Ellen White’s use of Scripture

Ellen White frequently used Scripture homiletically. ^{†This has been recognized for a long time. In 1981, Robert W. Olson, director of the Ellen G. White Estate, wrote, “Ellen White’s writings are generally homiletical or evangelistic in nature and not strictly exegetical.” Robert W. Olson, One Hundred and One Questions on the Sanctuary and Ellen White (Washington D.C.: Ellen G. White Estate, 1981), 41.} She was steeped in the language of the Bible, and whenever she spoke or wrote on a topic, she would use biblical language and biblical texts to convey the message she had received. For example, in the book The Great Controversy , Ellen White wrote, “Those who accept the teachings of God’s Word will not be wholly ignorant concerning the heavenly abode. And yet, ‘eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.’ [1 COR. 2:9.] Human language is inadequate to describe the reward of the righteous. It will be known only to those who behold it. No finite mind can comprehend the glory of the Paradise of God” (GC 675).GP 97.1

In this passage Ellen White applied 1 Corinthians 2:9 to the new earth. When we study the verse in its context, however, we discover that Paul was not speaking about the new earth but about the Cross and salvation (see 1 Corinthians 2:1-8). Ellen White used the language of the verse and applied it to the new earth because what it says is true of the new earth as well—no eye has seen and no ear heard what God has prepared for His peopleGP 97.2

Reading through the books of Ellen White, we come across many other examples in which she used the language of a biblical verse or passage to express the message God gave her for the church. The fact that she used these texts doesn’t mean that she was thereby interpreting them—she wasn’t necessarily explaining what the biblical author meant to say. The meaning the original author intended the text to have may be quite different from the message Ellen White was conveying through her use of the text’s language. Raoul Dederen aptly observed, “As interpreter of the Bible, Ellen White’s most characteristic role was that of an evangelist—not an exegete, nor a theologian, as such, but a preacher and an evangelist. . . .GP 98.1

. . . The prophetic and hortatory mode was more characteristic of her than the exegetical The people to whom she was preaching—or writing—were more the object of her attention than the specific people to whom the individual Bible writers addressed themselves.” ^{1Raoul Dederen, “Ellen White’s Doctrine of Scripture,” in “Are There Prophets in the Modern Church?” Supplement to Ministry (July 1977): 24H.}GP 98.2

Some people try to use Ellen White’s writings as the last word on the meaning of a particular text. That’s when understanding how she’s using the text is particularly important.GP 98.3