Corporate responsibility of every member of any church organization is taught in Scripture by the Achan principle. It is also taught by the "one body in Christ" principle. Were corporate responsibility not a fact of Scripture, the entire Protestant Reformation would be an abominable heresy! Separation from Rome would be unnecessary! All one would need do is remain and protest what he/she regarded as error!
1Cor. 6:15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make [them] the members of an harlot? God forbid.
Ellen White on Corporate Responsibility
Ellen White fully supported the Biblical principle of corporate responsibility. Here are a few of her many statements to that effect:
"The plain straight testimony must live in the church, or the curse of God will rest upon His people as surely as it did upon ancient Israel because of their sins. God holds His people, AS A BODY, responsible for the sins existing in individuals among them" Testimonies, vol. 3, 269.
"I was shown that the pointed testimony must live in the church. This alone will answer to the message to the Laodiceans. Wrongs must be reproved, sin must be called sin, and iniquity must be met promptly and decidedly, and put away from us AS A PEOPLE." Testimonies, vol. 3, 260.
"Should a case like Achan's be among us, there are many who would accuse those who might act the part of Joshua in searching out the wrong, of having a wicked, faultfinding spirit...God's displeasure is upon His people, and He will not manifest His power in the midst of them while sins exist among them and are FOSTERED BY THOSE IN RESPONSIBLE POSITIONS." Testimonies, vol. 3, 270.
Ecumenical linkage to fallen Babylon has been engaged by THOSE IN RESPONSIBLE POSITIONS in the professing SDA church. Every member who is aware of this UNPARDONABLE ACT OF APOSTASY is corporately responsible for it, if he/she remains a member of the church after being apprised of such violation on the part of the corporate church. See our section on the ecumenical involvement of the SDA church to further apprise yourself of this serious apostasy which "removes the eyes and feet from off the Midnight Cry Lighted Path, after which it is impossible to get back on the path according to Scripture and Ellen White.
"God has not set any kingly power in the Seventh-day Adventist Church to control the whole body or to control any branch of the work. He has not provided that the burden of leadership shall rest upon a few men. Responsibilities are distributed among a large number of competent men.
Every member of the church has a voice in choosing officers of the church [This is why every member is responsible for the actions of their leaders].The church chooses the officers of the state conferences. Delegates chosen by the state conferences choose the offers of the union conferences, and delegates chosen by the union conferences choose the officers of the General Conference. By this arrangement every conference, every institution, every church, and EVERY INDIVIDUAL, either directly or through representatives, has a voice in the election of the men who bear the chief responsibilities in the General Conference." E.G. White, Testimonies, vol. 8, pp. 236, 237.
The above statement demonstrates that the professing SDA church is not of CONGREGATIONALISTS ORGANIZATION, whereby each individual church is under its own cognizance. Thus Corporate Responsibility is transferred to each member in this REPRESENTATIVE SYSTEM OF ORGANIZATION. Responsibility for departure from the representative system to that of a HIERARCHICAL SYSTEM still falls on the constituency membership for permitting such a state of affairs to occur! And, when such a state of apostasy occurs regarding any fundamental pillar of the faith, if the leaders have formed such a powerful lobby that members cannot change things, that is one of the points at which separation becomes an absolute duty. Surely, when it gets to the point where the membership is supporting a leadership that is teaching error to the entire world; errors which remove every pillar doctrine of historic Adventism, then the professing church has reached the point where separation becomes an absolute necessity lest any member be responsible for such a departure from truth and the work of the Lord. Here is the principle from Ellen White:
"The Lord Jesus will always have a chosen people to serve Him. When the Jewish people rejected Christ, the Prince of life. He took from them the kingdom of God and gave it unto the Gentiles. God will continue to work on this principle with every branch of His work. When a church proves unfaithful to the work of the Lord, whatever their position may be, however high and sacred their calling, the Lord can no longer work with them. Others are then chosen to bear important responsibilities. But, if these in turn do not purify their lives from every wrong action, if they do not establish pure and holy principles in all their borders, then the Lord will grievously afflict and humble them and, unless they repent, will remove them from their place and make them a reproach.
God is not 'worshipped with men's hands, as tough he needed anything.'" (Acts 17:25). E. G. White, The Upward Look, 131.
"Unless these evils which bring the displeasure of God are corrected in its members, the whole church stands accountable for them" E.G. White, Review and Herald, vol. 2, 453, Dec. 23, 1890.
....for none are so reckless and go to such lengths in sin as do those who have once had the light, but have resisted
the convicting Spirit of God." E.G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, 95.
