The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

II. Progressive Development of Fundamental Beliefs

1. CONFERENCES RESULT IN UNIFIED MOVEMENT

A series of five conferences in 1848, spread over New England, drew the Sabbatarian Adventists together in unity and set the pattern of the doctrinal framework adopted. The foundations were thus securely laid for a growing and expanding church, formally organized in 1863 as the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Their first journal, the Present Truth, launched in 1849, was joined by the Advent Review in 1850, and succeeded by the Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, as the official church paper of the upspringing movement. And these all promulgated the Conditionalist contentions. CFF2 669.4

2. ESCHATOLOGY’S PART IN THE DEVELOPMENT

A restudy of the eschatological involvements of the “last things” had indicated a sequence of events leading up to, and following, the Second Advent, with its attendant resurrection of the saints, the second resurrection (of the wicked) not coming till the close of the millennial thousand years. Then followed, in turn, the pronouncement of the irrevocable sentences of judgment, and finally the execution of these sentences upon the wicked, with destruction not only for all incorrigible sinners but of the devil himself and all his evil angel cohorts. This was recognized as the grand outline. Then, with the last vestige of sin and sinners destroyed, there would come the promised re-creation of “a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1-4), to be the eternal home of the saved forevermore. ¹ Such were their considered conclusions, based upon the eschatological outline of Holy Writ. CFF2 670.1

3. FUNDAMENTAL BELIEFS CRYSTALLIZED IN “MANUAL.”

This basic outline, progressively adopted in group study and conferences, then published in periodical article, tract, and book form, was finally crystallized in the statement of the twenty-two “Fundamental Beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists,” appearing annually in the Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, and in their official Church Manual. We here quote articles nine to twelve, and twenty-two, that their positions as a whole, on life, death, and destiny, may be on record. We will then go back and note certain major steps in their development. CFF2 670.2

“9. That God ‘only bath immortality.’ (1 Timothy 6:16.) Mortal man possesses a nature inherently sinful and dying. Eternal life is the gift of God through faith in Christ. (Romans 6:23.) ‘He that hath the Son hath life.’ (1 John 5:12.) Immortality is bestowed upon the righteous at the second coming of Christ, when the righteous dead are raised from the grave and the living righteous translated to meet the Lord. Then it is that those accounted faithful ‘put on immortality.’ (1 Corinthians 15:51-55.) CFF2 671.1

“10. That the condition of man in death is one of unconsciousness. That all men, good and evil alike, remain in the grave from death to the resurrection. (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6; Psalm 146:3, 4; John 5:28, 29.) CFF2 671.2

“11. That there shall be a resurrection both of the just and of the unjust. The resurrection of the just will take place at the second coming of Christ; the resurrection of the unjust will take place a thousand years later, at the close of the millennium. (John 5:28, 29; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 20:5-10.) CFF2 671.3

“12. That the finally impenitent, including Satan, the author of sin, will, by the fires of the last day, be reduced to a state of nonexistence, becoming as though they had not been, thus purging the universe of God of sin and sinners. (Romans 6:23; Malachi 4:1-3; Revelation 20:9, 10; Obadiah 16.)... CFF2 671.4

“22. That God will make all things new. The earth, restored to its pristine beauty, will become forever the abode of the saints of the Lord. The promise to Abraham, that through Christ he and his seed should possess the earth throughout the endless ages of eternity, will be fulfilled. ‘The kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.’ Christ, the Lord, will reign supreme, and every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, ‘will ascribe’ blessing and honour and glory and power, unto ‘him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.’ (Genesis 13:14-17; Romans 4:13; Hebrews 11:8-16; Matthew 5:5; Isaiah 35; Revelation 21:1-7; Daniel 7:27; Revelation 5:13.)” ² CFF2 671.5

That is the accepted faith of Seventh-day Adventists. CFF2 671.6

Now let us examine the individual faith of the founders. CFF2 671.7