Serious Misrepresentations of Ellen
White’s Statements on the Godhead
By intention or serious misunderstanding, there has been much
abominable misinterpretation and misrepresentation of certain Bible and Ellen
G. White statements on the Godhead. The objective of this manuscript is to take
all of such statements and interpret them so that nothing contradicts. All of
Ellen White’s statements on the Godhead are supported by the Bible in John 14.
The words “THREE ETERNAL DIGNITARIES” do not appear in
the Spirit of Prophecy because there are NOT three eternal dignitaries. When Ellen White says that
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit gave Themselves
to the working out of the plan of redemption, she IS NOT implying THREE ETERNAL
DIGNITARIES. Most SDA’s interpret certain statements that way, but they are
ignorantly errant, because they refuse to take all of
the evidence and interpret so that nothing contradicts, as Ellen White
advocated.
Why do most SDA’s ignorantly err in concluding that when
Ellen White mentions heavenly dignitaries, the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit, she is implying THREE ETERNAL HEAVENLY DIGNITARIES when Ellen White
clearly defined the Holy Spirit as being the Comforter and the soul of the life
of Christ, so the Son of God and His Holy Spirit were ONE PERSON until the
Incarnation?
At the Incarnation a THIRD PERSON accrued when the Son’s
HOLY SPIRIT HIMSELF was cumbered by His humanity so that He divested the
personality of His Divinity from the personality of His humanity and both were
INDEPENDENT of the other. These facts are established by the following
statements which are ignored by all who teach the trinity doctrine:
"Cumbered with humanity Christ could not be in
every place personally, therefore it was altogether for their advantage that He
should leave them to go to His Father and send the Holy Spirit to be His
successor on earth. The Holy Spirit is Himself divested of the personality
of humanity and independent thereof. He would represent Himself as present
in all places by His Holy Spirit.” E.G. White, (Manuscript Releases Volume 14 (No’s 1081-1135) MR No.1084.
"Christ declared that after
his ascension, he would send to his church, as his crowning gift, the Comforter, who
was to take his place. This Comforter is the Holy Spirit,--the soul of his life, the efficacy of his church, the light and life of the
world. With his Spirit Christ sends a reconciling influence and a power that
takes away sin.
In the gift of the Spirit, Jesus
gave to man the highest good that heaven could bestow....
The Spirit was given as a
regenerating agency, and without this the sacrifice of Christ would have been
of no avail....
It is by the Spirit that the
heart is made pure. Through the Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of the
divine nature. Christ has given his Spirit as a divine power to overcome all
hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, and to impress his own character
upon the church." E.G. White, Review
and Herald Articles, May 19, 1904, vol. 5, p. 42.
“The Godhead was
stirred with pity for the race, and the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit gave Themselves to the working out of the plan of
redemption. In order fully to carry out this plan, it was decided that Christ,
the only-begotten Son of God, should give Himself an offering for sin. What
line can measure the depth of this love? God would make it impossible for man
to say that He could have done more. With Christ He gave all the resources of
heaven, that nothing might be wanting in the plan for man’s uplifting. Here is
love—the contemplation of which should fill the soul with inexpressible
gratitude! Oh, what love, what matchless love! The contemplation of this love
will cleanse the soul from all selfishness. It will lead the disciple to deny
self, take up the cross, and follow the Redeemer.” {CH
222.2}
All Adventist proponents of the Trinity Doctrine interpolate (read into) the above statement an interpretation that makes Ellen White and John 14 contradictory. Both Ellen White and John 14 define the Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost) as the soul of the life of Christ’s DIVINE NATURE. Properly interpreted so that the above statement is not interpreted so as to make Ellen White and John 14 contradictory, all that the statement truly says is that The Father, the Son and the pre-Incarnation soul of His life Holy Spirit (TWO PERSONS) gave themselves to the working out of the plan of redemption. It is SDA leaders who misrepresent the true interpretation of the above statement to mean that there were three separate persons present at the working out of the plan of redemption and that is a lie.
Ellen White clearly stated
that Christ engaged in covenant with God the Father to represent the love of
God in His humanity for the fallen race.
Here is the strength of Christ’s
prayer for unity: “That the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me. And the
glory [character] which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one,
even as we are one. [Wonderful request; it seems almost too great for
expectation!] I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; Then why is there not a practical carrying out of this
principle of love? Christ gave His own life for the life of the world.
“Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life for the sheep.”
Why do not these words of Christ stir our souls with intense desire to love one
another as He has loved us? Christ engaged in covenant with God the Father to
represent the love of God in His humanity for the fallen race. Christ knew that this great display of the grace of
God, which He Himself engaged to represent—nothing less could represent that
love of infinity than in giving His own Son to save the guilty sinner. Christ
undertook the plan when He knew all things, that nothing else than the infinite
capabilities that made Him equal with the Father could possibly express the
plan unless He became one with humanity, taking upon Him the nature of man, and
thus bearing all the temptations as man, and dying that man might live through
faith in His redeeming power.” {16MR 192.1} [Hebrews 2:7-11, 17, 18; 4:14-16,
quoted.]
Misrepresentations of the Godhead
The
Godhead was stirred with pity for the race, and the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit gave themselves to the working out of the plan of redemption.--Counsels
on Health, p. 222. {7ABC 442.1}
“The nature of the Holy Spirit is a mystery. Men cannot explain it, because the Lord
has not revealed it to them. Men having fanciful views may bring together
passages of Scripture and put a human construction on them, but the acceptance
of these views will not strengthen the church. Regarding such
mysteries, which are too deep for human understanding, silence is golden.”
-Acts of the Apostles p 52
Let People Know Our
Position—“Our policy is, Do not make prominent the
objectionable features of our faith, which strike most decidedly against the
practices and customs of the people, until the Lord shall give the people a
fair chance to know that we are believers in Christ, that we do believe in the divinity of Christ, and in His pre-existence.”—Testimonies to
Ministers and Gospel Workers, 253 (1895). {Ev 613.2}
We Shall Have to Meet
Erroneous Teaching—“Again and again we shall be called to
meet the influence of men who are studying sciences of satanic origin, through
which Satan is working to make a nonentity of God and of Christ. The Father and the Son each have a personality. Christ declared, “I and My Father are one.” Yet it was the Son of God who came to the world in human
form. Laying aside His royal robe and kingly crown, He clothed His divinity
with humanity, that humanity through
His infinite sacrifice might become partakers of the divine nature, and
escape the corruption that is in the world through
lust.”—Testimonies
For The Church 9:68 (1909). {Ev 613.3}
Positive Truth Versus
Spiritualistic Representations—“I am instructed to say,
The sentiments of those who are searching for advanced scientific ideas are not
to be trusted. Such representations as the following are made: “The Father is
as the light invisible: the Son is as the light embodied; the Spirit is the
light shed abroad.” “The Father is like the dew, invisible vapor; the Son is
like the dew gathered in beauteous form; the Spirit is like the dew fallen to
the seat of life.” Another representation: “The Father is like the invisible
vapor; the Son is like the leaden cloud; the Spirit is rain fallen and working
in refreshing power.” {Ev 614.1}
“All these spiritualistic
representations are simply nothingness. They are imperfect, untrue. They weaken
and diminish the Majesty which no earthly likeness can be compared to. God cannot be compared with the things His hands have
made. These are mere earthly things, suffering
under the curse of God because of the sins of man. The Father cannot be
described by the things of earth. The Father is all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily, and is invisible to mortal sight.” {Ev 614.2}
“The Son is all the
fullness of the Godhead manifested. The Word of God declares Him to be “the
express image of His person.” “God so loved the world, that He gave His
only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have
615everlasting life.” Here is shown the personality of the Father.” {Ev 614.3}
“The Comforter that
Christ promised to send after He ascended to heaven, is the Spirit in all the
fullness of the Godhead, making manifest the power of divine grace to all who
receive and believe in Christ as a personal Saviour. There are three living persons of the heavenly trio; in the name of these
three great powers—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—those who receive Christ by living faith are baptized,
and these powers will co-operate with the obedient subjects of heaven in their
efforts to live the new life in Christ.”—Special Testimonies, Series B, No. 7, pp. 62, 63. (1905).
{Ev 615.1}
The Pre-existent,
Self-existent Son of God—“Christ is the
pre-existent, self-existent Son of God.... In speaking of his pre-existence,
Christ carries the mind back through dateless ages. He assures us that there never was a time when He was not in close
fellowship with the eternal God. He to whose voice the
Jews were then listening had been with God as one brought up with Him.”—The Signs of the Times, August 29, 1900.
{Ev 615.2}
“He was equal with God,
infinite and omnipotent.... He is the eternal, self-existent Son.”—Manuscript 101,
1897. {Ev 615.3}
From Everlasting—“While God’s Word speaks of the humanity of Christ when
upon this earth, it also speaks decidedly regarding His pre-existence. The Word
existed as a divine being, even as the eternal Son of God, in union and oneness
with His Father. From everlasting He was the Mediator of the
covenant, the one in whom all nations of the earth,
both Jews and Gentiles, if they accepted Him, were to be blessed. “The Word was
with God, and the Word was God.” Before men or angels were
created, the Word was with God, and was God.”—The Review and Herald, April
5, 1906. {Ev 615.4}
“Christ shows them that,
although they might reckon His life to be less than fifty years, yet His divine
life could not be reckoned by human computation. The existence of Christ before
His incarnation is not measured by figures.”—The Signs of the Times, May 3, 1899. {Ev 616.1}
Life, Original, Unborrowed, Underived—“Jesus declared, “I am the resurrection, and the life.” In Christ is life,
original, unborrowed, underived. “He that hath the Son hath life.” The divinity
of Christ is the believer’s assurance of eternal life.”—The Desire of Ages, 530 (1898). {Ev 616.2}
With the Father at Sinai—“When they [Israel] came to Sinai, He took occasion to
refresh their minds in regard to His requirements. Christ and the Father, standing side by side upon the mount, with solemn
majesty proclaimed the Ten Commandments.”—Historical Sketches,
p. 231. (1866). {Ev 616.3}
The Eternal Dignitaries
of the Trinity—“The eternal heavenly
dignitaries—God, and Christ, and the Holy Spirit—arming them [the disciples] with more than mortal energy, ... would
advance with them to the work and convince the world of sin.”—Manuscript 145,
1901. {Ev 616.4}
Note by Ron: The
paragraph title: “The Eternal Dignitaries of the Trinity” is supplied by the
editors. Ellen White never used the word Trinity. The editors totally misrepresent the
truth by the title, implying that there are three eternal dignitaries. There
were only two eternal dignitaries before the Incarnation and I have proven that
for you beyond any particle of a doubt!
Ellen White’s words ARE
NOT signifying three persons. Why? Because she says elsewhere that the Holy
Spirit is the soul of the life of Christ
and that He is the Comforter. So the eternal dignitaries PRIOR TO THE
INCARNATION, are God, His Son and the soul of the life of His Son, HIS HOLY
SPIRIT, WHICH WERE ONE AND THE SAME PERSON. Here is the statement wherein Ellen
White defines the Comforter and the Holy Spirit as the soul of the life of the
Son of God—CHRIST.
"Christ declared that after
his ascension, he would send to his church, as his crowning gift, the
Comforter, who was to take his place. This Comforter is the Holy Spirit,--the soul of
his life, the efficacy of his church, the light and life of the
world. With his Spirit Christ sends a reconciling influence and a power that
takes away sin.
In the gift of the Spirit [HIS
LIFE--THE SOUL OF HIS LIFE], Jesus gave to man the highest good that heaven
could bestow....
The Spirit was given as a
regenerating agency, and without this the sacrifice of Christ would have been
of no avail....
It is by the Spirit that the
heart is made pure. Through the Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of the
divine nature. Christ has given his Spirit as a divine power to overcome all
hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, and to impress his own character
upon the church." E.G. White, Review
and Herald Articles, May 19, 1904, vol. 5, p. 42.
It is interesting that all
Adventist proponents of the Trinity Doctrine, omit the above Ellen White
statement from their presentation of evidence, and if this is done
intentionally, it is pure deception. When reading a position on the Godhead,
see if it includes the above statement, for that statement is in full agreement
with John 14, wherein the Holy Spirit Comforter is clearly Christ’s Holy
Spirit, which is implied when He says I will come to you and We will come to
you, referring to the Father’s Spirit as well, because there is ONE ETERNAL
SPIRIT and both God and His Son are of that ONE SPIRIT.
Personality of the Holy Spirit—“We need to realize that the Holy Spirit, who is as much a person as God is a person, is walking through these grounds.—Manuscript 66, 1899 (From a talk to the students at the Avondale School.).
The Holy Spirit is a
person, for He beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of
God. When this witness is borne, it carries with it its own evidence. At such
times we believe and are sure that we are the children of God....
The Holy Spirit has a personality, else He
could not bear witness to our spirits and with our spirits that we are the
children of God. He must also be a divine person, else He could not search out
the secrets which lie hidden in the mind of God. “For what man knoweth the
things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of
God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.”—Manuscript 20, 1906. {Ev 616, 617}
The Power of God in the
Third Person—The prince of the power of evil can only
be held in check by the power of God in the third person of the Godhead, the
Holy Spirit.—Special Testimonies, Series
A, No. 10, p. 37. (1897). {Ev 617.2}
In Co-operation With the Three Highest Powers—“We are to co-operate with the three highest powers in heaven,—the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost,—and these powers will work through us, making us
workers together with God.”—Special Testimonies, Series B, No. 7, p. 51. (1905). {Ev
617.3}
—rwb