It doesn't seem to me that either you or Arnold are reading or dealing with the same things that I am. I quoted Jones, and made statements, and both of you are speaking of things different than I either said or quoted.

What I said is that Christ was righteous by faith.

Jones point was that Christ emptied Himself, and that while He was perfect and righteous in Himself, had He lived by that righteousness, and not emptied Himself, that would have been life for Him, but death for us.

Regarding "regeneration," from Webster's:



1) doesn't help, since it's just using the same word in the definition.
3) is dealing with bodily regeneration, and 4) doesn't apply.

That leaves us with 2). Did Christ need spiritual renewal or revival? From reading the psalms, that would certainly seem to be the case.

Now regeneration may imply a committing sin, and certainly that does not apply to Christ, but renewal or restoration of the spirit would certainly seem to, simply by virtue of being a human being and growing tired.

Christ's experience as a human being much more similar to ours than many feel, a point which Ellen White made many times. Of course, Christ never sinned, but He took our sinful nature, and took our sins upon Him. Jones, Waggoner, and Ellen White (as well as others of the time, notably Prescott), emphasized these points in great detail, making the point that Christ was closer to us than we can imagine.

Jesus' righteousness stands in place of our pardoned sins so that there is no absence (void, vacuum, vacancy). God sees us as though we were righteous rather than sinful. This is justification. Jesus did not need justification for the simple reason He never sinned.

Sanctification, on the other hand, is real righteousness, the righteousness we experience while abiding in Jesus. It does not require pardon or substitution. It is totally acceptable and pleasing in the sight of God. This is the righteousness Jesus experienced while here in the flesh. It is this righteousness God imputes to us in place of pardoned sins. It is not imputed as a substitution for the righteousness we experience while abiding in Jesus.

Now we've got up to three topics in one thread!

Shall I do first last, or last first? Ummm, pun intended.

...last first.

Palmdale Conf. consensus statement, GC and Australasian (SPD, today)leadership, published in the Adventist Review (as it is now), May 27 1976, in its first sentence:
Justification by faith includes spiritual rebirth, ala Jn 3:5 - spiritual experience by faith: justification qualifies us for heaven with "real righteousness" - receiving the Holy Spirit with the robe of Christ's righteousness, renewing our mind. Sanctification is merely actively experiencing justification: choices and behaviour,...developing Christlike character with imparted righteousness.

Lk 9:23 is Jesus saying he died to the sin in his assumed human flesh and mind by submitting to his Father's Spirit, all without sinning, so our imperfect experience leading to receiving the Spirit didn't apply to him, yet he daily submitted to the Spirit of his Father as he fulfilled all righteousness. We also experience all his righteousness, imputed and imparted - both are an experience; more precisely, the latter is a clear way of saying that "imputed righteousness" is also an experience, from the beginning of the walk of faith and the living reality of that walk.

Justification by faith is by no means forensic only!!

...to be continued/...

Yes, "the mind of Christ" is in fact the renewing of the sinful mind of our sinful nature, but - for Jesus - in the perfectly righteous lifestyle of our Lord and Saviour.

Having reviewed this entire thread..., I've spotted the confusion over Jesus and what Tom said. Jesus "justified in the Spirit" is separate to Jesus' righteous character: that's what the Scriptures say, and that's what we need to distinguish in our own lives, too.

Righteousness by faith is the experience of justification by faith: pardon and regeneration, and living the new life unto God. Jesus, the Word made flesh, was justified in his humanity by the perfect daily submission to his Father's "Spirit in the fulness of the Godhead". This is separate to his meritorious character, all his own - meritorious since human yet in harmony with God's will.

All of us, now, remember Rev 19:8, where the righteousness imparted to the saints is personalised by them as their own: "the righteous deeds of the saints." Equally, that righteousness, imparted by Christ to his saints to be made their own, in his name, was his own in the first place.

Christ followed his Father's will, as do we by exactly the same Spirit in human experience, but Christ's character was his very own, personal righteousness, in harmony with God's will. True, covenantal relationship means perfect, personalised righteous character, by use of the renewed mind of justification. Amen

Agreed! Well stated.

In order to experience justification we must first sin. Jesus and unfallen beings do not require justification. God must legally justify forgiving penitent sinners. Why? Because law and justice require capital punishment for sin - not pardon and salvation. Justification establishes our innocence. It enables us to be found "not guilty".

Sanctification is what empowers us to retain and maintain the rights and privileges of justification. But, God forbid, it does not establish or add to our innocence or "not guilty" standing. That is, the righteousness we experience while abiding in Jesus and partaking of the divine nature in no way effects or establishes or adds to our innocence or "not guilty" standing.

Ellen wrote, "But while God can be just, and yet justify the sinner through the merits of Christ, no man can cover his soul with the garments of Christ's righteousness while practicing known sins, or neglecting known duties. God requires the entire surrender of the heart, before justification can take place; and in order for man to retain justification, there must be continual obedience, through active, living faith that works by love and purifies the soul. {1SM 366.1}

Justification is purely imputed; whereas, sanctification is purely imparted. In form and function they are separate aspects of salvation. One does not add to or subtract from the other. Each stands as an independent aspect of the plan of salvation. Justification does not add to or subtract from our righteousness and sanctification does not add to or subtract from our innocence or "not guilty" standing. Justification is forever unchanging, whereas sanctification is forever changing.

Now, wait...: two things were said about Jesus' life, before and after he died.

"It is finished," is the famous line - Amen!! - but, necessary for the Gospel, and taken from Heb 9:15-17 and at least also Rom 3:23,24; 5:16,18, God declared his Son righteous in his own right, for the world, by his faithful death in the will of God. Jesus was declared righteous by God because he, Jesus, was - and immediately, judicially recognised, on behalf of all of mankind according to the everlasting covenant - Saviour already by law and grace (true, gracious substitution), "from faith to faith" (Rom 1:17), when he died on Calvary.

...and yes, sanctification adds nothing to our qualification for heaven which is Jesus making us righteous by imputing his Spirit to us while taking away our guilt.

Yes, justification by faith involves that change of heart: Amen! - Hallelujah!

We are made righteous in justification by grace through faith, because Jesus was declared righteous for our justification.

I disagree. Pardon means precisely that someone's character must stand in place of yours so that God can see in you a perfect character, a character free of sin.
Christ didn't need pardon. He didn't need regeneration (new birth) either, so He wasn't justified in the same sense we are.

No, justification justifies what God does. It happens when God pardons our sins and credits Jesus' righteousness to us as if we ourselves were righteous all that time instead of committing all those sins. The reason God does so is because we are dead to sin, self, and Satan and are born again a new man in Christ growing in grace and maturing in the fruits of the Spirit.