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Guest
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From Glad Tidings Magazine
Jack Sequeira and his theology have been the
subject of much verbal and printed speculation
over the past few years. In the interest of
faithful journalism, we publish his own
testimony below to set the record straight.
MY PERSONAL FAITH JOURNEY
Originally from Goa, a Portuguese enclave on
the west coast of India, my parents migrated
to the British Colony of Kenya, East Africa, in
1913. My father worked in Nairobi (capital of Kenya) as
an accountant for the British Government. It was here
that I was born in 1932. Four years later my parents
moved to Mombasa, the main port of Kenya and the
second largest city of the country. This is where I grew up
My parents raised me as a staunch Roman Catholic.
I served as an altar boy in my younger years. My
elementary and high school education was completed
in Catholic schools.
In the early fifties the British Government introduced
national [military] service and I moved to Nairobi to do
my two-year service. Afterwards, I remained in Nairobi
working as an architect. In my free time I enjoyed
racing motorcycles.
Across from my home was a Seventh-day Adventist
missionary and his family. Robert Wieland was the
president of the Central Kenya Field. One of his
burdens was to help the African pastors with reliable
means of transportation. Many pastors had eight to ten
churches. Elder Wieland bought wrecked motorcycles
and repaired them for the workers.
Our common interest in motorcycles led Elder Wieland
to come to me for help in the above project. We became
good friends, but never did he bring up the subject of
religion. I did learn some of the beliefs of Seventh-day
Adventists from my landlady's daughter, who was a member
In 1957, the Central Seventh-day Adventist Church in
Nairobi planned an evangelistic effort. My Presbyterian
landlady wanted to attend these meetings, at the
request of her SDA daughter who lived in the United
Kingdom. She asked Elder Wieland to take her to the
meetings. Being wise, Elder Wieland requested that I
take her. He knew that as a staunch Roman Catholic I
would not attend these meetings on my own.
I waited at the back of the church and listened to
Elder Dale Ringering, the evangelist, for some three
weeks. It was my first exposure to the prophecies and
truths of the Bible. As a Catholic I had never seen a
Bible, let alone read one. The Holy Spirit convicted
me, and I decided to join the Adventist church. I was
required to complete baptismal classes before I could
be baptized.
The missionary who studied with me was the late Elder
Joe Hunt. Twice a week I rode two miles to his home
on my motorcycle. I wondered why Elder Wieland did
not give me these studies, since he lived just across
the street from me. Many years later I learned the
reason. Elder Wieland's manuscript on "1888 Re-
examined," co-written with Elder Donald Short, was
rejected by the General Conference Committee. As
a result, Wieland was black-listed by the missionaries
of the East African Union. He was not allowed to study
with me, lest he influence me with his "strange beliefs
on 1888."
On the day Elder Wieland was baptizing his son Bob,
Elder Joe Hunt asked him to baptize me at the same
time, since he was already in the baptistry.
Not long after I became a Seventh-day Adventist I
discovered that I had moved from one form of legalism
(salvation by human effort)—the Roman Catholic
Church—to another form of legalism within the
Seventh-day Adventist denomination. Both churches
had given me no assurance of salvation, unless I
met all the requirements of God (which I was failing
to accomplish, no matter how hard I tried). This is a
common problem, even today, among our members.
In 1958, Six months after my conversion to the Seventh-
day Adventist church, I was entitled to a three month
home leave from work—a rule established by the
British Government for non-Africans living in Kenya.
The purpose of the leave was to allow expatriates to
visit their original homeland. Since I had never lived in
India, I decided to ride my motorcycle from Nairobi to
London.
Prior to my journey, the youth director of the East
African Union, Elder Bob Osmunson, handed me a
Youth Instructor magazine. He stated his conviction
that God had called me to the gospel ministry. The
magazine contained an article on Newbold College in
England. Elder Osmunson encouraged me to attend
Newbold if I made it to England on my motorcycle.
Being an introvert, I resisted his suggestion. But all
through my journey I could not escape the idea that
God was calling me to the gospel ministry.
When I arrived in the United Kingdom two months later,
I made the decision to study for the ministry. During my
four years at Newbold College I made many promises
to God, especially at the end of the Weeks of Prayer.
But my promises were like "ropes of sand." Hence,
graduated with no peace or assurance of salvation.
After graduation I married my wife, Jean, and the East
African Union recommended we come to the United
States, where I could study for my Master's degree in
theology in order to qualify for a work permit in East
Africa. I hoped that Andrews University would give me
the assurance of salvation for which I was desperately
seeking. Unfortunately, this did not happen. I graduated
in 1965 with an MA degree in Systematic Theology—
but still no peace in my heart.
I concluded that serving God in the mission field might
bring peace to me. Yet, five years of mission service
in Uganda brought no consolation. It was in 1969,
I believe, that God intervened. All colonial British
passports, including mine, were cancelled by the
British Parliament. I became stateless. As a result, the
Uganda Government cancelled my work permit. I was
now a refugee, without a country or a job. No country
at that time was willing to accept me. Only the United
States Embassy in Kampala was willing to give me a
green card. The Afro-Mideast Division decided to send
me back to Andrews University to study for another
degree, while beginning the application process for
my U. S. citizenship.
During my mission service in Uganda I had heard, for the
first time, about the 1888 Message on Righteousness
by Faith. The African pastors who talked to me about
it had been taught by Elder Robert Wieland. None of
them could tell me the substance of this message,
since, they said, it was withdrawn by the church. While
studying for my Master of Divinity degree, I decided to
research this 1888 message.
I conducted an in-depth study of what E. J. Waggoner
and A. T. Jones taught, along with what Ellen G. White
had to say about their message. At last my eyes were
opened to the fact that what God was requiring from
me for salvation was actually accomplished for me in
Christ over two thousand years ago. This was, indeed,
exceeding good news!
My only problem was that Jones and Waggoner
used the proof text method to prove their points.
Consequently, I was not absolutely sure their messages
were exegetically correct. But I did return to Uganda
with peace and assurance of salvation.
Not long after I returned to Uganda, the country
experienced a coup. Idi Amin, a brutal dictator, became
the new ruler. A Muslim, Amin was anti-Christian. He
also detested the Asian community who were the
business people of the country. In 1972, all Asians,
including my family, were deported from Uganda. We
landed in Beruit, the headquarters of the Afro-Mideast
Division. There it was decided to assign me to Ethiopia.
The work permit for Ethiopia took about three months,
which gave me time to do an exegetical study at the
Middle East College Library on the two main books of
the Bible which Waggoner and Jones used to proclaim
the 1888 message. These two books were Paul's
Epistles to the Romans and Galatians.
I discovered that even though Jones and Waggoner
did take a few of their passages out of context,
they were absolutely correct, on the whole, in their
presentations on Christ our Righteousness and the
doctrine of Righteousness by Faith. This study sealed
my convictions on the 1888 message and completely
transformed my ministry. The year was 1973.____
I began presenting this incredible good news of
salvation in Christ to our Seventh-day Adventist
members, many of whom had no assurance of
salvation. As a result, many have written to thank me
for opening their eyes to such good news. Many state
that they are still members of the Adventist Church
today as a result of this message. This continued after
my official retirement in 2001.
Those who have heard me know that I base my
presentations on the Word of God, especially the
writings of the apostle Paul, and not on the teachings
of Waggoner and Jones. Anyone who has concerns
about the things I have been teaching is welcome to
follow Christ's instructions in Matthew 18. I am willing
to take time to discuss their concerns exegetically from
the Scriptures.
Having given this brief account of my faith journey, I
would now like to turn to the two main areas of my
theology to which some object. These areas are The
"In Christ" Motif and The Human Nature of Christ.
The "In Christ" Motif
A key phrase runs throughout Paul's epistles some
64 times. This recurring phrase, the central theme
of Paul's theology, is the expression, in Christ or in
Christ Jesus. This phrase is sometimes expressed by
other synonymous phrases, such as: in Him; by Him;
through Him; in the Beloved; together with Him; etc. If
these phrases were removed, very little would be left
of Paul's exposition of the good news of the gospel.
Therefore, it is important to understand what Paul
means by the phrase, in Christ, or its equivalent.
They are foundational words of his gospel. Failure
to understand them deprives believers of fully
understanding the incredible good news of the
everlasting gospel and robs them of the joy, peace and
assurance of salvation.________________
We have nothing as Christians, except we have it in
Christ. Everything we enjoy and hope for as believers,
the immediate joys of Justification by faith, the on-
going experience of Sanctification and the hope of
Glorification are ours only in Christ (Ephesians 2:4-7).
Outside of Him we have nothing but sin, condemnation
and death (Ephesians 2:1-3).
The phrase, in Christ, is based on Biblical solidarity,
which simply means the many in one. This is what
makes this phrase rather hard for the western mind
to understand, since Westerners think in terms of
the individual. However, Scripture clearly teaches
that God created all mankind in one man, Adam (the
word Adam means mankind in Hebrew, see Genesis
5:1 and 2, where the word "man" in verse 2, in most
English Bibles, is "Adam" in the original; see also Acts
17:26). In the same way, Paul refers to Christ as the
last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45). Like the first Adam,
Christ also represented the entire human race in His|
work of redemption.
Consequently, when Adam sinned it affected the entire
human race in four ways: sin, alienation, condemnation
and death. The incredible good news of the everlasting
gospel is that when Christ came to this world, over
2000 years ago, He came to reverse the damage of the
first Adam and redeem the entire human race. Thus,
God re-wrote the history of mankind through the birth,
life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, changing
its legal status from "condemnation unto death," to
"justification unto life." This is the truth as it is in Christ
(Romans 5:15-18; 1 Corinthians 15:21, 22).
In presenting the in Christ motif, the apostle Paul
presents it in three phases. The first is in the planning
phase. This took place in the mind of God before the
foundation of the world, even before Adam and Eve
were created (see Ephesians 1:4; Revelation 13: .
This phase encompassed all of Adam's posterity.
The second is the reality phase, which took place over
2000 years ago in the birth, life, death and resurrection
of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:30, 31;
Ephesians 2:5, 6). Some scholars correctly refer
to this phase as the objective facts of the gospel. In
this phase Christ actually obtained salvation, full and
complete, for the entire human race. This is a finished
work to which we can add absolutely nothing (Romans
3:21-31).
The third and final phase is the experience phase.
Unlike the condemnation we inherit from Adam at birth,
the redemption Christ accomplished on the cross for
all of mankind (the reality phase) is God's supreme
gift to the world. And like any gift, it has to be received
by faith in order for it to become effective (John 3:16;
Romans 5:17). This experience phase will continue
in the life of the believers until the Second coming
of Christ when this corruption puts on incorruption (1
Corinthians 15:50-57).
It is important to note that while the first two phases of
the in Christ motif apply to the entire human race, this
third, experiential, phase applies only to believers—
those, who by faith, have believed in Jesus Christ and
experienced the new birth. It also applies to those who,
through no fault of their own, have never heard the
gospel but were faithful to the light they had, whatever
that light may have been (Romans 2:14-16; see also
Desire Of Ages, p. 638; Prophets and Kings, p. 377).
Adventists traditionally belong to the Wesleyan
Arminian school of theology. Unlike the Calvinist who
believes that Christ saved only the elect on the cross,
hence providing "limited atonement," the Arminians
believe that Christ only "potentially" or "provisionally"
saved all of mankind on the cross. For this provisional
salvation to become a reality one must repent and
believe in Jesus Christ. Only then will God place that
person into Christ and the provision will become a
reality. Thus, traditionally, we have limited the in Christ
motif only to believers.
The main argument that has often been used to prove
that the in Christ motif applies only to believers is
Romans 16:7. In this chapter of greetings Paul makes
this statement: "Greet Andronicus and Junias, my
relatives who have been in prison with me ... they
were in Christ before I was" (NIV, emphasis mine).
Clearly, what Paul is implying is that these two men
accepted the truth as it is in Christ and were converted
before Paul himself. To build a whole theology on this
one text while ignoring all the other in Christ texts Paul
uses (some 64 times) is very poor exegesis, to say the
least.
Further, this conclusion is a subtle form of legalism,
salvation by works, since repentance and faith
contribute towards one's salvation. Whereas, according
to Paul, it is the goodness of God (the reality phase or
objective facts of the gospel) that leads one to faith and
repentance (Romans 2:4). Hence, faith is not allowing
God or giving Him permission to put us into Christ, but
accepting with grateful hearts what God has already
accomplished for mankind in Christ (1 Corinthians
1:30, 31; 2 Corinthians 5:18-20; Ephesians 1:3, 4).
It is here where I disagree with the teachings of the Bible
Research Institute, as well as some of the independent
ministries. I believe that the true everlasting gospel,
which God raised the Advent Movement to proclaim
to the world in its global mission, is neither the limited
atonement of Calvinism nor the provisional salvation
of Arminianism. Rather, it is the incredible good news
that, on the cross, the entire human race was actually
or objectively redeemed, justified and reconciled to
God by the death of His Son (John 3:17; 17:4; 19:30;
Romans 5:5-10,18; Ephesians 2:8, 9; 2 Corinthians
5:19)._______________________^^
This is God's supreme gift to the entire human race,
made effective by faith (John 3:16; Romans 3:21-2.
I firmly believe when we Adventists fulfill this global
mission we will have truly proclaimed the everlasting
gospel of the three angels of Revelation 14 with the
power of the fourth angel of Revelation 18. When this
is realized it will become inexcusable for anyone to be
lost. The end will then come (Matthew 24:4).
When we limit the in Christ motif only to its third
phase—the subjective experience of salvation—we
make the experience of salvation the gospel itself,
rather than its application or fruits. But since this
experience is an on-going process—until the Second
Advent (Romans 5:19b; Ephesians 2:7)—it turns the
gospel into good advice, rather than good news, thus
robbing our people of the joy, peace and assurance
of salvation, as demonstrated by the Value-Genesis
survey conducted some years ago.
The Human Nature of Christ
Ever since the publishing of the book Questions on
Doctrine (1957), this topic on the human nature
of Christ has become a hot potato. For this reason
many refuse to even discuss this subject. Yet Ellen
G. White clearly states: "The humanity of the Son of
God is everything to us. ... This should be our study
(Selected Messages, vol. 1, p. 244, emphasis mine).
The reason for this is that the humanity of our Savior is
vitally linked to the everlasting gospel of Revelation 14
and our salvation from the universal sin problem.
Before I present my position on this important subject
and show its connection to the truth of the everlasting
gospel, I must explain why there is controversy in this
regard. In the late 50s, the evangelical scholar, Walter
Martin, decided to revise his book, The Kingdom of
the Cults. According to him, four main cults within
Christianity were the Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses,
Christian Science and Seventh-day Adventists.
However, his friend, Donald Barnhouse, editor of
Eternity Magazine, advised him that he needed to
get his information directly from the church leaders of
these denominations, and not second hand sources. (I
wish my critics would follow the same procedure).
Consequently, Martin and Barnhouse met with nine of
the leaders of our church (four administrators and five
scholars) in the late 1950s. In their discussion, Walter
Martin pointed out that all the reliable New Testament
scholars (at that time) took the position that the human
nature of Christ was like Adam before the Fall and not
the same as our fallen sinful nature (Pre-Fall verses
Post-Fall). Therefore, he stated that if we (Seventh-
day Adventists) insisted in teaching that Christ took
the fallen sinful nature of mankind (Post-Fall) he would
continue to include us as a cult.
These leaders felt this was a good opportunity to free
the church from the cult stigma. Therefore, one of
them claimed that only a "lunatic fringe" in our church
took that position, even though our Sabbath School
Lessons, Bible Readings for the Home, and other
publications clearly presented the Post-Fall human
nature of Christ. In fact, the late Adventist scholar,
Dr. Jean Zurcher's book, Touched by our Feelings, a
Historical Survey of Adventist Thought on the Human
Nature of Christ, published by Review and Herald
(1999), clearly demonstrated the fact that while our
church did not have an official position on this doctrine,
the clear teachings of the church, prior to Questions
on Doctrine, was Post-Fall.______________
In 1962 a British evangelical scholar, Harry Johnson,
published his London University doctoral dissertation
on The Humanity of Our Saviour. This is his conclusion:
"The eternal Son of God became man for our salvation;
but what kind of human nature did He assume? The
answer of this book is that He took human nature as
it was because of the Fall. Despite this, He lived a
perfect, sinless life, and finally redeemed this 'fallen
nature' through His cross; in this victory is the basis of
Atonement" (fly leaf of the book).
As a result of his dissertation, many reliable New
Testament scholars, such as, Anders Nygren, Thomas
Torrance, James Dunn and even the International
Critical Commentary, edited by C. E. B. Cranfield,
have now moved to the Post-Fall position of the
human nature of Christ. All these prominent Bible
scholars base their arguments on the teachings of the
Scriptures. If only our brethren had waited a few more
years this whole controversy over the humanity of our
Savior could have been resolved.
To appreciate the Post-Fall position regarding the
human nature of Christ, we must consider it in the
light of the everlasting gospel (see 1 Corinthians 3:11-
13). We must start with the sin problem, since Christ
assumed our humanity in order to save mankind from
the universal sin problem (Matthew 1:21; 1 Timothy
1:15).______________________
According to the New Testament, sin is a dual problem.
Most Christians look at sin only in terms of behavior.
As the apostle John put it, "sin is the transgression of
the law" (KJV), or more accurately, "sin is lawlessness"
(1 John 3:4). More than that, sin is a state that has
to do with our nature, which we inherited from Adam
(Romans 5:12, 19a). This sinful nature makes us
slaves to sin (Romans 3:9-20).
Our sinful behavior does not make us sinners; it only
proves that we are sinners by nature. Therefore, our
very nature condemns us to death from birth (Romans
5:12-18; Ephesians 2:1-3). In other words, the New
Testament presents sin as both a verb (action), as well
as a noun (condition or state).
For Christ to redeem mankind from both sin problems
He had to assume the self-same nature we are born
with, in order for Him to be our complete Savior. That
is why Hebrews 2:17 declares: "For this reason he had
to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that
he might become a merciful and faithful high priest
(NIV, emphasis mine; see also Romans 8:2, 3).
Does this make Christ a sinner in need of a Savior,
as some who teach the Pre-Fall position accuse the
Post-Fall proponents of believing? The answer is a
definite NO. We must never teach that Christ had a
sinful nature, but rather He assumed our sinful nature
that needed redeeming. I was once asked by a couple
in Chicago to deliver some money to their struggling
daughter who lived in Salem, Oregon—my home town.
The fact that I carried the money in my possession all
the way from Chicago to Salem did not make me a
thief. The money did not belong to me. I had assumed
it in order to deliver it to their daughter. Had I kept the
money for myself I would have become a thief.
In the same way, when the Bible speaks of the human
nature of Christ it uses a qualifying word, often
translated in our English Bibles by the word made. For
example, Christ was made flesh (John 1:14); He was
made to be sin (2 Corinthians 5:21); He was made
under the law (Galatians 4:4, 5), He was made in
all points as His brethren (Hebrews 2:17), etc. Ellen
G. White puts it this way: "He took upon His sinless
nature our sinful nature, that He might know how to
succor those who are tempted" (Medical Ministry, p.
181). Had Christ consented to that sinful nature He
assumed He would have become a sinner in need of
a Savior Himself.
But not even by a thought did He allow the sinful desires
of the flesh to control Him, so that Satan could not
accuse Him of a single sin (John 14:30). Clearly, our
sinful human nature was in His possession when He
assumed it at the incarnation, but that nature was not
His and therefore did not make Him a sinner. Instead,
He conquered it during His thirty-three years on this
earth and finally executed it on the cross (Romans
8:2, 3). Thus, He took to heaven a glorified humanity,
which He is reserving for all believers at His Second
Advent (Romans 8:22-25; Philippians 3:20, 21). This
is the incredible good news of the everlasting gospel
Incidentally, the recent addition of the new Seventh-
day Adventist fundamental belief, Growing in Christ,
becomes meaningless, unless we realize that Christ
had to meet, head-on, the law (constant force) of sin
in our members. This law of sin, according to Paul,
makes us slaves to sin. It makes holy living, in and of
ourselves, impossible (Romans 7:14-25).
Space will not allow me to deal with this important topic
in detail. Therefore, for those who would like to have
a deeper understanding of this important truth, as it
is in Christ, I recommend you read my book Saviour
of the World (218 pages), published by Pacific Press
Publishing Association (1996). It is available from my
web site www.jacksequeira.org. [Saviour of the World
is also available at: www.gtpublishers.org]. This book
presents in detail this important doctrine and will clarify
my teachings on this subject.
Surely, God is patiently waiting for the day when, as
a united church, the world will hear from Adventists
the loud cry and, "One truth will prevail, one subject
will swallow up every other, Christ our righteousness."
(Sons and Daughters, p. 259).
Feel free to contact Elder Sequeira via email
at\ jacksequeira at (no spam) comcast.net.
Saviour of the World, by Jack Sequeira.
Available online: www.gtpublishers.org.
Sale priced at $5.00 each, plus S&H.
Price in effect through December 31, 2009. |
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