Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 1:1-4 NIV).
At the core of Christianity itself is the question of Christ’s nature. Was he born of a virgin? Was He human, or divine, or both? Did His death save us from our sin? From his first words in the letter to the Romans, Paul described Christ as both human, as a descendant of David, and divine, as appointed by the Spirit.
The 2023 Institutional Workers’ Survey asked employees working in Adventist educational institutions to indicate the extent to which they agreed with several statements about the nature of Christ.
Employees answering positively—that they strongly agreed or agreed with the statement that Jesus Christ is the Son of God—totaled 98%. The employees answering negatively—that they strongly disagreed or disagreed more than agreed—totaled only 1.5%, while 0.5% were unsure. The Divisions with the highest rates of “strongly agree” were the South American Division and the Southern Asia-Pacific, each at 98%.
Employees answering positively to the item that Jesus is forever truly God totaled 91.3%; employees answering negatively totaled 5.6%, while 3.1% were unsure. The Division with the highest rate of “strongly agree” responses was the West-Central Africa Division, at 97.7%.
In contrast, employees answering positively to the affirmation that Jesus became truly human at the incarnation totaled 84.3%; employees answering negatively totaled 8.6%, while 7.1% were unsure. The Division with the highest rate of “strongly agree” responses was the Inter-European Division, at 93.5%.
Employees answering positively to the affirmation I believe that Jesus was born of a virgin totaled 94.7%; employees answering negatively totaled just 3.3%, while 1.9% were unsure. The Division with the highest rate of “strongly agree” responses was the West-Central Africa Division, at 96.6%.
Employees answering positively to the affirmation Jesus died in my place totaled 90.3%; employees answering negatively totaled 7.4%, while 2.4% were unsure. The Division with the highest rate of “strongly agree” responses was the South American Division, at 97.8%. It is, however, concerning that nearly 10% of educational employees did not believe that Jesus died in their place.
The results of the report show that educational employees were nearly unanimous in their agreement that Christ is the Son of God. At least 90% agreed that Jesus is forever God, that He was born of a virgin, and that He died in our place. Significantly fewer accepted that Jesus was also fully human.
Ellen White explained the importance of Christ’s dual nature: “We must open our understanding to realize that Christ laid aside His royal robe, His kingly crown, His high command, and clothed His divinity with humanity, that He might meet man where he was, and bring to the human family moral power to become the sons and daughters of God. To redeem man, Christ became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Ellen G. White, Selected Messages Book 1, p. 243). What a wonderful blessing it is to know that Christ’s fully human nature is not coincidental to His fully divine nature—it is integral to the very process of our salvation.
You can access the full report here.
Created in collaboration with the Institute of Church Ministry.
Published by ASTR on 10/19/2026