KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HEAVENLY TRIO AND THE TRINITY DOCTRINE

What is the difference between Ellen White's heavenly Trio and the doctrine of the trinity?

The answer to this question is very important. So let's look at the issue together. 

We must first show what the doctrine of the trinity is. 

"There is one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a unity of three coeternal Persons.  God is immortal, all-powerful, all-knowing, above all, and ever present. He is infinite and beyond human comprehension, yet known through His self-revelation.  God, who is love, is forever worthy of worship, adoration, and service by the whole creation. (SDA Fundamental Belief # 2)

The doctrine of the trinity makes the One God a unity of 3 personalities. 

Now what about the heavenly Trio as presented by sister White? Does it make the one God a unity of 3 personalities? 

In order to answer this we must now show what the heavenly Trio is and compare that to the doctrine of the trinity. We will do both simultaneously by comparing Ellen White's quote with its source material. 

Those who are familiar with Ellen White know that she frequently used the research model of revelation/inspiration (similar to Luke). In this particular instance her language was largely drawn from a trinitarian by the name of William Boardman as found in his book "The Higher Christian Life" pgs 101-103. So let's compare and contrast his language with hers.

Boardman:

“The Father is as the light invisible. The Son is as the light embodied. The Spirit is as the light shed down.”

“The  Father is like the dew in invisible vapor. The Son is like the dew  gathered in beauteous form. The Spirit is like the dew fallen to the  seat of life.”

“The Father is  like to the invisible vapor. The Son is as the laden cloud and palling  rain. The Spirit is the rain — fallen and working in refreshing power.”

Ellen White:

"I am instructed to say, The sentiments of those who are searching for  advanced scientific ideas are not to be trusted. Such representations as  the following are made: “The Father is as the light invisible; the Son is as the light embodied; the Spirit is the light shed abroad.” “The Father is like the dew, invisible vapor; the Son is like the dew  gathered in beauteous form; the Spirit is like the dew fallen to the seat of life.” Another representation: “The Father is like the invisible vapor; the Son is like the leaden cloud; the Spirit is rain fallen and working in refreshing power.”

Boardman:

"These likenings are all imperfect.  They rather hide than illustrate the tri-personality of the one God,  for they are not persons but things, poor and earthly at best, to represent the living personalities of the living God.”

“So much they may do, however, as to illustrate the official relations of  each to the others and of each and all to us. And more. They may also  illustrate the truth that all the fulness of Him who filleth all in all, dwells in each person of the Triune God.” (W. Boardman The Christian Life pg 101, 102, 103)

Ellen White:

"All these spiritualistic representations are simply nothingness. They are imperfect,  untrue. They weaken and diminish the Majesty which no earthly likeness  can be compared to. God can not be compared with the things His hands have made. These are mere earthly things, suffering under the curse of God because of the sins of man. The Father can not be described by the  things of earth. The Father is all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and is invisible to mortal sight.

"The Son is all the fulness of the Godhead manifested. The Word of God declares Him to be “the  express image of His person.” “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,  but have everlasting life.” Here is shown the personality of the Father.

"The Comforter that Christ promised to send after He ascended to heaven, is the Spirit in all the fulness of the Godhead, making manifest the power of divine grace to all who  receive and believe in Christ as a personal Saviour. There are three living persons of the heavenly trio;  in the name of these three great powers—the Father, the Son, and the  Holy Spirit—those who receive Christ by living faith are baptized, and  these powers will co-operate with the obedient subjects of heaven in  their efforts to live the new life in Christ.... (Ellen White SpTB07 pg 62, 63)

Did you catch the difference? I underlined and emboldened it so that it could not be missed. 

Ellen White removed the part about the "tri-personality of the one God." She did not present three "living personalities of the living God" or "of the triune God." 

This is quite the conspicious absence. 

Thus we have our answer in how sister White, writing under inspiration, modified Boardman's quote. 

Whereas the doctrine of the trinity makes the one God a unity of 3 personalities the heavenly Trio teaching of Mrs. White does not. 

This distinction is important to understand. It maintains the exclusive sense of God. The one God of the Bible is the Father. He is truly God in infinity and personality. He is the Head of the Godhead, the Person who is Source of the other two Persons who are of His Godhead. 

Now the massive problem is that SDA trinitarians today (at least some of them) openly claim that their doctrine is different from the orthodox trinitarian conception. They claim that Ellen White led the denomination to the true conception - a Biblical trinitarianism. Yet, as the current SDA fundamental belief demonstrates, SDA trinitarians make the one God three personalities whereas the very author they claim helped to establish the correct view actually refused to take that step. In other words SDA trinitarianism today goes beyond the heavenly Trio. 

In Ellen White's theology God is a person, He is not three persons. 

"From my girlhood I have been given plain instruction that God is a person,  and that Christ is “the express image of His person.” God always has  been. That which concerns us is not the how or the wherefore.  {Ms137-1903.3}

In Ellen White's theology the Father is truly God in infinity and in personality while His Son is truly God in infinity but not truly God in personality. 

"The Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of the Father, is truly God in infinity, but not in personality. {20LtMs, Ms 116, 1905, par. 19}

Even in His pre-incarnate existence she taught that He was the Son of God in personality. 

 

"He was the Son of the living God. His personality did not begin with His incarnation in the flesh. {9LtMs, Lt 77, 1894, par. 9}

What I am sharing with you friends is a quintessential component of the foundation of Seventh-day Adventism: 

“Those who seek to remove THE OLD  LANDMARKS are not holding fast; THEY ARE NOT REMEMBERING HOW THEY HAVE  RECEIVED AND HEARD. Those who try to bring in theories that would remove  THE PILLARS OF OUR FAITH concerning the sanctuary, or CONCERNING THE  PERSONALITY OF GOD OR OF CHRIST, are working as blind men. They are  seeking to bring in uncertainties and to set the people of God adrift,  without an anchor. {Ms62-1905.14}

The Personality of God is that He is a tangible Being who is the Father. The Personality of Christ is that He is a tangible Being who is God's only begotten Son. 

"A liar is one that presents false theories and doctrines. He who denies the personality of God and of His Son Jesus Christ is denying God and Christ. “If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father.” [Verse 24]  If you continue to believe and obey the truths you first embraced  regarding the personality of the Father and the Son, you will be joined  together with them in love. There will be seen that union for which Christ prayed just before His trial and crucifixion: {21LtMs, Ms 23, 1906, par. 20}

This differentiation in personality, which stems out of the relationship between God the Father and His only begotten Son, is what sets the Father apart as the only true God in an exclusive sense. 

"My brethren and sisters, study the thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth chapters  of John. The words of these chapters explain themselves. “This is life  eternal,” Christ declared, “that they might know Thee the only true God,  and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” [John 17:3.] In these words the  personality of God and of His Son is clearly spoken of. The personality of the one does not do away with the necessity for the personality of  the other. {18LtMs, Lt 232, 1903, par. 48}

"The seventeenth chapter of John speaks plainly regarding the personality of God and of Christ and of their relation to each other. “Father, the hour is come,” Christ said;  “glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee; as Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many  as Thou hast given Him. And this is life eternal, that they might know  Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” [Verses  1-3.] {18LtMs, Ms 124, 1903, par. 15}

It is far past time that the Advent people return to this foundational truth. 

"Believers are to [have] a confirmed, settled faith in a personal God and a personal Christ. The Father and the Son are perfect in their individual identity, and at the same time, they are perfect in their  oneness. {Lt343-1905.15}

Note: Do you understand the difference between the "personal God" as revealed by Scripture and the Testimony of Jesus, in comparison to "the tri-personality of the one God" as presented by the doctrine of the trinity? 

More data: 

"As a personal being, God has revealed Himself in His Son. The outshining of the Father's glory, “and the express image of His person,” Jesus, as a personal Saviour, came to the  world. As a personal Saviour He ascended on high. As a personal Saviour He intercedes in the heavenly courts. Before the throne of God in our behalf ministers “One like unto the Son of man.” Hebrews 1:3; Revelation  1:13.{MH 418.4}

"Now, there are a few words that I want  more to read, and then I will stop. In Hebrews. I have been surprised to see that so many did not believe in the personality of God. Hebrews  1:1-3. Here are two personalities.{22LtMs, Ms 183, 1907, par. 34}

"The personality of God is represented in Jesus Christ. He is the express image of His Father’s person. An understanding of the first chapters of the book of Hebrews is important.  We may find comfort and encouragement in studying these chapters  prayerfully. {25LtMs, Ms 8, 1914, par. 37}

"The Scriptures clearly indicate the relation between God and Christ, and  they bring to view as clearly the personality and individuality of each.  [Hebrews 1:1-5 quoted] God is the Father of Christ; Christ is the Son of God. To Christ has been given an exalted position. He has been made equal with the Father. All the counsels of God are opened to His Son." {EGW, 8T 268 1904}

"The relation between the Father and the Son, and the personality of both, are made plain in this scripture also: "Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts,  saying, Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: And He shall grow up  out of His place; And He shall build the temple of Jehovah; . . . And He  shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne; And He  shall be a priest upon His throne; And the counsel of peace shall be  between Them both."  (Testimonies to the Church Volume 8  'The Essential knowledge' 1904)

"God saw that a clearer revelation than nature was needed to portray both His personality and His character. He sent His Son into the world to manifest, so far as could be endured by  human sight, the nature and the attributes of the invisible God.{MH 419.4}

Now all of this is not to deny that the Godhead of the Father is expressed in two other Persons for it truly is. Yet this fact does not turn the one God of Scripture into a tri-personality. This is what many Seventh-day Adventists today do not see. The landmark pillar has been removed. The unity of Father, Son, and Spirit does not make the one God into 3 persons. No, no, there is one God, the Father, and He is still a personal God. God has a Son and a Spirit, both given to us, and He has given us clear revelations so that we can understand and relate to Him through His Son and by His Spirit. There is clearly a unity of purpose, a unity of work, within the Godhead but this unity is never taken as far by inspiration as the doctrine of the trinity takes it. The message we are to take to the world presents the existence of a personal God [that is God the Father] and the unity between Father, Son, and Spirit in carying forward the work of redemption. 

"Those to whom the Lord spoke anciently were in possession of the knowledge of the true God. Their message to the world was the existence of a personal God AND the unity between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in carrying forward the great work of redemption in every soul that is emptied of self. {20LtMs, Ms 78, 1905, par. 20}