Testing the claim

In the September 27, 1881, issue of the Seventh-day Adventist official publication The Review & Herald, Ellen White said the following: “God has given man a complete rule of life in his law. Obeyed, he shall live by it, through the merits of Christ. Transgressed, it has power to condemn. The law sends men to Christ, and Christ points them back to the law.”—Review and Herald, September 27, 1881.

This statement flies in the face of the law-gospel distinction. It is true that the law points a person to Jesus, but then she adds that Jesus then turns you right back around and sends you back to the law. Consistent with Adventist teaching, Jesus is seen here as a conduit or a gateway for one to be able to do something one couldn’t previously do.

In other words, He isn’t primarily our substitute and Savior; rather, He is our “enabler”. In this case, EGW says that Christ now gives us the ability to try and keep the law and eventually do so perfectly with His help.

This same thing is seen in the same paper in 1901 where she said: “God will test all, even as He tested Adam and Eve, to see whether they will be obedient. Our loyalty or disloyalty will decide our destiny. Since the fall of Adam, men in every age have excused themselves for sinning, charging God with their sin, saying that they could not keep His commandments. This is the insinuation Satan cast at God in heaven. But the plea, “I cannot keep the commandments,” need never be presented to God; for before Him stands the Saviour, the marks of the crucifixion upon His body, a living witness that the law can be kept. It is not that men cannot keep the law, but that they will not.”—The Review & Herald, May 28, 1901.

The two statements quoted above, which were made 20 years apart from one another—1881 and 1901—show us that Ellen and the great controversy worldview teach that the law first sends one to Christ who bears the marks of the crucifixion. These marks then communicate to a person that the law cannot be changed, and perfect obedience to the law is what is required in order to be fitted for heaven. Thus, in the great controversy scenario, by coming to Jesus in faith, He will then point each person back to the law with a newly acquired ability to keep the law. A person is then on the pathway to eternal life, conditional upon one’s attaining of perfect obedience to the law.

One of the clearest examples showing that the Adventist organization doesn’t understand or teach the law-gospel distinction is found in Ellen White’s comments regarding the Rich Young Ruler: “And behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted Him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto Him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering, said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right; this do, and thou shalt live.” [Luke:10:25-28 [25] And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? [26] He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? [27] And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. [28] And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
See All....] Here it is plainly stated that the condition of gaining eternal life is obedience to the commandments of God.”—Letters & Manuscripts, Vol. 12, Manuscript 41, par. 27, 1897.

But what Mrs. White failed to recognize is that Jesus was not explaining to this man how to be made right with God. The plainest evidence of this is that Jesus mentions nothing to him about faith. Yet Scripture is clear that without faith, no one can be saved (Ephesians:2:8-9 [8] For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: [9] Not of works, lest any man should boast.
See All...; Hebrews:11:6But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
See All...). Something else was going on in this interaction.

The response Jesus gives points out the man’s weak spot. He tells him that if he wants to be truly perfect, then he must sell all of his possessions and give the money to the poor so that he can have treasure in Heaven (Matthew:19:21Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
See All...). We are then told the man heard these words and walked away sad because he had a large amount of wealth (Matthew:19:22But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
See All...). 
Instead of obeying Christ, the man turned and walked away from eternal life—which is knowing God (John:17:3And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
See All...).

Jesus was not explaining to the man that He would be saved by keeping the commandments, but He was explaining to the man how high the standard is—perfectly loving God with all his heart, and perfectly loving his neighbor as he loved himself. In other words, only through perfection can one truly escape sin’s penalty. 

After the man claimed he had reached that standard of perfect love and obedience, Jesus showed him that he had not. In fact, the man was not good; he was not willing to give up what he loved the most in order to honor God. He didn’t measure up to the standard of God’s holiness. 

The man’s response showed he wasn’t actually loving God and loving his neighbor with all his heart; he loved himself and his things. The Law simply did what it was designed to do: it demonstrated to the man that he wasn’t as perfect as he thought he was.

[TBC: For the full article and footnotes, please see:

https://blog.lifeassuranceministries.org/2024/06/06/the-adventist-protestant-dilemma/

“Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ’ (Galatians:3:24-27 [24] Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. [25] But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. [26] For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. [27] For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
See All...).]