1. Christ's sacrifice is not merely provisional but effective for the whole world. The only reason anybody can be lost is that he has chosen to resist the saving grace of God. Salvation is by faith; condemnation comes by unbelief (or non-faith).
2. Thus Christ's sacrifice has literally saved the world from premature destruction and has legally justified the entire human race in Himself, as our Second Adam. When the individual sinner hears and believes the pure gospel, he experiences justification by faith. The lost deliberately negate the justification Christ has already effected for them.
3. True justification by faith changes the heart. It is, therefore, much more than a legal declaration of acquittal; it makes the believer to become obedient to all the commandments of God.
4. This marvelous work is accomplished through the ministry of the new covenant wherein the Lord actually writes His law in the heart of the believer. This new motivation transcends fear of being lost or hope of reward in being saved. Abraham's faith enabled him to live under the new covenant, while multitudes of Christians today live under the old covenant because self-centered concern is their motivation. The old covenant was the promise of the people to be faithful; under the new covenant salvation comes by believing God's promise to enable us to obey, not by our making promises to Him.
5. God's love is active, not passive. As Good Shepherd, Christ is seeking His lost sheep. Salvation does not depend on the lost sheep seeking the Shepherd, or the lost coin seeking its Owner, but on our believing that He is seeking us, and our yielding to Him.
6. It is difficult to be lost and it is easy to be saved if one understands and believes how good this Good News is. A constant resisting of His grace is sin. Since Christ has already paid the penalty for every man's sin, the only reason anyone can be condemned at last is his/her continued unbelief. Non-faith is a refusal to appreciate the redemption achieved by Christ on His cross. The true gospel unveils this unbelief and leads to an effective repentance that prepares the believer for the return of Christ.
7. In seeking lost mankind, Christ came all the way, taking upon Himself and assuming the sinful nature of man after the Fall. This He did that He might save us and that He might be tempted in all points like as we are, yet demonstrate perfect righteousness "in the likeness of sinful flesh." "The message of Christ's righteousness" that Ellen White endorsed so enthusiastically in the 1888 era is rooted in this unique view of the nature of Christ. The 1888 messengers (A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner) recognized that the teaching that Christ took only the sinless nature of Adam before the Fall is a legacy of Romanism, the insignia of the mystery of iniquity which keeps Him "afar off" and "not nigh at hand."
8. Our Savior "condemned sin in the flesh" of fallen mankind. This means that He has outlawed sin. In the light of the cross, the devil cannot force anyone to sin. It is totally unnecessary for us to keep on sinning. Righteousness is by faith; sin is by unbelief. To be truly "human" is to be Christ-like in character, for He was and is truly human as well as truly divine.
9. The only element God's people need in order to prepare for Christ's return is genuine faith which works by love. Righteousness is by faith; it is impossible to have faith and not demonstrate righteousness in the life, because true faith works by love. Moral and spiritual failures are the fruit of perpetuating Israel's ancient sin of unbelief today, through the confusion of a false righteousness by faith which follows the confusion of a false christ.
10. Righteousness by faith since 1844 is "the third angel's message in verity." Thus it is greater than what the Reformers taught and what the popular churches understand today. It is a message of abounding grace consistent with the unique Adventist understanding of the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, a work contingent on the full cleansing of the hearts of Gods people on earth, which the High Priest will accomplish for all who let Him do so.
—Condensed and adapted from 1888 Re-Examined, Preface