WHAT DID ELLEN G. WHITE BELIEVE REGARDING THE GODHEAD?
Ellen White never used the term "trinity," although she did refer to the "three living persons of the heavenly trio" (Evangelism, p. 615). She believed in the full deity of Christ, stating that "Christ was God essentially, and in the highest sense. He was with God from all eternity, God over all, blessed forevermore" (Review and Herald, April 5, 1906). She also referred to the Holy Spirit as "the Third Person of the Godhead" (The Desire of Ages, p. 671). Her comments, as collected in Evangelism, pages 613-617, suggest that she believed that the Scriptures taught the existence of three co-eternal divine persons.
DID ELLEN WHITE BELIEVE THE HOLY SPIRIT IS A DIVINE PERSON?
Yes, Herald, September 12, 1893). but at times she used the pronoun “it” when referring to the Holy Spirit. Several statements regarding the personality of the Holy Spirit are collected in Evangelism, pages 616, 617. In 1906, for example, she wrote, “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] (Evangelism, p. 617). (To view Ellen White’s original, unedited draft of this passage, http://www.whiteestate.org/vault/diary.asp) See also the PDF document: Ellen White’s Trinitarian Statements: What Did She Actually Write? Visit the site: http://www.whiteestate.org/issues/The-Trinity.pdf.
DID ELLEN WHITE TEACH THAT JESUS WILL RETURN AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SEVENTH MILLENNIUM?
Ellen White believed the earth’s age to be about six thousand years. She also expected to see Jesus return in her day. Thus, when describing future events connected with the end of time, she could write of Satan’s ruinous reign having lasted for six thousand years. (See The Great Controversy, p. 673, for example.) Nowhere in her writings, however, did Ellen White refer to a divine timetable of seven millennia corresponding to the creation week. She consistently opposed any efforts to calculate the date (day or year) of Christ’s return. She wrote, “Again and again have I been warned in regard to time setting. There will never again be a message for the people of God that will be based on time” (Selected Messages, book 1, p. 188). And, “Anyone who shall start up to proclaim a message to announce the hour, day, or year of Christ’s appearing, has taken up a yoke and is proclaiming a message that the Lord has never given him” (Review and Yes, Herald, September 12, 1893).
This question and answer column has been excerpted from www.whiteestate.org. Used with permission.
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