HARD REALITIES FOR MODERN SDA ANTI-

TRINITARIANS TO FACE!!
                                                    By Derrick Gillespie

It is a fact that no anti-Trinitarian existing in Adventism today can find even one shred of
evidence that early SD Adventists, before the late 1880s or more so the 1890s, ever spoke
freely of and admitted to three persons of the Godhead. In fact what can be found in earlier
years are very strong sentiments opposing the idea that the Holy Spirit could even be considered
a personality, much more deemed a “third’ and “distinct” personality. Early pioneering
Adventism never gave assent to the view that the Holy Spirit was "a person" or "personality" in
any way whatsoever. It was not until pioneering Adventism first endorsed basic Trinitarianism in
1892 - by publishing Dr Samuel Spear’s Trinitarian article, originally titled “the Subordination
of Christ”, but subsequently RENAMED “the Bible Doctrine of the Trinity” by SDA pioneers
themselves, and published as a missionary tool expressing what Adventists had come to
believe/endorse- that we then see an increase of E.G. White expressions about “three persons”
comprising one “Eternal Godhead”. None of the SDA pioneers before Mrs. White ever went
so far to admit to these “three persons” of the one Godhead in their own writings. I wait for
the day when any anti-Trinitarian in Adventism today can prove otherwise with solid
documented evidence.

Now here is some of what SDA pioneers published/endorsed as “the Bible doctrine of the
Trinity” way back in 1892, long before even the Robert Hare or F.M. Wilcox’ “trinity”
admission before 1915 (note the distinct Trinitarian undertones and expressions, despite the
article’s rejection of the traditional explanation of “the mode” of the Trinity): 
           

“…The Godhead makes its appearance in the great plan for human salvation. God in this
plan is brought before our thoughts under the personal titles of Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, with diversity in offices, relations, and actions toward men. These titles and their
special significance, as used in the Bible, are not interchangeable. The term “Father” is
never applied to the Son, and the term “Son” is never applied to the Father. Each title has
its own permanent application, and its own use and sense. The distinction thus revealed in
the Bible is the basis of the doctrine of the tri-personal God… The exact mode in which the
revealed Trinity is … must be to us a perfect mystery, in the sense of our total ignorance on
the point. We do not, in order to believe the revealed fact, need to understand this mode. The
Christian doctrine of the Trinity—whether, as to its elements, taken collectively or
separately — so far from being a dry, unpractical, and useless dogma adjusts itself to the
condition and wants of men as sinners…. The truth is that God the Father in the primacy at-
tached to Him in the Bible, and God the Son in the redeeming and saving work assigned to
Him in the same Bible, and God the Holy Ghost in his office of regeneration and
sanctification – whether considered collectively as one God, or separately in the relation of
each to human salvation—are really omnipresent in, and belong to, the whole texture of the
revealed plan for saving sinners." 

                                     - The Bible doctrine of the Trinity- Pacific Press, 1892 (reprint of
Samuel Spear's 1889 article)
 Rather telling isn’t it? In fact, in 1892 and 1894 respectively here is what SDA pioneers said
glowingly about the same Spear article quoted above:

         

“… We believe that it sets forth the Bible doctrine of the trinity of Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit with a devout adherence to the words of the Scripture, in the best brief way we eversaw
it presented."

                  -Signs of the Times , Vol.18, No.22, 1892.

“…It presents the Bible view of the doctrine of the Trinity in the terms used in the Bible, and
therefore avoids all philosophical discussion and foolish speculation. It is a tract worthy of
reading."

                       -Signs of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 29, 1894.

And so what we see is a GRADUAL development of Adventist thought regarding the

acceptance of a “threefold” Godhead, and yet this development became a radical departure
from traditional Trinitarian thought because the Adventist explanation of the Godhead has
always maintained that in the Godhead individuality of the persons is not lost (!!). This
would explain Mrs. White’s later monumental admission (quoted below) to there being “three
holiest beings in heaven”, while speaking of them collectively as “God”, and as being our
“Father” collectively, who all “pledged” to and henceforth subsequently “receive” us as “sons
and daughters” upon our baptism (a matter some, especially the modern anti-Trinitarians in
Adventism, find hard to come to grips with even today):

"God says, [notice after this whom she means says this] "Come out from among them, and be
ye separate, . . . and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father
unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." [Now notice
carefully] This is the pledge of [not just one person, but] the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit [i.e. the *pledge to receive and be a Father to you]; made to you if you will keep your
baptismal vow, and touch not the unclean thing…”              
                                                         -E.G. White, Signs of the Times, June 19, 1901

“You are baptized in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. You are
raised up out of the water to live henceforth in newness of life--to live a new life. You are
born unto God, and you stand under the sanction and the power of THE THREE HOLIEST
*BEINGS IN HEAVEN, who are able to keep you from falling. . .”
                   -E.G. White, Manuscript Release, Vol.7, pgs. 267, 268
 
How very telling, in terms of how well this compares with what the Presbyterian Trinitarian
minister Samuel Spear said in his Trinitarian article way back in 1889; an article which was
directly affirmed by Adventist pioneers in 1892, and said to be “a devout adherence to the
words of the Scripture” about “the trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”. There is no
escaping this reality, no matter how much some anti-Trinitarians today in Adventism would
like to cover up or ‘escape’ this fact!!

Now, most modern anti-Trinitarians (and certain ones of the past) in Adventism engage in
semantic gymnastics and talk about Mrs. White always speaking of the Spirit as a personality
without individuality, and never speaking of the Holy Spirit as a “being”, but only as a
“personality” of the Father and Son, as if he is a non-entity, yet the record plainly testifies that
she used all three descriptive words, namely “personalities”, “persons” and “beings” to
describe all three of the Godhead, as the foregoing and the following  shows, and, more
importantly, she treated all three the same way in terms of infinite divinity being ascribed to
them, as well as prayer and religious service directed to all three by her word and example. She
distinctly said:

The Holy Spirit is *ONE OF- 

 
“The Three Holiest *Beings in heaven”
          -Manuscript Release, Vol. 7, pgs. 267-268
 
“The Three Persons” [of the Godhead]
                - S.D.A. Bible Comm., Vol. 6, pg.1074
 
“The Heavenly *Trio [‘group of three persons’] of Three *Living Personalities/Persons”
-Special Testimonies, Series B, No. 7(1905), pgs. 62,63
 
“The Eternal [‘existing always’] Heavenly Dignitaries” [‘high ranking
persons’]                                           
                                   – Evangelism, pg. 616
“The Three Dignitaries and Powers of Heaven”
                                         -S.D.A. Bible Comm., Vol. 6, pg. 1075
“The Three Great Agencies” [of the Godhead]
                           - S.D.A Bible Comm., Vol. 6, pg. 1102
“The Three Highest Powers in Heaven”
                                         Special Testimonies, Series B, No. 7(1905), PG. 51
“Powers infinite and omniscient”
                                                       - S.D.A. Bible Commentary, Vol. 6, pg. 1075
                 
It should be noted here that her special effort to call the Holy Spirit ONE OF the “LIVING
Personalities” of the “Heavenly Trio” is strong evidence that she wanted us to see the Holy
Spirit as a “living”, conscious, individual Person (the “Third Person of the Godhead”) in the
“Heavenly Courts”, having His own “will” (1 Cor. 12:11), and who (according to her) though
he “personifies Christ, yet is a distinct personality”. How else do you logically or intelligently
explain her praying to the Holy Spirit along with Father and Son, her repeatedly numbering
“three persons” or “three holiest beings” (not two), her indicating that we must “serve” all
three” that she listed separately when she said they should be “served”, and, more importantly,
her indicating that all three “pledges” to be “a Father” to all those who carry out their baptismal
vows? Some try to sidestep and or foolishly explain away these matters but I will not as it
concerns the question of the Spirit’s identity; the “third” of “the three holiest beings in heaven”
(according to Adventism’s chief pioneer, Mrs. E.G. White)... even if "what" he is, just like God
the Father (him being spirit), we still do not know. But this now leads me to determine whether
this “trio” is really a “trinity”, as several SDA pioneers like F.M. Wilcox and Robert Hare
testified to before 1915.

WHAT COMPRISES A TRINITY?

Trinitarianism is predicated upon the principle of a belief in “three Persons” within the “one
Godhead”. It is Biblical to affirm “three living [literal] personalities” in the Godhead, and this
is what “a trinity” is (as EVENTUALLY attested to honestly before 1915 by SDA pioneers
theselves). Even the false trinities, triads and trios in pagan religious (even consisting of
individuals with differing genders) – proclaim the true definition of “trinity”.  Once, by a
Christian, “three persons” are affirmed in the Godhead, whether as three separate persons or
beings (which some mistakenly call tri-theism), or whether as distinct personalities, but all
are related and in union, or whether as three personal “manifestations” of the one “existence”
or reality (being), but all related in “substance”, then that Christian is a Trinitarian (but can
either be an "orthodox" or "unorthodox" one). Some, unwittingly, are Trinitarians (unorthodox
ones of course), and believe in a “Trio” in the Godhead, but resist and deny the label.
                J.H. Waggoner (a pioneer), a few years before the SDA church affirmed three
persons in the Godhead, stated that trinitarianism is simply based upon the true definition of
the word “trinity”, which means “three [distinct] persons” who exist together by close
relationship; just like “trio”, “triplet”, “triad” and “triumvirate” – all coming from the prefix
“tri” [three]. Here are his words:

            “A Trinity is three persons. To recognize [admit to] a trinity [the true type], the
distinction between the Father and Son must be preserved.”
                             -J.H. Waggoner, 1884, The Atonement, pgs. 167-169
 
Thus a TRUE trinity in not (supposed to be) a single person, personality, or individual, or even
a three-faced singular being, as critics rightfully charge the Roman Catholics to be teaching,
but, by Waggoner's reckoning, must have Father and Son and Holy Spirit be so distinguished
that it is best to say there are "three holiest beings in heaven"!! Therefore, if in Adventism,
since 1892, and long before 1931, the three Persons in the Godhead (called "beings" even),
and in fact basic/economic trinitariansim through Dr. Spear’s article were directly affirmed by
SDA pioneers, then as sure as trilogy, tricycle, triennial, triplicate, trident, tripod, and tripartite
all relate to “three” distinct, but related entities, pioneering Adventism became supportive of
a “trinity” in the Godhead (if even not by orthodoxy).
Some today in Adventism can’t appreciate this reality, as if only Catholicism (since the fourth
century) has a ‘divine copyright’ on the word “trinity”, and only they can explain what a basic
trinity is, and contrary too to what the etymology of the prefix “tri and the suffix “nity” means.
But in just the same way even Sunday worshippers were, at one time, historically referred
to as “sabbatarians”- because they insisted (without concrete biblical proof) that Sunday
is the “Christian Sabbath”- what’s to hinder SD Adventists also but even more so
properly referring to themselves as “sabbatarians”, and yet the meaning is different from
the expression as it applies to Sunday “sabbatarians”? I see nothing to discount that
reality. The same principle applies to trinitarianism. And so, all I am left to do here is to
finally discuss whether the charge that the term “trinity”- it being admittedly an extra-biblical
term- is so sinful to use when talking about the threefold Godhead.

               ‘UNCSCRIPTURAL’ WORDS FOR THE GODHEAD?

As it concerns the issue of condemning extra-biblical words and phrases like “trinity” or “God
the Son” as employed by even bona fide SDA pioneers before the death of Mrs. White (and
without rebuke from her, mark you), I must hasten to point out the following reality to the anti-
Trinitarians in the SDA Church today who usually insist on being “accusers of the brethren” in
this regard, without stopping to think their stance through carefully.
*As seen hereafter, in several instances even Mrs. White herself was working from a
framework of what is IMPLICIT in the Bible about the Godhead “trio” of “beings”. True
too is that she even presented certain teachings about the Godhead that cannot be even
substantiated by the Bible itself (whether by deduction or assumption based on
implications there), but by faith only that she got that special revelation in vision!! That
therefore means that pioneering Adventism is not free from both deducted theology, or
assumed theology (based on implications in Scripture), and even more importantly, we
are not free from extra-biblical expressions regarding the Godhead,  as some make out,
even as they lash out at all forms of Trinitarian thought. That too must be confronted
honestly and squarely and addressed if one is going to be consistent!!

FOR EXAMPLE:

NOWHERE IN THE ENTIRE BIBLE IS IT EXPLICITLY STATED THAT:

1. It was because of being jealous of Jesus' position (not the Father's) that Lucifer sinned
against God when the Bible said he sought to "be like the Most High". Yet this is what the
extra-biblical revelations of Mrs. White declare. Speculations? Deductions? Or extra-biblical
revelations?

NOWHERE IN THE ENTIRE BIBLE IS IT EXPLICITLY STATED THAT:

2. The Godhead, the "Eternal Godhead", is a “Great threefold Power”, consisting of a

"heavenly trio" of "three living personalities" or "three holiest beings of heaven". Yet this is
what Mrs. White's teachings indicate. Speculations? Deductions? Or extra-biblical revelations?
NOWHERE IN THE BIBLE IS IT EXPLICITLY STATED THAT:

3. All three are to be "served" as "a Father", after we have accepted Christ, as seen in the
following clearly expressed E.G. White statements. Speculations? Deductions? Or extra-
biblical revelations?

6BC 1075— "When we have accepted Christ, and in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit have pledged ourselves to serve God, the Father, Christ and the
Holy Spirit—the three dignitaries and powers of heaven—pledge themselves that every
facility shall be given to us if we carry out our baptismal vows to come out from among
them, and be...separate."

"God says, [notice after this whom she means says this] "Come out from among them, and be
ye separate, . . . and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father
unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." [Now notice
carefully] This is the pledge of [not one person, but] the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
[i.e. the *pledge to receive and be a Father to you]; made to you if you will keep your
baptismal vow, and touch not the unclean thing… In order to deal righteously with the
world, as members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King, Christians must feel
their need of a power, which comes only from the [three] heavenly   agencies that have
pledged themselves to work in man's behalf. After we have formed a union with the great
THREEFOLD POWER [singular; collective], we shall regard our duty toward the members
of God's family with a sacred awe.”                                            
                     -E.G. White, Signs of the Times, June 19, 1901

The expression, “sweep around your own front door”, seems rather apt at this time in
response to all those in Adventism so hung-up on condemning extra-biblical expressions that
may not be explicitly stated in the Bible, but are implicit there when one looks at the big
picture. But suffice it to say, when SD Adventist anti-Trinitarians (opponents to any form of
Trinitarianism) attempt to prove that the Trinity is not a Bible doctrine, they always seem to
focus (most times unwittingly) on either the Roman Catholic Trinity, or on the recent
admittedly faulty mainstream SD Adventist Trinity explanation of three self-originate, role-
playing Godhead beings, rather than on the Biblical trinity or trio of "the three holiest beings
of heaven" (as Adventism's E.G. White so succinctly puts it), and usually they do so while
forgetting the simple noun definition of a trinity in the dictionary (it being defined as a trio as
well). Truth be told though. These SDA anti-Trinitarians are right in one regard! The
explained Roman Catholic Trinity after the fourth century is not found in the Bible, neither is
Adventism’s more recent insistence on three role-playing self-originate beings there, but the
‘Headship’ and distinct/separate being of God the Father, the distinct/separate being and the
Deity of Christ, and the distinct/separate personality/being and the Deity of the Holy Spirit,
along with the harmonious working of a symbolic “one-body-but-three-members” filial type
relationship of the “Three Persons” in the “Godhead” (as Biblically indicated in 1 Corinthians
12:4-6, 11, 12) are clearly taught! No wonder the Father is the "Head" of Christ, with Jesus
being depicted as the "arm of the Lord" (other times His wisdom, word, power, mind, eternal
life, et al), and the Holy Spirit being deemed to be the "hand" or the "finger of God" (other
times his presence, mind, power, et al); a clear symbolic (not a literal or consubstantial) union
of oneness (like one human body in principle; not in actuality)... which shows why the three
are not 'three Gods', but the one Godhead!! It is just like Christ having many members but this
does not produce many ‘Christs’ or true Churches, but one mystical body of Christ, with one
head (i.e. one true Church).... all symbols showing the spiritual and relational oneness that is
quite similar to the Godhead in family terms.

WHAT I AGREE WITH THE SDA ANTI-TRINITARIANS ON

In closing  let me hasten to say that mainstream Adventism, while clearly correct in admitting
to a trinity, as SD pioneers themselves gradually accepted before 1915, yet we are indeed
guilty today of some of the charges of the anti-Trinitarians in our Church. It is true that many
of us on the Trinitarian side in Adventism, have not only denied that Jesus was indeed begotten
by the Father from all eternity (a truth Mrs. White and all the SDA pioneers upheld, just like all
Trinitarians historically), but, in our poor handling of the truth that a trinity or literal trio of
distinct "personalities" or "three holiest beings" are indeed in the Godhead, have gone to the
extreme of teaching that they are all eternally self-originate beings who are simply 'role
playing' as Father and Son, and Holy Spirit. That I have unreservedly rejected several years
now, and continue to agitate for its rejection as a recent teaching. Others of us (not all) have
even been reverting to the traditional Trinity explanation (i.e. the three sharing one indivisible
substance) because it is thought that this is what Mrs. White's teaching meant when using the
expression "of one substance" about Father and Son. These are clearly all dangerous denials of
what the pioneers came to believe and accept about the Godhead. Closeness to what Catholics
believe about the three persons of the Godhead does not mean we should not note the critical
differences. As Adventists we have been entrusted with truths that differ from what Roman
Catholics teach, no matter the closeness of certain common truths that we share.
Yet on the other side of the coin we do see SDA anti-Trinitarians also trying hard to kick
against the pricks about the OTHER issues I outlined in this presentation. It is is time we
all face up to both sides of the issues, come clean with ourselves and unite to finish the
three angels message.