IS JESUS GOD IN THE

LIMITED SENSE FOR THE

TRUE ADVENTIST?
“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”. –E.G White, Review and Herald, April, 1906

From the foregoing quote, representing true Adventism (after its formative
years of doctrinal uncertainty in some matters), it is clear that Jesus is
supposed to be seen (by true adherents to the Adventist heritage) as “God
[capitalized] in the HIGHEST SENSE”. Why? TO BE GOD IN THE
HIGHEST SENSE DOES NOT REQUIRE THAT JESUS BE THE
FATHER IN PERSON. The same quote furnishes the simple answer:

He is –
1. God essentially (by nature)
2. God [supreme] over all [like the Father]
3. Existed from eternity [all eternity] as a distinct person [just like the
Father, as “I AM”]]
4. Homage [highest worship] is His right by being one with the Father
[i.e. equal with Him as His Divine Son]

Thus, anywhere you find ‘representatives’ of the Adventist heritage saying

Jesus is God in the “limited sense”, simply because He is not the Person of
the Father, such is representing a heretical view of Adventism, because this
restricted view, found (admittedly) in early Adventism was expunged from
it’s teachings by Adventism’s main pioneer, Mrs. E.G. White.
To illustrate why Jesus is God in the highest sense, despite Jesus
Himself recognized (only as a Man) that the Father became His God, and
became greater than He by virtue of His incarnation, let us look at the nature
of man. Remember, only after Jesus became man can he be quoted
calling the Father His “God” (thus worshipping Him as a Man, like his
“brethren”- Heb. 2:11, 12), and only as a Man was Jesus made lower
than even the angels. He has since returned to his glory, but by virtue of
His RETAINED HUMANITY, He will, in that sense only, have the
Father being greater than He was. However “if He lacked one iota of
being [always] EQUAL with the Father” (said E.J. Waggoner of
Adventism, 1888) He could not be called “God in the highest sense”, or
“Jehovah, the self- existent One” (as Waggoner also said), as the
begotten Son of God!!! Thus time would be wasted debating that aspect of
the matter, since it is very obvious. Now moving on to the illustration.
When God made man how many men were first created? Only one!
Adam. However, you will realize very quickly that Eve (the female) was
also recognized as constituting “man”, “mankind”, or “humanity” (Gen. 5:1,
2), despite coming from Adam (the male). So how many persons of “man”
first existed after creation was completed? Two!! How many men (male
persons)? One! How many ‘humanities’? One! No other human specie
existed, even today (with billions of persons) it remains so.
Was humanity only the male? No? Was Eve called “man” (human) in the
highest sense? Yes! Was she a man (male gender)? Clearly No! Why?
Because she was not the person of Adam (the male)! Was she inferior to
Adam (the male)? No! Because they were both of one (like) substance!
Was she led by Adam! Clearly yes! Did this diminish her humanity? No!
The same rule in principle (as the foregoing) is true when applied to
divinity! Jesus is clearly not the person of the Father, but is TRULY “God
in the highest sense”, since TO BE GOD IN THE HIGHEST SENSE
DOES NOT REQUIRE THAT JESUS BE THE FATHER IN PERSON.
This is quite similar to saying, that the female is truly man (human) in the
highest sense, despite not being the person of a male (gender). Jesus is also
not “a god”, but “God” [capitalized] because “there is only one God, the
Father, and one Lord Jesus Christ” (with Jesus being also called “my Lord
and my God”- John 20:28, 29); not just “God” in nature. So many like to
leave out the last part of 1 Cor. 8:6, and ignore the true import of John
20:28,29!! I will not!!
Eve was not a man (in gender), however, “man” (THE SPECIE) was
Adam primarily, but, along with Eve, was one existence, one being; NOT
that both are “a single being” or one person, but one related existence- e.g.
Acts 17:28. Please see the dictionary for the various uses of the word
“being”. That should clear up many misconceptions as to its usage. The two
(Adam and Eve) then combined producing a third human person, Cain, who
was still called, and was now a part of “man” (humanity). Likewise we see
that the Father and Son in unity produce the “third person” of “the three
 holiest beings of heaven” called the Holy Spirit. Can you see why man’s
nature is the “image” of God, the Godhead, or divinity?
Now, IN LIGHT OF THAT RULE, that is precisely why Mrs. White
further declared about “our personal God”:
“The existence of a personal God, [now notice carefully] THE UNITY OF
CHRIST WITH HIS FATHER, lies at the foundation of all true science”
–E.G. White, The Upward Look (Morning Watch Comm.), 1982, pg. 316

Interestingly, Adventist pioneer, Uriah Smith admitted in 1898 that:

[The] "union between the Father and Son does not detract from
either, but strengthens both. Through it [this union],
IN CONNECTION WITH [and not excluding] THE HOLY SPIRIT
we have ALL OF DEITY"
Uriah Smith, Looking Unto Jesus, Review and Herald, 1898, pg. 17

THUS IT IS AN UNAVOIDABLE FACT THAT TO PROPERLY

CONSIDER THE DEITY THIS “UNITY” OF THE THREE DIVINE
PERSONALITIES IS INSEPARABLE!!

This would explain Mrs. White’s later monumental admission (quoted

below) to there being “three holiest beings in heaven”, while speaking of
them collectively as “God”, and as being our “Father” collectively, who all
“pledged” to and henceforth subsequently “receive” us as “sons and
daughters” upon our baptism (a matter some, especially the modern anti-
Trinitarians in Adventism, find hard to come to grips with even today):

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

-E.G. White, Signs of the Times, June 19, 1901

“You are baptized in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost. You are raised up out of the water to live henceforth in newness of
life--to live a new life. You are born unto God, and you stand under the
sanction and the power of THE THREE HOLIEST *BEINGS IN
HEAVEN, who are able to keep you from falling. . .”

-E.G. White, Manuscript Release, Vol.7, pgs. 267, 268