How Ephesians Contradicts Adventism #13 – Proclamation! Online Magazine

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

“Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ (Ephesians 5:1–20).

One of the constructs from Lutheran theology that I find useful is the idea of properly understanding the context of a passage in regard to being Law or Gospel. Without going too far into an explanation or defense of the construct, I’d like to simply say that it isn’t done to dismiss any passage, or to say that one is more applicable than another. Both apply to us, in different ways and for different reasons. I only bring this up because Seventh-day Adventists usually excel in the Law portions of the Bible, including passages like this one. Most of what an Adventist would understand and teach about this passage is consistent with a straightforward reading of the passage.

As we have seen in some other sections, just because the majority of the passage is understood the same, doesn’t mean that there aren’t small ways that the Adventist mindset departs from what Scripture actually says. Again, The Clear Word is great for pulling back the curtain on what many Adventists understand when they read a statement from Scripture. There are only a couple departures that I can find in these verses, but they include some very large differences in theology.

It starts with verse 2. The Clear Word paraphrases the passage as “Remember that Christ’s life was like a sweet incense which He offered as a fragrant sacrifice to God.” This provides only slight modification on the passage that describes Christ’s life and death as an “offering and sacrifice”. I wondered whether that seemingly small distinction signified anything, so I examined the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary and found it teaches that God did not need “to be appeased or to be reconciled”. This seems to fly in the face of Rom 5:9-11 (ESV):

Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Adventist theology struggles with any clear teaching of salvation, including the concepts of justification, propitiation, and reconciliation. Much of this struggle stems from trying to force-fit the great controversy into Scripture and particularly trying to explain salvation within the false construct. The great controversy is ultimately about God trying to save His rule; the salvation of man is an afterthought. While the moral influence theory of salvation isn’t an official Adventist doctrine, it does seem to be the explanation that is most compatible with the great controversy. There isn’t room within this blog post to provide a complete explanation and rebuttal of the moral influence theory. It is interesting that this theory had traction historically with sects that rejected the Trinity (like Adventism did at the time that the great controversy was posited) and its current adherents generally reject the inerrancy of Scripture.

Returning to the Adventist understanding of Ephesians 5:2, the small changes found in The Clear Word that de-emphasize the atoning sacrifice of Christ’s death on the cross help to steer the reader away from thinking about the meaning of Calvary and instead shine all of the light on Christ’s life. This tells an incomplete story of salvation, or perhaps more accurately, a story of incomplete salvation.

We have to read quite a deal further before we find another place where Adventist teaching requires accepting something just a little different from what Scripture says. We find that in verse 14. When I discussed chapter 2, I noted that The Clear Word made a small addition to the biblical description of being dead in verse 1. In chapter 2, that addition obscured what Adventists teach on the subjects of original sin, a sinful nature, and being dead if we are separated from God. In Ephesians 5:14, The Clear Word is far more blatant in the change it makes:

That’s why the Scriptures say, “Wake up and act as though you are alive in Christ and not half-dead. Then Christ will give you more light so you can shine even brighter” (CW).

There is a big difference between being dead and only half-dead. A Christian understands that we are more than just flesh and bones. Hebrews 4:12 teaches us that we don’t just have joints and marrow, but a spirit and a soul that can be distinguished (at least by God). Because we believe what Scripture directly states about being, we can understand how a person can be walking and breathing yet still be actually dead. They do not have a living spirit, they must be born again to have this living spirit. Adventist doctrine denies that a person is anything more than the body. They refer to this as a holistic view, where body, mind, and spirit are inseparable. As such, the only explanation possible for an Adventist is that the person being referenced in Ephesians 5 is only mostly dead (I threw that in for any Princess Bride fans; the better explanation is partly or, as The Clear Word states, half dead.)

That is only one of the three blatant errors in this same passage. Let’s look again.

That’s why the Scriptures say, “Wake up and act as though you are alive in Christ and not half-dead. Then Christ will give you more light so you can shine even brighter” (CW).

The quotation that Paul gives isn’t from Scripture. The mostly likely explanation is that Paul is quoting from an early Christian hymn. Many commentators believe that this was probably a baptismal hymn. The Clear Word tells us Paul is quoting Scripture, when he isn’t, and then proceeds to blatantly insert an Adventist doctrine into this quote.

The Adventist doctrine inserted into this passage is the false idea that if you start acting better “Then Christ will give you more light so you can shine even brighter.” First, let’s be clear that nothing like this is stated in the passage:

Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

Since the idea presented in The Clear Word didn’t come from the content of the passage, it had to come from Adventist theology. It is the age-old introduction of our works and effort into the salvation process. Adventism would have us believe that we receive the Holy Spirit as the result of our acting like Christ. The Bible teaches us that any of our actions that reflect Christ are the result of God’s gift of the Holy Spirit. Adventism would have us believe that we are saved by our effort combined with His power to live a worthy life. The Bible teaches us that we pursue good works, in the power of the Holy Spirit, because we have already been saved by God’s gift. Details matter.†

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Rick Barker

Rick Barker is a native of Southwestern Ohio and led a weekly Bible study for former SDAs in the area for over 10 years. Rick graduated from Andrews University in 1987 and received a Masters degree from the University of Dayton. He previously served on the staff of the Thomas Bilney Institute for Biblical Research and volunteered on the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry website. He is an active member of his local Lutheran church, having served as an elder as well as both an adult and youth Sunday school teacher. Rick was a volunteer for 6 years and remains a participant on the discussion boards. Rick and his wife Sheryl formally left the SDA church in 2004. Prior to this they had been active in the Miamisburg and Wilmington Ohio churches.

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