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Charge

Robert K. Sanders alleges that Ellen White contradicts the Bible more than 50 times. The following is #15 from the revision of his document dated June 2002.

Please excuse the problems with italics, punctuation, spacing, and the use of parentheses rather than brackets for editorial comments. These mistakes are in Sanders' document:

15. WAS THE MAN JESUS CHRIST ALSO TRULY GOD?  EGW: NO "The man Christ Jesus was not the Lord God Almighty" (Letter 32, 1899, quoted in the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, p. 1129).  BIBLE : YES "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6).  BIBLE: YES  "Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen. 'I am the Alpha and the Omega,' says the Lord God, 'who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty" (Revelation 1:7-8).  BIBLE: YES  "Therefore God exalted him (Jesus) to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name" (Philippians2: 9).

—Davis Collection

Initial Observations

Actually, the quote Sanders gives does not come from Letter 32, 1899. Though two paragraphs later does comes from Letter 32, the half sentence Sanders quotes comes from Manuscript 140, 1903, and is clearly marked as such.

But that's not all that big a deal, since it matters little whether the date of authorship is 1899 or 1903. Typically, those who want to accuse Ellen White of teaching that Jesus isn't God quote from her earlier writings, not her later ones. By 1899 and 1903, Ellen White was so clearly stating that Jesus is God that it is fairly futile to try to prove that she believed otherwise at that point in time. Take for example the following statement from her 1898 book Desire of Ages:

In Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived. "He that hath the Son hath life." 1 John 5:12. The divinity of Christ is the believer's assurance of eternal life.—Desire of Ages, p. 530.

Consider also these two statements that clearly affirm that Christ was a member of the godhead:

Look, O look to Jesus and live! You cannot but be charmed with the matchless attractions of the Son of God. Christ was God manifest in the flesh, the mystery hidden for ages, and in our acceptance or rejection of the Saviour of the world are involved eternal interests.—Fundamentals of Christian Education, p. 179. (1891) The world was made by Him, "and without him was not any thing made that was made" (John 1:3). If Christ made all things, He existed before all things. The words spoken in regard to this are so decisive that no one need be left in doubt. Christ was God essentially, and in the highest sense. He was with God from all eternity, God over all, blessed forevermore.—Selected Messages, book 1, p. 247. (1906)

Analysis

It is a bit puzzling why Sanders didn't quote the whole sentence. Take a look at what the context says:

Equal with the Father, honored and adored by the angels, in our behalf Christ humbled Himself, and came to this earth to live a life of lowliness and poverty—to be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Yet the stamp of divinity was upon His humanity. . . . There is no one who can explain the mystery of the incarnation of Christ. Yet we know that He came to this earth and lived as a man among men. The man Christ Jesus was not the Lord God Almighty, yet Christ and the Father are one.—Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, p. 1129, bold added.

Is it not readily apparent that Ellen White was saying that Jesus is not God the Father? If Sanders had quoted the entire sentence, the remaining seven words, would not the intended meaning have been more apparent?

Most Christians agree that the Godhead is comprised of three beings: the Father, Son, and Spirit. Some, however, like the United Pentecostals, maintain that the Father, Son, and Spirit are three manifestations of one person or being. They would strongly object to Ellen White's statement since they believe that Jesus is God the Father and the Son and the Spirit all at the same time.

The very statement of Ellen White that Sanders quotes from makes it crystal clear that Jesus is truly God, while at the same time denying the idea that there are not three beings in the Godhead. We are therefore uncertain why Sanders has a problem with this particular statement.

Give Us Your Opinion

"Jesus Not Truly God": What do you think?

I agree with Ellen White that Jesus is not God the Father. They are separate persons, even though they are one. I disagree with her, because I think that Jesus and God the Father are the same person. I don't believe in a Trinity. In my opinion, Ellen White did not believe that Jesus was truly God in 1903, even though she did in 1898. Was Sanders trying to deceive when he didn't quote the whole sentence? It sure looks like it!   View Results

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