believer continues “being [present continuous tense, Greek.] justified freely by [Christ’s] grace” through faith alone (Rom. 3:24).
The “righteousness of the law” and the “righteousness of faith,” are set in contrast. One is the way of making void the promise. The other, the way of obtaining the promise. The “righteousness of the law” is fulfilled in us for our sanctification (Rom. 8:4). The “righteousness of faith,” was fulfilled by Christ and we are justified by it (Rom. 4:11; 24-25; 9:30-33; 10:5-11).
While it is necessary that the lives of those who preach the gospel should exemplify the principles of God’s law–that their lives reflect the image of Jesus as fully as it is possible for sinful mortals to do–nevertheless, their characters are only a faint reflection of His image (MB 49; Ed 73; 7BC 904 [*references made to books other than the Bible are from the writings of Ellen G. White]).
Through the blessing of justification by faith in Christ’s righteousness, the believer is delivered from the dominion of law and thus from the tyranny of sin’s dominion (Rom. 7:1-6; 6:14). Instantly he receives as a consequential blessing of justification, but not as a preceding prerequisite for it, the “gift of the Holy Ghost”. By this gift he experiences regeneration (Rom. 5:17; 5:1-5; Acts 2:38; Eph. 1:13-14; Gal. 3:13-14; Titus 3:5-7). The “gift of the Holy Ghost” is always annexed to the “gift of righteousness.” Regeneration is always united to justification and cannot be separated from it. There is union but not fusion.
Abiding in Christ the believer must press on in sanctification, “letting not [remaining, indwelling] sin reign in his mortal body, that he should obey it in the lusts thereof” (Rom. 6:12). For “from the cross to the crown, there is a wrestling with inbred sin, a warfare against outward wrong.” RH 11/29/1887. “He must strive daily against outward evil and inward sin.” RH 5/30/1882. On account of this indwelling sin the believer is never worthy in himself, but is always “accounted worthy” through the imputed righteousness of Christ (Rom. 3:21; 4:25; Luke 20:35; 21:36; 2 Thes. 1:5). “For in ourselves we are sinners; but in Christ we are righteous.” 1 SM 394.
Those who imagine they will stand justified and accepted before God by the Spirit’s work, character development, or perfection, either before or during the time of trouble, are under a great curse.
In this life, because of the sinfulness of our natures, the work of the Spirit in our lives is always imperfect and incomplete. Only in Christ are we perfect and complete (Col. 1:28; 2:9). In this life it is only through the imputed righteousness of faith that we render perfect and complete obedience to the law.
“That which God required of Adam in Paradise before the fall He requires now. Perfect obedience to His law. But righteousness without a blemish can be obtained only through the imputed righteousness of Christ. Through the provision that God has made for the forgiveness and restoration of sinners, the same requirements may be fulfilled by men today that were given to Adam in Eden.” RH 9/3/1901 (Cf. ST 9/5/1897; SC 62-63).
Internally Righteous
But does not the Scripture give to the believer the hope that at a future time he will stand righteous and acceptable to God by an internal righteousness, a “righteousness of the law?” Yes, it does! But not in this life. Notice Paul’s teaching of the impossibility of such a condition in this life:
“Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.” Gal. 5:5.
That which we cannot experience in this life–being internally righteous–we will experience in the future life. Till then we wait for the hope that “righteousness by faith” will bring to us. When “this corruptible shall have put on incorruption” we will become righteous by nature (1 Cor. 15:53, 54). That which we possess now by faith, we will then possess in sight. The viper of “indwelling sin,” the “sin that dwelleth in me,” is not eradicated until this corruptible puts on incorruption. Then, and then only, is final victory given unto us. Until then “grace reigns through [Christ’s] righteousness unto eternal life (Rom. 5:21)”.
As a standard of Christian conduct, the law is binding; and we seek to fulfill it as we walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit (Gal. 5:16-18). So during the time of trouble God’s people are fully righteous; and they fully satisfy the law by grace (in the merciful reckoning of God) and by blood (on the basis of what Christ has done and suffered). In Acts 13:39 and Romans 3 and 4, “believe” and “justify” are in the present continuous tense (Greek). That is, as the believer keeps on believing, God keeps on justifying. This applies to the time of trouble as well as right on through to the second coming.
Beloved now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3:2.
We must not try to bring the “not yet,” over into the “now”. In this life we must be satisfied to rest in the truth that:
(1) The righteousness by which are justified is perfect but not internal.
(2) the righteousness by which we are sanctified is internal but not perfect.
(3) the righteousness we will possess at glorification will be both perfect and internal.
We must be content with the fact that in the plan of salvation God has chosen to justify us by means of a righteous Substitute. Justifying, saving righteousness resides in Him alone and He is in heaven at the right hand of God.
If “faith is counted for righteousness” from beginning to end (Rom. 1:17), then we must conclude that character development and perfection is not counted for righteousness, neither now, nor at any subsequent time in this life.
God does not bring us to glory by making us the perfection that the law requires, but by making the Captain of our salvation the perfection that the law requires (Heb. 2:10). Note:
“Ye cannot do the things that ye would.” Gal. 5:17.
“Every man at his best state is altogether vanity.” Ps. 39:5.
Some have suggested that Christ’s work in the heavenly sanctuary adds something to the atonement made on the cross. It is suggested that in the investigative judgment our character perfection plus Christ’s atonement on Calvary grant us final acceptance with God. The ministry of Jesus in the most holy place does not add something to Calvary. Nothing can be added to a finished work. The sanctuary puts the cross on display. It doesn’t add some new saving act for man’s salvation but rather applies to the individual believer the universal saving work that Christ did on earth . The heavenly sanctuary reflects the light from the cross of Calvary (Rev. 5:5; GC 489).
Receiving the Latter Rain
“Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith.” (past tense) Gal. 3:2.
“He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” (present tense) Gal. 3:5.
Here the Holy Spirit makes it very clear that believers never receive the Spirit as a result of regeneration, sanctification or perfection (Gal. 3:1-5). The fact is that it is given to accomplish those things in us. The Spirit is bestowed continually as faith in the outside-of-us righteousness of God is constantly exercised (Phil. 3:9).
It is through the agency of the Holy Spirit that our lives are to be transformed into the likeness of Christ. But God cannot give His Spirit to those whom the law condemns. When we accept the substitution of Christ on our behalf then the law can no longer condemn us. When we believe that His righteousness is indeed our righteousness, His perfection our perfection, His completeness our completeness, and His death our death–that by these things justice was satisfied on our account–then the Spirit is sent to indwell us and restore us in the image of God.
The Spirit can only be poured out on condition of perfect obedience to God’s law–indeed, absolute fulfillment of it (Acts 5:32). But the message of the gospel is that Christ has fulfilled the law for us, met all its claims. On this basis the Spirit is poured out (Rom. 10:4; Gal. 3:1-5; 14).
The Spirit is given initially and continuously on the basis of Christ’s atonement, not the believer’s attainment. Christ has entitled us to the gift of the Spirit. Every barrier has been removed. For those “in Christ” the law is perfectly fulfilled and they are fully justified, sanctified, even perfected forever in the sight of God (Heb. 10:14). Then, if we are in Christ by faith, we are ready for the latter rain. Indeed, the blessing is already ours in Him, for “we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” Eph. 1:3. Also “in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;” and “ye are complete [made full] in Him.” Col. 2:9-10. The latter rain is already ours in Christ and its blessing will be realized in our experience when we need it most (DA 200).
So many teach that the reception of the latter rain depends on our acquiring sufficient sanctification. Since sanctification is the keeping God’s commandments, that teaching is really saying that the Spirit is given to those who have kept the law sufficiently well enough. While it is abundantly clear that the latter rain will not fall on disobedient people, nor on those who are not striving in Christ’s strength to overcome; yet our keeping of the law, with or without God’s enabling help, cannot bring the latter rain even in a thousand years of trying. The past 150 years should have taught us something.
No one wants to admit that we have not come to terms with the truth of justification by the “imputed righteousness of faith”, however, we all admit that we could do with some more sanctification. Maybe we should concentrate more on the imputed righteousness of Christ which in turn will bring His sanctifying Spirit to us.
The Nature of Christ
Christ broke the chain of sinful heredity common to all, for it is written: “A body hast Thou prepared Me.” Heb 10:5. It was in this body “through the eternal Spirit, that He offered Himself without spot to God” (Heb. 9:14). Some believe that “sinfulness of nature” could not have been separated from Mary’s biological nature. True, man could not do it, but God did as Hebrews 10:5 teaches in its context. Through His conception by the Holy Ghost, in a body prepared for Him, Christ broke the chain of our sinful heredity. There was no hope for the race unless someone came and broke that line and established a new inheritance of sinlessness. Those who teach the depravity of Christ’s human nature want to see the chain of sinful inheritance maintained. They appear to be so swallowed up with their idea of being saved by Christ’s example and the hope of duplicating His life, that they think that salvation depends on making Him a sharer in our depravity.
To attribute to Christ our sinfulness of nature not only destroys His representative capacity but also His substitutionary capacity.
In order to be man’s high priestly representative, Jesus could not have possessed our sinful nature. God never made man with a sinful nature. Sin is an unnatural intrusion into the nature of man. If Jesus had possessed our sinful nature, He would have had to first offer sacrifice for His own sinful nature and then for that of the people. The law demands a holy nature as well as holy actions.
As an expression of God’s holy nature, the law requires that our natures be holy. “Be ye therefore perfect.” Matt. 5:48. To be our substitute it was necessary for Jesus to possess a holy human nature. If the human nature of Jesus was carnal, sinful, and depraved like the rest of men who are conceived in sin, then we have no substitute to satisfy the divine law on our behalf. To propose, as some have done, that Jesus’ nature was sinful like that of other men and that only His deeds were holy, is to take the position that the law only goes as deep as actions; that sin is only an act rather than a state of being. Then it would have to be argued that children when born are not sinners at all since they have done neither good nor evil. But what saith the Scriptures:
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by the sin; and so death passed on all men, for that all sinned.” Rom. 5:12 Greek.
“For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under the sin.” Rom. 7:14 Greek.
“Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” Rom. 3:19.
“For God hath concluded them all in unbelief.” Rom. 11:32.
“But the scripture hath concluded all under sin.” Gal. 3:22.
These texts reveal a greater problem than acts of sin. They tell us “all” sinned in Adam’s one sin, and all were sold under that one sin. Therefore all are under the law, guilty in unbelief under sin, and this before we do any acts of sin.
“The fall of Adam was a terrible thing….by his disobedience the world was thrown into disorder and rebellion. Because of his disobedience man was under the penalty of breaking the law, doomed to death,” Bible Echoes, 7-16-1894.
“Adam disobeyed and entailed sin upon his posterity.” Letter 143, 1900.
Why are we transgressors of the law? Is it because of our disobedience? No! Our disobedience is the consequence of our being transgressors of the law: “For by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners.” Rom. 5:19.
Our involvement in guilt and sin by the sin of another, is indeed a very difficult doctrine for some to accept. But should it be any more difficult than our involvement in guiltlessness and sinlessness through the sinlessness of Another? If we reject the one we must reject the other, for they stand or fall together.
“Adam sinned, and the children of Adam share his guilt and its consequences.” Faith and Works, pp. 88-89.
“As related to the first Adam, men receive from him nothing but guilt and death.” 6BC 1074.
“Children receive from Adam an inheritance of disobedience, of guilt and death.” Letter 8, 1895.
We need to understand that if God’s law does not condemn a sinful nature, why call it “sinful?” To call anything “sinful” which is not contrary to God’s law is a misnomer.
As a church we should always confess two things about Christ’s human nature: 1) He was conceived of the Holy Ghost; 2) He was born of the virgin Mary. Both these truths and their consequences must be taught. Otherwise we fall into a serious distortion of the truth. That Christ’s humanity was conceived of the Holy Ghost means that His human nature was holy and without any taint of sin. That His human nature was born of a woman means that in reality He did possess the substance and all the essential properties of human nature as it was after the fall, with the effects of sin upon it.
Justified in the Spirit
Jesus was “justified in the Spirit” (1 Tim. 3:16). This means that He stood justified before God’s law on the basis of the Spirit’s work in Him, on the basis of what He did and how He lived. He needed (and indeed had) no substitute, surety, mediator, intercessor, or imputed righteousness. By His obedience in the Spirit He fulfilled and satisfied the law in precept. By his death on the cross He satisfied it in penalty. Thus He fulfilled holiness and justice, providing perfection for all who believe in Him. (Heb. 5:5-9; 10:14; 6T 60). This, nothing less than this, nothing more than this, and nothing besides this is the Biblical “righteousness by faith” or “the righteousness which is of God by faith.” This would have been impossible had Christ had a sinful nature.
Christ was righteous before God in His own Person. In Him was all the fullness of perfection. His life measured with the broadest claims of the law. God could look directly at Him and say, “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.” Jesus was righteous, acceptable, and pleasing to God in His own Person. This can never be said of us in this life. We are “accepted in the Beloved.” We may be pleasing because Another is pleasing. We live under the covenant of grace. Christ lived under the old covenant of “obey and live” (Gal. 4:4-5).
The statement in 1 Tim. 3:16, “Justified in the Spirit”, can never be said of us for the very reason that we have a sinful nature. We are sanctified in the Spirit, but never “justified in the Spirit”. It is clearly stated we are “justified by grace,” and we are “justified by faith.” “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed.” Rom. 4:16; cf 3:24, 28. For in this life we only have the “first-fruits” or “down payment” of God’s Spirit (Rom 8:23; Eph. 1:14).
Lucifer’s Charge
When sin originated in heaven, Lucifer charged God with injustice. He declared the law could not be kept by sinless beings. As proof, he pointed to himself and to one-third of the angels who, he said, had found it impossible to keep the law of God. There was no controversy then as to whether fallen beings could keep the law. It was an issue whether sinless beings could keep it.
When man sinned the great rebel pointed to him as additional proof that the law could not be kept. Satan did not challenge God with the idea that fallen, sinful man could not keep the law to satisfy justice. Both God and the devil know that man in his sinfulness “cannot meet the claims of God’s holy law.” DA 762 (See also 1 SM 344, 367). Rather, he declared that man as God created him, sinless and holy, could not keep the law.
“When man broke the law of God, and defied His will, Satan exulted. It was proved, he declared, that the law could not be obeyed.” DA 761.
When Christ came to this world it was not only to provide a righteousness by which we could be restored to God’s favor, but to vindicate His father’s law and character, to prove the charges of Satan false.
“Christ came to the earth, taking humanity and standing as man’s representative, to show in the controversy with Satan that man, as God created him, connected with the Father and the Son, could obey every divine requirement.” 1 SM 253, emphasis ours.
“Christ came to give to the world an example of what perfect humanity might be when united with divinity.” 1 SM 260, emphasis ours.
“By His life and death, Christ proved…that the law is righteous and can be perfectly obeyed. Satan’s charges were refuted.” DA 762, emphasis ours.
“With what intense interest was this controversy watched by the heavenly angels and the unfallen worlds, as the honor of the law was being vindicated. Not merely for this world, but for the universe of heaven, was the controversy to be forever settled. The confederacy of darkness was also watching for the semblance of a chance to triumph over the divine and human Substitute of the human race….
But Satan reached only the heel; he could not touch the head. At the death of Christ, Satan saw that he was defeated…. Christ’s humanity would demonstrate for eternal ages the question which settled the controversy. 1 SM 255, emphasis ours; cf DA 758.
Note the strong expressions regarding Christ’s vindication of the law: The controversy is “forever settled”, “Christ’s humanity would demonstrate for eternal ages the question which settled the controversy”. Jesus came to “magnify the law and make it honorable” (Isa. 42:21). He said, “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.” John 17:4.
The devil and his angels know that the issue is settled: the inhabitants of other worlds and of heaven know it is settled; and anyone in this world who will take the time to examine the sacred record will be convinced that it is settled. Is it then the work of the final generation to prove something which has already been proven “beyond controversy”?
The Final Generation
God is not waiting for a demonstration by the last generation of fallen sinful man which will vindicate His law and prove that it can be obeyed. That controversy has been forever settled, demonstrated for eternal ages in the humanity of Christ. To say that this demonstration must be repeated is in reality to deny the completeness of the work of Christ. His work is a complete work, and all the holy living of the final generation (and there is no question but that they must and will live holy, pure lives) can add nothing to its perfection.
Christ made the demonstration which vanquished Satan. He did it for us as our Substitute, because we are not capable of doing it ourselves. If we were, He would not have done it for us.
If we place the right estimate upon the greatness, majesty and holiness of the law of God, we will realize that we can demonstrate our loyalty to it most clearly and effectively by a humble acceptance of the finished and infinitely perfect work of Christ. For this demonstration of loyalty God does indeed wait.
To turn the doctrine of “righteousness by faith” into something which takes place on earth in the believer; is to pervert the Scriptures and to “cast the truth to the ground.” It is “the transgression of desolation.” It is to “pollute the sanctuary of strength,…take away the daily, and …[put in its] place the abomination that maketh desolate” (Dan. 11:31). Where such a doctrine is accepted today it bears the same fruit that it bore in the early church and in the dark ages.
The doctrine that “righteousness by faith” is a righteousness in us, makes void the law of God because it brings it down to the level of our weak efforts to fulfill its righteous demands. The best works of the saints in any age are polluted and defiled and fall short of the glory of God. For “There is not a just man upon earth, that sinneth not in doing good.” Eccl. 7:20. (This text can be thus read without doing it any damage.) If our level of attainment is all that the law requires, then somewhere the law has lost its meaning, it has been made void.
The Glory of God
It is in the gospel, not in the lives of those who preach it, that the infinite beauty and perfection of the character of God is revealed. “God is love.” 1 John 4:16. His glory is His love, and nowhere was that love more fully displayed than on the cross of Calvary. It is from the uplifted cross of Christ that the glory will come which fills the whole earth under the proclamation of the loud cry. Jesus said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto Me.” John 12:32, margin.
Two classes of people are being developed; two kinds of religion are being practiced. One religion points to the lives of the people of God on earth as being the fulfillment of “the righteousness of God.” The other points to the life of Jesus Christ as being that fulfillment. It is between the adherents of these two viewpoints that the final conflict will rage. Would to God that we might all unite on the solid platform of the true gospel (Rev. 14:6-12).
