April 27, 1999

May 31, 1999

Hi Sam,

In a preliminary response to your question, I pointed you to a site that contains many examples Mr. Armstrong's writings and old WCG literature, and remarkably "What Do You mean...Salvation?" was not listed. I have before me a 1961 version of this booklet - which is a good version to look to because when this was written Mr. Armstrong was young enough (69) to (I would think) have a very direct hand in its writing, and would express what he personally thought about the subject of salvation and works.

I want to answer your question, but I also want to use your question as an "excuse" to do a detailed analysis of this booklet. As I relate in my personal story, it was a booklet that was instrumental in my conversion.

Before, I get to your question, let me explain that I am not a theologian, although I am about to embark on some seminary work beginning this summer. But it has been the legacy of the Worldwide Church of God that all members should be able to explain their theology - maybe not as a theologian would in a formal paper - but all should be able to explain what they believe and why they believe that way. So I am analyzing this booklet from the point of view of a layman explaining what I believe - not as a theologian.

And as I mentioned to you in a previous e-mail, there are NO Christian churches that blatantly teach that one can earn salvation by works. There is too much to the contrary in the New Testament to present a defense of salvation by works. Salvation by works is an extreme that no Christian avowedly preaches. The other extreme is to preach that there is no law and a Christian can do anything he wants - and no Christian preaches that either.

Salvation

And the answer is not between these two extremes either. I basically present the answer to the dilemma on some of my pages: My House Now compared to My House Then, an article entitle Living Today, a sermon entitled Living Today, my personal story, and my analysis of our past history related to keeping the holy days.

In essence, salvation has three parts - ONE- justification (past salvation - forgiveness of past sins) TWO- sanctification (present salvation - our life of righteousness in Christ) and THREE- glorification (future salvation - our life after death for eternity). I believe that virtually all Christians believe in number one, and that many Christians try to fill in too many details in number three.

But as for number two, sanctification, many Christians try to reduce sanctification, or right living, to points of law, as if the whole of righteousness is the sum of its parts. Real righteousness, the kind described in the sermon on the mount, cannot be reduced to parts. It is my opinion that the greatest flaws in the old Worldwide Church of God was in the arrogance of Mr. Armstrong, and of many of its leaders, and in a failure to understand and teach the sanctification that comes through Christ. Thus the old Worldwide Church of God, while believing that salvation was a gift, focused too much on their unique points of law.

First of all, in direct answer to your question on Mr. Armstrong's feelings on salvation and works, I will cite these quotations from the 1961 version of "What Do You Mean... Salvation?"

Those quotes show that Mr. Armstrong believed that salvation was a gift, not something to be earned. But the failure to fully grasp sanctification resulted in Mr. Armstrong leading a church that practiced what might be described as "puritanical" religion. As I said above, "righteousness" or "good works" came to be perceived by many as being reduced to points of law.

A couple of other points need to be made before I get into an analysis of "What Do You Mean...Salvation". First, Mr. Armstrong's theology on salvation was from a premise of what some call "soul sleep" - the idea that after death there is no consciousness until the return of Christ to earth and the first resurrection. His theology was also from the premise of "annihilationism", which says that the fate of the unrepentant is that they are resurrected to be made aware of their state and then are burned up in the lake of fire; they cease to exist forever. This is also called "conditional immortality".

These are points of view held by the Seventh Day Adventists. From "family trees" that have been published on the Internet and in Mr. Tkach's book, "Transformed By Truth" the common trunk of the SDA's and the WCG goes back to followers of William Miller in the mid 1800's. To what degree these two doctrines are extant in the branch churches from William Miller on, I don't know. But I am pretty sure that the Sabbatarian churches of Oregon, from which Mr. Armstrong apparently took a lot of his theology, had those doctrines.

The Eternity section of my web site goes into these topics in more detail.

So in the booklet, the theme of repenting and entering a new life with Christ is intertwined with a "pitch" for soul sleep and annihilationism. In one way, exposition of soul sleep/annhilationism is a diversion from the topic of salvation through Christ because our salvation in our daily life involves our walk with Christ, while knowing the precise details of our life in eternity doesn't matter. On the other hand, Mr. Armstrong's stated purpose of the booklet was to "get to the plain WHY, WHATS, HOWS, AND WHENS" of salvation (p. 4). So Mr. Armstrong, with a journalistic mindset, felt it necessary to do just that.

Another premise in the booklet is that Mr. Armstrong had the cultic mindset of being involved in not just AN end-time work but THE End-time Work of God. Mr. Armstrong, and his followers (and I include myself) believed that the Worldwide Church of God had received lost truths. Consequently, the booklet comes across as critical of much of Christianity.

I will now present the flow of the booklet in a tabular form and will offer my comments.

"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" (Rom 3:23) p. 4

This is starting point for many tracts explaining salvation - and is an important first point.

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Rom 6:23) p. 5

He presented eternal life and death as opposites - death being defined as a permanent cessation of life in the lake of fire.

"ETERNAL LIFE is not something you can earn, it is God's GIFT through Christ!" p. 5

It seems to me from the flow that he emphasizes eternal life as a gift to counteract the eternal-conscious-punishment-in-hell view. Those who promote that view, he explains, have a model where everyone already has immortality. Therefore the perspective of the love of God in offering a free gift is dimmed because it is "flavored" with defense of condition immortality.

Our state without salvation: "You do not possess eternal life from birth. Christ said: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh" (John 3:6) So you are only mortal, material FLESH. You are "of the earth-earthy" (1 Cor . 15:47)" p. 6-7

Again, this is from the conditional immortality perspective. Even apart from this, without the religious world view we have no existence beyond the grave - so it is an important, and Biblical, point.

Only God has immortality. (I Tim. 6:16). "The risen Christ, and He only, of all who were born human, has immortality. God has immortality-life inherent, in Himself (John 5:26). He has given to the Son, Jesus Christ, also to have LIFE in Himself. And only God can impart eternal life to YOU! It comes through Christ." p. 8

Some have said that the old WCG denied the deity of Christ. It never occurred to me in 30 years that Jesus was, and is, anything but God.

Our sins have separated us from God. (Isa 59:1-2 ) Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

p. 8

True

Repent. (Isa 55:6-8 ) "Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: ...For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD."

p. 9

True.

"You find you are still cut off! The barrier is still there! Do you know why?? p. 9

He points out, correctly, that repentance does not save us.

"All have sinned." "Sin is the transgression of the law." I John 3:4 The law defines sin. p. 9-10

The WCG emphasized I John 3:4 as the primary definition of sin. But all modern translations translated this something like "Sin is lawlessness." In other words, sin is the approach of one who does not have a greater authority for living than ones own self. Mr. Armstrong's thought process was: Sin is the transgression of the law. The law is 10 commandments. The 4^th commandment says to keep the Sabbath holy. Conclusion: We must keep a weekly Sabbath using old Testament guidelines as much as possible. I taught using this logic; I know.

"That Law is the Ten Commandments. It is SIN to break the Ten Commandments." p. 10

Here is a point missed by many well meaning Christians. The 10 Commandments are the core of the Old Covenant.(Ex. 34:28) I cite two proofs that they are not an ultimate guide to living our lives under the New Covenant. 1) The New Testament does refer to most of the 10 Commandments, but does not set them apart in a special way as a guide to life. 2) Any Christian teacher (including the old WCG) expounding the 10 commandments has to assume they are not enough for us today and have to be expanded on! Think about it! I can abuse my wife and still obey the commandment "This shalt not commit adultery." See my personal story for more on the 10 commandments.

(Rom 3:20 KJV) "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin." "Keeping the law will not justify anyone." p. 10-11

True.

God set in motion the physical laws of chemistry and physics. "The great law of LOVE is a spiritual law. It is THE WAY of peace, of happiness-of right relationship with God and with human neighbor...To break it is to turn in the opposite direction from peace, happiness, security, abundance, and toward strife, fear, worry, unhappiness, suffering, death." p. 11-12

True. But here Mr. Armstrong, in my opinion, contradicts what he said about the 10 Commandments being a definition of sin (and by extension the definition of righteousness). Despite what he said about the 10 Commandments, he knew that sin and righteousness are defined by something deeper. My thinking for thirty years was that the 10 Commandments must remain central because the fourth commandment is the biggest proof of the Sabbath. I believe that to have been Mr. Armstrong's thinking also.

"You have forsaken your WAY - sin;....And YOU ARE STILL CUT OFF FROM GOD! Your works-your Law-keeping, while certainly REQUIRED, still has not JUSIFIED past guilt - has not RECONCILED you to GOD. You still have NO ACCESS WHATEVER to God." P. 13

Mr. Armstrong uses the word "law-keeping". Knowing how I thought for quite a number of years, this type of language caused us to retain Old Covenant laws like clean and unclean meats, tithing, etc. He uses the word "required". Again thinking like I thought, the word required was used this way: "Do you earn salvation by things like tithing and Sabbath keeping?" Our answer: "No". "Is the Sabbath required?" Our answer: "Yes, just like not murdering your neighbor is required." We never understood sanctification. Briefly Paul said Christ's love compels us (2 Cor 5:14), so a Christian does feel that he is required to do something. Again the links to mentioned before deal with this topic.

(Rom 5:8-10 KJV) But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. p. 14

We all hung on to having our sins being forgiven by the blood of Christ. But we did not make Christ the center of our worship and our preaching, except during the spring Holy day season when we observed our annual New Testament Passover (Lord's Supper). See My Old House.

Jesus Christ never transgressed God's Law. He said, "I have kept my Father's Commandments" (John 15:10) "All things-including all humans-were MADE BY HIM (John 1:1-3)" p. 14

True

"If you have repented, and accepted Jesus Christ as personal Savior you are already now justified!...'JUSTIFIED' does not refer to the FUTURE-it has to do only with your guilty PAST! p. 14-15

As I said in the introductory paragraphs, we understood justification.

You are no longer UNDER Law. It no longer has claim over you life! You are now under GRACE- undeserved PARDON...the BARRIER between you and God has now been removed!" p. 15

We limited grace to the definition of "undeserved pardon". I remember giving a sermon in the early 80's about grace because the NT says so much about it. I was puzzled by the fact that if one substituted "undeserved pardon" for the word "grace" in the New Testament references, it just didn't fit many of the places. A better substitution for "grace" would be "unmerited favor".

"much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life."

"That is still future" "Not yet saved -but we SHALL BE-.." p. 15-16

Yes, there is a future part of salvation, but it is not all future. The New Testament also talks about salvation the present tense. (Acts 15:11, Col. 1:13)

(Rom 6:1-2 KJV) What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? {2} God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? p. 16

We feared a grace that produces no change in our life. And Paul did as well. This point bears repeating. But we also feared a grace that would do away with Sabbath keeping, Holy Day keeping, and tithing. (At least I did.)

(Rom 6:15-16 KJV) What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. {16} Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

"Not under the law" means not under the penalty of the law. p 16-17

We knew that some laws were not in force today - e.g. animal sacrifices. But we did not want to say all OT law as abrogated because then tithing, and Sabbath keeping would fall. So we had to find explanations for several of Paul's statements about law. Hence, references to "not under the law" became translated in messages and booklets as "not under the penalty of the law".

"We must not return to rebellion against God's inexorable law of LOVE - His right way of life. If we do, we are again under the law - again automatically sentenced to DEATH!...When you accept, by His grace, remission of sins, it is only for sins THAT ARE PAST!" p. 17

Mr. Armstrong seems to flip-flop between two definitions of the law - one which can be reduced to points (the 10 commandments) and one which is more than the sum of its points (the "inexorable law of LOVE"). I have to admit that for thirty years when I would hear the words "the LAW of God" in a message or read those words in a booklet, I could not define what "the LAW of God" was.

God's merciful PARDON - His GRACE - is bestowed on us because we have repented with a sincere desire to turn from our wicked ways of lawlessness. If we are willing to life, from here on, righteously, happily, as we should have from the beginning, the merciful and loving God has been willing to GIVE His Son Jesus Christ, who, in turn, was willing to give His LIFE, to square up our PAST law-breaking-to wipe the slate clean, and give us, BY HIS MERCIFUL GRACE, a fresh, clean start. So, from here on, we must obey - unto RIGHTEOUSNESS! (Rom. 6:16) p. 17-18

Mr. Armstrong wanted to explain salvation in a cause and effect manner. I don't think we can say that grace has a cause in what we do. If it has a cause then it is merited, and the definition "unmerited pardon" makes no sense. Rather, we repent and change our life because we respond to God's unmerited pardon for us. God saves us because we accept that pardon by accepting Christ as our savior.

Yet you cannot, of your own strength , keep the spiritual Law spiritually.

Yes

(Luke 1:6 KJV) And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. (Mat 19:17 KJV) And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. (1 John 2:4 KJV) He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. p. 18

But we always interpreted the word "commandments" in these verses as "the 10 Commandments". The 10 commandments provided our foundation for the weekly Sabbath. While some of the 10 Commandment are listed in some of these passages, the whole of righteousness in New Testament is not based on the 10 Commandments.

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in a human being imparts God's immortal life to us. It is "DEVINE SPIRITUAL LOVE -the love of GOD flowing into you from God Almighty - through the living Christ! (Rom. 5:5) p. 19

Yes. But we placed the Holy Spirit in a different category from the Father and the Son. We saw the "threeness" of God as a person-father and a person-son and the Holy spirit as a power. We would have said God is two plus a power, not three equal persons. Many will not agree, but I believe the danger in not accepting the standard Trinity description of God is that we felt we had to be in conflict with other Christians to justify our identity. Our identity is in Christ, not in our separateness from other Christians.

It takes LOVE to fulfill - to PERFORM - the LAW. (Rom 13:10 KJV) Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. (The verse was cited, but not quoted.)

Generally OK. But the word "perform" is not equivalent to "fulfil" in that it suggests that righteousness can be reduced to enumerated rules. It can't.

What he urged was the formula of Acts 2:38. 1) Repent 2)Be baptized. Then the believer would receive the Holy Spirit.

The formula is good, but realize that salvation is spiritual and cannot be outlined like the instructions to assemble a bicycle. For example, Acts 10:47 records a water baptism after receiving the Holy Spirit.

(Rom 8:14 KJV) For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

(1 John 3:2 KJV) Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

True.

GET IT STRAIGHT. You are now converted- a changed person - God's Spirit (Eph. 4:23) produces a RENEWING of your mind. Your whole concept and direction of life is CHANGED! God's Spirit is HIS VERY LIFE imparted to you! You are now a BEGOTTEN son of God. p. 22

We believed that a Christian will live a different life. There is no question that this is true and it is part of the legacy of the "old" WCG that we believed that Christianity was a way of life. Yet we wanted to distance ourselves from all others who believed in Christ. Mr. Armstrong used the words "begotten son" because he taught that "born again" referred to our change at the resurrection, not our change at conversion. It was a cultic, iconoclastic, approach.

Salvation is a matter of WHAT YOU BECOME - not where you go. p. 22

True. Unfortunately, Mr. Armstrong did not see all sides of this issue. In his radio broadcasts he did make an issue of "where you go" in that he picked on other Christians for using the phrase "go to heaven".

You must grow spiritually. II Peter 3:18 p.22

True, but the full verse is ( NIV) "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen."

We emphasized growing spiritually and that often translated into a self improvement kick. Growing in "the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" amounts to much more than a self-improvement program. See my sermon, The Surpassing Greatness of Knowing Christ.

IF you overcome - overcome your own carnal nature, the world and the devil - AND KEEP CHRIST'S WORKS (not your own works, but CHRIST'S - by HIS SPIRIT IN YOU) then you shall reign and RULE ALL NATIONS with Him in the happy WORLD TOMORROW! p.22

Quoted from the message to the Churches in Revelation 2 and 3. There is a "worldly" world view that we need to avoid. Yet often "keeping Christ's works" became associated in our minds with "doing the distinctive practices of our church." And the distinctives became a way of judging ourselves and others.

The ruling of nations in the millenium was our gospel; we even titled our media work "The World Tomorrow" It is not the Gospel. The gospel is that salvation is available to you through Christ. See the millenium section of my site.

[concluding paragraph] p. 22-23 So, finally, back again to YOU! Where are we, now? You have been converted - changed in mind, concept, attitude, direction of WAY of life - you are begotten as a child of God- you have now eternal life abiding in you - as long as you continue in contact and fellowship with God (1 John 1:3) - all by God's GRACE as His GIFT, and not anything you have earned by your works; and now if you continue overcoming, growing spiritually - and ALL THIS ACTUALLY THROUGH GOD'S POWER - you shall INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD, and be made IMMORTAL to live forever in happiness and joy!

This pictures a changed life - a life connected to God - an eternal life abiding in us now that continues on for eternity. That is what Mr. Armstrong hoped for; that is what we all hoped for when we were baptized. And those who hung on to the real trunk of the tree - the Gospel of Jesus Christ - obtained what He promised: (John 10:10 NIV) "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

So that ends my brief analysis. I believe that this booklet was instrumental in my conversion. I can remember being convicted by this booklet to give my life to God. It is my hope that many reading this analysis will be encouraged that it is the Gospel of Christ that calls an individual to Him. And it is to the Gospel that we must preach and it is to the Gospel we must cling.

In Christ,

John Torgerson