CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: 1,500,000 Seventh-day Adventists Champion Conditionalism

I. Adventists-Largest Christian Body Holding to Conditionalism

Conditional Immortality is the unvarying view of Seventh-day Adventists, and has been from the time of their rise. There are no exceptions to the rule in the ranks of this Christian body, now numbering almost one and a half million baptized members, scattered all over the earth. ^{11) One Hundredth Annual Statistical Report of Seventh-day Adventists (1962).} Wherever you find them, in the 189 countries in which they are established, out of the 223 countries listed by the United Nations, and the 928 languages and dialects in which they operate, ^{22) Orally in 700 languages and dialects and with publications in 228.} all Seventh-day Adventists, without exception, hold that immortality for man is a gift of God, reserved for the righteous only, and is conditional upon faith and obedience. They believe it will be bestowed upon the righteous at the resurrection of the “dead in Christ” (1 Thessalonians 4:16), which is to take place concurrently with the Second Advent (1 Corinthians 15:51-57). And this Advent they believe to be imminent, according to all the signs of the times and the unerring prophetic outline of the ages as unfolded in the inspired prophecies of Holy Writ.CFF2 702.1

1. INVOLVEMENTS OF CONDITIONALISM LISTED

Such a view of Conditional Immortality was held from the very first by their founding fathers a century and a quarter ago. It was, in fact, professed individually by the most prominent of their early leaders before they organized into a separate church body. Conditionalism, as held by Seventh-day Adventists, embraces the correlated doctrines of the mortality of man, the unconscious sleep of all the dead until the awakening call of Him who is the “resurrection and the life” (John 11:25), and the ultimate utter destruction of all the incorrigibly wicked in the fiery elements at the close of the “great day of the Lord.” This is just prior to the establishment of the prophesied new heaven and new earth as the eternal dwelling place of the righteous (Revelation 21; 22).CFF2 702.2

2. FUNDAMENTAL PLANK IN ADVENTIST PLATFORM

Conditionalism was one of the original “foundation stones,” “pillars,” or “old landmarks,” as variously called, that formed an integral part of the earliest platform of Adventist belief. So it can indisputably be called a foundational teaching of Seventh-day Adventists. As such it is incorporated into the heart of their established statement of Fundamental Beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists (articles 9 to 12), clearly expressed as follows:CFF2 703.1

“9. That God ‘only hath immortality.’ 1 Timothy 6:16. Mortal man possesses a nature inherently sinful and dying. Eternal life is the gift of God through faith in Christ. Romans 6:23. ‘He that hath the Son hath life.’ 1 John 5:12. Immortality is bestowed upon the righteous at the second coming of Christ, when the righteous dead are raised from the grave and the living righteous translated to meet the Lord. Then it is that those accounted faithful ‘put on immortality.’ 1 Corinthians 15:51-55.CFF2 703.2

“10. That the condition of man in death is one of unconsciousness. That all men, good and evil alike, remain in the graves from death to the resurrection. Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6; Psalm 146:3, 4; John 5:28, 29.CFF2 703.3

“11. That there shall be a resurrection both of the just and of the unjust. The resurrection of the just will take place at the second coming of Christ; the resurrection of the unjust will take place a thousand years later, at the close of the millennium. John 5:28, 29; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 20:5-10.CFF2 703.4

“12. That the finally impenitent, including Satan, the author of sin, will, by the fires of the last day be reduced to a state of nonexistence, becoming as though they had not been, thus purging God’s universe of sin and sinners. Romans 6:23; Malachi 4:1-3; Revelation 20:9, 10; Obadiah 16.” ^{33) Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (1962), p. 5; Church Manual (1959), pp. 31, 32}CFF2 703.5

3. CONSTITUENT PART OF UNIFORM BAPTISMAL CERTIFICATE

This foundation teaching is, in fact, on the uniform Certificate of Baptism subscribed to by every candidate for baptism into membership in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. That declaration reads:CFF2 704.1

“16. Immortality comes only through the gospel, and is bestowed as a gift from God at Christ’s second coming. 1 Corinthians 15:21, 22, 51-55; Psalm 146:3, 4; Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6, 10; 1 Timothy 6:15, 16; 2 Timothy 1:10; 1 John 5:11, 12.)CFF2 704.2

“17. The condition of man in death is one of unconsciousness. All men, good and evil alike, remain in the grave from death to the resurrection. (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6; Psalm 115:17; Psalm 146:3, 4; Job 14:10-12, 21, 22; Job 17:13; John 11:11-14; 1 Thessalonians 4:13; John 5:28, 29.)CFF2 704.3

“12.... (b) the wicked dead will be resurrected for final judgment (Revelation 20:11, 12); (c) the wicked will receive the final wages of sin when fire comes down from God out of heaven to consume them (Revelation 20:7-10, 14, 15); and (d) this fire, which destroys the works of sin, will purify the earth. (2 Peter 3:10-14; Malachi 4:1, 3; Revelation 20:8, 4.)CFF2 704.4

“13. The earth, cleansed by fire and renewed by the power of God, will become the eternal home of the redeemed. (2 Peter 3:9-13; Isaiah 65:17-25; Isaiah 35:1-10; Isaiah 45:18; Matthew 5:5; Malachi 4:1-3; Proverbs 11:31.)” ^{44) Church Manual (1959), pp. 49-56.}CFF2 704.5

4. LINE OF CONDITIONALISTS SPANS CHRISTIAN ERA

Seventh-day Adventists hold this view to be the original teaching of Christ and the apostles, perpetuated by the earliest Christian writers, the Apostolic Fathers, and then by a continuing line of Ante-Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers such as Justin Martyr, Tatian, Irenaeus, Novatian, Arnobius, Lactan-tius, et cetera, as already presented.CFF2 704.6

They hold that there has been a continuing line of individual Conditionalists from medieval times onward, particularly beginning with the great Protestant Reformation and such noted Reformers as Martin Luther and William Tyndale. They recognize, of course, that this view was not adopted generally by the Reformed bodies as such. The majority retained the Roman Catholic dogmas of the universal Innate Immortality of the soul and the Eternal Torment of the wicked. Nevertheless, there has been a steadily augmented line of Conditionalists, growing in number and prominence of adherents among all Protestant bodies, as this volume testifies in documented form.CFF2 704.7

5. STANDING IN END SECTION OF IMPRESSIVE LINE

Seventh-day Adventists therefore regard themselves not as discoverers or as innovators or initiators of this view, but as the recoverers and perpetuators of this Conditionalist belief of our spiritual forefathers of various faiths back through the centuries. They maintain that they are now simply helping to re-establish and carry on to consummation this original teaching of the primitive church. Such is their consistent concept and undeviating position. In other words, they are inheritors, standing in the end section of the impressive line of the witnesses of the centuries, clasping hands, as it were, with that great galaxy of advocates of Conditionalism throughout the ages.CFF2 705.1

In the very nature of the case all the Adventist writers teach, and the preachers preach, Conditionalism. The literature of Seventh-day Adventists, from their inception as a church, has been saturated with it. We have already set forth two of their prominent early writers, one being Uriah Smith, who wrote Here and Hereafter. And there have been various writers scattered over the twentieth century, such as Carlyle B. Haynes, with his The Other Side of Death (1916).CFF2 705.2

6. ADVENTISM’S MOST REPRESENTATIVE CONDITIONALIST SPOKESMAN

We now present the most prominent, prolific, and authoritative writer among Seventh-day Adventists, one of their principal spokesmen on this great theme-the author of about 73 books, large and small, and writer of 4,500 published periodical articles. Ellen G. White (d. 1915) stands forth unquestionably as the unique and most representative writer among Seventh-day Adventists on this question. She wrote no single volume devoted exclusively to this theme, but it runs like a golden thread throughout her numerous works, and entire chapters in her most prominent books set forth this doctrine with a comprehensiveness and a sweep unmatched by any other Adventist writer. Let us turn to the witness of this unique spokesman.CFF2 705.3