Ellen White and the Satanic Scapegoat

By Dirk Anderson, Sep., 2024

Leviticus 16:6-26 describes the Day of Atonement activities involving two goats. The first one was offered as a sacrifice to atone for the sins of the people of Israel. The high priest took its blood and sprinkled it in the Most Holy Place. This sacrifice made "atonement" for the sins of Israel (verse 17). The second goat was called the scapegoat.¹ The high priest confessed all the sins of Israel over this goat and then it was sent out to the wilderness to make "atonement" (verse 10).

Ellen White's Understanding of the Scapegoat

Ellen White agreed with orthodox Christian doctrine that Jesus Christ was the first goat, who offered His body as a sacrifice for the sins of humanity. There is no dispute regarding the first goat. The dispute is over the scapegoat. Orthodox Christian doctrine teaches that both goats represent the atoning work of Christ. What did Ellen White teach regarding the scapegoat?

Ellen White adopted a unique teaching that was first espoused among the Adventists by O.R.L. Crosier in the Day-Star Extra of February 7, 1846. Crosier taught that Satan, not Jesus, was the scapegoat. Even though Crosier later left the Adventists and repudiated his teaching, SDAs continued to hold onto his doctrine to the present day. Ellen White wrote:

Jesus tarried a moment in the outer apartment of the heavenly sanctuary, and the sins which had been confessed while He was in the most holy place were placed upon Satan, the originator of sin, who must suffer their punishment.²

It was seen, also, that while the sin offering pointed to Christ as a sacrifice, and the high priest represented Christ as a mediator, the scapegoat typified Satan, the author of sin, upon whom the sins of the truly penitent will finally be placed. ... Satan, who, in the execution of the judment, must bear the final penalty. The scapegoat was sent away into a land not inhabited, never to come again into the congregation of Israel. So will Satan be forever banished from the presence of God and His people, and he will be blotted from existence in the final destruction of sin and sinners.³

Problems with Ellen White's Teaching

Ellen White's teaching contains serious theological problems. Perhaps most importantly, Scripture teaches that both goats played a part in the atonement. The Bible never says that Satan is equally involved with Christ in the atonement. To make Satan responsible for part of the atonement takes away from the work that Jesus accomplished for humanity. It is, in fact, blasphemous to suggest that Satan plays a crucial role in the atonement.

Secondly, Scripture never even hints that Satan bears the sins of the wicked. Nothing is said of it anywhere in the Bible. The doctrine relies entirely on the authority of Ellen White. Without the authority of Ellen White this doctrine would have questionable validity.

Biblical Truth about the Atonement

Leviticus 16:22 states that the scapegoat "shall bear upon him all their iniquities." The Bible repeatedly teaches that Jesus bears our sins and separates them from His people.

• Isaiah 53:6 - "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."
• John 1:29 - "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."
• 2 Corinthians 5:21 - "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
• 1 Peter 2:24 - "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed."
• Hebrews 9:28 - "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation."
• Galatians 3:13 - "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree."

These Scriptures teach that Jesus satisfies the symbolism of both goats. He was both the sacrifice for sin and the scapegoat who bore the sins of the world, offering redemption and reconciliation with God through His sacrifice on the cross. Jesus suffered "outside the city gate" so that he could "make the people holy through his own blood" (Heb 13:12 NIV).

A similar ritual can be found in Leviticus 14:1-19. When a leper desired healing, two birds were chosen. The first was killed and the second was released, carrying away the leprosy. Both represented God's healing power. There is no reason to believe the second bird represented the leprosy being applied to Satan. Likewise, there is no compelling reason to believe Satan will bear the sins of God's people. Rather, placing the sins on the scapegoat symbolizes God removing His people's sins "as far as the east is from the west" (Ps 103:12).

Conclusion

The Bible teaches that Jesus fulfilled both parts of the atonement represented by the two goats. He was the spotless sacrifice for sin and He removed sin from His people. Satan had no part to play in the atonement and it's blasphemous to claim that he did. He will pay for his own sins like everyone else who rejects Jesus and is cast into the lake of fire. Perhaps Ellen White said it best in this unpublished manuscript from 1897:

Some apply the solemn type, the scapegoat, to Satan. This is not correct. ... Christ was the Scapegoat, which the type represents. He alone can be represented by the goat borne into wilderness. He alone, over whom death had not power, was able to bear our sins.⁴

See also

• Ellen White's Confusing Statements
• Ellen White's Contradictory Statements

Citations

1. From the Hebrew azazel, which according to Strong's is "goat of departure; the scapegoat" (H7999). Hebrew scholar Robert Alter in his commentary (2019) notes that Azazel could be a proper name of uncertain meaning. He writes: "Azazel is not represented as a competing deity (or demon) rivalling YHWH, but the ritual depends upon a polarity between YHWH—the place of human civilization—and Azazel—the remote wilderness, the realm of disorder and raw formlessness."

2. Ellen White, Early Writings (1881), 280-281.

3. Ellen White, Great Controversy (1911), 422.

4. Ellen White, Manscript 112 (1897), page 18. This document was released by the White Estate in 2015. Mysteriously, the page on which this quoate appears (page 18) and the following page are missing from the White Estate's copy of the manuscript. However, another copy has all 19 pages and is stamped "E.G. White" at the end of the 19th page.