Message of the Latter Rain - Kelvin M. Duncan

Duncan and Peters address what they call "Adventist Arminianism."
According to this understanding of the plan of salvation, Christ died for all
humans, but His death is not equivalent to forgiveness, in any sense of the
term. Thus, Adventists hold that only those who believe receive remission of
sin. In other words, Jesus' death on the cross was not really applicable to all
humans; something more is required to produce forgiveness. Because of a
failure to identify the two aspects of forgiveness, the Arminian premise leads
to a legalistic understanding of salvation by the Adventists and a cheap grace
understanding of salvation by the Universalists and many others. Citing
Ellen White's writings, the authors conclude that she refutes the concept of
salvation partly by faith and partly by works. Salvation is entirely a divine
gift. The gift of salvation is not to be received by a holy person but by a
wholly undeserving one. Therefore, salvation is entirely and exclusively
God's prerogative to give. His love prompts Him to forgive "all," without
exception.
Do they suggest that good works are unrelated to our salvation? Hardly!
But it is where in the process that works have a role that is important to
understand. To address the question of the relationship between faith and
works, the authors highlight two Greek words for "forgiveness" (charizomai
and aphiemi) to make their case that God through Christ forgave
(charizomai) "all," even the ungodly. That phase of forgiveness is equivalent
to what they call "corporate universal justification," and it explains why
Adam did not die immediately, despite the death sentence which was
incurred when he sinned. The Son of God stepped into the gap with His
grace and forgave Adam's and, by extension, our sin, placing us under grace.
Christ's death on the cross represented this first phase of God's unfathomable
forgiveness.
On the other hand, citing 1 John 1:9, the authors show that there is a
second phase to God's forgiveness. Paraphrasing Ellen White, they write that
God's forgiveness is "both a judicial pardon and a reclaiming from sin"
3