The lessons of Christ were often misunderstood, not because He did not make them plain, but because the minds of the Jews, like the minds of many who claim to believe in this day, were filled with prejudice….Many study the Scriptures for the purpose of proving their own ideas to be correct. They change the meaning of God’s Word to suit their own opinions. And thus they do also with the testimonies that He sends. They quote half a sentence, leaving out the other half, which, if quoted, would show their reasoning to be false. God has a controversy with those who wrest the Scriptures, making them conform to their preconceived ideas.—Manuscript 22, 1890.

The reason why many Jews in Christ’s day could not understand Scripture is that “unaccustomed to accept God’s Word exactly as it reads, or to allow it to be its own interpreter, they read it in the light of their maxims and traditions” (Ms 24, 1891, emphasis supplied). In the following broad statement she counsels us regarding the same problem. Note the several hermeneutical principles suggested:HPEGWW 8.1

Be careful how you interpret Scripture. Read it with a heart opened to the entrance of God’s Word, and it will express heavens light, giving understanding unto the simple. This does not mean the weak-minded, but those who do not stretch themselves beyond their measure and ability in trying to be original and independent in reaching after knowledge above that which constitutes true knowledge.

All who handle the Word of God are engaged in a most: solemn and sacred work; for in their research they are to receive light and a correct knowledge, that they may give to those who are ignorant, Education is the inculcation of ideas which are light and truth. Everyone who diligently and patiently searches the Scriptures that he may educate others, entering upon the work correctly and with an honest heart, laying his preconceived ideas, whatever they may have been, and his hereditary prejudices at the door of investigation, will gain true knowledge.

But it is very easy to put a false interpretation on Scripture, placing stress on passages, and assigning to them a meaning, which, at the first investigation, may appear true, but which by further search, will be seen to be false. If the seeker after truth will compare Scripture with Scripture, he will find the key that unlocks the treasure house and gives him a true understanding of the Word of God. Then he will see that his first impressions would not bear investigation and that continuing to believe them would be mixing falsehood with truth.—Ms. 4, 1896. (Emphasis supplied.)

Ellen White had unreserved confidence in the Bible. Writing in 1888, she said: “The Lord has preserved this Holy Book by His own miraculous power in its present shape—a chart or guidebook to the human family to show them the way to heaven.” She went on to say, “I take the Bible just as it is, as the inspired Word. I believe its utterances in an entire Bible.” She characterized the Bible as “prepared for the poor man as well as the learned man,” and “fitted for all ages and all classes.” She talked of its “simplicity and plain utterance” as being “comprehended by the illiterate, by the peasant, and the child as well as by the full-grown man or the giant in intellect.” (Selected Messages 1:15, 17, 18.)HPEGWW 8.2

3. Private Interpretation

Chapter 3—How She Explains Herself