Brief Overview of the Shut Door

By Brother Anderson

What is it and why is it important to Seventh-day Adventists?

When Christ failed to return in 1844, there was great confusion among the followers of William Miller. Many of the Millerites returned to their former churches, but some chose not to return. It was difficult for some to return because of the humiliation they felt after being deceived by a false prophet. Others had been expelled from their churches and the animosity was too great for them to want to return. So, these people banded together into various groups. These groups later evolved into the Advent Christian Church, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Church of God (seventh day), and the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It was among the group that later became the Seventh-day Adventist Church that the "shut door" teaching originated. The teaching is based upon the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25. These Adventists firmly believed that they had given the "midnight cry" (Matt. 25:6) and that Jesus, the Bridegroom, came to the "marriage supper" on October 22, 1844:

And while they [foolish virgins] went to buy, the Bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with Him to the marriage; and the door was shut. Matt. 25:10

They taught that on October 22, 1844, Christ got up and moved from the Holy Place into the Most Holy Place. In so doing, Christ shut the door of salvation to all except those Advent believers who had joined Miller's 1844 movement. They believed that Jesus was "shut in" with His special people, preparing them to receive His kingdom. They believed that since October 22, 1844, Christ was ministering only to Israel (the Advent believers). They taught that Christ was testing His children on certain points of truth, such as the seventh day Sabbath, and that their work for the salvation of others was finished.

Joseph Bates, a prominent leader in this movement, held the view that there would be a 7-year period where Christ would test His children and that Christ would return to earth in 1851. Mid-way through this period, in 1848, there was a war in Europe, and later a pestilence occurred, and the Advent believers interpreted these events as signs that the time of trouble had commenced.

The Adventist prophetess Ellen White began having visions supporting the Shut Door doctrine. Her husband James White's paper, named Present Truth, trumpeted the shut door teaching up until late 1850.

The doctrine was rejected by William Miller and most of the leaders in the Millerite movement. It was accepted by only a small number of followers of Joseph Bates and the Whites.

In early 1850 the "shut door" began to slip open. Those who were Christians in 1844, but had not had the opportunity to hear Miller's time-setting message were allowed to enter the church. Near the end of 1850, the "shut door" opened a little further. The Adventists were shocked when a man who was a non-believer in 1844, accepted the Adventist message in August, 1850, and started attending their meetings. It was their first conversion of an unconverted man since 1844!

In 1851, when it became evident that Christ was not going to return according to Bates' time-table, the Whites modified their teaching on the shut door. They distanced themselves from Bates, and moved westward. James White abandoned the Present Truth magazine and started a new magazine, the Advent Review and Sabbath Herald. He reprinted his wife's visions in 1851, but was careful to remove those parts referencing the erroneous Shut Door doctrine. The doctrine disappeared from the writings and publications of the leaders. Most new converts into the church never heard about it nor had any idea that their prophet had seen a shut door of salvation in her visions.

All went well for the Seventh-day Adventists until the early 1880s when the suppressed writings of Ellen White were published, creating a great constroversy for SDA Church leaders to solve.