Ellen White and Subordination Within the Trinity

Seminary N310

The Seventh-day Adventist Church has been engaged in a debate about the role of women in ministry, especially as it concerns ordination. While engaging in this debate, some have used the doctrine of Trinity to support their understanding of the different roles in gender. Specifically, the subordination of Jesus to the Father as evidence of a correlation with the subordination of women to men. In order to find support for the way some believe ministry should be practiced, they have turned to the writings of Ellen White. They have attempted to support a subordinationism within the Trinity with her writings. When analyzing her writings, one needs to take into account her confirmatory role as it pertains to doctrines, including the doctrine of the Trinity. Her earlier statements which have been used as evidence of subordinationism can also be read in an equalitarianism position. Therefore, they are too obscure to be used as evidence for either side. However, after the doctrine of the Trinity was being explicitly expressed in the 1890’s, White was stressing the equality of the Trinity and not a position of hierarchy. Overall, subordinationism of the Trinity is not explicitly proven in the writings of Ellen White and therefore she should not be used as confirmatory evidence of that position.