The 1888 Message

Several Seventh-day Adventist independent ministries are dedicated to proclaiming “the 1888 message.” Such claims refer to the doctrinal presentations and discussions during the General Conference Session in Minneapolis, Minnesota (which was held from October 17 to November 4, 1888), as well as the Ministerial Council that started a week earlier. The topics addressed included the identification of the ten prophetic horns of Daniel 7, the law in Galatians 3, and righteousness by faith.

But how should we understand that message? On August 5, 1888, Ellen White wrote an open letter to the delegates who would attend the 1888 General Conference Session. She began by saying, “We are impressed that this gathering will be the most important meeting you have ever attended. This should be a period of earnestly seeking the Lord and humbling your hearts before Him. I hope you will regard this as a most precious opportunity to pray and counsel together.” Later in the letter, she added, “The correct interpretation of the Scriptures is not all that God requires. He enjoins upon us that we should not only know the truth, but that we should practice the truth as it is in Jesus.” During the meetings, Ellen White heartily endorsed the Christ-centered messages presented by Alonzo T. Jones and Ellet J. Waggoner. But some read into her support more than she had intended. Her endorsement was for the messages presented, not the human messengers. On June 19, 1889, Ellen White addressed this in a sermon in Rome, New York.

She explained, “I have had the question asked, What do you think of this light that these men are presenting? Why, I have been presenting it to you for the last forty-five years—the matchless charms of Christ.

This is what I have been trying to present before your minds.

When Brother Waggoner brought out these ideas in Minneapolis, it was the first clear teaching on this subject from any human lips I had heard, excepting the conversations between myself and my husband.”43 For Mrs. White, the central emphasis of the 1888 message was the same theme she had always presented —“the matchless charms of Christ” and “the truth as it is in Jesus.” A deep and personal experience with Him is at the heart of righteousness by faith.