I was encouraged and blessed by Woodrow Whidden’s take on Ellen White’s understanding of the humanity of Christ. Whidden wrote a 33 page chapter in “Ellen White and Current Issues” Symposium, Volume 2 2006, a book published by the Center for Adventist Research at Andrews University.

Whidden’s chapter, “The Humanity of Christ Debate - What Did Ellen White Teach?,” begins with the three main interpretations within the Adventist church about the humanity of Christ.

The first one he calls the traditional or historical Christology. (By the way, Christology is simply the study of Christ.) This view asserts that Jesus came into the world with a fallen human nature. More specifically, Christ had the human nature of Adam after the fall. This was a nature not only weakened physically by the fall but it was also a nature that had tendencies to sin. Of course Christ never sinned, but the historical Christology proponents will say that Christ had inclinations to sin. Like us, Christ was prone to sin. However, unlike us, he never sinned.

The second interpretation that Whidden brings up is the new Christology or pre-fall position. This position is espoused by the authors of the book, Questions on Doctrine. This controversial and ground-breaking book was published in the 1950s by the Adventist church. The authors of this book attested that Jesus took Adam’s pre-fall sinless human nature. Thus, Jesus did not have our tendency to sin.

Finally, Whidden gives the third position. He calls it the alternative pre-fall Christology and it is the position he holds. In this view, Jesus took Adam’s human nature after the fall. This is in agreement with the traditional Christology position. However, the alternative pre-fall Christology departs from the traditional Christology by saying that Jesus did not inherit sinful tendencies from Adam - that is, Jesus did not have a tendency to sin.

So, what did Jesus inherit in Adam’s fallen nature? The pre-fall Christology theologian would say that Christ inherited our physical weaknesses. For example, Christ had to sleep when he got tired. He had to eat when he got hungry and drink when he got thirsty. He inherited our physical limitations but not our sinful inclinations.

Whidden quotes from Jean Zurcher’s book, Touched with Our Feelings: A Historical Survey of Adventist Thought on the Human Nature of Christ:

Christ did not come “in power and splendor,” or even with the sinless nature of Adam…

This does not imply, however, that Jesus inherited “evil tendencies” from Adam. Although the body of Christ was subject to physical deterioration and inherited the weaknesses of man’s physical constitution , He inherited none of the inclinations to evil associated with fallen human nature.

Here’s the important thing to grasp. Physically, Christ was like us - frail, weak, prone to get sick if we don’t take care of our bodies, and under the consequences of aging. But morally, Christ was unlike us - He was bent towards goodness while we are bent towards sin.

In the next couple of days, I’ll go through Whidden’s chapter. He gives evidence that Ellen White held the alternative pre-fall Christology. Also, we’ll look in the Bible and find that it teaches this interpretation.