The Return of the Latter Rain

“By Beholding We Become Changed”

In one of his classes at the Institute, Waggoner presented a verse by verse study of Isaiah’s prophecies, emphasizing the nature and work of Christ. This was not a new subject for Waggoner, as he had presented his views on the nature of Christ even before the 1888 Conference. Just like his views on the law in Galatians and the two covenants, Waggoner’s views on the nature of Christ (both His divine and human nature) were much more than a side issue; they weren’t just creedal tenets to be argued about in circles of higher learning. Waggoner understood the nature of Christ to be closely connected with the “righteousness of Christ;” the very foundation upon which the doctrine of righteousness by faith was built. In fact, for both Jones and Waggoner, righteousness by faith was in reality only a practical application of justification by faith, sanctification by faith, the covenants, and the law in Galatians; all of which were founded on their understanding of the nature of man, the nature of sin, and the nature of Christ. This understanding, with the truth of the cleansing of the Sanctuary in an endtime setting, is what made the most precious message the “third angel’s message in verity.”

The Divinity of Christ

Arianism: A teaching which arose in the fourth century AD in Alexandria. Named after its most prominent representative Arius, a presbyter of Alexandria. It denied that Jesus Christ was of the same substance (Gk. homoousios) as the Father and reduced the Son to the rank of a creature, though pre-existent before the world. Arianism was condemned at the Council of Nicaea (AD 325).

Semi-Arianism: Semi-Arians attempted a compromise between the orthodox and Arian position on the nature of Christ. They rejected the Arian view that Christ was created and had a different nature from God (anomoisos – dissimilar), but neither did they accept the Nicene Creed which stated that Christ was “of one substance (homoousios) with the Father.” Semi-Arians taught that Christ was similar (homoios) to the Father, or of like substance (homoiousios), but still subordinate.

Uriah Smith is perhaps one of the foremost known supporters of an Arian view of Christ. In 1865, for example, he wrote that Christ was “the first created being, dating his existence far back before any other created being or thing.” Although Smith’s and many other church founders’ ideas would move toward a more orthodox understanding of the Godhead in the late 1890s, this was a prominent view at the time and the environment in which Waggoner was brought up.

Shortly after his 1882 vision of the cross of Christ Waggoner began to see the significance of presenting Christ as One equal with God. He saw that a correct view of Christ plays a significant role, not just in one’s understanding of the Godhead, but also in one’s understanding of the plan of salvation and the righteousness of Christ that man must obtain by faith:

[T]o consider Christ continually and intelligently, just as He is, will transform one into a perfect Christian, for “by beholding we become changed.” … This “lifting up” of Jesus, while it has primary reference to His crucifixion, embraces more than the mere historical fact; it means that Christ must be “lifted up” by all who believe in Him, as the crucified Redeemer, whose grace and glory are sufficient to supply the world’s greatest need; it means that He should be “lifted up” in all His exceeding loveliness and power as “God with us,” that His Divine attractiveness may thus draw all unto Him. See John 12:32.

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 the better appreciated.

Ellen White also expressed similar thoughts in regard to a correct understanding of the divinity of Christ. In the Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4 (1884), and the later expanded Great Controversy (1888 ed.), Ellen White mentioned the dangers in denying the divinity of Christ and the effects it had on a person’s understanding of the plan of salvation:

Another dangerous error, is the doctrine that denies the divinity of Christ, claiming that he had no existence before his advent to this world. … It cannot be entertained without the most unwarranted wresting of the Scriptures. It not only lowers man’s conceptions of the work of redemption, but undermines faith in the Bible as a revelation from God. … None who hold this error can have a true conception of the character or the mission of Christ, or of the great plan of God for man’s redemption.

In 1884 and 1885, Waggoner mentioned Christ’s exalted position as God Himself in several Signs of the Times articles. He urged that Christ deserves equal reverence and that He partakes of the Father’s attributes, including life in Himself, and that He is rightfully called “Lord.” Because so much has been made of Waggoner’s views of Christ, we will look at many of his statements:

If there is but one that is good, viz., God, and Christ is good, then Christ must be God. And this agrees with what the prophet had said of Christ: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Isa. 9:6. …

The Father and the Son are one. John 10:30. Both are worthy of worship. … We are not called upon to explain the mystery of godliness, nor expected to understand it, but Christ has explained to us how he and the Father are one. … This oneness, then, is that of two distinct individuals having the same thoughts, the same purposes, the same attributes. The Father and the Son were one in creating the earth, and one in the devising and carrying out of the plan of salvation.

It is that God only hath immortality. … That is an attribute of God alone. “But,” says one, “is not Christ immortal? and do we not read of the angels that they cannot die?” Yes; and we turn to John 5:26 and read Christ’s words: “For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.” Christ, then, being the only begotten Son of God, partakes of his attributes, and has life in himself. That is, he is able to impart life to others.

In our further investigation of this subject, we shall understand that the word “Lord” is applied both to the Father and the Son, and that even though we find it in various places applied specifically to one of them, the act predicated of that one is the act of the other also. … From John 5:23 we learn “that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.” Wherever, then, we find an act enjoined by the Father, we know that the performance of that act honors the Son also, and that the neglecting of it is as much an insult to the Son as to the Father. Disobedience to the Father dishonors Christ.

[John 3:16 quoted] What do we learn from this verse? 1. That God’s love for the world was so great as to cause him to send his Son for their rescue. We can judge something of God’s love for his Son, when we remember that Christ was the brightest of the Father’s glory, “and the express image of his person,” that he was “heir of all things,” the one by whom the worlds were made (Heb. 1:2, 3); and that “in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” Col. 2:9. God is infinite in all his attributes and therefore his love for his Son was infinite. And since he gave his Son for the world, we know how great was his love for the world. It was infinite.

It is not surprising that Waggoner brought these same concepts into his presentations on righteousness by faith at Minneapolis. An article in the Review prior to the 1888 Conference included “the divinity of Christ” as one of the “subjects proposed to be considered.” This subject was of growing interest to Waggoner and one of which he would often write and speak. W. C. White recorded one of Waggoner’s presentations where he openly declared: “We believe in [the] Divinity of Christ. He created all things in Heaven and the Earth.”

Waggoner continued to proclaim Christ’s divinity in the years that followed the Minneapolis conference. In a six-part series in the Signs he wrote specifically on the divinity of Christ in response to a book issued by the Methodists on the Sabbath question. Before Waggoner responded to the questions raised on the Sabbath, he addressed “a line of thought suggested by a sentence in the preface. Speaking of those who observe the seventh day as the Sabbath … the Doctor [M. C. Briggs] says: ‘One only regrets … their … denial of Christ’s divinity.’” For an entire six articles, from which we will quote only a portion, Waggoner sought to show that idea as wholly false:

But when the Doctor [M. C. Briggs] states that Seventh-day Adventists deny the divinity of Christ, we know that he writes recklessly. We are fully persuaded in our own mind that he knows better; but be that as it may, the statement has been made so often by men who professed to know whereof they were speaking, that many have come to believe it; and for their sakes, as well as for the benefit of those who may now have given the subject any thought, we propose to set forth the truth. We have no theory to bolster up, and so, instead of stating propositions, we shall simply quote the word of God, and accept what it says. …

John 1:1 … From it we learn that Christ is God. That text alone, if we had no other, is sufficient to establish the divinity of Christ, for the word “divinity” means, “the nature or essence of God.” We believe in the divinity of Christ, because the Bible says that Christ is God. …

The writer to the Hebrews, speaking of Christ’s superiority to the angels, says that it is because “he hath by inheritance a more excellent name than they.” Heb. 1:3. What name is it that he has by inheritance? It is, “The mighty God.” As the only begotten Son of God, he has that name by right.

Then what did he mean by saying, “Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is God”? He meant to impress upon the young man’s mind the fact that the one whom he was addressing as Master was not a mere man, as one of the rabbis, but that he was God. He claimed for himself absolute goodness, and since there is none good but God, he thereby identified himself with God. And with this we may connect the statement of the apostle Paul, that “in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” Col. 2:9. …

“In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up … Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” Isa. 6:1-5. We should not know to whom this refers, if our Saviour himself had not, in John 12:40, 41, quoted Isaiah’s words in the tenth verse of this chapter, and applied them to himself. From these texts we have proof not only that the inspired writers call Jesus the divine Son of God, but that Jesus himself claimed to be God.

As Son of God, he must partake of the nature of God. “As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.” John 5:26. Life and immortality are imparted to the faithful followers of God, but Christ alone shares with the Father the power to impart life. He has “life in himself,” that is, he is able to perpetuate his own existence. …

That Christ is divine is shown by the fact that he receives worship. Angels have always refused to receive worship and adoration. But we read of the Father, that “when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.” Heb. 1:6. …

If Christ were not God, this would be idolatry. … It matters not what the position of a creature may be, whether a beast, a man, or an angel, worship of it is strictly forbidden. Only God may be worshiped, and since Christ may be worshiped, Christ is God. So say the Scriptures of truth. …

In arguing the perfect equality of the Father and the Son, and the fact that Christ is in very nature God. … He is of the substance of the Father, so that in his very nature he is God; and since that is so “it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell.” Col. 1:19.

We come to notice some of the works which Christ does as God, and in this we shall find additional proof of his divinity. …

The first way in which God is revealed to us as demanding honor, is as Creator. … Now since Christ is to be honored by all, just as they honor the Father, it follows that he is to be honored as Creator; and so, according to Paul’s words to the Romans, the visible creation affords proof of the “eternal power and Godhead” of Christ. …

Col. 1:15-17. … From the words, “the first-born of every creature,” some have argued that Christ himself is a created being. But that is not only a hasty conclusion, but one directly opposed to the text itself. … In him creation had its beginning, as stated in Rev. 3:14. Creation existed in him, in embryo, as it were; “for it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell.” Col. 1:19. No language could more perfectly show the pre-existence and the creative power of Christ, than does the language of Col. 1:15-17. …

Let no one, therefore, say that in exalting Christ we are in danger of lowering our ideas of God. That is impossible, for the more exalted ideas we have of Christ, the more exalted must be our ideas of the Father.

Since all must honor the Son even as they honor the Father, they must honor him not only as Creator, but as Lawgiver. … Only the power that makes the laws can provide for their execution. We shall now proceed to give proof that the law was given by Christ, even as it is his righteousness. …

Christ was the leader of the children of Israel from Egypt to Canaan. … Now in 1 Cor. 10:9 Paul tells plainly against whom they were murmuring. He says: “Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.” So it was Christ who, with the name of God, was leading Israel, and it was against him that they murmured.

Heb. 3:5-11 also teaches the same thing very plainly. One has only to read it with care to see that Christ is the one whose voice the Holy Ghost warns us not to reject as did the fathers who tempted him forty years in the wilderness. …

Since Christ was the leader of ancient Israel from Egypt to Canaan, it follows that Christ was the Angel of the Lord who appeared to Moses in the burning bush, and said: “I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face. …” Ex. 3:6-8.

If any should object to this most natural conclusion, on the ground that the one here speaking calls himself “I AM THAT I AM,” the self-existent One— Jehovah—we have only to remind him that the Father hath given to the Son to have life in himself (John 5:26), that Christ asserted the same thing of himself when he said, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:5, 6); for which supposed blasphemy the Jews attempted to stone him; and that by the prophet he is most plainly called Jehovah, in the following passage: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, … and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS;” literally, “Jehovah our righteousness.” Jer. 23:5, 6. …

Ex. 20:1-3. This scripture positively identifies the leader of the children of Israel from Egypt, as the giver of the law from Sinai. If it is said that in the transaction we cannot separate the Father and the Son, we reply that that is just the point we are making. The Father and the Son cannot be separated in any transaction, for they are one. But just as the Son was the one by whom all things were created, so was he the one who declared to the people the law of Jehovah. Thus he is the divine Word. The Son declares the will of the Father, which is also his own will.

So we have proved in general and in particular that Christ is the Lawgiver for all mankind. We must honor him, therefore, as Creator, and as Lawgiver, and now, lastly, as Redeemer. And in this we come to the comforting, encouraging part of all that has gone before. …

It is our God that is our Redeemer. What a pledge this affords of the faithfulness of the “exceeding great and precious promises” of the gospel. The great law of the universe was broken by the inhabitants of this little planet, and the Lawgiver gave himself to redeem these rebels. …

And if the Lawgiver gave himself for us, to redeem us from the transgression of his own law, what greater assurance could we ask that he will save to the uttermost all who come to him?

In 1890, Waggoner expanded on these articles and published his book Christ and His Righteousness. Throughout several chapters, just as in his 1889 articles, he dealt specifically with the divinity of Christ. His stated purpose was clear: “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 the better appreciated.” We note only a few paragraphs here:

To Christ is committed the highest prerogative, that of judging. He must receive the same honor that is due to God and for the reason that He is God. The beloved disciple bears this witness, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1. That this Divine Word is none other than Jesus Christ is shown by verse 14: “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Onlybegotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.”

In many places in the Bible Christ is called God. The Psalmist says, “The mighty God, even the Lord [Jehovah], hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. … And the heavens shall declare His righteousness; for God is judge Himself.” Ps. 50:1-6. That this passage has reference to Christ may be known 1) by the fact already learned, that all judgment is committed to the Son, and 2) by the fact that it is at the second coming of Christ that He sends His angels to gather together His elect from the four winds. Matt. 24:31.

When He comes it will be as “the mighty God.” … These are not simply the words of Isaiah; they are the words of the Spirit of God. … This name was not given to Christ in consequence of some great achievement, but it is His by right of inheritance. Speaking of the power and greatness of Christ, the writer to the Hebrews says that He is made so much better than the angels, because “He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.” Heb. 1:4. … Christ is the “express image” of the Father’s person. Heb. 1:3. As the Son of the self- existent God, He has by nature all the attributes of Deity.

And, finally, we have the inspired words of the apostle Paul concerning Jesus Christ, that “it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.” Col. 1:19. What this fullness is which dwells in Christ, we learn from the next chapter, where we are told that “in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” Col. 2:9. This is most absolute and unequivocal testimony to the fact that Christ possesses by nature all the attributes of Divinity. The fact of the Divinity of Christ will also appear very distinctly as we proceed to consider.

Heb. 1:8-10. Here we find the Father addressing the Son as God, and saying to Him, Thou hast laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. When the Father Himself gives this honor to the Son, what is man, that he should withhold it? With this we may well leave the direct testimony concerning the Divinity of Christ and the fact that He is the Creator of all things.

Is Christ a Created Being? Before passing to some of the practical lessons that are to be learned from these truths, we must dwell for a few moments upon an opinion that is honestly held by many who would not for any consideration willingly dishonor Christ, but who, through that opinion, do actually deny His Divinity. It is the idea that Christ is a created being, who, through the good pleasure of God, was elevated to His present lofty position. No one who holds this view can possibly have any just conception of the exalted position which Christ really occupies.

The view in question is built upon a misconception of a single text, Rev. 3:14: … And so the statement that He is the beginning or head of the creation of God means that in Him creation had its beginning; that, as He Himself says, He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

Christ “is in the bosom of the Father” being by nature of the very substance of God and having life in Himself. He is properly called Jehovah, the self-existent One and is thus styled in Jer. 23:56, where it is said that the righteous Branch, who shall execute judgment and justice in the earth, shall be known by the name of Jehovah-tsidekenu—THE LORD, OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Although some readers may feel we have gone laboriously too far in presenting Waggoner’s views on the divinity of Christ, in light of those who have accused Waggoner of being an Arian and believing that “Christ was a created god,” we wish to make this subject absolutely clear. No further comment is needed; Waggoner’s articles speak for themselves.

Ellen White’s Response

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” Fill the mind with the great humiliation of Christ, and then contemplate His divine character, His majesty and glory of the Highest, and His disrobing Himself of these and clothing His divinity with humanity. Then we can see a self-denial, a self-sacrifice, that was the marvel of angels. … Then look beneath the disguise, and whom do we see?—Divinity, the Eternal Son of God, just as mighty, just as infinitely gifted with all the resources of power, and He was found in fashion as a man.

Christ condescended to assume human nature, but the dwarfed powers of man were unable through ignorance to comprehend or distinguish the divine. Jesus was not spared the necessity of defining and defending His divine nature, because the minds of men were so thoroughly human they could not discern the divine beneath the assumption of humanity. In order to make His lessons forceful, He was compelled, when these impressions hindered His usefulness, to refer to His mysterious and divine character, leading their minds into a train of thought that was favorable to the transforming power of truth.

We need a power to come upon us now and stir us up to diligence and earnest faith. Then, baptized with the Holy Spirit, we shall have Christ formed within, the hope of glory. Then we will exhibit Christ as the divine object of our faith and our love. We will talk of Christ, we will pray to Christ and about Christ. We will praise His holy name. We will present before the people His miracles, His self-denial, His self-sacrifice, His sufferings, and His crucifixion, His resurrection and triumphant ascension. These are the inspiring themes of the gospel, to awaken love and intense fervor in every heart.

The popular doctrines of this age cannot correctly represent Jesus. Our Saviour represented the Father. He rolled away the thick darkness from the throne of God, the hellish shadow which Satan had cast to hide God from sight and from knowledge. Christ reveals the throne of God and reveals to the world the Father as light and love. His clothing his divinity with humanity brings that love in clear evidence of light that humanity can comprehend it. … Why not by faith take hold of the divine nature. It is our privilege. All things shall be done for him that believeth.

In Christ, divinity and humanity were combined. Divinity was not degraded to humanity; divinity held its place, but humanity by being united to divinity, withstood the fiercest test of temptation in the wilderness. … Man may become a partaker of the divine nature; not a soul lives who may not summon the aid of Heaven in temptation and trial. Christ came to reveal the Source of his power, that man might never rely on his unaided human capabilities.

As Ellen White heard the message of Christ being proclaimed, she could only rejoice. In 1890, speaking of the very heart of the message Jones and Waggoner were sharing, Ellen White stated that the “messages bearing the divine credentials have been presented to God’s people … the fullness of the Godhead in Jesus Christ has been set forth among us with beauty and loveliness.” Several years later when summarizing the 1888 message the Lord sent, she wrote of this very subject as being one of the essential parts of that precious message:

The Lord in His great mercy sent a most precious message to His people through Elders Waggoner and Jones. … Many had lost sight of Jesus. They needed to have their eyes directed to His divine person, His merits, and His changeless love for the human family. All power is given into His hands, that He may dispense rich gifts unto men, imparting the priceless gift of His own righteousness to the helpless human agent. This is the message that God commanded to be given to the world. It is the third angel’s message, which is to be proclaimed with a loud voice, and attended with the outpouring of His Spirit in a large measure.

The Only Begotten Son

Some have difficulty in reconciling Christ’s statement in John 14:28, “My Father is greater than I,” with the idea that he is God, and is entitled to worship. Some, indeed, dwell upon that text alone as sufficient to overthrow the idea of Christ’s divinity; but if that were allowed, it would only prove a contradiction in the Bible, and even in Christ’s own speech, for it is most positively declared, as we have seen, that he is divine. There are two facts which are amply sufficient to account for Christ’s statement recorded in John 14:28. One is that Christ is the Son of God. While both are of the same nature, the Father is first in point of time. He is also greater in that He had no beginning, while Christ’s personality had a beginning. Then, too, the statement is emphatically true in view of the position which Christ had assumed. He “emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.” Phil. 2:7, Revised Version. He was “made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death.” Heb. 2:9. In order to redeem men, He had to come where they were. He did not lay aside his divinity, but He laid aside His glory, and veiled His divinity with humanity. So his statement, “My Father is greater than I,” is perfectly consistent with the claim, made by himself as well as by all who wrote of him, that He was and is God.

The Scriptures declare that Christ is “the only begotten son of God.” He is begotten, not created. As to when He was begotten, it is not for us to inquire, nor could our minds grasp it if we were told. The prophet Micah tells us all that we can know about it in these words, “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity.” Micah 5:2, margin. There was a time when Christ proceeded forth and came from God, from the bosom of the Father (John 8:42; 1:18), but that time was so far back in the days of eternity that to finite comprehension it is practically without beginning.

Neither of these statements brought a rebuke from Ellen White. And why should they? By classic definition Waggoner was neither Arian nor SemiArian. He was already advancing the concepts of the Godhead beyond what many of the Church’s founders had understood, and he was doing so without the aid of Ellen White’s later clarifying statements. Notice the recognition of this fact by modern writers:

Waggoner’s was thus the first competent attempt to deal with the larger, over all view of Christ as all the fullness of the Godhead was the all-sufficient basis and provision of Righteousness by Faith for us.

Unfortunately for Dr. Waggoner, Ellen White had not, at this time, yet made most of her strongest declarations on the eternal pre-existence and complete Deity of Christ. In 1888 Waggoner was pioneering without the benefit of her many later statements.

The question of the divinity of Jesus was on the agenda for the 1888 Conference. On this occasion … Ellet J. Waggoner, refuted the last semi-Arian arguments remaining in the church, and ultimately laid the biblical foundation needed to establish the full and complete divinity of Jesus Christ. …

Together they [Jones and Waggoner] made their mark in the history of the Adventist Church with their presentations on justification by faith. For Waggoner, the subject could be understood only through the lens of Christology. …

At the time several leaders of the church still cherished semi-Arian, or adoptionist, concepts concerning the divine nature of Christ; hence the significance of the question raised by Waggoner as he took on the problem: “Is Christ God?”

Waggoner’s insistence that Christ was by nature of the same substance as God and possessed life in Himself was no doubt a novelty in the eyes of some of the delegates at the Minneapolis session. His position on the divine nature of Christ was probably part of the reason for the opposition by many of the delegates to his message of justification by faith.

Waggoner’s contribution on this point, as on that concerning the human nature of Christ was decisive. Froom recognizes it readily: “In 1888 Waggoner was pioneering without the benefit of her [Ellen White] many later statements, not only on Christ’s eternal preexistence but on His individual self-existence and His infinity, equality, and omnipotence.”

Ellen White herself expressed it after hearing Waggoner: “The fullness of the Godhead in Jesus Christ has been set forth among us with beauty and loveliness.” For her, it demonstrated that God was at work among them. Waggoner’s interpretation was, for the most part, the theological demonstration of what she had always believed and stated in her writings up to that time.

By the spring of 1890, Waggoner appears to have moved yet further beyond his previous concepts stating: “Through the mediation and atonement of Jesus Christ, who, being God from eternity, became incarnate, and by his death upon the cross became a sacrifice for sin, made expiation for it, and, having risen from the grave, ascended into heaven, and there sitteth on the right hand of the Father to make intercession for his people. The whole character and value of such a religion consists altogether in being, as it claims to be, a supernatural plan of salvation from sin.” It would be another eight years before Ellen White would make her well-known statement: “In Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived. ‘He that hath the Son hath life.’ 1 John 5:12. The divinity of Christ is the believer’s assurance of eternal life.” How sad that today some have completely misrepresented Waggoner on this issue.

Human Nature of Christ

In 1886, Waggoner again expressed his interpretation of the phrase “under the law” in a series of articles on the book of Galatians: “It has been abundantly proved that ‘under the law’ indicates, in general, a state of sin and consequently of condemnation.” Waggoner’s articles brought a response from G. I. Butler in his book The Law in the Book of Galatians. Because Butler was defending the idea that Galatians 4:4 spoke only of the ceremonial law to which Christ submitted Himself, he condemned Waggoner’s view of “under the law” as “most absurd.” In early 1887, Waggoner responded to Butler’s book with The Gospel in the Book of Galatians. Speaking directly to the point of Christ being “under the law” Waggoner showed the connection with His human nature:

These texts [Gal. 4:4, John 1:1, 14, Phil. 2:5-7, Heb. 2:9] show that Christ took upon himself man’s nature, and that as a consequence he was subject to death. He came into the world on purpose to die; and so from the beginning of His earthly life He was in the same condition that the men are in whom He died to save.

Now read Rom. 1:3: The gospel of God, “concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh.” What was the nature of David, “according to the flesh”? Sinful, flesh was it not? David says: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Ps. 51:5 Don’t start in horrified astonishment; I am not implying that Christ was a sinner. …

One of the most encouraging things in the Bible is the knowledge that Christ took on Him the nature of man; to know that His ancestors according to the flesh were sinners. When we read the record of the lives of the ancestors of Christ, and see that they had all the weaknesses and passions that we have, we find that no man has any right to excuse his sinful acts on the ground of heredity. If Christ had not been made in all things like unto His brethren, then His sinless life would be no encouragement to us.

This response of Waggoner’s, written in 1887, was not published until just before the 1888 Conference. During the summer of 1888, while attending a retreat in the mountains east of Oakland, Jones and Waggoner “spent a few days in Bible study” with “as many of the California ministers” as could attend. W. C. White noted that one day was spent looking over “Eld. Butler’s law in Galatians and other topics bearing on that question, at the close of which Eld. Waggoner read some MS which he had prepared in answer to Eld. Butler’s pamphlet. … At the close of our study, Eld. Waggoner asked us if it would be right for him to publish his MS and at the next Gen. Conf. [1888] place them in the hands of the delegates, as Eld. Butler had his. We thought this would be right, and encouraged him to have five hundred copies printed.”

W. C. White took notes of Waggoner’s presentation at this June 26 meeting. According to White’s notes, Waggoner spent most of his time dealing with the different viewpoints that he and Butler had on the subject of Christ being “under the law.” This was the very point in which Waggoner had clearly expressed his views on the human nature of Christ in his response to Butler, as quoted above.

Not only did Waggoner distribute his published response to all the delegates at the 1888 Conference; he also spoke on the topic of the human nature of Christ. Although it was not the central point of his presentations, it was the foundation of his understanding of justification by faith and the righteousness of Christ.

W. C. White took the same notebook he had used at the June 26 retreat to the Minneapolis Conference, where he recorded Waggoner’s October 17 lecture on the subject and definition of “under the law.” Waggoner’s presentations were also taken down in shorthand by his wife, and shortly after arriving home in Oakland in early 1889, they became the basis for a series of articles published in the Signs. These articles, which dealt with both the divine and human nature of Christ, were later included in his book published in 1890, which he appropriately titled:Christ and His Righteousness. Before we consider these articles, however, we need to read what Ellen White had to say on the topic.

A Sadly Neglected Subject

What is the work of the minister of the gospel? It is to rightly divide the word of truth; not to invent a new gospel, but to rightly divide the gospel already committed to them. … There are subjects that are sadly neglected, that should be largely dwelt upon. The burden of our message should be the mission and life of Jesus Christ. Let there be a dwelling upon the humiliation, self-denial, meekness, and lowliness of Christ, that proud and selfish hearts may see the difference between themselves and the Pattern, and may be humbled. Show to your hearers Jesus in his condescension to save fallen man. Show them that He who was their surety had to take human nature, and carry it through the darkness and the fearfulness of the malediction of his Father, because of man’s transgression of his law; for the Saviour was found in fashion as a man. Describe, if human language can, the humiliation of the Son of God, and think not that you have reached the climax, when you see him exchanging the throne of light and glory which he had with the Father, for humanity. He came forth from heaven to earth; and while on earth, he bore the curse of God as surety for the fallen race.

Literally dozens of times throughout her writings, Ellen White makes it clear that for Christ to be man’s surety, He had to take man’s fallen nature: “It was necessary that Christ should take upon Him our nature, in order to prove the falsity of Satan’s statement. … Therefore Christ became man’s representative and surety.” “Man’s substitute and surety must have man’s nature, a connection with the human family whom he was to represent, and, as God’s ambassador, He must partake of the divine nature, have a connection with the Infinite.” “Only by living a sinless life while clad in the garb of humanity, could Christ, as man’s Substitute and Surety, bear the burden of the sin of a fallen world.” Furthermore, it was Christ in human flesh that lived a life of righteousness to which man might now be a partaker: “We must center our hopes of heaven upon Christ alone, because he is our substitute and surety. … The best efforts that man in his own strength can make are valueless to meet the holy and just law that he has transgressed; but through faith in Christ he may claim the righteousness of the Son of God as all-sufficient. Christ satisfied the demands of the law in His human nature. … Genuine faith appropriates the righteousness of Christ, and the sinner is made an overcomer with Christ.”

As Ellen White saw it, Christ’s human nature was central to the plan of salvation and the restoration of man. Thus, as she wrote to the church in September 1888, rather than seeing the subject of the human nature of Christ as “not of real importance,” she saw it as a subject “sadly neglected.” It was not just a side issue, it was part of the “gospel already committed to them.” It is no wonder then, that when Ellen White heard Waggoner’s presentations at the Minneapolis meetings “every fiber of [her] heart said, Amen.”

Later she would plainly state that “the loud cry of the third angel has already begun in the revelation of the righteousness of Christ. … This is the beginning of the light of the angel whose glory shall fill the whole earth.” When she wrote her well-known statement in 1895 of the “most precious message sent through Elders Waggoner and Jones,” she included in the description their teaching in the context of the nature of Christ, both His divine and human nature: “This message was to bring more prominently before the world the uplifted Saviour, the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. It presented justification by faith in the Surety; it invited the people to receive the righteousness of Christ, which is made manifest in obedience to all the commandments of God. Many had lost sight of Jesus. They needed to have their eyes directed to His divine person.”

But not all would hear what Waggoner had to say at the Minneapolis Conference. Many had excuses that would make it hard for them to accept the message sent from God. On October 20, 1888, just three days after Waggoner’s presentation on Christ being under the law—the very topic that on prior occasions Waggoner had used to present on the human nature of Christ—Ellen White spoke to the delegates about “Advancing in Christian Experience”:

Now, what we want to present is how you may advance in the divine life. We hear many excuses: I cannot live up to this or that. What do you mean by this or that? Do you mean that it was an imperfect sacrifice that was made for the fallen race upon Calvary, that there is not sufficient grace and power granted us that we may work away from our own natural defects and tendencies, that it was not a whole Saviour that was given us? or do you mean to cast reproach upon God? Well, you say, it was Adam’s sin. You say I am not guilty of that, and I am not responsible for his guilt and fall. Here all these natural tendencies are in me, and I am not to blame if I act out these natural tendencies. Who is to blame? Is God? Why did Satan have this power over human nature? These are accusations against the God of heaven, and He will give you an opportunity, if you want, of finally bringing your accusations against Him. Then He will bring His accusations against you when you are brought into His court of judgment.

How is it that He is pleading, “I know all the evils and temptations with which you are beset, and I sent My Son Jesus Christ to your world to reveal to you My power, My mightiness; to reveal to you that I am God, and that I will give you help in order to lift you from the power of the enemy, and give you a chance that you might win back the moral image of God.” …

God accepts Christ, our substitute. He took human nature upon Himself and fought the battles that human nature is engaged in. He is connected with the divine and was to fight the battles with Satan.

It is a simple fact that Ellen White had to confront a mind-set that was trying to find an excuse for falling under temptation. Her answer to such a stance was that Christ was “a whole Saviour,” that He knew “all the evil and temptations” with which human nature had to deal “and fought the battles that human nature is engaged in.” It was this truth that made it possible for man to overcome. The brethren did not have a clear picture of Christ as their substitute and surety, and the message of Jones and Waggoner went to the very heart of the issue, exposing their ignorance. It is because of this fact that many of the brethren responded negatively to their message. Believing that Christ could not have had the same nature as man, else He would have fallen under temptation, would easily lead a person to protest that Waggoner was bringing Christ down too far. Unfortunately, Waggoner’s initial response to such claims only made matters worse. Some would use his initial response as an excuse to continue their rejection of the most precious message.

“Christ Could Not Sin”

Moreover, the fact that Christ took upon himself the flesh, not of a sinless being, but of sinful man, that is, that the flesh which he assumed had all the weaknesses and sinful tendencies to which fallen human nature is subject, is shown by the very words upon which this article is based. He was “made of the seed of David according to the flesh.” David had all the passions of human nature. …

If he was made in all things like unto his brethren, then he must have suffered all the infirmities and passions of his brethren. Only so could he be able to help them. So he had to become a man, not only that he might die, but that he might be able to sympathize with and succor those who suffer the fierce temptations which Satan brings through the weakness of the flesh. …

That Christ should be born under the law was a necessary consequence of his being born of a woman, taking on him the nature of Abraham, being made of the seed of David, in the likeness of sinful flesh. Human nature is sinful, and the law of God condemns all sin. Not that men are born into the world directly condemned by the law, for in infancy they have no knowledge of right and wrong, and are incapable of doing either, but they are born with sinful tendencies, owning to the sins of their ancestors. And when Christ came into the world, he came subject to all the conditions to which other children are subject.

As Waggoner came to the close of his article, he addressed the fears that people might have that he was bringing Christ down too far. With the controversy at Minneapolis still fresh in his mind, he was very likely trying to cover himself against any accusations that he was making Christ out to be a sinner in need of a Saviour Himself:

Some may though, while reading this article thus far, [think] that we are depreciating the character of Jesus, by bringing him down to the level of sinful man. On the contrary, we are simply exalting the “divine power” of our blessed Saviour, who himself voluntarily descended to the level of sinful man, in order that he might exalt man to his own spotless purity, which he retained under the most adverse circumstances. “God was in Christ,” and hence he could not sin. His humanity only veiled his divine nature, which was more than able to successfully resist the sinful passions of the flesh. There was in his whole life a struggle. The flesh, moved upon by the enemy of all unrighteousness, would tend to sin, yet his divine nature never for a moment harbored an evil desire, nor did his divine power for a moment waver. Having suffered in the flesh all that men can possibly suffer, he returned to the throne of the Father, as spotless as when he left the courts of glory. When he laid in the tomb, under the power of death, “it was impossible that he should be holden of it,” because it had been impossible for the divine nature which dwelt in him to sin.

“Well,” some will say, “I don’t see any comfort in this for me; it wasn’t possible that the Son of God should sin, but I haven’t any such power.” Why not? You can have it if you want it. The same power which enabled him to resist every temptation presented through the flesh, while he was “compassed with infirmity,” can enable us to do the same. Christ could not sin, because he was the manifestation of God.

Thus, Waggoner tried to cover himself against false accusations in regard to the human nature of Christ. He reasoned that he wasn’t bringing Christ down too far because Christ couldn’t sin on account of His divine nature and this same power was now readily available to man also.

Ellen White Settles the Matter

When Ellen White saw what was taking place, she was not at all pleased. On January 17 she sent a letter to Brethren Ballenger (a minister and Review and Herald employee) and Leon Smith (assistant editor of the Review, and son of Uriah Smith), warning them of the path they were heading down. There was a correct way to deal with “differences of opinion.” Staying away from the meetings was not one of them, for there was a “great need in searching the Scriptures” together:

Why do you pursue the course you do in keeping away from meetings whose points of truth are investigated? …

The position that you take is very similar to that of the Scribes and Pharisees, constantly criticizing but refusing to come to the light. If you have truth, tell it; if your brethren have truth, be humble and honest before God and say it is truth. …

If the ideas presented before the Ministerial Institute are erroneous, come to the front like men and present candidly your Bible evidence. … Do not stand in the position you do as leaders in the Sabbath-school and resisting the light or views and ideas presented by men whom I know to be agents whom the Lord is using. You [sic] making of non effect as far as you can their words, and not coming yourself to the light like Christians come to the word to investigate it together with humble hearts, not to investigate the Bible to bring it to your ideas, but bring your ideas to the Bible. …

You have the example of the Jews how they treated everything that did not harmonize with their opinions of doctrines. … The Priests and Rulers sent men claiming to be just men for the purpose of catching Him in His words or that something would drop from His lips that would justify them in their prejudice … that they could interpret as they choose to present to the people in their own way and make Christ appear as a deceiver, a heretic. These Jews were not doing God’s work, but the work of the enemy of all righteousness. When I see men passing over the same ground, I recognize it, and I am worried and distressed. …

Are we Christians or bigots? I say in the fear of God, search the Scriptures. The interpretation of some portions of Scripture may not be truth in all points, but let in all the light you can upon these points. …

You will in attending the ministerial school gain new ideas. You will by digging in the mines of truth be rewarded. …

Even though Ellen White suggested in her letter to Ballenger and Smith that “the interpretation of some portions of Scripture may not be truth in all points,” she fully supported the presentations of Jones and Waggoner—men whom she knew to be agents “the Lord is using.”

A few days latter, Ellen White addressed the same issues in a morning talk delivered at the Ministerial Institute. Dan Jones reported that after Waggoner presented his ideas “that Christ could not have sinned … Sister White came out a few mornings later and said that Christ could have been overcome by temptation, and if it were not so he could not be our example and a consolation to us.” Thus, as Ellen White spoke before the entire assembly gathered in Battle Creek, she attempted to clear up the matter as to whether or not Christ took human nature like that of man after the Fall and whether or not it was possible for Him to sin.

First, Ellen White expressed her great concern that they as a people did not understand the time in which they lived. Her mind was repeatedly taken back to the Jews and their treatment of Christ: “The trials of the children of Israel, and their attitude just before the first coming of Christ, have been presented before me again and again to illustrate the position of the people of God in their experience before the second coming of Christ.” For several miniutes she spoke of the “humiliation [Christ] endured in taking our nature upon Himself,” and how the Jewish leaders persecuted Him at every step as a result. She spoke of how they were not able to accept Christ “because He did not come with all the majesty of a king,” but rather as a common man. It was not only this that caused them to “refuse Him. It was because He was the embodiment of purity, and they were impure.” At this point Ellen White spoke to the issue of Christ’s nature and the possibility of His yielding to temptation. Waggoner had not brought Christ down too low; no, Christ had come down even lower. It was possible for Him to yield to sin:

The Son of God was assaulted at every step by the powers of darkness. After his baptism he was driven of the Spirit into the wilderness, and suffered temptation for forty days. Letters have been coming in to me, affirming that Christ could not have had the same nature as man, for if He had, He would have fallen under similar temptations. [But,] if He did not have man’s nature, He could not be our example. If He was not a partaker of our nature, He could not have been tempted as man has been. If it were not possible for Him to yield to temptation, He could not be our helper. It was a solemn reality that Christ came to fight the battles as man, in man’s behalf. His temptation and victory tell us that humanity must copy the Pattern; man must become a partaker of the divine nature.

In Christ, divinity and humanity were combined. Divinity was not degraded to humanity; divinity held its place, but humanity by being united to divinity, withstood the fiercest test of temptation in the wilderness. … The plan of God, devised for the salvation of man, provided that Christ should know hunger, and poverty, and every phase of man’s experience. He withstood the temptation, through the power that man may command. … [T]here is not a man or woman who may not have access to the same help through faith in God.

To those who were opposing the teachings of Waggoner, Ellen White’s statement made it clear that indeed, Christ had taken upon His sinless nature the same sinful nature as fallen man. Her statement also removed any excuse for opposition to Waggoner’s position because of his teaching that Christ could not sin. Rather than being a rebuke to Waggoner for teaching a great heresy, it was a kind correction, encouraging him not to be apologetic for his view which was actually limiting the risk which God took in sending His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.

As Ellen White continued her morning talk, she turned to those who were still opposing the messengers and the message. She spoke of John the Baptist, who was not “sent to the school of the prophets and rabbis … that he might not be influenced by their spirit and teaching.” The “Lord gave him his message” and he “did not ask if he might proclaim this message.” Ellen White quoted Isaiah 40:3-5—“Prepare ye the way of the Lord”—and stated: “This is the very message that must be given to our people.” And yet, the people were unprepared:

The Holy Spirit is wanting in our work. Nothing frightens me more than to see the spirit of variance manifested by our brethren. … I feel like fleeing from the place lest I receive the mold of those who cannot candidly investigate the doctrines of the Bible. … What we need is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Without this, we are no more fitted to go forth to the world than were the disciples after the crucifixion of their Lord. … Every teacher must be a learner, that his eyes may be anointed to see the evidences of the advancing truth of God. The beams of the Sun of Righteousness must shine into his own heart if he would impart light to others. …

When the Spirit of God rests upon you, there will be no feeling of envy or jealousy in examining another’s position; there will be no spirit of accusation and criticism, such Satan as inspired in the hearts of the Jewish leaders against Christ. …

The Jews tried to stop the proclamation of the message that had been predicted in the word of God; but prophecy must be fulfilled. The Lord says, “Behold, I send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” Somebody is to come in the spirit and power of Elijah, and when he appears, men may say, “You are too earnest, you do not interpret the Scriptures in the proper way. Let me tell you how to teach your message.” … If you continue to find fault, to have a spirit of variance, you will never know the truth. …

There are many among us who are prejudiced against the doctrines that are now being discussed. They will not come to hear, they will not calmly investigate, but they put forth their objections in the dark. They are perfectly satisfied with their position [Rev. 3:17-19 quoted]. This scripture applies to those who live under the sound of the message, but who will not come to hear it. How do you know but that the Lord is giving fresh evidences of his truth, placing it in a new setting, that the way of the Lord may be prepared? What plans have you been laying that new light may be infused through the ranks of God’s people? What evidence have you that God has not sent light to his children?

This incident gave encouragement to Waggoner and Jones to keep presenting the message of justification by faith and the righteousness of Christ, which was founded on their understanding of the nature of Christ. Never again would Waggoner limit the risk that Christ took in coming to save the race. Unlike many of the brethren, who continued to oppose the most precious message even after numerous rebukes from the pen of Ellen White, Waggoner readily accepted her admonition. When he published his book, appropriately titled Christ and His Righteousness, which included his January 21, 1889, article from the Signs, Waggoner again clearly presented his views on the divine and human nature of Christ, but he removed his statements that “Christ could not sin.” This is truly the sign of a humble messenger.

Dan Jones on the other hand saw this incident as confirmation that Jones and Waggoner’s message could not be trusted, that Ellen White did not endorse specifically what they were teaching. This led him to conclude that “the matter of doctrine was not the important point,” only that men would “accept the doctrine of justification by faith.” Of course, to this he could state: “I believe.” Ellen White saw things rather differently. As we will see in the chapters ahead, she told Dan Jones that he was not walking in the light, but rather in the “sparks of [his] own kindling.”

It should be clear from historical records, contrary to the writings of some modern historians, that the nature of Christ was part of Jones’ and Waggoner’s 1888 message. It was an integral part of the doctrine of justification by faith and the righteousness of Christ as presented before, during, and after the 1888 Conference. The subject of the nature of Christ became more prominent in their presentations in the years that followed, partly because of the continued opposition to that message. Ellen White explained this just a few months after the 1890 Ministerial Institute:

The spirit of resistance that has been exhibited in presenting the righteousness of Christ as our only hope has grieved the Spirit of God, and the result of this opposition has required the delivery of this matter the more earnestly and decidedly, causing deeper searching into the subject and calling out an array of arguments that the messenger himself did not know was so firm, so full, so thorough upon this subject of justification by faith and the righteousness of Christ as our only hope. …

Their [Jones’ and Waggoner’s] position is seen to be wrong by very many, and they cry, “Danger, fanaticism,” when there is no heresy and fanaticism.

Amidst opposition, Jones and Waggoner presented their message. This opposition peaked once again when Waggoner announced he would drop the study of Isaiah and present on the topic of the two covenants.