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Seventh-day Adventists Early Antitrinitarian History

That the SDA pioneers were antitrinitarian is accepted Adventist history.

Recognized by present-day historians.

  • "...that most of the leading SDA pioneers were antitrinitarian in their theology has become accepted Adventist history." —"The Adventist Trinity Debate Part 1: Historical Overview" by Jerry Moon, Andrews University. Jerry Moon, Ph.D. is an Adventist historian and Professor of Church History, Emeritus (as of 2021) at the Seventh-day Adventist theological seminary at Andrews University.
  • “...either the pioneers were wrong and the present church is right, or the pioneers were right and the present Seventh-day Adventist Church has apostatized from biblical truth.” —Jerry Moon, The Trinity, Chapter, Trinity and antitrinitarianism in Seventh-day Adventist history, p. 190
  • "Adventist beliefs have changed over the years under the impact of ‘present truth’. Most startling is the teaching regarding Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord. . . . the Trinitarian understanding of God, now part of our fundamental beliefs, was not generally held by the early Adventists. Even a few today do not subscribe to it." —Adventist Review, "Adventist History: Walking in the Light", 1994-01-06.
  • "The Development of the Trinity doctrine demonstrates that sometimes doctrinal changes require the passing of a previous generation. For Seventh-day Adventists, it took over 50 years for the doctrine of the Trinity to become normative." Merlin D. Burt (2006) "History of Seventh-day Adventist Views on the Trinity, " Journal of the Adventist Theological Society: Vol. 17 : Iss. 1, Article 9, p. 139.
  • “One of the remarkable aspects of the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is the development of the position of the trinity and the deity of Christ. These doctrines did not become normative in the church until the middle of the twentieth century.” —Merlin D. Burt, "Demise of Semi-Arianism and anti-trinitarianism in Adventist theology, 1888-1957," page iv ‘Preface’.
  • "Most of the founders of Seventh-day Adventism would not be able to join the church today if they had to subscribe to the denomination’s Fundamental Beliefs. More specifically, most would not be able to agree to belief number 2, which deals with the doctrine of the trinity." —Ministry Magazine, "Adventists and change," October 1993, p. 10.
  • "While no single scriptural passage states formally the doctrine of the Trinity, it is assumed as a fact by Bible writers and mentioned several times. Only by faith can we accept the existence of the Trinity." —Adventist Review, 1981-07-30, Vol. 158, No. 31.
  • Trinity in Adventist History. Updated 2019-11-06.

In the pioneers own words.

  • RH 1854-09-12: As fundamental errors, we might class with this counterfeit sabbath other errors which Protestants have brought away from the Catholic church, such as sprinkling for baptism, the trinity, the consciousness of the dead and eternal life in misery. The mass who have held these fundamental errors, have doubtless done it ignorantly; but can it be supposed that the church of Christ will carry along with her these errors till the judgment scenes burst upon the world? We think not.
  • RH 1871-06-06: But after catechising us upon the trinity, and finding that we were not sound upon the subject of his triune god, he became earnest in denouncing unitarianism, which takes from Christ his divinity, and leaves Him but a man. Here, as far as our views were concerned, he was combating a man of straw. We do not deny the divinity of Christ. [..] We believe Him to be the divine person addressed by Jehovah in the words, "Let us make man." He was with the Father before the world was. [..] We have not as much sympathy with Unitarians that deny the divinity of Christ, as with Trinitarians who hold that the Son is the eternal Father, and talk so mistily about the three-one God. Give the Master all that Divinity with which the Holy Scriptures clothe Him.
  • Letter by J. S. Washburn in 1940 which includes a copy of his 1939 "The Trinity" document to Elder W. W. Prescott. [Elder J. S. Washburn was a personal friend of Ellen G. White. Elder Washburn was present at the 1888 Minneapolis General Conference Session]. Quote: Seventh-day Adventists claim to take the word of God as supreme authority and to have “come out of Babylon”, to have renounced forever the vain traditions of Rome. If we should go back to the immortality of the soul, purgatory, eternal torment and the Sunday Sabbath, would that be anything less than apostasy? If, however, we leap over all these minor, secondary doctrines and accept and teach the very central root, doctrine of Romanism, the Trinity, and teach that the son of God did not die, even though our words seem to be spiritual, is this anything else or anything less than apostasy, and the very Omega of apostasy?
  • The Pioneers were anti-trinitarian.