“The writers of the Bible had to express their ideas in human language. It was written by human men. These men were inspired of the Holy Spirit. Because of the imperfections of human understanding of language, or the perversity of the human mind, ingenious in evading truth, many read and understand the Bible to please themselves. It is not that the difficulty is in the Bible. Opposing politicians argue points of law in the statute book, and take opposite views in their application and in these laws.” Manuscript 24, 1886, quoted in F. M. Wilcox, The Testimony of Jesus, p. 16.BHP 187.1

And so it is with people who read the Bible. Their interpretation depends upon the attitude and background they bring to the reading.BHP 187.2

On this point I digress just a moment. Some years ago I hastened down to the riverbank in the city of Nanking, China, planning to take one of the steamers down the Yangtze River to Shanghai. It was an overnight trip, a very pleasant trip, restful, quiet, and free from the dust and dirt of the train. For these reasons I would occasionally go down the river by boat instead of going on the train. It had been a very busy week and I was tired, mentally and physically, and I thought to myself, “I shall get at least one full night’s sleep.”BHP 187.3

When I went aboard that boat the steward said to me, “Come, Mr. Rebok, I will give you this room.” I had hoped that I would have a room to myself, but that evidently was not to be my lot or privilege. Instead, as I entered the room a gentleman was sitting there. He looked up at me and smiled, and, of course, I can return a smile with no great difficulty, He asked, “Are you going to Shanghai?” I replied, “Yes, sir, I am going to Shanghai. Are you?” He nodded affirmatively.BHP 187.4

That man looked me over carefully and said, “You look like a missionary.”BHP 188.1

I said, “True,” and added, “You do, too.” To his inquiry, “What are you?” I replied, “I am a Seventh-day Adventist.”BHP 188.2

“Ah” he chuckled, “I have been waiting for this opportunity for a long, long time. Shall we begin now or shall we wait until after we have eaten supper?”BHP 188.3

“Well,” I said, “if you don’t mind, sir, I should just as soon eat my supper first, and then we shall talk.”BHP 188.4

He gave me his name, of course. I recognized him as being the secretary of a national organization of churches in China, a very fine man, a man with a great and good reputation. After supper we went back to the cabin and sat down.BHP 188.5

He began by saying, “I have some questions. I have been waiting a long time for an opportunity to ask these questions of a Seventh-day Adventist.”BHP 188.6

My reply was, “Make them easy, brother, because I am not a theologian.”BHP 188.7

He assured me, “You will not find them difficult. I want you to give me the scriptural basis for your belief in the imminent return of the Lord Jesus.”BHP 188.8

“Well,” I sighed, “that is an easy one.”BHP 188.9

I took my Bible and began to read passage after passage with very little comment. I connected them up, of course, in the sequence that I had learned in my Bible doctrines class in college.BHP 188.10

“Now,” he observed, “I see your scriptural connections. Give me now your interpretation of those scriptures.” Then I proceeded to do that for about two hours, which led to a discussion that lasted another two hours or more. Around one o’clock he said very seriously, “If I could believe that Bible as you do, and accept it literally as you do, then I would be forced to come to the same conclusion to which you have arrived. But,” he said, “brother, you know that Book was never intended to be taken literally. That Book is designed as a spiritual guide to spiritual-minded men. I take you to be a very simple-minded person. If you thought in terms of the spiritual teachings of the Book you would never come to those conclusions.”BHP 189.1

Mrs. White says, “Many read and understand the Bible to please themselves.” There we had talked for five or six hours and did not get anywhere. Was the trouble with the Bible? No. The trouble was that he brought one kind of mind to the Bible, and I brought quite another. Thus, reading the very same passages, we came to two very different conclusions. Was it a lack of inspiration of the Scripture? No. He had formed his pattern of thinking; I had formed my pattern of thinking. And I thought I was right and he was wrong, and he thought he was right and I was wrong. That made it rather hard to get together. The trouble is not with the Scriptures, or with the words, but with our interpretation of words. You and I get into difficulties over the writings of the Spirit of prophecy on the very same basis and for the very same reason.BHP 189.2

That brings us to a point that must be made clear. We must understand the meaning of the words as the inspired writer intended them to be understood, that God’s message may be impressed on our minds. How can I develop the right attitude of mind? It comes only from a complete surrender of my will and of my own personal desire, so that God may have His way. It is when I completely surrender to God that He gives me the mind of Jesus, and with the mind of Jesus I can think His thoughts. This is absolutely essential if we would come to a clear understanding of the writings of the Spirit of prophecy. A surrender of our own ideas, of our own rules and motives and objectives, is essential in order that we might know and follow the will of God.BHP 190.1

I think this will become clearer as we proceed in this study. I continue to quote Mrs. White:BHP 190.2

“The Bible is not given to us in grand superhuman language. Jesus, in order to reach man where he is, took humanity. The Bible must be given in the language of men. Everything that is human is imperfect. Different meanings are expressed by the same word; there is not one word for each distinct idea. The Bible was given for practical purposes….BHP 190.3

“The Bible is written by inspired men, but it is not God’s mode of thought and expression. It is that of humanity. God, as a writer, is not represented. Men will often say such an expression is not like God. But God has not put Himself in words, in logic, in rhetoric, on trial in the Bible. The writers of the Bible were God’s penmen, not His pen. Look at the different writers.BHP 190.4

“It is not the words of the Bible that are inspired, but the men that were inspired. Inspiration acts not on the man’s words or his expressions, but on the man himself, who, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, is imbued with thoughts. But the words receive the impress of the individual mind. The divine mind is diffused. The divine mind and will is combined with the human mind and will; thus the utterances of the man are the Word of God.” Testimonies for the Church 4:17, 18.BHP 191.1

In the Introduction to The Great Controversy also Mrs. White set forth her understanding of divine inspiration:BHP 191.2

“Before the entrance of sin, Adam enjoyed open communion with his Maker; but since man separated himself from God by transgression, the human race has been cut off from this high privilege. By the plan of redemption, however, a way has been opened whereby the inhabitants of the earth may still have connection with heaven. God has communicated with men by His Spirit, and divine light has been imparted to the world by revelations to His chosen servants. ‘Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.’ 2 Peter 1:21.BHP 191.3

“During the first twenty-five hundred years of human history, there was no written revelation. Those who had been taught of God, communicated their knowledge to others, and it was handed down from father to son, through successive generations. The preparation of the written word began in the time of Moses. Inspired revelations were then embodied in an inspired book. This work continued during the long period of sixteen hundred years,—from Moses, the historian of creation and the law, to John, the recorder of the most sublime truths of the gospel.BHP 191.4

“The Bible points to God as its author; yet it was written by human hands; and in the varied style of its different books it presents the characteristics of the several writers. The truths revealed are all ‘given by inspiration of God’ (2 Timothy 3:16); yet they are expressed in the words of men. The Infinite One by His Holy Spirit has shed light into the minds and hearts of His servants. He has given dreams and visions, symbols and figures; and those to whom the truth was thus revealed, have themselves embodied the thought in human language.BHP 192.1

“The Ten Commandments were spoken by God Himself, and were written by His own hand. They are of divine, and not of human composition. But the Bible, with its God-given truths expressed in the language of men, presents a union of the divine and the human. Such a union existed in the nature of Christ, who was the Son of God and the Son of man. Thus it is true of the Bible, as it was of Christ, that ‘the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.’ John 1:14.BHP 192.2

“Written in different ages, by men who differed widely in rank and occupation, and in mental and spiritual endowments, the books of the Bible present a wide contrast in style, as well as a diversity in the nature of the subjects unfolded. Different forms of expression are employed by different writers; often the same truth is more strikingly presented by one than by another. And as several writers present a subject under varied aspects and relations, there may appear, to the superficial, careless, or prejudiced reader, to be discrepancy or contradiction, where the thoughtful, reverent student, with clearer insight, discerns the underlying harmony.BHP 192.3

“As presented through different individuals, the truth is brought out in its varied aspects. One writer is more strongly impressed with one phase of the subject; he grasps those points that harmonize with his experience or with his power of perception and appreciation; another seizes upon a different phase; and each, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, presents what is most forcibly impressed upon his own mind—a different aspect of the truth in each, but a perfect harmony through all. And the truths thus revealed unite to form a perfect whole, adapted to meet the wants of men in all the circumstances and experiences of life.BHP 193.1

“God has been pleased to communicate His truth to the world by human agencies, and He Himself, by His Holy Spirit, qualified men and enabled them to do this work. He guided the mind in the selection of what to speak and what to write. The treasure was intrusted to earthen vessels, yet it is, none the less, from Heaven. The testimony is conveyed through the imperfect expression of human language, yet it is the testimony of God; and the obedient, believing child of God beholds in it the glory of a divine power, full of grace and truth.BHP 193.2

“In His word, God has committed to men the knowledge necessary for salvation. The Holy Scriptures are to be accepted as an authoritative, infallible revelation of His will. They are the standard of character, the revealer of doctrines, and the test of experience. ‘Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.’ 2 Timothy 3:16, 17, Revised Version.” The Great Controversy, Introduction, 7-9.BHP 193.3

This is Ellen G. White’s conception of inspiration.BHP 193.4

To my mind it is the clearest statement you can find from her pen on the inspiration of the Scriptures and her own writings.BHP 194.1

Perhaps you noticed two or three sentences in the quotations just cited which raise some question in your mind. You probably checked the sentence which states, “It is not the words of the Bible that are inspired, but the men that were inspired.” And also, “The writers of the Bible were God’s penman, not His pen.” Or, “Inspiration acts not on the man’s words or his expressions, but on the man himself, who, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, is imbued with thoughts.” The Testimony of Jesus, p. 18.BHP 194.2

All these sentences, taken together say just one thing: The Bible is not verbally inspired; and neither are the writings of Ellen G. White.BHP 194.3

In regard to her own writings Ellen G. White expressed this truth in the following words:BHP 194.4

“Although I am as dependent upon the Spirit of the Lord in writing my views as I am in receiving them, yet the words I employ in describing what I have seen are my own, unless they be those spoken to me by an angel, which I always enclose in marks of quotation.” The Review and Herald, October 8, 1867, quoted in F. M. Wilcox, The Testimony of Jesus, p. 87. (Italics supplied.)BHP 194.5

An interesting story out of the past will illustrate this.BHP 194.6

In 1906, Dr. David Paulson, one of the most enthusiastic and interesting men I have ever known, wrote a letter to Mrs. White, stating his opinion, his convictions, regarding her and her work.BHP 194.7

We have that letter in the file, but I am not particularly interested in his letter. I am, however, very much interested in Mrs. White’s response to it. Let me read three paragraphs from the letter she wrote in reply to Dr. Paulson. I quote:BHP 195.1

“In your letter, you speak of your early training to have implicit faith in the Testimonies, and say, ‘I was led to conclude and most firmly believe that every word you ever spoke in public or private, that every letter you wrote under any and all circumstances, was as inspired as the ten commandments.’BHP 195.2

“My brother, you have studied my writings diligently, and you have never found that I have made any such claims, neither will you find that the pioneers in our cause have made such claims.BHP 195.3

“In my preface to ‘Great Controversy,’ … you have no doubt read my statement regarding the ten commandments and the Bible, which should have helped you to a correct understanding of the matter under consideration.”BHP 195.4

This appears in the file as letter No. 206, written in the year 1906. It also appeared in the The Review and Herald, August 30, 1906, p. 8.BHP 195.5

Now what does it say? and what does it mean? Here was a zealous man, a fine Christian gentleman, a man who wanted above everything else to do right for God and be right with his brethren. He wrote to Ellen G. White and gave her his impression or conviction that every word she had ever said in public and in private, every letter that she had ever written, of whatever nature it might have been, was just like, and on a par with, the Ten Commandments. Mrs. White corrected his impression in these words, “My brother, … you have never found that I have made any such claims.” If Ellen G. White never made such a claim, then neither should you or I.BHP 195.6

Ellen G. White’s Claim to Inspiration

Inspiration and Infallibility