Adventism: Not Restoring, Not Reforming

Seventh-day Adventism has historically believed itself to be the heir of the Protestant Reformation in that it combines the foundational teachings of the historic Reformation confessions into a cohesive whole of truth. Geoffrey Paxton, in his groundbreaking work The Shaking of Adventism (1977), devotes his first chapter to this issue. He states the Adventist position succinctly.

“Yet the fact is that the Seventh-day Adventist sees himself as standing in a unique relation to the Reformation. He believes that God has called him to carry forward the message of the Reformation in such a way as no other Christian or Christian body is able to do. In his opinion the Seventh-day Adventist Church is God’s special heir of the Reformers.  Only through the Adventist Church can the work of the Reformation be carried to its God-designed end” (Shaking, pg. 18; italicized original).

As shown by Paxton, Ellen White supported such a perspective as well: “The Reformation did not, as many suppose, end with Luther. It is to be continued to the close of this world’s history. Luther had a great work to do in reflecting to others the light which God had permitted to shine upon him; yet he did not receive all the light which was to be given to the world. From that time to this, new light has been continually shining upon the Scriptures, and new truths have been constantly unfolding” (The Great Controversy,1950, pgs. 148-149).

Adventism is to be the completion of the Reformation and finish the mission of spreading the gospel to the world (Revelation:14:6-7 [6] And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, [7] Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
See All...). Moreover, Adventism would become “the guardians of the Protestant heritage in a climate of modernism and spiritual declension” (Shaking, pg. 19). As historic Protestantism would fall into apostasy, Adventism would arise to preserve and propagate the gospel of Christ. To Adventism would fall the Divine mandate to spread the true gospel throughout the world.

As with all restoration movements, the goal is to reclaim and restore truth from error. On this Adventism is no different than the other restoration movements of nineteenth century America. Three other restoration movements arose in the 19th century to restore biblical truth, if not the church itself. They were the Stone-Campbell Movement, Mormonism, and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Adventism also sought to restore lost biblical truth, not merely the gospel (called “Present Truth”).

Religious movements who have as their goal the restoration of true New Testament Christianity are often guilty of adding more to the faith than they are correcting. Often the focus is restoring what was forgotten or neglected in a particular understanding of apostolic church practice and doctrine. For example, Mormons have “reinstated” proxy baptism for the dead. However, such efforts are really additions to the Christian faith out of proportion to any evidence gleaned from the New Testament regarding the practice itself. Therefore, the reinstated doctrine is totally out of proportion to any New Testament indication of its importance. 

Another thing that often occurs with restoration movements is the addition of new truth to Christian practice and doctrine. In other words, it is not enough to renew and restore old doctrines and practices, but in the process endeavoring to do so invariably embodies a new reality and importance in itself. This is often seen in the movement becoming a special people, a restored church for the last days adhering and showing fidelity to true biblical doctrine. The message becomes identified with the messenger so the messenger (the church) becomes the focus. 

A final aspect of restoration movements is their propensity to become so against the stream of Christian theology and tradition that they diverge from almost every essential teaching of historic Christianity, hence earning the title “pseudo-Christian cult.” While it would be irresponsible to label every restoration movement and effort cultic, it remains that such efforts can easily lead to a cultic mentality without the movement actually being a cult. In others words, the perspective of believers in the restoration message of a particular group is essentially cultic in that they divide the world into “us and them.” Assuredly, one doesn’t have to be in a cult to do this.

Adventism is never reticent to cite the incompleteness of other denominations in terms of truth. Time and again Adventism teaches how Christians have incomplete revelations of God’s truth, particularly the Sabbath/Sunday issue. I remember when I attended and was converted through Adventist “Revelation Seminars.” I recall how a couple of sessions picked elements of truth in particular Protestant churches that were biblical and used them to preach the total package of Adventism as the true church, the remnant church. This eclectic shopping approach is convenient for the uninitiated, but it is done to prove Adventist distinctiveness.

In the Adventist version of restorationism, the position of the Reformation gospel that Adventism is supposed to champion is compromised by the Investigative Judgement and by the lack of coherent understanding of justification by faith absent law. The steady onslaught of the Moral Influence Theory, and confusion on whether Christ had a sinful nature, do compromise orthodox Christian teaching on Christ’s substitutionary atonement on the cross. 

[TBC: For the full text of this lengthy article, please see:]

https://blog.lifeassuranceministries.org/2024/02/01/adventism-not-restoring-not-reforming/