An Adventist Approach on the Doctrine of Salvation Essay

An Adventist Approach on the Doctrine of Salvation - Essay Example The main issues that generate controversy include; perfection and its meaning; justification by faith, sanctification; atonement and the nature of sin (Whidden, 1995, 56-74). Blazen defines salvation from the Hebrew perspective which is closely linked to the term nasal meaning to pull out or withdraw people from danger or away from enemies as shown in {Ps 91:3}. Ellen White’s doctrine of salvation mainly focuses on perfection and justification by faith. Atonement Atonement is one of the elemental principles upon which the Christian faith is founded (Martin 1998, 157-60). There are various models of atonement which have been put forth by Christian scholars over the course of the years. These models include but are not limited to; ransom, victory, government, reconciliation, substitution, satisfaction, and moral influence models. Ellen G White in her discussion on the principle of atonement based upon the importance of freewill which was against the views of her contemporaries. Ellen believed in atonement of the cross as covering all the sin of mankind {Romans 6: 10}. While White’s perspectives can be classified into three of the atonement models, she used the three models in a complementary rather than exclusive manner (Frank 1996, 91-94). The moral influence model as propounded by White focuses on the universality of the death of Christ on the cross as a manifestation of the love of God for a lost world. The proponents of this view of White’s work assert that the death of Christ serves as a moral influence first in drawing man to God and secondly in drawing sinful man to God (Stephen 2005, 39-40). It must be recognized though that the atonement of God though connected with divine love and mercy does not exclude divine justice and the requirement of holiness {James 2, 21-24}. White acknowledges that while the offer of just mercy by is for all, there is a penalty for not accepting the divine mercy. The question of God’s wrath is analyz ed and White comes to the conclusion that God’s wrath is active against the rejection of just mercy as exemplified in the destruction of Korah, Dathan and Abiram {Num. 16: 23-35} (Philip 1989, 51-78). In the discussion of the Satisfaction model, White analyzes the two aspects of God which are justice and his love which are both satisfied by the death on the cross (Horne 1999, 132-138). In Christ dying on the cross God showed both his nature of justice and love toward mankind. The most dominant view of Ellen White’s discussions on atonement is the Penal Substitution model. In this model White argues for justification by faith in Christ who is the substitute for the just penalty of sin. God offers himself as the substitute for man’s sin and therefore also shows his love. The nature of Sin The bible is the single piece of literature which describes in intricate detail the aspect of sin from its start to its end. The beginning of the bible describes the entry of sin into the world and the end portrays its eradication. Between the time of sin entering the world and its eradication is also described a struggle with sin by humanity. While most people consider Adam to be the origin of sin, the bible provides further insight to prove just the contrary. {Ezekiel 28: 14, 15} describes the rebellion of Lucifer against God even before the creation of the world which makes Lucifer the original sinner (Hanna 2004, 89-93). While sin originated in heaven it did not develop in