My first church assignment was to be associate pastor in Santa Monica, California. As an intern, my job was to serve the senior pastor in whatever way he suggested. He gave me a week to get unpacked and the house settled, and then I reported for duty. We did not visit long that first day before he opened his desk drawer and pulled out a stack of papers with names and addresses typed on them. He told me I was to visit each of these names and then report back to him. These were names of children, I was told, who had come to Vacation Bible School, along with a few other miscellaneous interests I was to follow up. I liked visiting and accepted the assignment joyfully.
When I knocked at the first door, I explained who I was and that I was following up on the kids who had come to Vacation Bible School to see if our church could serve them in some way. The lady at the door suddenly had the strangest look on her face. Then she began to laugh. She told me her boy who had attended the VBS was now in college.
The next incident was even worse. I knocked at the door and asked to see the gentleman whose name was on my sheet. The lady said it was her husband, but he had died some ten years ago.
I reported to Pastor Adams, the senior pastor, that the list appeared to be an old, outdated list. He said that it did not matter, just continue to visit. I did. About two weeks later, I found out he was leaving. Apparently, he just wanted me to be out of his hair.
Soon Elder Morton came to be the new senior pastor. He had an old Cadillac that always needed work. I was a “shade-tree” mechanic and had a good set of tools left over from my trucking days. Often our weekly pastor’s meeting was visiting under his old car. I enjoyed it as it gave me a chance to talk informally with this man. We had many good discussions.
I decided I wanted to conduct an evangelistic series and asked Elder Morton’s permission, which he heartily gave. The church had a large multipurpose auditorium just right for the occasion. Remembering the series with black-light illustrations held in Riverbank, that Carolyn and I attended while in high school, and the one I recently participated in during the evangelism field school, I felt certain I could do a good job. I made a flyer stating I would have black-light illustrations and printed sermons each night. Had I known what was soon to happen, I would have shelved this idea.
To save money on the printing, I purchased an old AB Dick offset press and learned how to run it. I was just getting ready to make the outline and start putting together ideas for the black-light illustrations when Elder Morton accepted a “call” to pastor in Georgia. Now I was to fill his shoes as interim pastor and prepare for and conduct an evangelistic series. The Santa Monica church at that time had, as I recall, some four hundred names on the membership rolls. However, I doubt if there were more than two to three hundred who attended. It was an older congregation, and there was a funeral every few weeks. Each week I had a sermon to make for a sizable church, a Wednesday night prayer meeting to conduct, frequent funerals, and new people as well as church members that needed to be visited. Then, on top of that, I had to prepare for the evangelistic series.
Happily, people rallied to my help. I remember one family, Lon and Bonnie Wilson, who supported my efforts. They spent many hours cutting out the black-light illustrations. I would meet them later as members of my last SDA congregation in Watsonville, California. Yes, again, they would play a key role in my ministry.
When it came time for the series to start, I had one or two of the 21 sermons completed. With meetings several nights each week, I had to work long and hard to keep up. But I was used to working hard, thanks to all the hard work in my past experience. With the help of Carolyn, who proofed and typed my sermons after she got home from her full-time employment, I managed to hold up under the grind. I had four sermons a week to prepare, type, and then print on that old AB Dick. Little did I realize where that printing experience would be used many years later and how it would influence my life and, ultimately, the lives of many others.
My series was entitled, “Focus on Christ,” and the first few sermons had a lot of “gospel” in them, thanks to the class on righteousness by faith.
While working on the prophecy charts and the thousand years, I remember using the “proof text” from Jeremiah22 to describe the conditions during the thousand years. At the time I wondered how one could be sure that Jeremiah was describing the thousand years when the heading was “Lament over Judah’s Devastation,” but it seemed to fit the conditions that Ellen White described for the thousand years of Revelation 20. The process seemed like circular reasoning. Nevertheless, I figured there was some good reason why others, more scholarly than I, had used it, even if I did not understand what it was. Several people were baptized into the Adventist church from that series, and it was a good experience for me.
We ministered in the Santa Monica SDA church about a year, and then I was asked to be the pastor of the Hacienda Heights SDA church in the east valley of Los Angeles. It was a little church, and I jumped at the chance. About this time, I received in the mail a journal entitled, Present Truth, a title taken from an early SDA periodical. It was written by Robert Brinsmead, who had been a controversial figure—“thorn in the flesh” might be more accurate—in Adventism for many years. I did not order this journal; it just came to me, a pattern I was to see played out over and over again by chance—or was it Providence? Month after month, I received this journal, and I found the articles very provocative. The theme of most of the early articles was the gospel. Like Dr. Alexander, Brinsmead made me think. His crisp writing style, his scriptural insight, his penetrating questions, the provocative illustrations captured my attention. I found myself digging deeper into the Bible and understanding new depths of meaning in the cross of Christ. I was beginning to see a deeper assurance of salvation than I had ever known before. I had always understood that both justification and sanctification were in the foundation of one’s acceptance with God. Ellen White taught that justification was our title to heaven, and sanctification was our fitness for heaven. Both, it seemed to me, were required to get to heaven. Brinsmead, however, was building the case that our ground of acceptance before God was based upon justification alone—Christ’s work of grace for us, and sanctification was the result of Christ’s work but was in no way the basis of our assurance with God. At first, I thought he was only proclaiming half of the gospel.
About this same time, the Southern California Conference had a team from Campus Crusade give a presentation on the Four Spiritual Laws at a Workers Meeting.23 I could see that they, like Brinsmead, were teaching the same assurance of salvation based upon nothing but faith in Christ’s work and not based upon one’s behavior in any way.
That meeting, which was full of joy and peace for me, was met with biting sarcasm by some of the Adventist pastors. Some were very upset “that Adventists, who had ‘the truth,’ would stoop to invite ‘these Babylonians’ to teach us how to witness!”24
I was beginning to see, as never before, that many in the SDA church, including many pastors, had no concept of what I considered true “righteousness by faith,” but were trusting partly to Christ and partly to their own good works in keeping the law.
After this conference, on several occasions, I took members from the Hacienda Heights church with me as we went out door to door using the Four Spiritual Laws. We made many calls and led many people to pray the prayer of acceptance of Christ.
I began to preach gospel-centered sermons bringing in the assurance of trusting in Christ alone. I was somewhat fearful, however, as I knew many SDAs were not open to the simple gospel.
While in Hacienda Heights, I made a request to the conference president, Elder Retzer, to take a speed-reading class. I outlined my reasons for wanting to take it. I told him that I would pay the tuition, my church was growing, and it would not interfere with my pastoral ministry. I wanted to take this class because it would allow me to read faster and thus make my study time more efficient. I thought for sure this request would be granted. However, when I received Elder Retzer’s letter, he told me that I had been to the seminary, and I did not need any more classes at this time. I accepted it but felt he was narrow and ridged.
At the next Workers Meeting, I visited with several of the other interns whom I had known at the seminary in Michigan. In the course of our conversation, I told them about my request and its denial. A couple of the other men said they, too, had made requests to take additional classwork and had been turned down. One of the men said that he was taking classes, but was not letting Elder Retzer or his church know about it. After that, Workers Meeting provided a place where several of us interns could commiserate with each other.
One day I got a phone call from Elder Harvey Voth, who had been dean of boys when I was a student at Monterey Bay Academy. He was now principal, and he asked if I would come up and be the speaker for Alumni Day. I was happy to do so. I had forgotten how nice the campus was: a half-mile of private beach and beautiful views of green lawns overlooking the blue Pacific Ocean. For Carolyn and me, this trip brought back many sacred memories of our high school days at “good old MBA!” After the service, I said, “Harvey, if you ever need a good Bible teacher, let me know.” I really was not trying to get a job; I just said that on the spur of the moment and never gave it another thought. I did not know one of his Bible teachers was leaving that year, and he would be looking for another Bible teacher. Some months later, I got a “call” to go to Monterey Bay Academy to become Associate Pastor and Bible teacher.
Unlike Elder Retzer, however, MBA required that I attend a class called “Basic Youth Conflicts” taught by Bill Gothard in Los Angeles. I knew things were going to be better at Monterey Bay Academy. Therefore, after we moved to MBA, I drove back to Los Angeles to attend this class.
Part of the material Gothard presented was on how to have a clear conscience and included detailed material on the confession of sin.25 I felt this would be excellent material to share with my students at MBA.
Carolyn and the boys stayed at Monterey Bay Academy during this conference, which ended on a Saturday night. The next morning I started driving back to MBA, looking forward to being with the family again.
As I was leaving the Los Angeles basin, my thoughts recounted all the events of the last two years. Suddenly, my conscience hit me. I had done wrong in the way I talked about Elder Retzer behind his back. True, I had not taken the speed-reading class, so in that sense, I obeyed his leadership. However, I also knew that I had talked, gossiped, and even criticized him. As I drove along, I contemplated the idea of confessing this to him. I had a thousand reasons not to do so. I was unordained, he might be on my ordination committee, and if he knew I had gossiped about him, he might vote against me. He did not even know I had said anything negative about him. “Let a sleeping dog lie.” “Why open up a can of worms at this stage of the game?” I was leaving his authority, so why bother? He was, I felt, very narrow anyway. These and many more reasons went through my mind. Then I recalled that day in Phoenix. “Lord,” I said, “I will do whatever you want me to do if you make it clear to me.” Well, He was making it clear. But I did not want to do it. I felt so heavy I thought the tires on the car might blow any minute. I vacillated back and forth. Finally, I decided that I must do it—now. So I pulled over into a service station, went to a payphone, and called Elder Retzer early Sunday morning, thinking to myself that I would get him out of bed, and he would be angry for that. When he answered the phone, I told him what I had done and asked for his forgiveness, which he freely gave me. Wow! What a weight off my soul. When I got back in the car, it now seemed so light that I could hardly hold it on the road. I started singing and praising God, experiencing the joy of a clear conscience. Looking back, I can see how God tested me in little things to see if I was able to endure the big tests.
At Monterey Bay Academy, we moved into one of the old World War II hospital buildings converted into a home and went to work. Carolyn worked for Principle Voth as his secretary, and I set about to prepare my lesson plans. I was to teach three sections of eleventh grade Bible doctrines, two sections of sophomore Bible, preach about once each month, and be in charge of their “Seminar” program—the same program that Carolyn and I had been in years before.
I immediately made good friends with Fred Speyer, who was the pastor of the school and taught twelfth grade Bible. After our friendship was secure, I shared with him some of the issues of Present Truth. About that time, the name of this periodical was changed to Verdict. We often discussed this material and came to a better understanding of the Gospel.
The curriculum for one quarter of the Bible doctrines class was based upon the first eight chapters of Romans. I had taken my juniors through it the year before and was richly blessed by this most powerful book. I found that even though I had taught from this section of Scripture before, each time, it seemed to be fresh with new insights that had been hidden the previous year. I liked to teach inductively— like Dr. Alexander had done—helping the students to think and discover for themselves. Therefore, I was always making and revising study guides with questions that, I hoped, would cause them to discover the gold that was hidden in this rich vein of theological ore.
I was revising a study guide for Romans 4. As I read verses 17–20, I began to question the choice of Paul’s illustration.
(As it is written, “A father of many nations have I made you”) in the sight of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist. In hope against hope he believed, in order that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” And without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God (Rom. 4:17–20).
The more I contemplated this illustration, the more it bothered me. I knew the context, and that was part of my problem. In Chapter 3, Paul had, in the most majestic terms, described the gospel of righteousness by faith.
But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Rom. 3:21–26).
Then, Paul gave one of his most powerful statements:
For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law (Rom. 3:28).
The church at Rome, I knew from previous study, was a church comprised of both Jewish and Gentile Christians. This is why throughout the book of Romans, Paul first addresses one group and then the other. Paul’s statement that a Christian is justified “apart from works of the law” would instantly raise questions in the minds of his Jewish-Christian readers who placed high value on the observance of the law. To keep his Jewish-Christian readers from rejecting his theology, Paul had to prove from the law that the Gentiles could be justified without the law. He must use their source of truth (old covenant) to prove his (new covenant) theology. I knew this was the context of Romans 4. Admittedly, I had not yet realized the future implications this truth would have on my own life. In Romans 4, Paul used two of the most revered characters of Judaism as illustrations of his doctrine of righteousness by faith: Abraham and David.
There are only two simple requirements for salvation—simple, not easy. One only needs perfect righteousness and no sin. The problem, however, is that “all have sinned and (continue to) fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).26 All of us are in the same predicament. We are helpless, and keeping the law (if we could do that) won’t help solve our problem one bit.
At this point, Paul uses two illustrations to prove his theology. First, he states that Abraham was not justified by works, but “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.” It is important to note that the experience of Abraham, to which Paul alludes, is recorded in Genesis 15:1–6, where God took Abraham outside one night and compared the number of Abraham’s children to the stars.
I can still remember the thrill I had when I realized the depth of good news in Romans 4:5. “But to the one who does not work, [I could qualify here] but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly [I could qualify here too], his faith is reckoned as righteousness.”
Paul used the illustration of Abraham to prove that a person is declared righteous solely on the basis of his faith without any works. But does God’s declaration of right- eousness also take care of the sins of the past?
To answer this implied question, Paul brings David onto the witness stand. Everyone knows David sinned—big time. So from David’s Psalm 32, he quotes:
Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account (Rom. 4:7, 8).
By the end of Romans 4:8, Paul had proved his point. He had shown that ungodly men (and women) who do not work can be counted righteous based solely upon their faith. He had also shown that sinners, even like David who committed adultery and murder, can be counted righteous. When these sinners are declared righteous by God, their sin is no longer counted against them. That, I found, is the good news of the gospel of justification by faith.
Thus far, I could follow Paul, and I was rejoicing in my deeper understanding of righteousness by faith. But why, I had to ask, did Paul use the next illustration? Why would Paul choose this illustration to further illustrate the most profound truth of the New Testament—righteousness by faith? What, you say, is this illustration? Come with me to the salient verses in Genesis 17 to which Paul alludes in Romans 4:17–21.
Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless…No longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I will make you the father of a multitude of nations (Gen. 17:1, 6).
At this time, God gave Abraham the covenant of cir- cumcision, which would become the entrance sign into the covenant community for the Israelites. Then we have this conversation between God and Abraham.
Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before Thee!” (Gen. 17:15–18).
Try as I would, I could not find any evidence in this account that Abraham expressed any faith. I went to the commentaries. Some said it was the “laugh of faith.” But I ruled this out because Abraham said, “Oh that Ishmael might live before Thee!” It appeared to me that Abraham had absolutely no faith that he, now 99 and Sarah, now 90, could have a child. The thought must have hit him like a joke, and he laughed so hard he fell down.
Again, I had to ask myself why this illustration? If Paul wanted to illustrate the nature of victorious faith and use the faith of Abraham as an example, why didn’t Paul choose Abraham’s offering of Isaac? That was real faith. Then, I thought—still hoping to find some sense in Paul’s choice— perhaps Sarah was the one who had the faith. So I turned to Geneses 18 where I read,
Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “Behold, in the tent.” And he said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing. And Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, when I am so old?’ Is anything too difficult for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” Sarah denied it however, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.” (Gen. 18:9–15).
I found no help here. In fact, the picture only got worse. Not only did Abraham laugh and express no faith, but Sarah did the same thing and then topped it off with an outright lie. Further, I noted that if Sarah’s laugh was a “laugh of faith,” as some claim, then God would not have questioned her laugh, and she would not have lied. So my conclusion, based upon this record in Genesis, was that both Abraham and Sarah and had no faith in their ability to have a child—none, zero.
Why, Paul? Why this illustration of “faith” to illustrate the most important truth of the New Testament? So with these conclusions and questions, I went back to Romans 4. Then it hit me.
My first time through Romans 4 with my Bible doctrines class at MBA, I had missed it. Although I vividly recall, I had a sense there was something more to this verse than I had yet discovered.
(As it is written, “A father of many nations have I made you”) in the sight of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls things which do not exist as existing (Rom. 4:17).27
This verse teaches that God called Abraham a “Father of many nations” before Isaac was even conceived. After the experience recorded in Genesis 17, Scripture never again refers to Abraham as Abram. God accounted Abraham a father before he was a father and treated him as such. Isaac and the multitude of nations were there only by the declaration of God.
In hope against hope he believed, in order that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, “So shall your descendents be.” And without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what He had promised, He was able also to perform (Rom. 4:18–21).
Now I saw it! While Abraham had no faith in what he could do, He did have faith in the promise of God, being fully assured that what God had promised, God was able also to perform.
So Abraham’s faith was not directed toward himself, rather it was centered only in God’s promise and God’s power.
Therefore also it [faith] was reckoned to him as righteousness. Now not for his sake only was it written, that it was reckoned to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be reckoned, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, He who was delivered up because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification (Rom. 4:22–25).
Now I understood new dimensions of righteousness by faith that would alter the course of my life:
- When God declares us righteous by faith, He changes our name from “sinner-man” or “sinner-woman” to “saint.”28
- As God changed Abraham’s name before he was a father and counted him as a father, so God changes our name to “saint” and counts us as righteous before we are righteous when the only righteousness we have is the declaration of God.
- We express “the faith of Abraham,” which is saving faith, not by our faith in what we can or will do. Rather, we are to react like Abraham and recognize the utter impossibility of our ever achieving righteousness. We laugh at the impossibility of the command, “Be perfect as God is perfect.” Or, “Be holy for I am holy.”
- Yet, because God declares us righteous, we believe it based solely on God’s promise and God’s power to fulfill His own promise.
- As Abraham accepted his changed name, so we should accept ours.
- As Abraham was never again known by his old name so we should never again consider ourselves as lost sinners.
- As God considers us righteous “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”29 We are to see ourselves as God sees us—in Christ, saved with the very “righteousness of God.”
Righteousness by faith is everything we need: It includes Christ’s perfect righteousness (I remembered Abraham). It includes forgiveness for all sin (I remembered David). And it brings the Holy Spirit into our lives “Who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us” (Eph. 3:20).
Yes, indeed, God counts things which do not exist as existing. And therein lies our only hope. Now I realized how careful Paul had been in his choice of illustrations.
Now, with the understanding received from Dr. Alexander’s class on righteousness by faith, the insights gained in Verdict, and my own discovery from Romans, I was thoroughly gospel-centered in my teaching and preaching.30
Sometimes the students in my Bible doctrines class came up to the end of the quarter with grades lower than they wanted. I made it a policy that I would raise their grade by one letter if they memorized all of Romans 5 or 6. Several did this. One student who had seemed somewhat rebellious prior to this, after she finished repeating Romans 5 from memory said, “This chapter really says something, doesn’t it?” She had earned a “D” in Bible class the first quarter, so I gave her a “C.” After that, she earned “A”s the rest of the year.
I found that the qualifications for those whom God justifies are within reach of all. Romans 5 made it clear that God accepts helpless, ungodly sinners who are enemies of God31 if they will only place their faith in Christ.
I recall meditating on Rom. 5:12–14.
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—for until the Law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
I never came to grips with the full meaning of this text until years after I left the SDA church. While still an SDA, I could not bring myself to accept what is the obvious teaching of Paul: the law was not in effect between the time of Adam and the time of Moses. I tried to insert law there to fit SDA theology. I did this by showing that where there is no law, there is no transgression. Therefore, I concluded that Paul must be stating that even though there was no written law, the law was there nonetheless. I completely missed the point that Paul was trying to make: the people who lived between Adam and Moses suffered the consequences of sin, both moral and legal, because of the imputed sin of Adam. In the same way, we are now declared righteous by the imputed moral and legal righteousness of Christ.32
In Romans 6, I discovered that those who have been justified by faith should consider themselves to be dead to sin.33 Yes, I came, at last, to accept that it is OK to believe and have the assurance that one is “saved,” something Ellen White said we should never do.34
The full truth of Romans 7 also did not hit me until years after I left the SDA church. While at Monterey Bay Academy, I tried to make Paul harmonize with SDA theology by simply adding words to Paul’s thought. After all, did not even Peter say Paul was hard to understand?35 I understood Romans 7:6 to read—with my additions,
But now we have been released from the [condemnation of the] Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
Later, I saw that Paul had it right without my help. According to Paul, we are not only released from the condemnation of the law, but we serve “in newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.”
Further, Paul made it clear that those who try to be “married” to Christ and the law, as I was trying to do while in Adventism, were committing spiritual adultery.36
Romans 7 and 8 taught me that the justified Christian is no longer to live in the continual struggle between law and sin. That is life lived from the perspective of the old covenant.37 Now, under the new covenant, the secret of Christian service springs from a heart of gratitude for God’s justifying, saving grace, and now our desire is to allow the Holy Spirit, Who creates a new life within us,38 to live out His life through us.39
Now that Paul has laid the theological foundation, he can clearly state:
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Rom. 10:4).
Sanctification, I found, was God’s work. Just as Abraham trusted God to bring the promised son, so we must trust God to bring the promised character development. True, there is cooperation between the human and the divine, but that cooperation in no way becomes a part of the solid foundation of the imputed righteousness in Christ.
I can say without hesitation that it was gospel clarity that caused me to begin to question Adventism. I began to see cracks in the Adventist theological paradigm and tried my best to patch these cracks. Little did I realize that these cracks would lead to others and those to still wider chasms until large canyons appeared in the Adventist theological landscape.
NEXT WEEK: “SECRET MEETINGS”
Endnotes
22 Jeremiah 4:23–26.
23 A term common in SDA circles for meetings held by the conference for conference employees, most of whom were pastors.
24 These were the approximate words several pastors used during one of the breaks in the meeting.
25 Gothard had some good material but was very legalistic in many of his concepts.
26 In Greek, “fall short,” is in the present continuous tense.
27 NASB marginal reading at Rom. 4:17.
28 Paul calls Christians “saints” some 37 times in his epistles.
29 Rom. 6:11.
30 My understanding of this most important truth has been dynamic with new discoveries, insights and applications unfolding through the years as I keep finding new facets of the love and grace of God.
31 Rom. 5:6–10.
32 Rom. 5:17–21.
33 Rom. 6:11.
34 Ellen G. White, The Kress Collection, p. 120; Review and Herald, 1890-06-17; Medical Ministry, p. 123.
35 2 Pet. 3:15, 16.
36 Rom. 7:1–6.
37 Rom. 7:18–25.
38 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 5:6.
39 2 Cor. 5:14; Rom. 8:11f.
Truth Led Me Out. Copyright © 2008 by Dale Ratzlaff. Second printing 2015, E-mail version 2020. All Scripture quotations—except where otherwise noted—are from The New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1979, 1994 by the Lockman Foundation, used by permission. Texts credited to Clear Word are from The Clear Word, copyright © 1994, 2000, 2003, 2004 by Review and Herald Publishing Association. All rights reserved. Life Assurance Ministries, Inc.
- The Sabbath: From Ritual to Reality - December 19, 2024
- Wise Men Still Seek Him - December 12, 2024
- The Gospel is Good News! - December 5, 2024