“If a brother differs with you on some points of truth, do not stoop to ridicule, do not place him in a false light or misconstrue his words, making sport of them; do not misinterpret his words and wrest them of their true meaning. This is not conscientious argument. Do not present him before others as a heretic, when you have not with him investigated his positions, taking the Scriptures text-by-text in the spirit of Christ to show him what is truth. You do not yourself really know the evidence he has for his faith, and you cannot clearly define your own position. Take your Bible, and in a kindly spirit weigh every argument that he presents, and show him by the Scriptures if he is in error. When you do this without unkind feelings, you will do only that which is your duty and the duty of every minister of Jesus Christ.” 12MR 376.1
What Did Ellen White Mean?
Following are the responses to a list of statements by Ellen White most often misunderstood.
“A Distinct Personality”
“The Holy Spirit is the Comforter, in Christ’s name. HE PERSONIFIES CHRIST, YET IS A DISTINCT PERSONALITY. We may have the Holy Spirit if we ask for it and make it [a] habit to turn to and trust in God rather than in any finite human agent who may make mistakes.” {20MR 324.2}
Related statements
“The Holy Spirit always leads to the written Word. 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. What strong evidence of the power of truth we can give to believers and unbelievers when we can voice the words of John, “We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” [1 John 4:16.] {Ms20-1906.31}
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.” [1 Corinthians 2:11.] {Ms20-1906.32}
Trinitarian’s objection: “distinct personality” means separate and different entity with distinct personage, therefore, the Holy Spirit, Who personifies Christ, “yet is a distinct personality” proves Holy Spirit is a separate, distinct personality or a Being other than Christ. Does it prove really prove that Holy Spirit is another Being? To learn more, click HERE.
“There never was a time” and “from all eternity”
“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}
“Christ was God essentially, and in the highest sense. HE WAS WITH GOD FROM ALL ETERNITY, God over all, blessed forevermore.—The Review and Herald, April 5, 1906, p. 8
Trinitarian objection: “there never was a time…” or “from all eternity” should be understood to mean, Christ always existed alongside the Father and therefore Christ could not have been “begotten” in the ontological sense. Click HERE for the response.
“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, p. 530 (1898)” {Evangelism, p. 616}
The expression, “In Him was life, original, unborrowed, underived“ is commonly used to argue that the life of Christ is ingenerate and therefore not begotten. To learn more, click HERE.
“Self-existent”
“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}
“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}
Trinitarian’s objection: “self-existent” and “eternal” means Christ’s life is ingenerate, inherently possessed without origin, and therefore above statements repudiates the doctrine that Christ was begotten in the real sense in some period in the eternity past. To learn more, click HERE
“Third Person of the Godhead”
“The HOLY SPIRIT was the highest of all gifts that He could solicit from His Father for the exaltation of His people. The Spirit was to be given as a regenerating agent, and without this the sacrifice of Christ would have been of no avail. The power of evil had been strengthening for centuries, and the submission of men to this satanic captivity was amazing. Sin could be resisted and overcome ONLY THROUGH THE MIGHTY AGENCY OF THE THIRD PERSON OF THE GODHEAD, who would come with no modified energy, but in the fullness of divine power.” — (E.G. White, DA, 671.2)
Question: Who is the Third Person of the Godhead? To learn more, click HERE.
“Who is as much a person as God is a Person”
“We need to realize that the Holy Spirit, WHO IS AS MUCH A PERSON AS GOD IS A PERSON, is WALKING THROUGH THESE GROUNDS, UNSE
EN BY HUMAN EYES; … HE HEARS EVERY WORD WE UTTER and knows every thought of the mind.” — (E.G. White, 2SAT, pp. 136, 137, 1899)
Question: Who is this “person”, WALKING THROUGH THESE GROUNDS, UNSEEN BY HUMAN EYES; … HE HEARS EVERY WORD WE UTTER? We need to allow the Spirit of Prophecy to interpret the Spirit of Prophecy. To learn more, click HERE.
Worshipping the Holy Spirit
“Now a little point. As the saints in the kingdom of God are accepted in the beloved, they hear: “Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” And then the golden harps are touched, and the music flows all through the heavenly host, and they fall down and worship the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” {Ms139-1906.32}
This quote is attributed to Ellen White with the bibliography entry being “White, E. G. (1906). Ms 139, 1906.” Many people have treated this statement as coming from the pen of Ellen White and have used it in their defense as evidence for the doctrine of Trinity. To learn more, click HERE.
Godhead was stirred
“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 to fully 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?” {AUCR, April 1, 1901 par. 10}
This quote uses “Godhead” in such a way that it can be construed as a collective noun or group, in this case, “the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” To Learn more, click HERE.
Doxology Endorsement
“….Let cheerful freewill-offerings be brought to the Lord, let us consecrate to Him all that we are, and all that we have, and then may we all unite to swell the songs,—
“Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise him, all creatures here below;
Praise him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.” {Review and Herald January 4, 1881, p. 5 Art. C, par. 18, 19}
Some have argued that because Ellen White endorsed the doxology in the above quote that they have concluded that Ellen White was a trinitarian or she endorsed trinitarian sentiments. To learn more about what she really intended, click HERE.
Chapman Letter-Holy Spirit is a mystery
Many Trinitarian Adventists have quoted various statements taken out of context from what Ellen White had written in order to discredit the non-trinitarian views of the Holy Spirit and to dissuade any inquiry into the subject matter.
Among the various statements that are often quoted are taken from a letter Ellen White had written to Brother Chapman from Petoskey, Michigan, on June 11, 1891 and is generally referred to as the “Chapman Letter.”
The following are just a few examples of extracting bits and pieces of the aforementioned letter to justify a biased position:
“It is not essential for you to know and be able to define just what the Holy Spirit is.”
“ There are many mysteries which I do not seek to understand or to explain; they are too high for me, and too high for you.”
“The nature of the Holy Spirit is a mystery not clearly revealed, and you will never be able to explain it to others because the Lord has not revealed it to you.”
Below is another example from the Acts of the Apostles (AA):
“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.” {AA 52.1}
Please click HERE for a response
RELATED TOPICS
Who Visited Ellen White?
Common Bible Questions and Answers on the Godhead, Compiled by Nader Mansour & Imad Awde
Ellen White was 100% consistent in all that she wrote. Letting Spirit of Prophecy explain Spirit of Prophecy:
She said,
The Comforter is the Spirit of Christ.
The Spirit of truth is the Spirit of Christ.
The third person is the Spirit of Christ.
The third great power is the Spirit of Christ.
The Holy Spirit given at Pentecost was the Spirit of Christ.
The Holy Spirit Jesus breathed on His disciples was His own Spirit.
The Holy Spirit Christ sent to represent Himself was His own Spirit.
The heavenly dignitaries are the Father, Son and Spirit of Christ.
The Heavenly trio is the Father, Son and Spirit of Christ.
And she reveals over and over again that there are only two beings.
There are literally thousands of quotes from Ellen White that confirm the above points. We will provide just one quote to reveal how easily the truth can be seen if you let Spirit of Prophecy explain Spirit of Prophecy. The first covers almost all of the above points.
For instance:
Third person, Third great power, Heavenly dignitaries and Heavenly trio: “They have ONE God and ONE Saviour; and ONE Spirit—the Spirit of Christ—” (E.G. White, 9T 189.3, 1909)
Note the following:
Heavenly Trio: One God and One Saviour; One Spirit = “the SPIRIT OF CHRIST”
Third great power: “Christ has given HIS Spirit as a divine power.” (E.G. White, RH, Nov 19, 1908)
Comforter: “This refers to the omnipresence of the Spirit of Christ, called the Comforter.” (E.G. White, 14MR 179.2)
Spirit of Truth: “Jesus comes to you as the Spirit of Truth; study the mind of the
Spirit, consult your Lord, follow His way.” (E.G. White, 2MR 337.1)
The Spirit Jesus breathed on His disciples: “And when He had said this, He [Christ] breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: … Before the disciples could fulfill their official duties in connection with the church, Christ breathed His Spirit upon them.” (E.G. White, Desire of Ages, p. 805)
The Spirit given at Pentecost: “The promise of the Holy Spirit is not limited to any age or to any race. Christ declared that the divine influence of His Spirit was to be with His followers unto the end. From the Day of Pentecost to the present time, the Comforter has been sent to all who have yielded themselves fully to the Lord and to His service.” (E.G. White, Acts of the Apostles, p. 49.2)
The Spirit representing Christ is His own Spirit: “Christ came to our world, but the world could not endure His purity. He has gone to His Father, but He has sent His Holy Spirit to represent Him in the world till he shall come again.” (E.G. White, Manuscript 1, Jan 11, 1897)
Two beings alone: “The Father and the Son Alone are to be exalted.” (E.G. White, Youth Instructor, July 7, 1898)
And since Ellen White wrote that the Holy Spirit is the SPIRIT OF CHRIST, for any quote Froom used regarding the Holy Spirit that has been misunderstood, replace the words “HOLY SPIRIT” with “SPIRIT OF CHRIST” or “CHRIST BY HIS SPIRIT” and read it again. I quite assure you that it can no longer be mistaken as a Trinitarian quote.
For example:
“We need to realize that the Holy Spirit, [Christ by His Spirit], who is as much a person as God is a person, is walking through these grounds, unseen by human eyes.” (E.G. White, 2 SAT 136.6, [Evangelism p. 616.5], 1899)
And for further clarity, “How few realize that Jesus, unseen, is walking by their side!” (E.G. White, 14MR 125.3)
And, “He [Christ] is an unseen presence in the PERSON of the HOLY SPIRIT.” (E.G. White, DG 185.2, 1897)
Who is UNSEEN? Christ! And why is Christ UNSEEN? Because it is by HIS Holy Spirit.
All you have to do is to want the truth and to stop reading the quotes from LeRoy Froom with the mindset of a Trinitarian. The early pioneers had no problem with these few quotes that Froom searched for because they knew who the Holy Spirit is and would never read them the wrong way. But if your belief is that the Holy Spirit is another being, then that is what you will see when you read them.
