This is a critique
of an article on the Trinity which appeared in Adventist World, March, 2011.
My comments will be interspersed under certain paragraphs within the article
in this color print. I will also do some highlighting in this shade and in this color.
http://www.adventistworld.org/issue.php?issue=2011-1003&page=20
NUMBER 2
God in Three Persons—Blessed Trinity
By Jo Ann
Davidson
Belief in a God of three Persons is
one of the most demanding biblical teachings. Christianity is the only world
religion that makes this claim. The doctrine of the Trinity is truly
distinctive of the Christian faith, crucial because it deals with who God is, what He is
like, and how He
works. Christians believe the doctrine is necessary to do justice to the
testimony of Scripture, the primary source of our knowledge of God. We must
speak concerning God in terms He uses. Biblical evidence has three facets:
(a) there is one God; (b) three-in-oneness; and (c) three persons who are
God.
Ron’s Commentary: The truth about
the Trinity Doctrine is far more pervasive than the author Jo Ann Davidson
and SDA church leaders perceive. Gravely important associated and
foundational elements they do not understand and teach are:
1. The Testators Covenant:
Hbr 9:16 For where a testament [is],
there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
Hbr 9:17 For a testament [is] of
force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the
testator liveth.
2. The fact that the Testator to the Everlasting Covenant (Testament), the
Son of God, must die to something forever, because while the Testator liveth
(in His original state of being—His first estate), the testament covenant is
of no strength—is as though it were never fulfilled. Thus, thus the
Sanctuary/Atonement in the heavenly Incarnation would never have occurred.
This would effectively sweep away the entire Christian economy.
3. Jesus became combined with humanity forever, thus “dying” to His former
estate of being divine only—being of the one eternal spirit only. It is the
one eternal spirit that makes all three persons to the Godhead ONE GOD. They
all are of the very same essence, substance, SPIRIT—ONE ETERNAL SPIRIT, to wit:
Hbr 9:14 How much more shall the
blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge
your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
1Cr 6:17 But he that is joined unto
the Lord is one spirit.
1Cr 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all
baptized into one body, whether [we be] Jews or Gentiles, whether [we be]
bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
Eph 2:18 For through him we both
have access by one
Spirit unto the Father.
Jhn 4:24 God [is] a Spirit:
and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth.
“They have one God and one Saviour; and
one Spirit—the Spirit of Christ” (9T p. 289)
“Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where
the Spirit of the Lord is; there is Liberty.” (2 Cor. 3:17).
4. Three days and nights in a tomb does not satisfy the Testators
Everlasting Covenant (Testament). The Testator must die to something forever.
5. The Son of God forever died to His
pre-Incarnated “Divine
Only” estate of being to become forever after combined with humanity,
thus becoming the Son of God in a new sense, to wit: "Christ brought men
and women power to overcome. He came to this world in human form, to live a
man amongst men. He assumed the liabilities of human nature, to be proved and
tried. In His humanity He was a partaker of the divine nature. In His
Incarnation He gained in a NEW SENSE the title of the Son of God. Said
the angel to Mary, 'The power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore
also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of
God' (Luke 1:35). While the Son of a human being, He became the son of God in a NEW SENSE.
Thus He stood in our world--the Son of God, yet allied by birth to the human race."
E.G. White, Selected Messages, vol.
1, p. 226.
The Holy Spirit always existed
at the one eternal Spirit before the Incarnation. The Holy Spirit was the
essence of the substance of the Father and the Son from eternity. So, indeed,
the Spirit moved upon the waters (Gen.1:2) when the Son created the earth:
2And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of
the deep. And the Spirit
of God moved upon the face of the waters.
There is no dispute about the
Holy Spirit having existed from eternity in the form of the Father and the
Son. But when the Son divested the personality of His humanity from His Holy
Spirit Divine Being, at His Incarnation, that constituted the third person,
to wit:
"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.
"The darkness rolled away from the Saviour and from the Cross.
Christ bowed His head and died. In His Incarnation He had reached
the prescribed limit as a sacrifice,
but not as a redeemer." E.G. White Manuscript Releases Volume Twelve, p. 409.
How did the Son reach the prescribed limit as a sacrifice in His
Incarnation alone? He died to His former state of being as DIVINE NATURE,
HOLY SPIRIT only—forevermore. That met the prescribed limits (specification)
of the Everlasting Covenant Testators Testament (Covenant) necessary to make
an atonement for man’s sin. Man’s penalty for sin was eternal death—the wages
of sin is death—eternal death, without the heavenly Sanctuary Incarnation
Atonement of the Son dying to His former DIVINE ONLY estate forever which
made it possible for man to repent and live forever. So Christ took the
penalty that was ours, eternal death to His DIVINE ONLY estate, that we might
have the life that was His—eternal life, to wit:
"He (Christ) suffered the death which was ours, that we
might receive the life which WAS His." Ages, p Desire of. 25 1 Cor. 11:24-265, cf.
John 6:53, 54, Titus 3:5, 6.
Can we partake of the life which
WAS His?
4Whereby are given unto us exceeding great
and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine
nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
The Dispute is About a Factor of Error Which
Sweeps Away the Entire Christian Economy
How does a wrong concept and
doctrine on the personality of God destroy the Lord God Himself and sweep
away then entire Christian economy?
"You are not definitely clear
on the personality of God, which is everything to us as a people. You have
virtually destroyed the Lord God Himself." EGW letter 300 1903.
The following statement
is key to understanding what took place at the Incarnation:
"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.
Godhead as a pillar doctrine -- Personality
of God and of Christ Landmarks: "Those who seek to remove the old landmarks are not holding fast
they are not remembering how they have received and heard. Those who try to
bring in theories that would remove the pillars
of our faith concerning the
sanctuary or concerning the personality of God or of Christ, are working as
blind men. They are seeking to bring in uncertainties and to set the
people of God adrift without an anchor." {MR760 9.5}
The dispute is about when and where
the third person to the Godhead was formed. This is no small factor, for any
error in this element sweeps away the entire Christian economy. Why, how?
Because if the Son of God, at His
Incarnation, did not die to His former Holy Spirit Divine Nature (Only)
existence in the heavenly Sanctuary sacrifice, and become a third person at
that time by divesting His divine personality from His humanity, making that
divine, Holy Spirit personality a distinct and independent person, AT THAT TIME,
then there was no legal Sanctuary Atonement, and man is forever lost. The
entire Christian economy is thus swept away. That is what the Trinity
Doctrine does. Why? How?
1.
The Trinity Doctrine, whether
Rome’s version, or the SDA version, both teach that there were three persons
from eternity. That abominable teaching sidesteps the Incarnation sacrifice
whereby the third person did come into being.
2.
The Trinity Doctrine does not factor
in the truth that the Testator had to die to something forever. It cannot
come to that conclusion because it teaches that the Godhead was three persons
from eternity. Thus, there was no Sanctuary/Atonement in the heavenly
Sanctuary. Thus, the Sanctuary is GONE. The Atonement is GONE.
3.
Sanctuary Gone Atonement Gone --
"In a representation which passed before me, I saw a certain work being
done by medical missionary workers. Our ministering brethren were looking on, watching what
was being done, but they did not seem to understand. The foundation of our
faith, which was established by so much prayer, such earnest searching of the
Scriptures, was being taken down, pillar by pillar. Our faith was to have
nothing to rest upon--the sanctuary was gone, the atonement was gone."
E.G. White, The Upward Look, 152.
4.
Kellogg’s theory in the alpha of
apostasy achieved the very same end result by conjecturing that from eternity
the Holy Spirit (Third Person) existed and pervaded (existed within) everything—pantheism.
Thus, the Sanctuary/Atonement sacrifice was unnecessary because the Holy
Spirit was in all created things from creation! God the Father didn’t need to
send the Holy Spirit (the soul of the life of Christ) to us because via
pantheism it was already part of all men. By that Satanic error, if Christ
let any man perish, He would Himself perish because He would be in all
things—as the essence of all living creation.
5.
The omega heresy was to be far more
formidable than the Alpha, and so it is. It permeates the entire SDA
church. Nothing could be more
antichrist than a doctrine that sweeps away His “highest good, crowning
sacrifice” which heaven could bestow, and which resulted in the formation of
a third distinct person to the Godhead, and is the means by which God
regenerates man back into the image of God which he was created in.
6.
Nothing could be more antichrist
and abominable than a doctrine that sweeps away the entire Christian economy
by rendering null and void any heavenly Sanctuary Incarnation Atonement
Sacrifice which resulted in the third person to the Godhead.
7.
If the facts I have presented were
not true, there would be four persons to the Godhead after the Incarnation,
not three, to wit:
a.
The Father and His Divine Nature
Holy Spirit.
b.
The Son and His Divine Nature Holy
Spirit.
c.
The Holy Spirit and His Divine
Nature Holy Spirit.
d.
The Son as combined with humanity
forever and His Divine Nature Holy Spirit.
"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 Saviour is the Comforter,
this I have proved Him to be" Manuscript Release 548-6.
So how is the Saviour, Christ
Jesus, both the Comforter and yet is Himself a separate and distinct person?
The only way that can be so friend, is just the way I have described it
herein, which is what the Lord showed me in vision.
The Holy Ghost, never mentioned in Scripture until Matthew
1:18. This is because the Holy Ghost is the Ghost of Christ’s pre-Incarnation
Being.
Eternal Sacrifice of the Son’s
Existence as Divine Soul Holy Spirit, Eternal Spirit Only
"The apostle would call our attention
from ourselves to the Author of our salvation. He presents before us His two natures,
divine and human. . . . He voluntarily assumed human nature. It was His own
act, and by His own consent. He clothed His divinity with humanity. He was
all the while as God, but He did not appear as God. He veiled the
demonstrations of Deity which had commanded the homage, and called forth the
admiration of the universe of God. He was God while upon earth, but He divested Himself of the form of God, and in its stead
took the form and fashion of a man. He
walked the earth as a man. For our sakes He became poor, that we through His
poverty might be made rich. He laid aside His glory and His majesty. He was
God, but the glories of the form of God He for awhile relinquished. . . . He bore the sins of the world, and
endured the penalty which rolled like a mountain upon His divine soul. He
yielded up His life a sacrifice, that man should not eternally die. He died,
not through being compelled to die, but by His own free will." E.G.
White, SDA Bible Commentary, Vol. 7a, p. 446.
There Is Only One God
Christianity emerged from the
ancient Hebrews, who were rigorously monotheistic (and remain so today).
Writers of the Old Testament address this, sometimes quoting God directly.
The Decalogue begins with the divine statement: “I am the Lord your God, who
brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no
other gods before Me” (Ex. 20:2, 3). Deuteronomy 6:4 contains the definitive
monotheistic statement, initially insisted within a polytheistic world:
“Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.”
The New Testament continues Old
Testament sentiments, such as Paul
(1 Cor. 8:4) and James (James 2:19). What then caused these
monotheistic Jews and Christians to declare belief in the three-personed
Godhead? It was the biblical witness of three divine Persons.
Three-in-Oneness
God refers to Himself both as “He”
and “Us.” In the Old Testament the plural form of one of the nouns for God (’elohim) is
quantitative: “Let Us make man in Our image.” The plural appears both
with the verb “Let Us make” and the possessive suffix “Our” (Gen. 1:26;
11:7). Isaiah, in vision, hears the Lord: “Whom shall I send, and who will go
for Us?” (Isa. 6:8).
In Genesis 2:24 man and woman are to
become one (’echad),
a union of two separate entities. Significantly, the same word is used of God
in Deuteronomy 6:4. Marriage and God’s nature are both described as a plural
unity.
Three divine Persons are often
linked together (Isa. 42:1; 61:1, 2; 63:8-11). The angel tells Mary that her
child will be called holy because the Holy Spirit will come upon her (Luke
1:35). At the baptism of Jesus (Matt. 3:16, 17) three divine Persons are
present. Jesus links His miracles to the Spirit of God’s power (Matt. 12:28).
Because of the Great Commission, new disciples are baptized in the singular
“name” of the three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19).
Pronounced evidence can be found in
John’s Gospel. Jesus declares: The Son is sent by the Father (14:24), coming
from Him (16:28). The Spirit is given by the Father (14:16), sent from the
Father (14:26) and proceeds from the Father (15:26). The Son prays for the
coming of the Spirit (14:16); the Father sends the Spirit in the Son’s name
(14:26); the Son sends the Spirit from the Father (15:26). The Spirit’s ministry
continues the Son’s, bringing to remembrance what the Son has said (14:26),
bearing witness to the Son (15:26), declaring what He hears from the Son,
glorifying the Son (16:13, 14). Jesus prays that His disciples may be one as
He and the Father are one (17:21).
Trinity
Peter names three divine Persons at
Pentecost: “Exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the
Father the promised Holy Spirit, He poured out this. . . . Let every one of
you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ . . . and you shall receive the .
. . Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:33-38).
Paul often speaks of the triune God,
relating salvation to three Persons of the Trinity (2 Cor. 1:21, 22). The
form as well as content of his writing communicates his belief in the book of
Romans: God’s judgment upon everyone (1:18–3:20); justification through faith
in Christ (3:21–8:1); life in the Spirit (8:2-30). Paul also includes them in
his benedictions: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor. 13:14). Similar
formulaic expressions appear also in Peter’s and Jude’s epistles (1 Peter
1:1, 2; Jude 20, 21).
God in Three Persons
The Father’s deity is never
disputed. Jesus refers to the Father as God (Matt. 6:26-30). Paul speaks of
the deity of Jesus (Phil. 2:6; Col. 1:10-20). For Paul, an orthodox Jew
trained in strict rabbinic Judaism, this is astonishing conviction of
Christ’s full deity. The book of Hebrews includes several statements
regarding the deity of the Son (Heb. 1; 4:14-16; 7:20–8:6).
Jesus’ own self-consciousness
includes claiming to forgive sins (Mark 2:8-10). The Jews, knowing that only
God can forgive sins, accuse Jesus of blasphemy. He claimed the angels of God
as His angels (Luke 12:8, 9; 15:10; Matt. 13:41). At His trial Jesus was
accused of claiming to be the Son of God. This would have been a critical
opportunity to correct this if Jesus did not regard Himself as God. But He
didn’t, instead emphasizing His deity. The high priest understood, calling
for Jesus’ death (Matt. 26:63-66). Following the resurrection, Thomas
addressed Jesus as “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). Jesus did not refuse
the title or the worship, though throughout Scripture humans and angels
rightfully refuse worship (Acts 14:8-18; Rev. 19:6).
The Holy Spirit is identified as
God, the member of the Godhead, with the title “holy” regularly attached. He
does the work of God: He dwells in believers, as does Christ (Gal. 2:20; Col.
1:27), enlightening (Eph. 1:17, 18), regenerating (John 3:5-8), leading into
holiness (Rom. 8:14; Gal. 5:16-18), giving assurance (Rom. 8:16), and gifting
for ministry (1 Cor. 12:4-11).
Jesus claimed that the Spirit of the
Lord was upon Him, anointing him to preach (Luke 4:18); that He was driving
out demons by the Spirit of God (Matt. 12:28); and that the Spirit, another
Counselor of the same kind, would carry on His work after His departure (John
14:16). When Ananias and Sapphira held back some of the promised proceeds
from the sale of their property, Peter reminded them that lying to the Holy
Spirit is lying to God (Acts 5:3, 4).
The three divine Persons are equal
but not identical. There is no hierarchy or subordination suggested by an
unchangeable order in the presentation of their names (1 Cor. 12:4-6; 2 Cor.
13:14; Eph. 4:4-6). All Three are involved in our salvation. Thomas Oden is
right: “If God were only one person, it could not be proclaimed that God both
sends and is sent; that God could be both lawgiver and obedient to the law;
that God could both make atonement and receive it; that God could both reject
sin and offer sacrifice for it.”1
Careful reflections on the triune
God can come only from a heart and mind trained in humility. Speaking
adequately of God is a daunting task. Scripture must be the primary source of
our knowledge of Him. Christians manifest their avowed dependence upon this
Book, which contains many affirmations of the deity of the three divine
Persons. “The historic formulation of the Trinity . . . seeks to circumscribe
and safeguard this mystery (not explain it; that is beyond us), and it
confronts us with perhaps the most difficult thought that the human mind has
ever been asked to handle. It is not easy; but it is true.”2
The
Word of Life
Concise
Theology: A Guide to Historical Christian Beliefs
Jo Ann
Davidson, Ph.D., is professor of theology at the Seventh-day Adventist
Theological Seminary, Andrews
University, U.S.A.
End of Article
Conclusions:
It is interesting that an SDA Ph.D. who is a professor of theology at
Andrews University, does not present one quote by the Spirit of Prophecy on
the Godhead, when Ellen White said that this issue is a pillar, landmark
doctrine of the pioneers and she made some most valuable and clarifying
contributions to this pillar doctrine of pioneer Seventh-day Adventists. It
is more than despicable that the author of the article would quote J. I.
Packer, or anyone else to the neglect of Ellen White, the gift of the Holy
Spirit to the church. Such leaders snub the Spirit of Prophecy and then the
church prays for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It will not be
forthcoming, per. Ezekiel 22:24.
The article might not be regarded by readers of Adventist World, as scholarly if she should quote the Holy Spirit
gift to the church! After fall, Ellen White didn’t have a Ph.D. in theology.
She had a degree conferred by God Himself. But that is not good enough for
SDA theologians! Jo Ann could have quoted some of the following statements by
Ellen White. But even without Ellen White, everything I have stated herein
can be proven from John 14, by deductive and inductive reasoning.
What we are dealing
with here is no minor issue. It is as fundamental as anything gets. A wrong
teaching on this issue is antichrist as anything can get because it is so
basic to the entire Christian economy. The author of the article and the SDA
church at large has changed a pillar doctrine of true Adventism. This could
not get any more serious. This is spiritual crime of the highest abomination
unto the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ellen White prophesied
that the new movement would remove pillar doctrines and nothing could be more
basic than the heavenly Sanctuary Incarnation Atonement of the Son of God,
without which there is no Christian economy and we would all be doomed to
hell. Indeed, this is the prime way in which the church has committed abominable
heresy that is unpardonable sin after knowing the truth. It is manifest
rejection of the teachings of the Holy Spirit—grieving the Holy Spirit away
and removing Christ and His “highest good, crowing gift sacrifice” from the
church. Thus, this is the prime reason another literal fulfillment of Ezekiel
9 begins at His Sanctuary.
It is no minor,
brazen, abomination that is admitted to in the following statement:
Dr. George Knight,
retired Andrews University Seminary Theology Professor made the following
statement in Ministry, the official Seventh-day Adventist journal for
ministers: "Most of the founders of Seventh-day Adventism would not be
able to join the church today if they had to subscribe to the denomination's
Fundamental Beliefs. More specifically, most would not be able to agree to
belief number 2, which deals with the doctrine of the trinity." - Ministry,
October 1993, p. 10.
In the alpha heresy the ministering
brethren didn’t have a clue about the serious implications of Kellogg’s
theory—that is removed the Sanctuary Incarnation Atonement in heaven by
teaching that the Holy Spirit always existed as a third person and permeated
all living things—pantheism.
All the learned men and women in
the omega heresy have been no wiser and adept in discerning that the Trinity
Doctrine also removes the heavenly Sanctuary Incarnation Atonement by
teaching that the Holy Spirit always existed, rather than the fact that the
Son’s Holy Spirit Divine Nature was divested from His humanity at the
Incarnation to become a separate and distinct third person personality. There
is no language to properly express the heinous, antichrist nature, of this
unpardonable sin abomination.
Sanctuary Gone Atonement Gone --
"In a representation which passed before me, I saw a certain work being
done by medical missionary workers. Our ministering brethren were looking on,
watching what was being done, but they did not seem to understand. The
foundation of our faith, which was established by so much prayer, such
earnest searching of the Scriptures, was being taken down, pillar by pillar.
Our faith was to have nothing to rest upon--the sanctuary was gone, the
atonement was gone." E.G. White, The
Upward Look, 152.
“The time will soon come when the
prophecy of Ezekiel 9 will be fulfilled; that prophecy should be carefully
studied, for it will be fulfilled to the very letter.”— Ellen G.
White 1888 Materials, p. 1303.
Ezekiel 9 begins at His Sanctuary, spiritual
“Jerusalem,” those who have been privileged with great light, 5T 211 and Ezekiel 9:6.
The Signs of the Times, February 12, 1880: “The
desolation of Jerusalem stands as a solemn warning before the eyes of modern
Israel.”
“The desolation of Jerusalem in the
days of Jeremiah is a solemn warning to modern Israel, that the
counsels and admonitions given them through chosen instrumentalities cannot
be disregarded with impunity.” Prophets and Kings, 416.
Study the 9th chapter of Ezekiel.
These words will be literally fulfilled yet the time is passing, and the
people are asleep. They refuse to humble their souls and to be converted. Not
a great while longer will the Lord bear with the people who have such great
and important truths revealed to them, but who refuse to bring these truths
into their individual experience. The time is short. God is calling will YOU
hear? Will YOU receive His message? Will YOU be converted before it is too
late? Soon, very soon, every case will be decided for eternity. Letter 106,
1909, pp. 2, 3, 5, 7. (To "The churches in Oakland and Berkeley,
September 26, 1909.)" E. G. White Manuscript
Releases Volume One, p. 260.
"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.
"Christ brought men and women power to overcome. He came to this
world in human form, to live a man amongst men. He assumed the liabilities of
human nature, to be proved and tried. In His humanity He was a partaker of
the divine nature. In His Incarnation He gained in a NEW SENSE the
title of the Son of God. Said the angel to Mary, 'The power of the Highest
shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of
thee shall be called the Son of God' (Luke 1:35). While the Son of a human
being, He became the son of God in a NEW SENSE. Thus He stood in our
world--the Son of God, yet allied by birth to the human race." E.G.
White, Selected Messages, vol. 1,
p. 226.
“They must have His grace, the Spirit of Christ, to help their
infirmities, or they cannot form a Christian character. Jesus loves to have
us come to Him, just as we are—sinful, helpless, dependent.” Faith and Works, p. 38.
“Christ gives them the breath of His
own Spirit, the life of His own
Life.” Desire of Ages, p. 827,
par. 3.
“The Holy Spirit is the breath of life in the soul. The impartation of
the Spirit is the impartation of the life of Christ. It imbues the receiver
with the attributes of Christ.” Desire
of Ages, p. 805.
Act 3:26 Unto you first God,
having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every
one of you from his iniquities.
How does Jesus bless us in turning every one from his iniquities? Via
the soul of His life, His Holy Spirit:
"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).
"The Bible is a treasure house of knowledge, and all who make this
book their study, sinking the shaft deep into the mine of truth, will
exclaim, 'I behold wondrous things out of thy word.' The INCARNATION of Christ is but dimly appreciated by many students who
have studied long in our schools. This subject should be and will be better
understood by all who in truth love Truth, and walk in the way of the Lord. The experimental knowledge of this is as essential to sanctify daily as
to redeem." E.G. White, The Advocate, 05-01-99, pr. 03.
Eternal Sacrifice
"The apostle would call our attention
from ourselves to the Author of our salvation. He presents before us His two
natures, divine and human. . . . He voluntarily assumed human nature. It was
His own act, and by His own consent. He clothed His divinity with humanity.
He was all the while as God, but He did not appear as God. He veiled the
demonstrations of Deity which had commanded the homage, and called forth the
admiration of the universe of God. He was God while upon earth, but He divested Himself of the form of God, and in its stead
took the form and fashion of a man. He
walked the earth as a man. For our sakes He became poor, that we through His
poverty might be made rich. He laid aside His glory and His majesty. He was
God, but the glories of the form of God He for awhile relinquished. . . . He bore the sins of the
world, and endured the penalty which rolled like a mountain upon His divine soul.
He yielded up His life a sacrifice, that man should not eternally die. He
died, not through being compelled to die, but by His own free will."
E.G. White, SDA Bible Commentary, Vol. 7a, p. 446.
"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.
All of these points should be made very clear in any dealing with the
Godhead, or folk will not understand what you are trying to present.
Some might be tempted to interpret the words: “He was God, but the glories of the form of God He for awhile relinquished.
. . .” to mean
that Christ returned to His former state after ascending to heaven. But that is not the meaning of
the glories He for awhile relinquished as is most evident from the following
definition of glory
glo·ry  (glôr'ē,
glōr'ē) 
n. pl. glo·ries
Great honor, praise, or distinction accorded by common
consent; renown.
Something conferring honor or renown.
A highly praiseworthy asset: Your wit is your crowning
glory.
Adoration, praise, and thanksgiving offered in worship.
Majestic beauty and splendor; resplendence: The sun set in
a blaze of glory.
The splendor and bliss of heaven; perfect happiness.
A height of achievement, enjoyment, or prosperity: ancient
Rome in its greatest glory.
A halo, nimbus, or aureole. Also called gloriole.
intr.v. glo·ried, glo·ry·ing, glo·ries
To rejoice triumphantly; exult: a sports team that gloried in its hard-won
victory.
[Middle English glorie, from Old French,
from Latin glōria.]
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