What is the heart of the Seventh-day Adventist message? Probably most Adventists will have no problem with pointing to Jesus Christ as the heart of the message.
The Biblical Witness is clearly pointing in this direction. Luke quotes the words of Peter referring to Jesus as the cornerstone: “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:11–12).2
John summarizes his Gospel in the following words: “but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).
The Apostle Paul points out that Jesus holds all things together: “All things have been created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. . . . In . . . [Him] are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 1:16–17; 2:3, NASB).
ROOTED IN THE BIBLE
Since the Seventh-day Adventist message is rooted in the Bible, it seems unquestionable to conclude that the heart of the message is Jesus Christ Himself. Well-respected Bible scholar, Dr. Gerhard Hasel wrote, “The quest for the center of the New Testament (and the Old Testament) as based on the inner Biblical witnesses themselves is fully justified. It seems undeniable that the New Testament is from beginning to end Christocentric. Jesus Christ is the dynamic, unifying center of the New Testament . . . Jesus Christ is the beginning, center, and end of the New Testament.”3
Of course, when we speak of Jesus as the heart of the Seventhday Adventist message we are not speaking of a hermeneutical principle that would lead to a “canon within a canon,” but we point to the fact that Jesus must be the heart, the center of all our fundamental beliefs. Without Jesus as the center, all beliefs lose their significance and relevance.
In her writings, Ellen G. White underlined this thought beautifully when stating “of all professing Christians, Seventh-day Adventists should be foremost in uplifting Christ before the world.”4
In referring to the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14, she refers to Jesus Christ as “the great center of attraction.” She writes, “The proclamation of the third angel’s message calls for the presentation of the Sabbath truth. This truth, with others included in the message, is to be proclaimed; but the great center of attraction, Christ Jesus, must not be left out.”5
She also emphasized that as we search the Word of God one subject should “swallow up every other.” She writes “As Christ’s ambassadors, they are to search the Scriptures, to seek for the truths that have been hidden beneath the rubbish of error. And every ray of light received is to be communicated to others. One interest will prevail, one subject will swallow up every other,—Christ our righteousness.”6
“THE TRUTH AS IT IS IN JESUS”
Ellen White invited Seventhday Adventist preachers to make Christ the center of their sermons: “Many of our ministers have merely sermonized, presenting subjects in an argumentative way, and scarcely mentioning the saving power of the Redeemer. Their testimony was destitute of the saving blood of Christ. Their offering resembled the offering of Cain. He brought to the Lord the fruit of the ground, which in itself was acceptable in God’s sight. Very good indeed was the fruit; but the virtue of the offering—the blood of the slain lamb, representing the blood of Christ—was lacking. So it is with Christless sermons.”7 She continued, “When the law is presented as it should be, it reveals the love of God. But it is no wonder that hearts are not melted even by truth when it is presented in a cold, lifeless manner; no wonder that faith staggers at the promises of God, when ministers and workers fail to present Jesus in His relation to the law.”8
In providing counsel for Seventhday Adventist witnessing, preaching, and teaching, she often uses the famous phrase, “the truth as it is in Jesus,” which clearly points to the fact that Jesus is the heart and the center of the Biblical message. “We should earnestly seek to know and appreciate the truth,” Ellen White wrote, “that we may present it to others as it is in Jesus.”9 In another instance she refers to Christ as the foundation of the gospel: “Theoretical discourses are essential, that people may see the chain of truth, link after link, uniting in a perfect whole; but no discourse should ever be preached without presenting Christ and Him crucified as the foundation of the gospel.”10
It is undeniable that the writings of Ellen G. White follow the Biblical witness in pointing to Christ as the heart and center of the message. In fact, this is the main reason why we call her writings the Spirit of Prophecy, because they bear, contain, and hold to the testimony of Jesus! “For the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy” (Rev. 19:10).
It is undeniable that the writings of Ellen G. White follow the Biblical witness in pointing to Christ as the heart and center of the message.
IN 28 DIFFERENT COLORS
If indeed the heart of the Seventh-day Adventist message is Jesus Christ, then a question is in order: Are not all Christians doing the same— preaching Christ? What makes us unique?
I would like to suggest that the 28 Fundamental Beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church are best presented as 28 different colors. You see, you can paint the portrait of Christ in just two colors—black and white. However, by doing that we will not do justice to the beautiful portrait of Christ that we are invited to present to the world. And so, if we use 28 different colors in presenting Christ to the world, His portrait will be much closer to the actual reality, to His actual beauty.
Our assignment as Seventh-day Adventists is to present Christ as the center of all our Fundamental Beliefs. Christ is the center of the Sabbath, He is our Creator and Sustainer, He is our Judge, He is our Mediator, He is our Savior, He is our soon coming King.
CHRIST AND THE TRUTH
In our world today you will find many who try to present Christ as separate from His teachings, from the Word of God. One, however, should ask the question, is it possible to separate Christ from His teachings, from Biblical Truth? If it were not for the Biblical message, if it were not for the Gospels, what would we know about Jesus Christ?
If one tries to separate Christ from His teachings, then he or she is creating a Christ based on their own image and understanding. In this case everyone will have a different Christ, a private Christ.
“What happens when Jesus is separated from the Gospel? He becomes an abstraction, free to be molded into any image or idea we want Him to take. No longer is He the God who loves us through concrete, verifiable ways in history. No longer is He the God who came down from heaven to die on a cross for our sins. No longer is He the God who rose to new life to bring us into eternity with Him. Jesus becomes a directionless divinity, an idle idolatry.”11
It is apparent that separating Jesus from His teachings presented in the Holy Scriptures leaves us with our own imagination creating a divinity according to our own desires, our own image. This leads us to the fact that each generation and each society would have their own subjective and directionless Christ.
Carl F.H. Henry, the founder and first editor-in-chief of the magazine Christianity Today once described his generation with the following words: “a generation that is intellectually uncapped, morally unzippered, and volitionally uncurbed.”12 He continued describing it in alarming vocabulary: “Affirming sexual pleasure to be the supreme good of a life of unending revelry, they waste away into ethical ghosts and skeletons.”13
One can only imagine what kind of divinity this generation will create following their own understandings and desires.
It is obvious that we cannot separate Christ from the Truth. Christ the person and Christ the Truth are the same. He Himself stated: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
It is obvious that we cannot separate Christ from the Truth. Christ the person and Christ the Truth are the same.
The Gospel of John underlines this point: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us . . . full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14, NASB).
The Incarnate Christ and the Incarnate Word are ONE. Christ is the Incarnate Word.
Ellen G. White invites us to connect “the theory of the truth” with “Christ and His redeeming love.”14 She also emphasized, “we must cleave to that which God pronounces to be truth, though the whole world may be arrayed against it.”15
“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” (John 8:31–32).
There is no Christ outside of Truth and there is no Truth outside of Christ.
1 This article is chapter 1 of Committed to Our Identity: Message, Mission, Unity, 2nd ed. (Silver Spring, MD: Biblical Research Institute and Review and Herald, 2024), 19–23. It is being reproduced with permission.
2 Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version (ESV).
3 Gerhard F. Hasel, New Testament Theology: Basic Issues in the Current Debate (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1978), 164.
4 Ellen G. White, Gospel Workers (Washington, DC: Review and Herald, 1946), 156.
5 Ibid.
6 Ellen G. White, Sons and Daughters of God (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 2003), 259.
7 White, Gospel Workers (Washington, DC: Review and Herald, 1946), 156.
8 Ibid., 157.
9 White, Sons and Daughters of God (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 2003), 259.
10 White, Gospel Workers (Washington, DC: Review and Herald, 1946), 158.
11 https://www.1517.org/articles/what-happenswhen-jesus-is-separated-from-the-gospel (accessed Oct. 22, 2023).
12 https://wisdomfish.tumblr.com/ post/111288174694/an-indispensable-messagefor-contemporary-culture (accessed Oct. 22, 2023).
13 https://wisdomfish.tumblr.com/ post/111288174694/an-indispensable-messagefor-contemporary-culture (accessed Oct. 22, 2023).
14 White, Gospel Workers (Washington, DC: Review and Herald, 1946), 158.
15 Ellen G. White, The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, ed. Francis D. Nichol, rev. ed., vol. 4 (Washington, DC: Review and Herald, 1976), 1179 (Manuscript 140, 1901).
Artur Stele, PhD, is a general vice president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Silver Spring, MD, USA.
