Ellen White's Slavery Confusion

By Dirk Anderson, 2009

This article will examine several controversial statements Ellen White made regarding slavery.

Ellen White the Author of Confusion

The Seventh-day Adventist [SDA] General Conference has stated that Ellen White's writings contain "divine counsel".¹ If they are indeed "divine counsel," then they cannot be confusion, for as Paul said, "God is not the author of confusion" (1 Cor. 14:33). Paul is saying that when God reveals truth, He does so with clarity, consistency, and coherence. God does not produce doctrines or teachings that contradict themselves or require mental gymnastics to reconcile. Confusion is not evidence of a divine signature—it is evidence of human frailty or satanic influence.

If Ellen White's writings are "divine counsel," they should reflect the character of God—order, consistency, and doctrinal harmony. But her slavery statements do the opposite. Consider...

• If God is not the author of confusion…
• And Ellen White’s teachings produce confusion…
• Then God is not the author of Ellen White’s teachings.

Judge for yourself whether the following statements are confusion or whether they are divinely inspired by God.

#1: Some Slaves Will not be Resurrected

Sister White wrote:

God cannot take the slave to heaven, who has been kept in ignorance and degradation, knowing nothing of God, or the Bible, fearing nothing but his master's lash, and not holding so elevated a position as his master's brute beasts. But He does the best thing for him that a compassionate God can do. He lets him be as though he had not been.²

Mrs. White claims that slaves who were kept "in ignorance" will be allowed to rest in their graves as if they never existed while their masters would "come up in the second resurrection, and suffer the second, most awful death."³ Is it true that some slaves were kept in such ignorance that God cannot even judge them?

Theological Evaluation

Scripture teaches that God "shows no partiality" (Acts 10:34) and that all who turn to Him—regardless of circumstance—may be saved (Rev. 7:9; Rom. 10:13). Ellen's claim implies that God is unable to save someone because of their ignorance even though their ignorance was no fault of their own. This is the opposite of the biblical picture of God, who judges people according to the light they have, not according to the light withheld from them (Romans 2:12–16; Luke 12:47–48).

Slavery was practiced widely in the ancient Roman Empire. Some have estimated that up to a third of the population may have been enslaved around the time of Paul. Paul, in describing the heathens of Rome, declares that even though a person may not have the Word of God preached to them, God Himself will teach them through the great lesson-book of the created world:

Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse (Romans 1:19,20).

Paul said that the heathens of Rome were "without excuse" because certain attributes of God are "clearly seen" in the created world—even by the most ignorant soul. Even the most degraded soul has access to the created world and can receive enough light so that Paul could proclaim that they could be judged by God (Rom. 2:2).

Furthermore, the Holy Spirit speaks to all humanity through their conscience. Paul talks about those who have never heard of God's law, yet have the law of God written on their hearts:

Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them (Romans 2:14-15 NIV).

Later in life, perhaps Mrs. White came to the realization that God can indeed reach "heathens" and "savages." Contradicting her earlier radical statement, she writes:

The light of God is ever shining amid the darkness of heathenism.

In the depths of heathenism, men who have had no knowledge of the written law of God, who have never even heard the name of Christ, have been kind to His servants, protecting them at the risk of their own lives. Their acts show the working of a divine power. The Holy Spirit has implanted the grace of Christ in the heart of the savage, quickening his sympathies contrary to his nature, contrary to his education.⁴

If the light of God is "ever shining" amongst heathenism and God can implant grace in the "heart of the savage," then why could not His light penetrate the hearts of ignorant slaves?

The Bible teaches that every human being is entrusted with a certain measure of "light" placed into their soul by Jesus:

That [Jesus] was the true Light, which lighteth every man [Greek anthropos: generically, to include all human individuals⁵] that cometh into the world (John 1:9).

Now that is has been established that God grants light to every human and teaches all through the created world, the issue of whether or not every person will be raised for the judgment must be examined:

For we must all [Greek pas: each, every, any, all, the whole, everyone, all things, everything] appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one [Greek hekastos: each, every] may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad (2 Cor. 5:10).

And I saw a great white throne...and I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God...and the dead were judged...and they were judged every man [Greek hekastos: each, every] according to their works...and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:11-15).

Who [God] will render to every man [Greek hekastos: each, every] according to his deeds (Romans 2:6).

These verses make it abundantly clear that there will be no exceptions in the judgment. Every human being must be judged and receive their reward or penalty. Mrs. White has no Biblical basis for stating that some slaves will be allowed to rest as if they had never existed. This is a clear contradiction of the Word of God.

Historical Evaluation

Ellen White's language echoes common nineteenth century American antebellum prejudices, such as...

• Enslaved people were “ignorant”
• “Degraded”
• “Like brute beasts”
• Lacking in moral or intellectual capacity

These were cultural stereotypes, not the lived reality of enslaved men and women. Millions of enslaved people:

• Deeply believed in God
• Sang spirituals filled with theology
• Prayed earnestly
• Held a profound biblical worldview that was often more genuine than their “Christian” enslavers

Ellen's description reflects white abolitionist paternalism, which viewed Black slaves as pitiable objects rather than as fully formed moral agents. Her statement mirrors early Millerite/Adventist confusion about slavery and salvation. In the 1840s–1860s, several early Millerite and Adventist writers struggled to reconcile the horrors of slavery and the inability of slaves to hear the Advent “message” which was supposed to reach all people before Christ could return. For some, the solution was to claim that enslaved people were not moral agents, and therefore God would “pass them by” or annihilate them.

Ellen's statement reflects this theological improvisation. It reveals a hierarchical worldview inconsistent with the radical equality of Christian theology. Her statement treats the enslaved person as:

• Intellectually sub-human
• Spiritually incapable
• Morally undeveloped
• Ultimately disposable

From a historical perspective, this was not uncommon among many 19th-century white Protestants but it directly contradicts Scripture’s teaching that all humans bear God’s image (Gen. 1:27) and that “the last shall be first” (Matt. 20:16).

Ellen places the enslaved man’s status below “brute beasts” and suggests he lacks moral or spiritual capacity. This is classic racialized dehumanization. She portrays enslaved people as incapable of responding to God because of their condition, which is an assumption rooted in prejudice, not reality. Her logic implies that salvation is more accessible to the educated and socially elevated. This is the opposite of the gospel. Finally, instead of affirming the enslaved person’s dignity, she portrays annihilation as “the best thing” God can do for him. This reveals a disturbingly low view of the enslaved person’s humanity.

#2: The "Sin" of Slavery⁶

Mrs. White makes the following claim regarding slavery:

God is punishing this nation for the high crime of slavery. He has the destiny of the nation in His hands. He will punish the South for the sin of slavery, and the North for so long suffering its overreaching and overbearing influence.⁷

While Mrs. White is to be praised for opposing slavery, she seems to be confused about what is a "sin" and what is not a "sin." In the Bible, the Israelites were permitted to buy and own foreigners as slaves:

Both thy bondmen [Hebrew: `ebed: slave, servant, man-servant], and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they beget in your land: and they shall be your possession. And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigour (Lev. 25:44-46).

If it were indeed a "high crime" and a "sin" to own slaves, why did God give Israel directions to go to the heathen and "buy bondmen and bondmaids"? Why would God punish the United States for a "sin" when that "sin" is nowhere described in the Bible as a "sin"? Furthermore, the Israelites were given instructions to take slaves from among the people they conquered:

But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, [even] all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee (Deut. 20:14).

Again, why did God direct Israel to take slaves if it was a "high crime" against Him? Even the priests possessed slaves. In Numbers 31:30 God directed that one out of every fifty captured slaves were to be given to the priests to "keep charge of the tabernacle of the Lord." Now, if God was dwelling in that tabernacle, and if it was indeed a "sin" to own slaves, don't you think God would be just a little bit angry about that situation and tell Moses about it? If God was angry about this "high crime", we do not have any Biblical evidence of it.

Even the patriarchs, Abraham, Job, David and others possessed servants. When Hagar escaped from Sarah, "the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands."⁸ Why did the angel not go to Sarah and punish her for her "high crime"? The Bible states that Abraham owned male and female servants and yet God did not punish him for this "high crime" but blessed him perhaps more than any other man who has ever lived. One of those blessings included increasing the number of Abraham's "menservants."⁹

At the time of Jesus, slavery was a huge enterprise in the Roman Empire, with roughly one third of all the people being in some state of bondage. Jesus condemned many sins but never specifically called out slavery as a "sin." Jesus was not afraid to change Yahweh's law, because He changed the law regarding divorce (Deut. 24:1-4; Matt. 19:3-9). He could have changed the law of slavery, but did not. Paul never said slavery was a sin either. Instead, he advised slaves to serve their masters with "fear and trembling" (Eph. 6:5-7).

Finally, other nations, such as Assyria, used to raid Israel and steal people (such as Namaan's maid) and make them slaves. Why does the Bible condemn other nations all around them for a myriad of sins, but never mentions the "sin of slavery"?

#3: Slavery to Revive in the South

Mrs. White prophesied in 1895 that slavery would be revived in the southern United States:

Slavery will again be revived in the Southern States; for the spirit of slavery still lives. Therefore it will not do for those who labor among the colored people to preach the truth as boldly and openly as they would be free to do in other places. Even Christ clothed His lessons in figures and parables to avoid the opposition of the Pharisees.¹⁰

Here Mrs. White says "slavery" will "again" be revived in the southern United States, and that because of this reason, SDA preachers should be careful about how they preached to African American people. Was the slavery of African Americans ever revived in the Southern United States? Of course not! Since the Civil War, it has been a federal crime to engage in slavery.

Slavery is a system where one human being owns another human being, and the slave has no personal rights under the law. That system was abolished and it never will be revived again. Any person can choose to live and work any place they want to.

Conclusion