What Verses did Ellen White use to support Soul Sleep?

Question

Ellen G. White is the founder of the Seventh Day Adventists. One of the 28 key teachings of the Adventist Church is the concept of Soul Sleep (the teaching that the Soul is in an unconscious state before the Second Coming of Christ). Another is the Bible as the sole authority. So, what biblical arguments did EGW use for soul sleep?

Answer 1

Seventh Day Adventists [SDAs] say that "the dead remain in their graves and there is no spirit, nor soul, which goes to Heaven (or hell) when we die." This, in a nutshell, is their doctrine of soul sleep.

You ask what Bible verses Ellen White uses to support this, and I happen to have Mrs White’s book, “The Great Controversy”. I also have the massive tome of renowned SDA writer Uriah Smith, “Daniel and the Revelation”. To begin with what Mrs. White said, her book refers to Ecclesiastes 3:19-22 & 9:5-6. In her chapter, ‘Spiritualism – Can our Dead Speak to us?’ she writes:

“The theory which forms the very foundation of spiritualism is at war with the plainest statements of Scripture. The Bible declares that the dead know not anything, that their thoughts have perished; they have no part in anything that is done under the sun; they know nothing of the joys or sorrows of those who were dearest to them on earth. Furthermore, God has expressly forbidden all pretended communication with departed spirits… We must be prepared to withstand [the spirits of devils personating beloved relatives or friends] with the Bible truth that the dead know not anything and that they who thus appear are the spirits of devils… The foundation of [Satan’s] work was laid by the assurance given to Eve in Eden: ‘Ye shall not surely die.’ [Genesis 3:4-5] ” The Great Controversy pp343, 345, 346, Ellen White (Advent Books)

A key text she uses is in Daniel 12:2, about a time when “many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”

You ask for “biblical arguments she uses” for soul sleep, but that requires explaining her interpretation of verses she uses in support of soul sleep. One problem is that the Ecclesiastes verses she uses stop short of including verses at the end of Ecclesiastes about the spirit returning to God who gave it, at the point of physical death (chapter 12). The Daniel interpretation is problematic because it is tied up with the SDA doctrine of the “Special Resurrection”. This is said to occur prior to Jesus’ Second Coming and prior to the general resurrection of the righteous. Uriah Smith describes this special resurrection:

“Here a partial resurrection is brought to view, a resurrection of a certain group of both righteous and wicked. This takes place before the general resurrection of either group. Many, not all, that sleep shall awake-- some of the righteous, not all of them, to everlasting life, and some of the wicked, not all of them, to shame and everlasting contempt. This resurrection takes place in connection with the great time of trouble such as never was, which precedes the coming of the Lord.” Daniel and the Revelation, see pp. 350 & 586 & 626, Uriah Smith.

Smith also said that the SDAs claim “to be a fulfilment of the third angel’s message,” the first and second angelic messages already having been given. He wrote that circa 1908. The SDAs needed to have this special resurrection of the righteous doctrine because of their teaching on the 144,000 and ‘the Seal of God’. There’s no way I’m going to delve into all of that in order to explain Mrs. Smith’s doctrine of soul sleep but they are all closely linked. I simply note that if the SDAs claimed to be involved in the third angel’s message around 1900, they’ve been waiting more than 120 years for this ‘special resurrection’ to happen.

The initial question is simple, and I have simply listed four of them. The second question is very complex and cannot be answered without explaining three other closely related SDA doctrines. This answer should lead on to another one, such as, perhaps, “In what ways do SDA doctrines of the Special Resurrection, the 144,000 and the Seal of God support their beliefs about Soul Sleep?”

Answer 2

Some of the verses that Ellen White quotes which plainly explain the state of the dead:

KJV Ecclesiastes 9:5-6 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.

The theory of the immortality of the soul was one of those false doctrines that Rome, borrowing from paganism, incorporated into the religion of Christendom. Martin Luther classed it with the “monstrous fables that form part of the Roman dunghill of decretals.”—E. Petavel, The Problem of Immortality, page 255. Commenting on the words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes, that the dead know not anything, the Reformer says: “Another place proving that the dead have no ... feeling. There is, saith he, no duty, no science, no knowledge, no wisdom there. Solomon judgeth that the dead are asleep, and feel nothing at all. For the dead lie there, accounting neither days nor years, but when they are awaked, they shall seem to have slept scarce one minute.”—Martin Luther, Exposition of Solomon's Booke Called Ecclesiastes, page 152. Great Controversy 549.2

KJV John 11:11-14 These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.

These things said He: and after that He saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep.” “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth.” How touching the words! how full of sympathy! In the thought of the peril their Master was about to incur by going to Jerusalem, the disciples had almost forgotten the bereaved family at Bethany. But not so Christ. The disciples felt rebuked. They had been disappointed because Christ did not respond more promptly to the message. They had been tempted to think that He had not the tender love for Lazarus and his sisters that they had thought He had, or He would have hastened back with the messenger. But the words, “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth,” awakened right feelings in their minds. They were convinced that Christ had not forgotten His suffering friends.

“Then said His disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that He had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.” Christ represents death as a sleep to His believing children. Their life is hid with Christ in God, and until the last trump shall sound those who die will sleep in Him. Desire of Ages 529

KJV 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

As Paul's epistle was opened and read, great joy and consolation was brought to the church by the words revealing the true state of the dead. Paul showed that those living when Christ should come would not go to meet their Lord in advance of those who had fallen asleep in Jesus. . . . Now they rejoiced in the knowledge that their believing friends would be raised from the grave to live forever in the kingdom of God. The darkness that had enshrouded the resting place of the dead was dispelled. A new splendor crowned the Christian faith, and they saw a new glory in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.{Acts of Apostles 258, 259}

KJV Daniel 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

KJV Job 14:12-13 So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!

Nowhere in the Sacred Scriptures is found the statement that the righteous go to their reward or the wicked to their punishment at death. The patriarchs and prophets have left no such assurance. Christ and His apostles have given no hint of it. The Bible clearly teaches that the dead do not go immediately to heaven. They are represented as sleeping until the resurrection. 1 Thessalonians 4:14; Job 14:10-12. In the very day when the silver cord is loosed and the golden bowl broken (Ecclesiastes 12:6), man's thoughts perish. They that go down to the grave are in silence. They know no more of anything that is done under the sun. Job 14:21. Blessed rest for the weary righteous! Time, be it long or short, is but a moment to them. They sleep; they are awakened by the trump of God to a glorious immortality. “For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible.... So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” 1 Corinthians 15:52-54. As they are called forth from their deep slumber they begin to think just where they ceased. The last sensation was the pang of death; the last thought, that they were falling beneath the power of the grave. When they arise from the tomb, their first glad thought will be echoed in the triumphal shout: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” Verse 55. GC 549.3