No. Adventists believe Jesus is the fully divine Second Person of the Godhead, not merely a created being, as is often claimed. The SDA Church
“There is one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a unity of three co-eternal Persons.”
For a further official explanation from the official SDA theological website see:
One may be perhaps confusing SDAs with Jehovah’s Witness, who arguably hold a view similar to ancient Arianism, which denies Christ’s full divinity, claims He was first of God’s creations, and inferior to God.
One might also be thinking of various SDA offshoots, such as the Creation Seventh-day Adventist Church
One might also be thinking of Oneness-Pentecostalism and Jesus-only Baptism (a version of ancient Modalism, which rejects the Trinity), which is a significant minority view within Evangelical-Pentecostalism:
Thus, SDAs wholly uphold an ‘orthodox’ belief in the Trinity. Even the Roman Catholic Church appears to accept the Seventh-day Advenist position as essentially orthodox:
“Seventh-Day Adventists agree with many Catholic doctrines, including the Trinity, Christ’s divinity, the virgin birth, the atonement, a physical resurrection of the dead, and Christ’s Second Coming. They use a valid form of baptism. They believe in original sin and reject the Evangelical teaching that one can never lose one’s salvation no matter what one does (i.e., they correctly reject "once saved, always saved"). (emphasis added)
A recent study of early Adventism notes that its criticism of the doctrine of the Trinity was based on the perception that the doctrine spiritualized away the reality of God. Ellen White affirmed throughout her life the deity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit within the context of that materialist theology. Seventh-day Adventists began to accept the term Trinity to describe their beliefs about God early in the twentieth century. Ellen White did not have the role that Adventists claim in their doctrinal shift towards the Trinity. Latest research shows her to have been a child of her time and place, thoroughly grounded in the materialist theology that early Adventists espoused. Thomas McElwain, Adventism and Ellen White: A Phenomenon of Religious Materialism. Studies on Inter-religious Relations no. 48. Swedish Science Press, 2010.
ReplyDeleteSerge is that you?
DeleteSam, you are wrong. The SDA church does not teach the orthodox trinity teaching:
ReplyDeleteThe Christian doctrine of the Trinity (from Latin trinitas "triad", from trinus "threefold") defines God as three consubstantial persons, expressions, or hypostases: the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit; "one God in three persons".
fundamental belief #2:
“There is one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a unity of three co-eternal Persons.”
The Orthodox teaching is that God has one spiritual body, with three manifestations (hypostasis). Most SDA believe that in heaven there are three distinct persons, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That is not the orthodox teaching.
The orthodox teaching of the trinity is not biblical, nor is the SDA teaching of the trinity biblical. The bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is the power of God.
Luk 1:35
And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
The Holy Spirit is not the third person in the Godhead. While the HS is a part of God, it is not a person. It is the power of God as proven by Luke 1 :35.
People think the HS is a person because in the bible it is referred to as a "he" in many places. The Greek word translated he can also be translated "it" and it is up to the translators to decide by the context. The word "he" for the HS does not prove it's a person.
When the HS is said to speak or to be grieved it is either the father or Christ that is speaking through the power of the Holy Spirit and it is they who are being grieved.
Why in all of Pauls writings does he greet in the name of the Father and Son but never the HS?
If God is one being just how does Jesus sit at the right hand of the Father?
The trinity teaching is false, is a lie, and comes from paganism.
Kevin McMillen
Morgantown, WV
kljcmc@comcast.net