EGW a legalist?

[GHansen]

I thought I might turn over a new leaf in my regard for EGW, since "attacking" EGW is not something I wish to be known for. EGW defined "transgression of the law" as the "only definition of sin in the Bible." Perhaps she was referring to the law as the OT witness regarding Christ (Romans 3); That being the case, I could agree with her and resolve that problem, at least. After looking at dozens of her comments that turn up on a computer search of "definition of sin" I must reaffirm what I have previously said i.e., she marginalizes  what many would consider the basis of salvation, the place of faith. After defining sin as the transgression of the law, she takes issue with the assertion that the law of Ten Commandments is not binding in this dispensation  (RH 03/04/1875, par. 13,14).

Strange but I can think of a number of people, such as St. Paul, that didn't consider the Decalogue "binding" in this dispensation.

In a sermon in Orebro, Sweden dated June 26, 1886 after again defining transgression of the law as the only definition of sin in the Bible, she defines sanctification as "doing his law." In context, she is clearly referring to the Decalogue.  About a year earlier, she confronted a man who criticized her theology as follows "There are some on this boat, says he, that believe that we [are] sanctified by the law.There is a woman on this boat by the name of White that teaches this. I [EGW} heard this, and I stepped up to him and said: Elder Brown, you hold right on, I cannot permit that statement to go. Mrs. White has never said such a thing in any of her writings, nor has she ever spoken such a thing, for we do not believe that the law sanctifies any one. We believe that we must keep that law, or we will not be saved in the kingdom of heaven." (Ms5 1885). EGW met this Elder Brown [non SDA} on a trip to Oregon in 1878 and goes into greater detail in a "Signs of the Times" article of July 18, 1878, While there is much in the article I agree with, it seems strange that she refutes Elder Brown's claims of legalism by essentially doubling down on the importance of obedience to the law.

EGW on the object of Christ's mission: "To show man by his example, that he could be entirely obedient to the moral law, and regulate his life by its precepts. That law was exalted and made honorable by Jesus Christ."

Elder Brown:  "I heard the elder stating to a company gathered about him that it was impossible for any man to keep the law of God; that man never did keep it, and never can keep it. Said he, “No man will get to heaven by keeping the law. Mrs. White is all law, law; she believes that we must be saved by the law, and no one can be saved unless they keep the law. Now I believe in Christ. He is my Saviour, Christ alone can save us, and without him we cannot be saved.”

Now which do you believe that YOU can be entirely obedient to the moral law [Decalogue] or that Christ alone can save YOU

I recall reading that the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin because they don't  believe in Jesus. In Romans 11, Paul argues at some length that the transgression of the Jews was their unbelief. The unbelief of the Jews-- their transgression-- he calls  disobedience. 

In her review of Abraham's life, she passes over his justification by faith with a single quote from Romans 4 (PP 136) but devotes pages, starting at 140, to his obedience to laws.

And so it goes. Figuring out just what EGW really meant, locating contradictory or clarifying statements, noting to whom and when a statement was written is quite a task, considering she wrote ~ 30 million words, compared to ~ 750,000 in the KJV. Prior to computer searches, which only became possible around 1980, sorting through EGW was a near impossible task or a lifetime work.

This is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you abstain from fornication (1 Thess 4:3). Sanctification is here defined by St. Paul as abstaining from fornication. Simple, concise, the way I like it.

 

 

[GHansen]

Correction/clarification: EGW's Oregon trip took place in June of 1878. She rehearsed the story in Sweden during a visit in 1885. This elder Brown visited the Napa Valley in 1880, continuing his campaign against EGW. Note how she describes her response: "I related my conversation with Elder Brown on that occasion, stating our relation to the law and to Christ: that sin was the transgression of the law and that it was the law which convicted Paul, but that the law has no power to pardon the transgressor of law. The blood of the Son of God here comes in. The fountain has been prepared where the sinner may wash his robes of character from their defilement, and make them white in the blood of the Lamb. Repentance toward God because the Father’s law has been transgressed, and faith toward our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ are the sinner’s only hope" (Ltr 20a,1880). No problem here.