Ellen G. White's Christology

Some imagine that the Christology taught by Ellen G. White is inaccurate and heterodox. The traditional teaching of Christianity (both Protestant and Catholic) is that Christ "was tempted in every way, just as we are" (Hebrews 4:15), that He appeared on earth "in the likeness of sinful flesh" (Romans 8:3) and that to some degree Christ "had to be made like His brethren in all things" (Hebrews 2:17). In sharp contrast to direct Scriptural teachings, it is alleged that Ellen White taught that Christ had a sinful nature. "Christ took upon His sinless nature our sinful nature...; Christ took human nature and bore the infirmities and degeneracy of the race. He took our nature and its deteriorating condition" (Questions on Doctrine, pp. 654-656). How do Seventh-day Adventists explain this statement?

The link established between humanity and divinity through the atonement is undeniably certain (Philippians 2:6-8). The emphasis in Ellen White's Christology is unmistakably clear. Christ is "holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners" (Hebrews 7:26). He was tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1-11) and by what He suffered (Hebrews 2:18). In all of these temptations, in all of Ellen White's writings, Christ's only temptation was to break the contract he had made with his Father, to be a probationer in behalf of the race. Consider a few brief examples:

"The awful moment had come—that moment which was to decide the destiny of the world. The fate of humanity trembled in the balance. Christ might even now refuse to drink the cup apportioned to guilty man. It was not yet too late. He might wipe the bloody sweat from His brow, and leave man to perish in his iniquity. He might say, Let the transgressor receive the penalty of his sin, and I will go back to My Father. Will the Son of God drink the bitter cup of humiliation and agony? Will the innocent suffer the consequences of the curse of sin, to save the guilty? ... Now the history of the human race comes up before the world’s Redeemer. He sees that the transgressors of the law, if left to themselves, must perish. He sees the helplessness of man. He sees the power of sin. The woes and lamentations of a doomed world rise before Him. He beholds its impending fate, and His decision is made. He will save man at any cost to Himself. He accepts His baptism of blood... He will not turn from His mission. He will become the propitiation of a race that has willed to sin. His prayer now breathes only submission: ‘If this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done.’ " The Desire of Ages, p. 690.

"It was a difficult task for the Prince of Life to carry out the plan which he had undertaken for the salvation of man, in clothing his divinity with humanity. He had received honor in the heavenly courts, and was familiar with absolute power. It was as difficult for him to keep the level of humanity as it is for men to rise above the low level of their depraved natures, and be partakers of the divine nature."

"Christ was put to the closest test, requiring the strength of all his faculties to resist the inclination when in danger, to use his power to deliver himself from peril, and triumph over the power of the prince of darkness. Satan showed his knowledge of the weak points of the human heart, and put forth his utmost power to take advantage of the weakness of the humanity which Christ had assumed in order to overcome his temptations on man’s account." Second Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, April 1, 1875.