Unfinished Work?

Here are a couple of quotes from the official Seventh-day Adventist Fundamental Beliefs statement:

9. Life, Death, and Resurrection of Christ:
In Christ's life of perfect obedience to God's will, His suffering, death, and resurrection, God provided the only means of atonement for human sin, so that those who by faith accept this atonement may have eternal life, and the whole creation may better understand the infinite and holy love of the Creator. This perfect atonement vindicates the righteousness of God's law and the graciousness of His character; for it both condemns our sin and provides for our forgiveness. The death of Christ is substitutionary and expiatory, reconciling and transforming. The resurrection of Christ proclaims God's triumph over the forces of evil, and for those who accept the atonement assures their final victory over sin and death. It declares the Lordship of Jesus Christ, before whom every knee in heaven and on earth will bow. (John 3:16; Isa. 53; 1 Peter 2:21, 22; 1 Cor. 15:3, 4, 20-22; 2 Cor. 5:14, 15, 19-21; Rom. 1:4; 3:25; 4:25; 8:3, 4; 1 John 2:2; 4:10; Col. 2:15; Phil. 2:6-11.)

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24. Christ's Ministry in the Heavenly Sanctuary:
There is a sanctuary in heaven, the true tabernacle which the Lord set up and not man. In it Christ ministers on our behalf, making available to believers the benefits of His atoning sacrifice offered once for all on the cross. He was inaugurated as our great High Priest and began His intercessory ministry at the time of His ascension. In 1844, at the end of the prophetic period of 2300 days, He entered the second and last phase of His atoning ministry. It is a work of investigative judgment which is part of the ultimate disposition of all sin, typified by the cleansing of the ancient Hebrew sanctuary on the Day of Atonement. In that typical service the sanctuary was cleansed with the blood of animal sacrifices, but the heavenly things are purified with the perfect sacrifice of the blood of Jesus. The investigative judgment reveals to heavenly intelligences who among the dead are asleep in Christ and therefore, in Him, are deemed worthy to have part in the first resurrection. It also makes manifest who among the living are abiding in Christ, keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and in Him, therefore, are ready for translation into His everlasting kingdom. This judgment vindicates the justice of God in saving those who believe in Jesus. It declares that those who have remained loyal to God shall receive the kingdom. The completion of this ministry of Christ will mark the close of human probation before the Second Advent. (Heb. 8:1-5; 4:14-16; 9:11-28; 10:19-22; 1:3; 2:16, 17; Dan. 7:9-27; 8:13, 14; 9:24-27; Num. 14:34; Eze. 4:6; Lev. 16; Rev. 14:6, 7; 20:12; 14:12; 22:12.)

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I've heard that SDAs believe the Atonement is ongoing -- in order words, it was not completed at Calvary. Is this an actual doctrine in the SDA church?

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It very much depends upon what you mean by atonement. If you mean Jesus sacrificed his life then yes it was completed at the cross or when He took up His life again, I tend to go for the second as the completion. But what does atonement mean? It means the reconciliation of two parties. The At-One-ment. So could I have been made at one with God before I even existed? Before I made a choice for or against or ito gnore God?

The very question you asked presupposes only one possible atonement theory. That theory being the penal theory also known as the substitutional theory. To that view the atonement is made between an angry God and Jesus Christ who paid the penalty for man's sin and thus took the wrath of God into himself. It is not a very good theory, and was arrived at quite late in Christianity but has become the main theory used since the Reformation.

According to the use of that theory the atonement is made at the cross and the atonement does not have anything to do with us aside from our accepting it. You can tell it has nothing to do with us because if it was completed at the cross then we would all be at one with God. But we do realize that there is indeed a human element to the reconcilation with God. God has reached out but we have to also reach out to God, ending our hostility to God because we believe what He says and promises.

It becomes confusing because we assume so much and often hold to tradition without thinking what we are really saying.

Sophia7 quoted:

He was inaugurated as our great High Priest and began His intercessory ministry at the time of His ascension. In 1844, at the end of the prophetic period of 2300 days, He entered the second and last phase of His atoning ministry.

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Prior to last quarter's lesson study guides (that would be two quarters ago) subject of 1844 the gospel and the investigative judgment I probably would have thought that the majority of SDA's did still hold to the Investigative Judgement as related in the fundamental belief you quoted.

Now I think that it is only 50% of the SDA church. It will probably be far less in another 10 years. The church tried to bolster the IJ with previous quarter's lesson but they did nothing to help their traditional view.

RC_NewProtestants said:

Sophia7 quoted:

Prior to last quarter's lesson study guides (that would be two quarters ago) subject of 1844 the gospel and the investigative judgment I probably would have thought that the majority of SDA's did still hold to the Investigative Judgement as related in the fundamental belief you quoted.

Now I think that it is only 50% of the SDA church. It will probably be far less in another 10 years. The church tried to bolster the IJ with previous quarter's lesson but they did nothing to help their traditional view.

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You could be right. Probably less than half of our members even understand it completely. Notice that I didn't editorialize on it; I only quoted the official statement.

Yes, atonement is going on still, by that I mean that each day we make the decision to follow The Lord and not anyone else/anything else. As it says in Matthew 24:13: "He who endures to the end shall be saved."

Atonement by definition means to make right; to restore the original condition.

By sin, man and God were severed. Jesus came to remove that seperation. But not until we are judged righteous and received back to heaven, the original face-to-face relationship between man and God is not restored.

So what did Jesus refer to when He declared 'finished' upon calvery? The animal sacrifice was finished.

There are three phases of the atonement: sacrificial, intercessorial, judicial.

When the judicial, the judgment phase of the atonement is completed, the atonement process is finished.

Revelation 16
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.

Revelation 21
6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
...

Revelation 22
11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

As we saw the above verses declaring 'It is done', just prior to His second coming, the work of redeeming man back to His creator is forever finished.