On this page I share some of the Scriptures used by Mrs. White when she discussed dying to self. Included with the reference is the year in which she paired the quote to the Scripture. In a few cases I highlight key concepts. I hope to do that more.
Luke 9:23 (NKJV) "Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me."
"We all need to gain a much deeper experience in the things of God than we have gained. Self is to die, and Christ is to take possession of the soul temple. Physicians, ministers, and all others in responsible positions must learn the humility of Christ before He can be revealed in them. Too often self is so important an agency in the life of a man that the Lord is not able to mold and fashion him. Self rules on the right hand and on the left, and the man presses his way forward as he pleases. Christ says to self, Stand out of My path. Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. Then I can accept him as My disciple. In order to serve Me acceptably, he must do the work I have given him in harmony with My instructions." {Lt 188, 1903, par. 46}
Rom. 12:1 (1850)
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”
“Sacrifice all to God. Lay all upon His altar--self, property, and all, a living sacrifice.” EW 66 (1850)
Gal. 2:20 (1853)
“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
“Paul declares, "I am crucified with Christ." Gal. 2:20. There is nothing so hard as the crucifixion of the will.” (1853)
Human nature is ever struggling for expression, ready for contest; but he who learns of Christ is emptied of self, of pride, of love of supremacy, and there is silence in the soul. … Then we are not anxious to have the highest place.” MB 31 (1896)
Colossians 3:1-5 (1868)
“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth; fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”
“Dead men cannot feel. You are not dead. If you were, and your life were hid in Christ, a thousand things which you now notice, and which afflict you, would be passed by as unworthy of notice….” 2T 425 (1868)
“These enthusiastic persons too often falter and fail. They did not accept the cross as a part of their religious life, and they turn from it with dampened ardor, and refuse to take it up.” RH, June 7, 1892 - Stony ground hearer (1892)
1 Corinthians 15:31 (1868)
“I die daily.”
“Right in the common walks of life is where self is to be denied and kept in subordination. Paul could say: "I die daily." It is the daily dying to self in the little transactions of life that makes us overcomers.” 2T 132 (1868)
“Genuine sanctification, … is nothing less than a daily dying to self, and daily conformity to the will of God.” ST, September 12, 1878 (1878)
Romans 6:12,13 (1868)
“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead….”
“None are so low, so corrupt … that they cannot find in Jesus … strength, purity, and righteousness…. I was referred to this scripture: "Let not sin therefore reign….” CH 568 (1868)
Matthew 7:14 (1870)
“Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matt. 7:14 (1870)
Only “a small number of those now professing to believe the truth, would eventually be saved --not because they cannot be saved, but because they will not be saved in God's own appointed way. The way marked out by our divine Lord was too narrow….” PH011 10 (1870)
Matthew 21:44 (1875)
“And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to power.”
“The very trials that test our faith most severely, and make it seem that God has forsaken us, are designed to lead us more closely to Christ, that we may lay all our burdens at His feet and experience the peace He will give us in exchange. You need a new conversion; you need to be sanctified through the truth and to become in spirit like a little child, meek and humble, relying wholly upon Christ as your Redeemer. Your pride and independence are closing your heart to the blessed influences of the Spirit of God and rendering it as unimpressible as the hard-beaten highway. You have yet to learn the great lesson of faith. When you surrender yourself entirely to God, when you fall all broken upon Jesus, you will be rewarded by a victory the joy of which you have never yet experienced. As you review the past with a clear vision, you will see that at the very time when life seemed to you only a perplexity and a burden, Jesus Himself was near you, seeking to lead you into the light. Your Father was by your side, bending over you with unutterable love, afflicting you for your good, as the refiner purifies the precious ore. When you have thought yourself forsaken, He has been near you to comfort and sustain. We seldom view Jesus as He is, and are never so ready to receive His help as He is to help us. {4T 220.1}
What a victory you will gain when you learn to follow the opening providences of God with a grateful heart and a determination to live with an eye single to His glory, in sickness or health, in abundance or want. Self is alive and quivering at every touch. Self must be crucified before you can overcome in the name of Jesus and receive the reward of the faithful. {4T 221.1}
“With many, self is whole; but when they fall upon the Rock, and are broken, then the arms of Jesus will encircle them, and draw them close to his great heart of love.” RH, May 20, 1884 (1884)
Matthew 16:24 (1876)
“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”
“We are not to make crosses for ourselves, by wearing sackcloth, by pinching our bodies, or by denying ourselves wholesome, nourishing food. We are not to shut ourselves in monasteries, away from the world, and do no good to our fellow beings, thinking this is the cross of Christ; neither are we required to expose health and life unnecessarily, nor to go mourning up the hill of Christian life, feeling it a sin to be cheerful, contented, happy, and joyful. These are all self-made crosses, but not the cross of Christ. To bear the cross of Christ is to control our sinful passions, to practice Christian courtesy even when it is inconvenient to do so, to see the wants of the needy and … deny ourselves in order to relieve them, and to open our hearts and our doors to the homeless orphan, although to do this may tax our means and our patience.” 4T 626 (1876)
“The cross was associated with the power of Rome. It was the instrument of the most cruel and humiliating form of death. The lowest criminals were required to bear the cross to the place of execution; and often as it was about to be laid upon their shoulders, they resisted with desperate violence, until they were overpowered, and the instrument of torture was bound upon them. But Jesus bade His followers take up the cross and bear it after Him. To the disciples His words, though dimly comprehended, pointed to their submission to the most bitter humiliation,—submission even unto death for the sake of Christ. No more complete self-surrender could the Saviour’s words have pictured.” Desire of Ages 416 (1898)
Luke 13:24 (1881)
“Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”
"Agonize," says the margin. There are vastly more seekers than strivers. Tame, half-hearted efforts will not insure success. There must be determined, persevering, untiring effort, proportionate to the value of eternal life, the object of our pursuit.” RH, August 23, 1881 (1881)
“Man is allotted a part in the great struggle for everlasting life. He must respond to the working of the Holy Spirit. It will require a struggle to break through the powers of darkness, but the Spirit that works in him can and will accomplish this. Man is no passive instrument, to be saved in indolence. He is called upon to strain every muscle in the struggle for immortality, yet it is God that supplies the efficiency. No human being can be saved in indolence. ST, November 5, 1896 (1896)
Galatians 5:24 (1889)
“Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
“We must crucify the old man, with the affections and lusts, in order to meet the requirements of God. Those who have been blessed of God did not cease seeking him until they knew they had fulfilled his requirements and stood approved before him. In Oakland, in Battle Creek, and in other places where the deep movings of the Spirit of God have been felt, the people confessed their sins, and made restitution for their wrongs. The servants of God desired to make clean work for eternity. They confessed their jealousies, evil-speaking, murmurings, and uncleanness.” RH, March 12, 1889 (1889)
1 Peter 5:6 (1889)
“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time.”
“From the light which God has given me, I know that the Lord would do far more for us as a people if we would walk in humility before him. Every one of God's people will be tested and proved…. We want you to be constantly moving onward and upward; but that which hinders your progress in a large degree is your self-esteem, the high opinion that you entertain of your own ability. If there was ever a place where self needed to die, it is here. Let us see the death struggle. Let us hear the dying groans. Self-exaltation ever separates the soul from God, no matter in whom it is found….” RH, June 18, 1889 (1889)
Rom. 6:11 (1890)
“Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
“Those who trust wholly in the righteousness of Christ, looking to him in living faith, know the Spirit of Christ, and are known of Christ. Simple faith enables the believer to reckon himself dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." RH, July 1, 1890 (1890)
Matthew 11:28,29 (1891)
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
“True followers of Christ know that they must take his yoke, share his trials, carry his burdens. But they do not feel like complaining; for the meekness and lowliness of Christ makes the yoke easy and the burden light. RH, September 22, 1891 (1891)
“The question has been asked, What kind of vessels does the Spirit use? What does Christ say?—‘Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls….’ What kind of vessels are meet for the Master's use?--Empty vessels. When we empty the soul of every defilement, we are ready for use.” RH, February 28, 1899 (1899)
“You must die to self, be crucified to self, and become learners in the school of Christ. In words of tenderness the great Teacher invites you saying, ‘Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest to your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’ When you learn this lesson you will become true witnesses for Christ, but until you do learn this lesson, self with all its defects will appear and Jesus will be kept in the back-ground. When you individually know that your work upon earth is to go forth and live over again in meekness and lowliness of heart the life of Christ, then you will become qualified to become Christ's witnesses.” Advance, March 1, 1899
John 15:4,5 (1891)
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
“We are to abide in him as the branch abides in the vine. Jesus says, ‘I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing. . . . Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.’ If we fulfilled this command of our Lord, there would be a different state of affairs in our churches, and we should know what it is to have the deep movings of the Spirit of God. What we want is to have the ax laid at the root of the tree. We want to be dead to the world, dead to self, and alive unto God. Our life must be hid with Christ in God, that when he shall appear, we also may appear with him in glory. We need to come close to Christ, that men may know that we have been with Christ and learned of him. RH, May 10, 1892
2 Corinthians 5:17 (1892)
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
“When a man is converted to God, a new moral taste is created; and he loves the things that God loves; for his life is bound up by the golden chain of the immutable promises, to the life of Jesus.” RH June 21, 1892 (1892)