Investigative Judgment

Definition and Meaning

The investigative judgment (Korean josa simpan, 調査審判) means "a judgment rendered through investigation." It is a distinctive doctrine of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (commonly called Ansikgyo or the Adventist Church in Korea). The church teaches that in 1844 Christ entered the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary and began a judgment that precedes the Second Coming. In this judgment, the records of those who have professed faith in God are examined, revealing before the universe who will share in salvation. The doctrine is set forth in the church's Fundamental Beliefs under the article "Christ's Ministry in the Heavenly Sanctuary."

Biblical and Historical Background

The principal text cited in support is Daniel 8:14: "Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." By applying the day-for-a-year principle and taking as the starting point the Persian king's decree recorded in Ezra 7 (457 BC), the calculation arrives at 1844. The doctrine also connects the Day of Atonement ritual of Leviticus 16, in which the high priest entered the Most Holy Place and cleansed the sanctuary, with the concept of the heavenly sanctuary in Hebrews 8–9.

The doctrine originated in the Millerite movement of nineteenth-century America. William Miller predicted that Christ would return in 1844, but the Second Coming did not occur, an event known as the "Great Disappointment." Afterward, some believers interpreted the "sanctuary to be cleansed" as the heavenly sanctuary rather than the earth, and this interpretation, endorsed by Ellen G. White, became established doctrine. There has been disagreement even within the denomination; most notably, in 1980 the theologian Desmond Ford criticized the doctrine, provoking a major controversy.

The Doctrine in the Korean Context

The Korean Adventist Church teaches this doctrine as central to its eschatology. The church explains that the investigative judgment does not add anything to the atonement accomplished on the cross. In its view, the judgment is a process that reveals God's justice, and believers may have assurance in Christ, their Advocate.

Other Protestant denominations do not accept this doctrine. Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, and other theologians generally criticize it on three grounds:

• It diminishes the atonement accomplished "once" for all, as stated in Hebrews 9:12.
• It undermines the assurance of salvation.
• The calculation arriving at 1844 has no biblical basis.

Various Korean Presbyterian denominations and researchers of heresy reportedly cite this doctrine frequently as a major basis for classifying the Adventist Church as heretical or as a group with heretical tendencies. By contrast, some American evangelical scholars, while criticizing the doctrine, have regarded the Adventist Church as a whole as a distinctive denomination within orthodox Protestantism.