THEOLOGIANS ON CORPORATE SALVATION IN CHRIST & UNIVERSAL LEGAL JUSTIFICATION

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THEOLOGIANS ON CORPORATE SALVATION IN CHRIST

FULL ARTICLE:   https://www.salvation1.com/articles/theologians-on-corporate-salvation-in-christ/

 

WILLIAM WARREN PRESCOTT

Professor William Warren Prescott (1855–1944), a highly influential educator, writer, scholar and administrator among Seventh-day Adventism’s second generation of leaders, served the church for a total of fifty-two years, holding numerous senior leadership roles in education and publishing and at the General Conference. He was a member of the General Conference Executive Committee for forty-two years.

Prescott was probably the first theologian through whom God restored to us the glorious truth about corporate salvation of the entire sinful human race in Christ (2Cor 5:14,19; Rom 5:18; 1Cor 15:22). The following quote comes from the most beautiful sermon delivered by Professor Prescott in 1895 in Armadale (Australia):

“Jesus Christ had exactly the same flesh that we bear, — flesh of sin, flesh in which we sin, flesh, however, in which He did not sin… We were all in Jesus Christ… He was our representative; He became flesh; He became we… All humanity was brought together in Jesus Christ. He suffered on the cross, then, it was the whole family in Jesus Christ that was crucified“. (read full sermon >)

According to WW Prescott, the truth about salvation of sinful humanity in Christ constitutes the very heart of the Christian message: “Jesus Christ was the representative of humanity, and all humanity centered in him, and when he took flesh, he took humanity. He took humanity and he became the father of this divine-human family, and he became the father by joining himself in this way to humanity, and the flesh which he took and in which he dwelt was our flesh, and we were there in him, just as what Levi did in Abraham, so what Jesus Christ in the flesh did, we did in him. And this is the most glorious truth in Christianity. It is Christianity itself, it is the very core and life and heart of Christianity. He took our flesh, and our humanity was found in him, and what he did, humanity did in him.” (WW Prescott, “The Divine-Human Family,” 1895 General Conference Bulletin, pp. 8-9).

FRANCIS NICHOL

Adventist prominent theologian – Francis Nichol, the co-author of The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, in the following beautiful and clear way expressed his belief in the corporate redemption of the entire world in Christ:

“In taking Adam’s place Christ became the head of the human race, and died on the cross as its representative. Thus, in a sense, when He died the entire race died with Him. As He represented all men, so His death stood for the death of all. In Him, all men died. This does not, however, mean universal salvation, for each individual sinner must accept the atonement provided by the Saviour in order to make it effective” (Francis Nichol, The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, comment to 2Cor 5. 14).

In this statement, we can almost sense the presence and inspiration of the same Spirit of Truth which unfortunately can’t be found in the articles by BRI (Manuel Angel Rodriguez) or Hartland (Standish brothers) dealing with the same subject.

 

 FULL ARTICLE: https://www.salvation1.com/articles/theologians-on-corporate-salvation-in-christ/