"Modern spiritualism, resting upon the same foundation, is but a revival in a new form of the witchcraft and demon worship that God condemned and prohibited of old .... Peter, describing the dangers to which the church was to be exposed in the last days, says that as there were false prophets who led Israel into sin, so there will be false teachers, 'who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them ... And many shall follow their pernicious ways.' [2 Peter 2:1-2]. Here the apostle has pointed out one of the marked characteristics of spiritualist teachers. They refuse to acknowledge Christ as the Son of God. Concerning such teachers the beloved John declares: 'Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father.' [1 John 2:22-23]. Spiritualism, by denying Christ, denies both the Father and the Son, and the Bible pronounces it the manifestation of antichrist." (Ellen White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p.686.1)
"the father-son image cannot be literally applied to the divine Father-Son relationship within the Godhead. The Son is not the natural, literal Son of the Father ... The term 'Son' is used metaphorically when applied to the Godhead." -Ángel Manuel Rodríguez (Adventist Biblical Research Institute source - Also published in the official 'Adventist World' magazine source) "Everything that was simple he[satan] shrouded in mystery, and by artful perversion cast doubt upon the plainest statements of Jehovah." -PP 41.3 But, "if men would use their reason, and take the Bible as it reads, they would see the absurdity of their positions. The plain 'Thus saith the Lord,' would dispel their errors, as the mist is dispelled by the glories of the rising sun." ST August 5, 1886, par. 13
"The truths most plainly revealed in the Bible have been involved in doubt and darkness by learned men, who, with a pretense of great wisdom, teach that the Scriptures have a mystical, a secret, spiritual meaning not apparent in the language employed. These men are false teachers. It was to such a class that Jesus declared, “Ye know not the Scriptures, neither the power of God.” [Mark 12:24.] The language of the Bible should be explained according to its obvious meaning, unless a symbol or figure is employed. Christ has given the promise, “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine.” [John 7:17.]" (GC 1888, p.598).
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." -Jesus in John 3:16. "The language of the Bible should be explained according to its obvious meaning, unless a symbol or figure is employed." -EGW, GC 598
Strong's Concordance on "monogenes", translated "only begotten" in John3:16 KJV:
"Our heavenly Father is the God of the universe, and Christ is the divine Son, the One equal with the Father." -Ms49-1906.26
Angels were expelled from heaven because they would not work in harmony with God. They fell from their high estate because they wanted to be exalted. They had come to exalt themselves, and they forgot that their beauty of person and of character came from the Lord Jesus. This fact the angels would obscure, that Christ was the only begotten Son of God, and they came to consider that they were not to consult Christ. One angel began the controversy and carried it on until there was rebellion in the heavenly courts among the angels. They were lifted up because of their beauty. Lt42-1910 (April 29, 1910) par. 3
"Christ was the only begotten Son of God, and Lucifer, that glorious angel, got up a warfare over the matter, until he had to be thrust down to the earth." (Ellen G. White, Ms86, August 21, 1910)
Christ is to be known by the blessed name of Comforter. -Ms7-1902.10
Many of our people do not realize how firmly the foundation of our faith has been laid. My husband, Elder Joseph Bates, Father Pierce, [Older brethren among the pioneers are here thus reminiscently referred to. “Father Pierce” was Stephen Pierce, who served in ministerial and administrative work in the early days. “Father Andrews” was Edward Andrews, the father of J. N. Andrews.—Compilers.] Elder [Hiram] Edson, and others who were keen, noble, and true, were among those who, after the passing of the time in 1844, searched for the truth as for hidden treasure.... Thus light was given that helped us to understand the scriptures in regard to Christ, His mission, and His priesthood. A line of truth extending from that time to the time when we shall enter the city of God, was made plain to me, and I gave to others the instruction that the Lord had given me. 1SM 206.4
They have one God and one Saviour; and one Spirit—the Spirit of Christ—is to bring unity into their ranks. 9T 189.3
Jehovah, our Father, and His Son Jesus Christ are alone to be exalted. The knowledge of God is eternal life to those who receive it. -Ms11-1898.11
John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. -Jesus, praying to His Father
Who is Christ?—He is the only begotten Son of the living God. He is to the Father as a word that expresses the thought,—as a thought made audible. Christ is the word of God. Christ said to Philip, “He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father.” His words were the echo of God's words. Christ was the likeness of God, the brightness of his glory, the express image of his person. If men would learn to escape the corruptions that are in the world through lust, they must learn what the statement of Christ means, when he says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (The YOUTH’S INSTRUCTOR June 28, 1894 "Grow in Grace" par. 9)
"The world's Redeemer was equal with God. His authority was as the authority of God. He declared that he had no existence separate from the Father. The authority by which he spoke, and wrought miracles, was expressly his own, yet he assures us that he and the Father are one.” (Ellen G. White, Review and Herald 7th Jan 1890, ‘Christ revealed the Father’)
"It is true that there are many sons of God, but Christ is the 'only begotten Son of God,' and therefore the Son of God in a sense in which no other being ever was or ever can be. The angels are sons of God, as was Adam (Job 38:7; Luke 3:38), by creation; Christians are the sons of God by adoption (Rom. 8:14, 15), but Christ is the Son of God by birth. The writer to the Hebrews further shows that the position of the Son of God is not one to which Christ has been elevated but that it is one which He has by right." (E. J. Waggoner, Christ and His Righteousness, page 12, 1890). Also see:
There is but one way of escape for the sinner. There is but one agency whereby he may be cleansed from sin. He must accept the propitiation that has been made by the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world. The shed blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” “Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.” A complete offering has been made; for “God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son,”—not a son by creation, as were the angels, nor a son by adoption, as is the forgiven sinner, but a Son begotten in the express image of the Father's person, and in all the brightness of his majesty and glory, one equal with God in authority, dignity, and divine perfection. In him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. -Signs of the Times, May 30, 1895, Christ Our Complete Salvation, par 3, By Mrs. E. G. White
“The great Creator assembled the heavenly host, that he might in the presence of all the angels confer special honor upon his Son. The Son was seated on the throne with the Father, and the heavenly throng of holy angels was gathered around them. The Father then made known that it was ordained by himself that Christ should be equal with himself; so that wherever was the presence of his Son, it was as his own presence. His word was to be obeyed as readily as the word of the Father. His Son he had invested with authority to command the heavenly host.” (Ellen White, The Signs of the Times, January 9, 1879; also in Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 1, pages 18, 19)
Christ said “if you’ve seen me you’ve seen the father”[John 14:9] But yet “no man has seen God at any time”[John 1:18].
Paul said: "In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:" -Colossians 1:14-16
"The dedication of the first-born had its origin in the earliest times. God had promised to give the first-born of heaven to save the sinner." (Ellen G. White, Desire of Ages, p. 51)
Revelation 3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
"Through Solomon Christ declared: 'The Lord possessed Me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth ... When He gave to the sea His decree, that the waters should not pass His commandment; when He appointed the foundations of the earth; then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him." (E.White, Signs of the Times, Aug.29, 1900)
"In Christ 'we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.' He is 'the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature." (E.White, Review and Herald, July 4, 1912)
"The King of the universe summoned the heavenly hosts before Him, that in their presence He might set forth the true position of His Son and show the relation He sustained to all created beings. The Son of God shared the Father's throne, and the glory of the eternal, self-existent One encircled both. About the throne gathered the holy angels, a vast, unnumbered throng--'ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands' (Revelation 5:11.), the most exalted angels, as ministers and subjects, rejoicing in the light that fell upon them from the presence of the Deity. Before the assembled inhabitants of heaven the King declared that none but Christ, the Only Begotten of God, could fully enter into His purposes, and to Him it was committed to execute the mighty counsels of His will. The Son of God had wrought the Father's will in the creation of all the hosts of heaven; and to Him, as well as to God, their homage and allegiance were due." (E.White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p.36)
"Christ is the star that should arise out of Jacob, and the one in whom all the nations of the earth should be blessed, as the first born of heaven, and the only begotten of the Father, filled with all the treasures of eternity. He assumed humanity, and impressed upon it the glorious image of the everlasting God." (Ellen G. White, Lt101, February 17, 1896)
"Christ was the only begotten Son of God, and Lucifer, that glorious angel, got up a warfare over the matter, until he had to be thrust down to the earth." (Ellen G. White, Ms86, August 21, 1910)
"I am instructed to say to you, All this holding to sentiments of infallibility is a specious device of the angel that was so exalted in the heavenly court. His beauty was so highly exalted that he thought he should be as God, and Christ must be second to him; but the Lord informed Satan this could not be possible. Christ was His only begotten Son." (E.G. White, Lt157-1910)
“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; being made so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said He at any time, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee? And again, I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son?” Hebrews 1:1-5.
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.
Jesus said to the Jews: “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.... The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all things that Himself doeth.” John 5:17-20. -8T 268:2-4
"The Eternal Father, the unchangeable one, gave his only begotten Son, tore from his bosom Him who was made [begotten] in the express image of his person, and sent him down to earth to reveal how greatly he loved mankind. He is willing to do more, 'more than we can ask or think.' An inspired writer asks a question which should sink deep into every heart: 'He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?' Shall not every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ say, 'Since God has done so much for us, how shall we not, for Christ's sake, show our love to him by obedience to his commandments, by being doers of his word, by unreservedly consecrating ourselves to his service?" (Ellen White, Review and Herald, July 9, 1895, "The Duty of the Minister and the People" par. 13)
"Giving Christ, God has given everything. Nothing greater, nothing more costly, could He bestow. In giving His Son, He gave all heaven, not because of any goodness or righteousness that we possess, but because He loved us." (E.White, Manuscript Releases, Vol.18, pg.337)
"Jesus stood by their side in the fiery furnace, and the glory of his presence convinced the proud king of Babylon that it could be no other than the Son of God." (Ellen White, The Youth's Instructor, 1904)
John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. -Jesus
The apparently weak soul who, with a contrite, trusting spirit takes God at His word and, with a sense of his unworthiness, asks for help, will be given grace to win victory after victory and to gain the eternal weight of glory in the future life. The Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of the Father, is truly God in infinity, but not in personality. He has wrought out the righteousness that enables human beings to overcome every assault of Satan. He will impute His righteousness to the believing saint who walks as He walked when on earth. -Ellen White, Ms116-1905.19
“And truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” All through the Scriptures, the Father and the Son are spoken of as two distinct personages. You will hear men endeavoring to make the Son of God a nonentity. He and the Father are one, but they are two personages. Wrong sentiments regarding this are coming in, and we shall all have to meet them. -Ellen White, The Review and Herald July 13, 1905 paragraph 3
Christ is one with the Father, but Christ and God are two distinct personages. Read the prayer of Christ in the seventeenth chapter of John, and you will find this point clearly brought out. How earnestly the Saviour prayed that his disciples might be one with him as he is one with the Father. But the unity that is to exist between Christ and his followers does not destroy the personality of either. They are to be one with him as he is one with the Father. By this unity they are to make it plain to the world that God sent his Son to save sinners. The oneness of Christ's followers with him is to be the great, unmistakable proof that God did indeed send his Son into the world to save sinners. But a loose, lax religion leaves the world bewildered and confused. -The Review and Herald June 1, 1905 paragraph 14
Sid Note: Just as "the unity that is to exist between Christ and his followers does not destroy the personality of either"(RH 6/1/1905:14), so is "Christ ... one with the Father, but Christ and God are two distinct personages"(ibid). IMHO, this explains what Ellen meant when she said, "The Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of the Father, is truly God in infinity, but not in personality"(Ms 116, 1905:19). In other words (again, this is MHO), Christ being one with His Father doesn't make Him to be the Almighty Eternal Father any more than us being one with Christ makes us to be Christ.
"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. This was no robbery of God. 'The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way,' he declares, 'before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth; while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth." (E.White, Review and Herald, April 5, 1906)
Christ brought men and women power to overcome. He came to this world in human form, to live a man amongst men. He assumed the liabilities of human nature, to be proved and tried. In His humanity He was a partaker of the divine nature. In His incarnation He gained in a new sense the title of the Son of God. Said the angel to Mary, “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” (Luke 1:35). While the Son of a human being, He became the Son of God in a new sense. Thus He stood in our world—the Son of God, yet allied by birth to the human race.-1SM 226.2
Who is Christ? Whose Son is He? The only begotten Son of the infinite God. What distinction had He in the heavenly courts? He was Commander of all heaven. He laid aside His glory, His royal robe, His high position as Commander of the heavenly angels. He laid aside His princely crown, His majesty, and clothed His divinity with humanity, that humanity might touch humanity. Had He not done this, He could not have approached fallen, sinful man at all. John, full of faith and zeal, cries out, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world.” [John 1:29.] He was the Prince of life; but He came to represent humanity, to elevate and ennoble every human being that will come unto Him, that he might have life.
But as you behold Christ, do you see His meekness and lowliness? Do you see that He makes no lofty parade of His honorable distinctions, His lofty title, or draw Himself away from association with fallen, sinful human beings because of His heavenly extraction? He was the only begotten Son of the Infinite God. No man that ever walked our earth has been in any way His equal, or has in any way approached His exalted holiness. Ask Isaiah who He is, and he will tell you: “Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” [Isaiah 9:6.] -Lt 21, 1897, par 35-36
"When I read in the Bible of how many refused to believe that Christ was the Son of God, sadness fills my heart. We read that even His own brethren refused to believe in Him." (E.G. White, Letter 398, To Dr. & Mrs. D.H. Kress, December 26, 1906)
The truths most plainly revealed in the Bible have been involved in doubt and darkness by learned men, who, with a pretense of great wisdom, teach that the Scriptures have a mystical, a secret, spiritual meaning not apparent in the language employed. These men are false teachers. It was to such a class that Jesus declared, “Ye know not the Scriptures, neither the power of God.” [Mark 12:24.] The language of the Bible should be explained according to its obvious meaning, unless a symbol or figure is employed. Christ has given the promise, “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine.” [John 7:17.] If men would but take the Bible as it reads, if there were no false teachers to mislead and confuse their minds, a work would be accomplished that would make angels glad, and that would bring into the fold of Christ thousands upon thousands who are now wandering in error. - THE GREAT CONTROVERSY 1888, PAGE 598 and THE REVIEW AND HERALD June 28, 1906 "The Scriptures a Safeguard"
"Modern spiritualism, resting upon the same foundation, is but a revival in a new form of the witchcraft and demon worship that God condemned and prohibited of old .... Peter, describing the dangers to which the church was to be exposed in the last days, says that as there were false prophets who led Israel into sin, so there will be false teachers, 'who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them ... And many shall follow their pernicious ways.' [2 Peter 2:1-2]. Here the apostle has pointed out one of the marked characteristics of spiritualist teachers. They refuse to acknowledge Christ as the Son of God. Concerning such teachers the beloved John declares: 'Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father.' [1 John 2:22-23]. Spiritualism, by denying Christ, denies both the Father and the Son, and the Bible pronounces it the manifestation of antichrist." (Ellen White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p.686)