We must be careful
not to confuse
shared punishment
and shared guilt.
are not condemned for the sins of the
parents, the children can hardly repent
of a sin for which they are not account-
able. But what about the corporate con-
fessions in the prayers of Daniel and Ezra?
A careful reading reveals that their
prayers were prayers of intercession.
Notice the following in Daniels
prayer:
1. Daniel confesses the sins of his peo-
ple, “We have sinned and done wrong
and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning
aside from thy commandments and ordi-
nances” (Dan. 9:5). “To us, O Lord, be-
longs confusion of face, to our kings, to
our princes, and to our fathers, because
we have sinned against thee” (verse 8).
2. Daniel intercedes for his people
and asks forgiveness for them, “O Lord,
hear; O Lord, forgive” (verse 19).
3. The burden of Daniel’s prayer is an
appeal to God to remove the punishment
which he and his people share as a corpo-
rate group because of their sins as well as
the sins of previous generations, “O
Lord, according to all thy righteous acts,
let thy anger and thy wrath turn away
from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy hill;
because for our sins, and for the iniquities
of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people
have become a byword among all who are
round about us” (verse 16).
Ezra’s prayer is similar to Daniel’s. He
acknowledges the past and present sins of
his people and asks God to remove the
punishment Israel shares as a result of
being a corporate body (Neh. 9). Nei-
ther of these prayers support the idea that
one generation repents for the sins of an-
other generation. Daniel does recognize
shared guilt, “because of our sins, and for
the iniquities of our fathers” (Dan.
9:16), “While 1 was speaking and pray-
ing, confessing my sin and the sin of my
people Israel” (verse 20). These prayers
do, however, illustrate that God deals
with His people as a corporate body, and
punishment is shared by the corporate
group.
Neither can the Ellen White state-
ment concerning the children’s becom-
36 MINISTRY/FEBRUARY/1988
ing partakers of the parents’ sins be used
to support the idea that a later generation
must repent for the sins of a former gen-
eration, for the later generation becomes
partakers of the parents’ sin only when
they perpetuate the sins of the former
generation. As partakers of these sins,
they share the guilt but do not become
responsible for the sins of the former gen-
eration. The children’s responsibility is
to repent of their own sins. When this is
done, they no longer share the guilt of
the former generation.
During the 1888 General Conference
session, the debate over righteousness by
faith and which law is called our school-
master in Galatians 3:24-26 (KJV)
quickly deteriorated into a bitter struggle
between the “old guard” and the support-
ers of Jones and Waggoner. Because El-
len White supported the position of
Jones and Waggoner on righteousness by
faith, she became the object of ridicule
and scorn (see E. G. White manuscript
24, 1888). Her role as God’s messenger
and the integrity and truth of her testi-
monies were called into question.
The feelings of jealousy and hatred
that led to the rejection of God’s counsel
is “the spirit of Minneapolis.” Righteous-
ness by faith is more than a doctrine; it is
a living relationship with Jesus engender-
ing love for God and for others. The
spirit of Minneapolis is totally foreign to
righteousness by faith.
That spirit of resistance and hostility
prevented the Holy Spirit from doing the
work that God intended. After the con-
ference, the delegates carried the spirit of
Minneapolis to their fields of labor.
If the church today demonstrates the
spirit of Minneapolis —resistance and re-
bellion against the testimonies, and feel-
ings of hostility and bitterness toward fel-
low believers—we share in the guilt of
that former generation. But if we do not
adopt these wrong attitudes, we remove
ourselves from shared guilt, even though
we still participate in the shared punish-
ment — the delay of Jesus’ return. While,
by perpetuating their sins, a later gener-
ation may share in the guilt of a previous
generation, each generation is responsi-
ble for only its own behavior; repentance
belongs only to those who actually com-
mit an offense. [|
U Southern Watchman, Mar. 1, 1904. Footnotes
in this article refer to the writings of Ellen G.
White.
2 Ibid., July 12, 1904.
3 The Great Controversy, p. 628.
* Ibid. p. 28.
LETTERS
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