20. Ellen White taught an "incomplete atonement."


Answer: Ellen White never described Christ's atonement as incomplete. On the contrary, here are two statements representative of her teaching:


"We are to rejoice that the atonement is complete; and believing in Christ as our complete Saviour, we may know that the Father loves us, even as He loves His Son."--Review and Herald, Nov. 11, 1890 (emphasis supplied).


"Do you realize your sinfulness? Do you despise sin? Then remember that the righteousness of Christ is yours if you will grasp it. Can you not see what a strong foundation is placed beneath your feet when you accept Christ? God has accepted the offering of His Son as a complete atonement for the sins of the world."--The Youth's Instructor, Sept. 20, 1900 (emphasis supplied).


Resources:

Seventh-day Adventists Believe . . . , 1988, pp. 107-117.

Questions on Doctrine, pp. 341-348.

The problem is that Luther's and the reformers defination of the word "Atonement" does not quite match the defination of the Hebrew word "Kipper" that the New Testament was built on.

Now both definations are good and show a point, but we need to be aware of the different definations. When Luther uses the word "Atonement" he means how God is able to let us into heaven. He is right, how God is able to let us into heaven is completely in the death of Jesus.

But when we come to the Hebrew word "Kipper" the defination would be anything God does that can either bring us closer to him if we accept it or pushes us farther away from him if we reject it.

The birth of Jesus was a kipper, the reading and rejoicing in letters from Paul were kippers. The awakening when Luther presented the 95 thesis was a kipper. The Bible translated into common languages were kippers. The re-discovery of the ancient world is kipper. Hearing the Hallalula Chorus is a kipper. When God first revealed himself to the very first created being it was a kipper. The second comming will be a kipper, the distruction of the wicked will be a kipper. Any higher hights that develop a million centuries after the distruction of the wicked will be kippers.

Again, both definitians of the word "atonement" are good, but we need to clearify which defination we are using for the specific context. The investigative judgment is based on the defination of a kipper. The critics are wrong to try to read Luther's use of the word "atonement" into this consept.