THE FASCINATING HISTORY ABOUT SDA

PIONEERS AND JESUS SEEN AS A

CREATED BEING!
An honest and eye-opening 2018 expose
by Derrick Gillespie.

“WE [SD Adventists pioneers] BELIEVED A *LONG TIME THAT CHRIST WAS A
CREATED BEING, in spite of what the Scripture says…”

--W.W. Prescott (SDA pioneer), The 1919 [S.D.A.] Bible Conference Transcripts ,
July 6, 1919 , pg. 62

It is fascinating that NO ONE, not even one of the fellow SDA pioneers at the SDA
Bible Conference in 1919, either denied what pioneer W.W. Prescott is on record
saying (as quoted above), or challenged him on the way he stated this startling
historical fact!! This is one of the clearest examples we have proving the reality of
the earliest SDA pioneers starting out with certain unbiblical positions in some
things, but gradually adjusting their views as time went by to reflect the Bible that
they continued to study in-depth! Here’s an example from the 1850s:

"...Jesus and his Father: they are one in Spirit, one in purpose, and one in action;
but not identical in body and person. This view, and this only, is consistent with
the scripture which represents Christ as a CREATED being, “the beginning of the
creation of God," Rev.iii,14, and that large class of texts which speak of Christ as
distinct from the Father, in as plain terms as language can employ, and declare
him to be subordinate to him, sent forth by him, dying to reconcile the world to
him, etc., declarations utterly at variance with the popular idea of a triune God.”

---Adventist Review & Sabbath Herald, October 13, 1859, pg. 164

Some SDA members today are ignorant of this historical reality, while some deny that
many SDA pioneers were outright Arians in their views as they correctly battled the
faulty version of the Trinity being taught at the time by the Roman Catholics and her
‘daughter Churches’ that left the Papacy during the Reformation! Click the link.
Even some of the scholars and researchers in the modern SDA Church fail to pick up on
the circumstantial evidence and clear clues indicating that the Arian view of a pre-
incarnately CREATED Jesus was more widespread among early SDA pioneers than what
we can plainly see in the earlier writings of pioneers J.N. Loughborough, Uriah Smith
and J.M. Stephenson during the 1850s AND 1860s (to be proven later). Today some fail
to even see that several of the earliest SDA pioneers held several other erroneous anti-
Trinitarian views mixed in with correct ones, and were even pork-eaters and Sunday
keepers in the earliest years (at least for the first 10-15 years after the 1844 Judgment
Hour Message and Great Disappointment). It cannot be stressed too much that the SDA
pioneers not only had varying views on certain doctrinal issues, but they simply
continued to learn and unlearn over time, and they continued to *CHANGE their views
on several issues and doctrines as they doctrinally matured and learned more from the
Bible and through the confirmation of the Spirit of prophecy active via the prophetic
and visionary ministry of Mrs. E.G. White.
It is fascinating that in 1883 Uriah Smith gave the impression that early SDAs did
not teach that Christ was a created being in his divinity (see the quote below and the
link to the original source), and he did so while answering a question posed to the
SDA Review and Herald to supply the Scriptures which plainly say Christ was a created being.
See the link below for the original document:
http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/RH/RH18830417-V60-16.pdf

Ironically, it was the same Uriah Smith (as irrefutably proved below) whose 1865 book
Thoughts Critical and Practical on the Book of Revelation which clearly taught (as coming from
a respected SDA pioneering author) that:

“…he [Jesus] is "the beginning of the creation of God." [He Jesus is] Not the beginner, but the
beginning, of the creation, the first *CREATED being, dating his existence far back before any
other created being or thing, next to the self-existent and eternal God…."

---Uriah Smith, Thoughts Critical and Practical on the Book of Revelation, 1865, p. 59.

https://archive.org/stream/SmithU.ThoughtsCriticalAndPracticalOnTheBookOfRevelation/Smith_t
houghtsCriticalAndPracticalOnTheBookOfRevelation_1865#page/n29/mode/1up
Uriah Smith, for whatever reason, did not bother (as Editor) in the 1883 Review and Herald to
express the truth that he himself had 18 years earlier taught in print that Jesus was created
before coming to earth. He had by 1883 corrected his earlier personal Arian view on that
particular issue (as seen in the 1882 version of the book Thoughts on Revelation), and now in
1883 he echoed the view of many/some SDAs at the time that Jesus was not initially created
but “begotten” as a being who came into existence at some point in the so-called “eternal
ages”, hence Jesus was not properly “eternal” in existence “from all eternity” in the true sense.

As proof that it wasn’t only Uriah Smith who earlier held an incorrect view of a CREATED and
non-eternal Jesus before he came to earth, and as proof that it was a view held by more SDA
pioneers than some SDAs today would want to admit, here is J.M. Stephenson (another early
pioneer often quoted by some). See below the following quote the photocopied page and the
link to the original source material:

“Col. 1:15.”The first born of every creature." Creature signifies creation; hence to be the first
born of every creature, (creation) he must be a created being; and as such, his life and
immortality must depend upon the Father’s will just as much as angels, or redeemed man…”

----J.M. Stephenson, "The Atonement," Review and Herald, Vol. 6, November 14, 1854, pg. 106.

http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/RH/RH18541114-V06-14.pdf
Another example is seen on page 34 of the September 4, 1855 Advent Review and Sabbath
Herald, in an article written by pioneer J.N Loughborough (a publication edited and published
by Elder James White, the husband of E.G. White):

“…he [Jesus] must have received immortality from the Father, for he proceeded from the
Father [in eternity; or prior to his mission on earth]."These things saith the Amen, 'The faithful
and true Witness,' the beginning of the Creation of God." Revelation 3:14. But had he been
immortal when CREATED [in eternity], how could be have died [when he later came to earth?”
----J.N. Loughborough, “Is the Soul Immortal?”, Advent Review and Sabbath herald, Sep. 4,
1855, pg. 34
http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/RH/RH18550904-V07-05.pdf

Here again is another pioneer seen making plain that he initially understood Jesus to have
“proceeded” from God the Father as a “CREATED” being before the creation of the universe,
since (as he argued) he is the “beginning of the creation” (again quoting Rev. 3:14); explaining
it the same way the pioneers Uriah Smith and J.M. Stephenson initially understood it.
Now the very fact that, as earlier shown, a reader of the Review in 1883 would ask SDAs to
supply scripture to prove that Christ was created, this proves that some SDAs still held the view
in 1883, and W.W. Prescott was candid enough to admit in 1919 that:

“WE [SD Adventists pioneers] BELIEVED A *LONG TIME THAT CHRIST WAS A CREATED
BEING, in spite of what the Scripture says. I say this, that, passing over the experience I
have passed over myself [my limited views] in this matter – this accommodating use of
terms which makes Deity without eternity, is not my conception now [in 1919] of the
gospel of Christ. I think it falls short of the whole idea expressed in the Scriptures…the
Deity [of Christ] involves [full] eternity. The very expression involves it. You cannot read
the Scripture and have the idea of Deity without eternity”.
---W.W. Prescott, The 1919 [S.D.A.] Bible Conference Transcripts, July 6, 1919, pg. 62

And so, not only were some of the SDA pioneers believing in a created Jesus from
eternity, but many in the earlier years did not believe he was truly “eternal” in the
fullest sense of what “eternal” literally means…having no beginning or end of
existence. SDA pioneer J.M. Stephenson, for instance, in in the same 1854 Review and
Herald, he flatly denied that the CREATED Jesus could even be deemed “coetaneous” (or
“co-existent”) with the Father, or be properly deemed an “eternal Son” or as a “self-
existent Son”.

“The question now to be considered, then, is …whether this august Personage [Jesus] is
self-existent and eternal, in its absolute or unlimited sense; or whether in his highest
nature, and character, he had an origin, and consequently beginning of days. The idea
of Father and Son supposes priority of the existence of the one, and the subsequent
existence of the other. To say that the Son is as old as his Father, is a palpable
contradiction of terms...If the inspired writers had wished to convey the idea of the
co-etaneous [co-eternal] existence, and eternity of the Father and Son, they could not
possibly have used more incompatible terms.…attempts to reconcile the idea of the
Son's being "properly eternal," as well as the Father; [are] two ideas utterly
irreconcilable. The idea of an eternal Son is a self-contradiction”
----J.M. Stephenson, "The Atonement," Review and Herald, Vol. 6, Nov. 14, 1854, pg. 105.

But, thankfully, that later on (to be hereafter proven) the pioneers (influenced by ongoing
bible study, and Mrs. White’s ministry in Adventism, no doubt) they gradually came to accept
(just like the Trinitarians Mrs. White borrowed from) that Jesus was “self existent” and in
existence “from *all eternity” with no beginning of days (Heb. 7:3); and remember “all” simply
means “all”, and “eternity” simply means without beginning!

"Christ was God essentially, and IN THE HIGHEST SENSE. He was with God [the Father] from
all eternity, God over all, blessed forevermore. The Lord Jesus Christ, the divine Son of God,
existed from eternity, a distinct person, yet one with the Father….”
---E.G. White, Review and Herald, April 5, 1906

“Christ is the pre-existent, *self-existent [not originated by another] 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.”
—E.G. White, Signs of the Times, Aug. 29, 1900. **See “self existent” in the 1828 Webster’s +
This truth from Mrs. White (as borrowed from the earlier written expressions of
Trinitarian writers, interestingly; *click this link for more) it gradually took hold of the
pioneers. No wonder the well known and honest SDA pioneer, W.W. Prescott, eventually
said the following, despite still believing in the pre-incarnately begotten Son (as
Trinitarians in history always did):

“…the Son is *co-eternal with the Father [i.e. he existed "from all eternity" past just like
the Father]. That does not prevent His being the only-begotten Son of God….There is no
contradiction to say that the Son is co-eternal with the Father, and yet the Son is the
only-begotten of the Father.”
----W. W. Prescott, Report of the 1919 Bible Conference for July 2nd, pg. 20

“Evidently in an Eternal Father and an Eternal Son the ideas of older and younger can
have no place. As we lift up the conception of Sonship out of time into eternity, these
elements of it, ever present in human fathers and sons, at once disappear. When they
fall away, does any conception essential to our idea of son ship remain? Yes.... plainly
embodied in John 5:26, and in other express assertions from the lips of Christ describing
his own relation to God.” ---W. W. Prescott, The Doctrine of Christ: A Series of Bible
Studies for Use in Colleges and Seminaries, 1920, page 20

“As the absolute Son, He, who 'in the beginning was with God, and was God,' was
begotten before times eternal...." ---W.W. Prescott, Signs of the Times, Jan 8, 1929

THE 1888 GENERAL CONFERENCE TRIGGERED A MARKED CHANGE AMONG SDAs:

The fact that even in 1888 at the General Conference of SDAs in Minneapolis (USA), the
two main presenters E.J. Waggoner and A.T. Jones said so much to counter and dispel
the view that Jesus is initially a created being, it is plain that while they labored to lead
several pioneering SDAs away from certain erroneous views related to the Law and how
to attain righteousness, they were also laboring to dispel the lingering Arian view among
some that Jesus was created within eternity, and that he was not equal with the God the
Father (all evidenced by the words recorded in E.J. Waggoner’s 1890 book, “Christ and
His Righteousness”):
“Our object in this investigation is to set forth Christ’s RIGHTFUL position of EQUALITY
with the Father, in order that his power to redeem may be better appreciated”.

---E.J. Waggoner, Christ and His Righteousness, 1890, pages 19-22

Those were his exact words as he and Jones set about to give Biblical truths, notice, in
their “investigation” to “set forth Christ’s rightful position of equality with the Father.”
This was because, as Mrs. White‘s own words will now reveal, “many” (not all) in
Adventism did not present Christ in relation to the law in that light before.

“That which God gives his servants [Waggoner and Jones] to speak today would
perhaps NOT have been present truth twenty years ago [i.e. up to 1868] but is God‘s
message for the time” [thus this was a new development].
---E.G. White, Manuscript 8, 1888

“You say, many [not all] of you, it *Waggoner and Jones‘message] is light and truth
[present truth]. Yet you [many of you] have NOT presented it *IN THIS LIGHT
HERETOFORE [before]”.
---E.G. White, Manuscript 15, 1888

Notice she was endorsing their “investigation” into *ALSO proving the full “equality” of
Christ with the Father, which was not presented by “many”‖ before. Why “set forth” and
why “investigate” what was already accepted by all pioneers from the beginning (as
some dissidents in Adventism falsely argue today), or what was already “present truth”
long before 1888? That argumentation by some makes no sense and is a vain anti-
Trinitarian attempt to clutch at straws. However, notice E.G. White capturing the essence
of this new development among SD Adventists:

“The fullness of the Godhead in Jesus has been *SET FORTH [same words of Waggoner]
among us with beauty and loveliness…we know that God has wrought among us.”
---E.G. White, Letter dated, June 17, 1889

Notice what she thought was the ‘cream’, or real essence of their presentation- “the
fullness of the Godhead in Jesus”; thus His “equality with the Father” “in all respects”
(thus his co-equality) was “set forth”.

Now, was this only a repetition of what all Adventists had accepted before? Well, Mrs.
White‘s own words give the answer (from the same letter quoted above):

“It *Waggoner and Jones‘ message+ was the first clear teaching on this subject [Jesus‘
full Deity and power to make one righteous; and not the Law] from any human lips
[including other pioneers] I had heard, excepting the [private] conversations between
myself and my husband [remember James White died in 1881, seven years before the
1888 Conference]. --- -E.G. White, ibid

What were others saying, before 1888, about Jesus’ position in Heaven with the Father?
Note E.J. Waggoner‘s own father saying what he labored to refute in 1888:

“We cannot believe what men say about his [Jesus] being co-equal [i.e. fully equal] with
God in every [all] respect…”
- J.H. Waggoner. The Atonement, 1872, pg. 108

That was early and standard belief among many of the earliest SDA pioneers….a false
view Mrs. White had to later go on record to correct 20 years later:

"It was to save the transgressor from ruin that he [Jesus] who was *CO-EQUAL with
God, offered up his life on Calvary..." [*Remember only Trinitarians historically declared
this fact, and earlier anti-Trinitarian pioneers like J.H. Waggoner (as expressed in *1872)
denied Jesus as “co-equal” with his Father+
--- E.G. White, Review and Herald, June 28, 1892

It was in 1888 that two SDA men, E.J. Waggoner and A.T. Jones, stood to proclaim AND
PROVE IRREFUTABLY that Jesus is not unequal with the Father, not even in the least iota
(which would include his uncreated eternity and he being God in the highest sense, i.e. in
rank or dignity)!! This was a marked and new development!! No wonder the widespread
resistance and rejection of their message by some SDA pioneers who were largely anti-
Trinitarians. Could it be possible that E.J. Waggoner‘s father was among those who Mrs.
White referred to after the 1888 Conference, when she said the following?

“All the evidence produced they decide [those disagreeing] shall not weigh a straw with
them and they tell others the doctrine is not true [showing disunity], and afterward
when they see as light, evidence they were so forward to condemn, they have too much
pride to say I was wrong; they cherish doubt and unbelief, and are too proud to
acknowledge their convictions.”
---E.G. White, Manuscript 15, 1888

Some today (dissidents in modern Adventism) say that what the pioneers resisted in
1888 (or were not ready for) was only the truth that the Ten Commandments could not
save them, or probably they disliked the manner and accusative spirit in which Waggoner
and Jones presented the saving “righteousness” of Christ. However, only certain anti-
Trinitarians within Adventism today will grope for this rather unconvincing explanation as
the *only reason why some (not all) resisted and even rejected the 1888 message. The
following quotes from Mrs. White, on this 1888 Conference, speaks volumes, and give
certain clues about the issues directly related to the truth about Him who was effectively
“God manifested in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16); whose full equality with the Father IN
EVERY WAY (including in his uncreated eternity) is as important to believe and accept as
His saving righteousness (the two truths are inseparable).

“I have been shown that Christ will reveal to us precious OLD TRUTHS in A NEW
[revised] LIGHT, if we are ready to receive them” ---E.G. white, Ibid, pg. 21

“God has raised up men to meet the necessity of this time who will cry aloud and spare
not, who will lift up their voice like a trumpet…Their work is not only to proclaim the
law, but to preach the truth for the time – the LORD [i.e. Jesus as Jehovah] OUR
RIGHTOUSNESS…” [Equal with the Father in all respects]
-E.G. White, Review & Herald, Aug. 13, 1889, pg. 514

This emphasis by Mrs. White, after endorsing the double-barreled message of Waggoner
and Jones in 1888, was not appreciated by quite a few in Adventism, and it took time for
unity by the increasing majority to be achieved. Note the reported words of another
pioneer, S.G. Haughey, who lived in the time of the aftermath of the 1888 General
Conference, and was able to report first-hand‘:

“Despite the misunderstandings and the polemics [controversies] in the decade

FOLLOWING 1888, minds began increasingly to open to a truer and fuller concept of
truth as it centered in Christ*AND HIS FULLNESS [of the Godhead]. The nineties were
marked by a succession of powerful revivals…and confessions, and surrender to truth
on the part of a growing majority of the Minneapolis [Conference of 1888]
disputants…from 1888 to 1890 Mrs. White constantly urged acceptance of the
righteousness of Christ as *special light calling for advance to higher ground… We were
to become foremost among all professing Christians in preaching Christ*IN ALL HIS
FULLNESS. However, prior t o 1888, with some still holding to a *RESTRICTED concept of
Christ, that call was NOT previously sounded by her. Christ, in all his effulgence [glory],
was now to be made pre-eminent. And Christ is to be lauded, not merely the message”
[about His saving righteousness].
---S.G. Haughey, Letter dated, May 26, 1930

It is plain that the CHANGE in certain erroneous views among SDA pioneers took time,
and was a gradual march into greater light; not an overnight affair. Thus even their view
that Jesus was not properly eternal, not self-existent, not always in existence as God
“from everlasting to everlasting” or existing “from all eternity” past, but that he was a
being who had a beginning of days and was brought into existence after God the Father,
this was also another faulty view that took time to change and be gradually corrected.

THE EVIDENT DOCTRINAL CHANGE AMONG THE PIONEERS:

Just as the SDA pioneers gradually matured doctrinally to change their views in other
areas (as we have seen so far in this booklet in your hands regarding the PRE-
INCARNATELY “CREATED” JESUS) they also gradually adjusted their views about Jesus the
“begotten Son” and his length of existence even while Mrs. White was alive (she died in
1915). They all died *still teaching (without ever changing) that he was “begotten” or
“brought forth” of the Father from eternity (not just on earth when he was “begotten”
a second time, but through Mary), but they gradually admitted that this truth does not
mean he did not exist always as God’s “co-existent” or “co-eternal” and “self-existent”
Son (a fact the dissident anti-Trinitarians in Adventism will not share with you, i.e. the full
story, dear reader, even as they *correctly insist that Jesus was “begotten” of God from
eternity). Proof of the adjusted pioneering views?

1907
"The divine Son involves the eternity of his being, *co-existent [i.e. coetaneous or
coeval] and co-equal with his Father, and standing next to the Father, and being the
agent, the representative of the Father, so that every revealing of God in his work *in
*every *way has been through his eternal Son."
---Review and Herald, January 17, 1907, Vol. 84, No. 3, pg. 4
1911
" The words of the wise man [Solomon] will aid us to understand this theme as far as
the finite mind can reach. Of Christ, under the personification of wisdom, he says: "The
Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up
from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the world was made, . . . when he
prepared the heavens, I was there . . . when he appointed the foundations of the earth,
then I was by him, as one brought up with him and I was daily his delight, rejoicing
always before him." Prov. 8 :22-30. To this agree the words of the Psalmist, "Lord, thou
has been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought
forth or thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting, to
everlasting, thou art God." Ps. 90: 2. Observe the expression used here to describe the
*infinity of Christ, "from everlasting to everlasting. " In other words, FROM THE
EVERLASTING ETERNITY OF THE PAST TO THE EVERLASTING ETERNITY OF THE
FUTURE" *Note: "infinity" has no limit in length of existence…and that’s why Jesus is
called the “Infinite One” by Mrs. White on behalf of true SDAs+
--The Oriental Watchman, Vol. 14, No. 1, January 11, 1911, pg. 14

1911
“...Christ is understood and portrayed by all the Old Testament writers.... [as] not a
Christ whose beginning dated from his birth in human form amid the humble
surroundings of a Judean stable, but one who was everlasting, all-powerful, and *co-
existent with the Father; not a son merely of Joseph the carpenter, but the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
---The Oriental Watchman, Vol.14, January, 1911; No. 1; pgs. 13-14
1919
“…the Son is *co-eternal with the Father [i.e. he existed "from all eternity" past just like
the Father]. That does not prevent His being the only-begotten Son of God….There is no
contradiction to say that the Son is co-eternal with the Father, and yet the Son is the
only-begotten of the Father.”
----W. W. Prescott, Report of the 1919 Bible Conference for July 2nd, pg. 20

*Note: The foregoing quotes evidence a marked change in thought among pioneers. SDA
pioneer J.M. Stephenson, for instance, in 1854 (Review and Herald, December 5, 1854,
pgs. 123, 124) denied that Jesus could even be deemed “coetaneous” (or “co-existent”)
with the Father, or be properly deemed an “eternal Son” or as a “self-existent Son”, but
we see clearly that later on the pioneers (influenced by ongoing bible study, and Mrs.
White’s ministry, no doubt) they gradually came to accept that Jesus was in existence
“from *all eternity”; and remember “all” simply means “all”, and “eternity” simply
means without beginning…thus Jesus always was in existence). No wonder a well known
pioneer, among other pioneers, eventually said the following, despite still believing in
the pre-incarnately begotten Son (as Trinitarians in history always did):

1920
“Evidently in an Eternal Father and an Eternal Son the ideas of older and younger can
have no place. As we lift up the conception of Sonship out of time into eternity, these
elements of it, ever present in human fathers and sons, at once disappear. When they
fall away, does any conception essential to our idea of son ship remain? Yes.... plainly
embodied in John 5:26, and in other express assertions from the lips of Christ describing
his own relation to God.”
---W. W. Prescott, The Doctrine of Christ: A Series of Bible Studies for Use in
Colleges and Seminaries, 1920, page 20

1929
“As the absolute Son, He, who 'in the beginning was with God, and was God,' was
begotten before times eternal...." ---W.W. Prescott, Signs of the Times, Jan 8, 1929

1936
"It was Satan's scheme to become equal with Christ; but this could never be, for Christ
was [in his pre-incarnation] the only begotten of the Father, the same essence as God,
and hence God the Son. Lucifer, although created next to [or just below] Christ in
position, was nevertheless a created being and did not and could not partake of the
essence of the Godhead. Christ was the one who brought Satan into existence. Satan's
great enmity is against Christ, and he falsely accuses the Son, his own creator, for all
the misfortune that he has brought upon himself by his own pride and rebellion."
--- Signs of the Times, July 14, 1936, Vol. 63, pg. 12

1946
“In the third verse of the first chapter of Hebrews, Christ is spoken of as “being the
brightness of His *Father’s+ glory.” The participle “being” is an expression of eternal,
timeless existence and has the same sense as “was” in John 1: 1: “In the beginning was
the Word.” The Word is Christ. (Verse 14) He did not come into existence in the
beginning. In the beginning He was. He did not become the brightness of the Father’s
glory. He always was. **Just as God’s wisdom has always existed along with him, never
having a beginning after God, Proverbs 8:1, 22-31] This constitutes the essential and
eternal ground of His personality. “Brightness” is variously translated “outshining,”
“outraying,” “reflection.” It has the same relation to God’s glory as the rays of the sun
have to the sun. The rays cannot be separated from the sun, nor the sun from its rays.
The two are inseparable. So with the Father and the Son.” —M. L. Andreasen, “Christ,
the Express Image of God,” Review and Herald, Oct. 17, 1946, p. 8
 WHAT MATURE ADVENTISM TEACHES ON THE “CREATED JESUS” ISSUE

Especially since the late 1880s and 1890s, matured Adventism teaches that Jesus was only
created in his humanity, but not in his divinity, and while he was pre-incarnately “begotten”
or “brought forth” of God in some “incomprehensible” way that’s “enshrined in light
unapproachable”, yet paradoxically he is still self-existent, fully eternal, or exists from
everlasting to everlasting as God, or “from all eternity”. Proof that true Adventism should
teach this truth?

"His *Christ’s+ human nature was CREATED; it did not even possess the angelic powers. It was
human, identical with our own."
—E.G. White, Selected Messages, Vol. 3, pg. 129.

Thus Jesus as the Son of man was a CREATED "Son", but as the divine Son of God, fully like God
in all his divinity, he was BEGOTTEN, and fully eternal and uncreated. Now notice the contrast:

“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.”
---E.G. White, Signs of the Times, Aug. 29, 1900.

“He was equal with God, infinite and omnipotent. . . . He is the eternal, self-existent Son.”
*To be “infinite” is to have no limits, even in existence+
--E.G. White, Manuscript 101, 1897.

“God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son”,*NOT a son by CREATION, as
were the angels, nor a son by adoption, as is the forgiven sinner, *BUT a Son *BEGOTTEN in
the express image of the Father’s person, and in all the brightness of his majesty and glory,
one equal with God in authority, dignity, and divine perfection. In him dwelt all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. John said, “We have seen, and do testify that the Father sent the Son
to be the Saviour of the world.” The Son of God took upon him human nature,—“the Word
was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” “God was manifest in the flesh.” The union of divinity
with humanity brings to the fallen race a value which we scarcely comprehend."
----E.G. White, Signs of the Times, May 30, 1895 [Note- “all the fullness of the Godhead”
includes full (not partial) eternal existence, or being “infinite” in existence, being uncreated,
being omniscient, omnipotent, and being God over all as God in the highest sense]

“… [It was] BEFORE CHRIST CAME in the likeness of men, [that] HE EXISTED IN THE EXPRESS
IMAGE of HIS FATHER [i.e. as an exact copy of the Deity, except he’s “begotten”… they were
“little short of being identical”, said E.G. White]. He thought it not robbery to be equal with
God. Nevertheless He voluntarily emptied himself, and took the form of a servant."
— E.G. White, Youth Instructor, December 20, 1900

“Christ is declared in the Scriptures to be the Son of God. From all eternity He has sustained
*THIS [Sonship] relation to Jehovah. Before the foundations of the world were laid, He, *THE
only begotten Son of God [an ETERNAL past tense reality], pledged Himself to become the
Redeemer of the human race should men sin.”
— E.G. White, Ms 22, 1905 (March 7, 1904

"Creator and Creature United in Christ—In Christ were united the divine and the human—the
Creator and the creature. The nature of God, whose law had been transgressed, and the
nature of Adam, the transgressor, meet in Jesus—the Son of God, and the Son of man. ”
---E.G. White, Manuscript 141, 1901

“ In His incarnation He GAINED IN A *NEW SENSE the title of the Son of God [now as the Son
of man]. 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”. While the
Son of a human being [or the Son of Man], He became the Son of God IN A *NEW SENSE [it
was not just a prophetic fulfilment for the first time]. Thus He stood in our world—the Son of
God, yet allied by birth to the human race” [as the Son of man]
---E.G. White, Special Testimonies, August 2, 1905

FINAL COMMENTS AND THOUGHTS:

We SEE CLEARLY the contrast of Jesus' nature as two types of "Son" (but as one person). As
the CREATED human "Son" he was not even equal with angels, and was God's "servant" or
slave, but as the BEGOTTEN divine Son he is all that God is in divine nature. Thus by no
stretch of the imagination can we say that CREATED and BEGOTTEN should mean the same
thing as it relates to Jesus!!! The Trinitarians in history debunked Arius by saying begotten
does not mean the same thing as being created (READ OVER THE HISTORY OF THE
TRINITARIAN NICENE CREED), and Mrs. White also debunked both Arians and semi-Arians in
our midst by saying this BEGOTTEN (NOT created) divine Jesus was always in existence “from
all eternity”, despite "begotten" and despite "brought forth". Proof?

"Christ was God essentially, and IN THE HIGHEST SENSE. He was with God from all eternity,
God over all, blessed forevermore. The Lord Jesus Christ, the divine Son of God, existed from
eternity, a distinct person, yet one with the Father. He was the surpassing glory of heaven.
He was the commander of the heavenly intelligences, and the adoring homage of the angels
was received by him as his right. This was no robbery of God. “The Lord POSSESSED me in the
beginning of his way,” he declares, “before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting,
from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was BROUGHT
FORTH; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were
settled, before the hills was I BROUGHT FORTH; while as yet he had not made the earth, nor
the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I
was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth.”
There are light and glory in the truth that Christ was one with the Father before the
foundation of the world was laid. This is the light shining in a dark place, making it
resplendent with divine, original glory. This truth, INFINITELY MYSTERIOUS in itself, explains
other mysterious and otherwise unexplainable truths, while it is enshrined in light,
unapproachable and INCOMPREHENSIBLE.
“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the
world, even FROM EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING, THOU ART GOD.”
---E.G. White, Review and Herald, April 5, 1906

CONCLUSION:
True SD Adventism taught/teaches, and should teach today, that Jesus was BOTH
begotten and created, but as contrasting realities meant to express his BEGOTTEN
divinity and his CREATED humanity….yet still as a person he (paradoxically) has always
been in existence, just like his Father described as eternal or existing “from all eternity”,
self-existent, and rightfully bearing the name and full nature of “the I AM” or “Jehovah”:

“…when Jesus declared Himself to the Jews to be I AM, He revealed Himself as the
Jehovah of the Old Testament, the God of Abraham manifested in human flesh. This is
quite in harmony with the name announced by the prophet Isaiah to be given to the
virgin-born son, and by Inspiration applied to Jesus of Nazareth; "They shall call His
name Immanuel; which is, being interpreted, God with us." Matt. 1:23. But the fact
that the Jesus of the New Testament is the Jehovah of the Old Testament must not be
understood as eliminating the Father, or as a denial of the Godhead-- Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit. Since the finite cannot comprehend the infinite, it were vain to attempt an
analysis of the Godhead, or to liken the perfect union of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to
a triumvirate of men or even of angels. Neither must we think of the three distinct
persons of the Godhead as subject to any of the limitations to which men are subject.
To Nicodemus the Saviour said, "No one hath ascended into heaven, but He that
descended out of heaven, even the Son of man, who is in heaven." John 3:13.
There was the divine Word made flesh, subject to the limitations of humanity, as a
man just as dependent upon the Father as we are dependent upon Him; and yet, as a
divine Being, still one with the Father in heaven, as declared in John 17:23. Believe it
we must, but explain it, or even fully comprehend it, we cannot; and until we can, we
should tread reverently as we approach the subject of the being and nature of the
triune God. This identification of Jesus of Nazareth with Jehovah of the Old Testament
opens up a fertile field of study and encouragement. …When we are tempted to doubt
the power of Jesus to save us from sin and from sinning, we may call to mind that it
was as Jehovah that He delivered His people from the bondage of Egypt and brought
them into the Promised Land.”
---W.W. Prescott, The Saviour of the World, pg. 17

“...God’s great plan is clear and logical. There is *A TRINITY, and in it there are three
personalities [or three individuals]…. These divine persons are associated in the work
of God…But this union is not one in which *individuality is lost…There is indeed a
divine trio, but the Christ of that Trinity is not a created being as the angels- He was
the “only begotten” of the Father…”
-----Robert Hare, Australasian Union Conference Record (SDA pioneering periodical),
July 19, 1909

“It was the Son of God alone who could present an acceptable sacrifice. GOD HIMSELF
became man, and bore all the wrath that sin had provoked….”
---Ellen G. White, Youth’s Instructor, 31st August, 1887

“He says to us, I [Jesus] AM THE LORD [or Jehovah] THY GOD [see John 20:28-29]; walk
with Me, and I will fill thy path with light. Jesus, the Majesty of heaven, proposes to
elevate to companionship with Himself those who come to Him with their burdens,
their weaknesses, and their cares.”

---E.G. White, Lift Him Up, pg. 98

"...let Jesus, in His love and mercy, be revealed as the crucified Saviour, and from many
once unwilling lips will be heard the acknowledgment of Thomas, “My Lord and *my
God.” [*It’s logical since only Jehovah God himself is our Saviour, the Saviour, as said
plainly in Isaiah 43:10-11]
---E.G. White, Desire of Ages, 1898, pg. 808
“Represent before a world laden with corruption the blessedness of true education.
The weary, the heavy-laden, the broken-hearted, the perplexed--point them to Christ,
the source of all strength, *all life, all hope.”
---E.G. White, Review and Herald, January 16, 1913

"The crowning glory of Christ´s [Jesus] attributes is His holiness. The angels bow before
*Him [Jesus] in adoration, exclaiming, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord *God Almighty."
Revelation 4:8. *It’s only logical, since that’s what it mean’s to be “co-equal” with God+.
He is declared to be glorious in His holiness. Study the character of God. By beholding
Christ, by seeking Him in faith and prayer, you may become like Him.”
---E.G. White, Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students pg. 402

"It was Christ who spoke the law from Mount Sinai [commanding us to have no other
God before him]. The authority by which He spoke was expressly His own; yet it was
the authority of the Father *also. The Son of God cannot be separated from His Father.
... “I and my Father are one.” — E.G. White, Manuscript 58, 1900, pg.33

"One name ALONE is to be exalted by us—the name of Christ. He who bears this name
has visited this earth...His name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty
God, The everlasting Father, The Prince [Ruler] of Peace.” I have plain messages to
bear. The name of the Lord must be exalted among His people."
---E.G. White, Letter 347, 1904

Compare her saying: “Jehovah, the eternal, self-existent, uncreated One, Himself the
source and sustainer of all, is alone entitled to supreme reverence and worship. Man is
forbidden to give to any other object the first place in his affections or his service.”
---E.G. White, Sons and Daughters of God, pg. 56
[*Note: Never forget that Jesus himself said: "Matt 4:10… Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou
serve”. Since Jesus is called our Jehovah God by title alongside the Father, then, just like the Father, only Christ Jesus is to
be exalted as our UNCREATED God (despite he is the created human Messiah). The “oneness” of divinity applies in this
instance too, i.e. as it applies to the first commandment regarding who we are to see as our God— i.e. the Father and the
Son, and their sent personal Holy Spirit who represents them to us as the Uncreated!!

Amen!

---THE END---

Derrick Gillespie is a trained teacher in the Social Sciences, History, and Geography, and
remains a member of the SDA Church in Jamaica and a lay evangelist for SDAs.
(Contact Info: ddgillespie@live.com OR https://www.facebook.com/derrick.gillespie