The Centrality Of The Bible

Parallel to Ellen White’s emphasis of Christ, the living Word of God, was her concern with God’s Written Word. In her first book (1851) she wrote: “I recommend to you, dear reader, the Word of God as the rule of your faith and practice” (Early Writings, 78). And 58 years later she stood before the 1909 General Conference session with a Bible in her hands, saying, “Brethren and sisters, I commend unto you this Book.” They were her last spoken words to a General Conference session of the church.EWIT 115.3

Ellen White exalted the Bible throughout her lifetime. To her it was the revealed will of God, and it provided the knowledge that led to a saving relationship with Jesus. “In His Word,” she declared, “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.”—GC viiEWIT 115.4

She particularly emphasized the centrality of the Bible in times of theological conflict. For example, as the church moved toward the controversial General Conference session of 1888 at Minneapolis and some were seeking to use other authorities for doctrine and Bible interpretation, she repeatedly pointed her fellow church leaders back to Scripture. “We want Bible evidence for every point we advance,” she told them in April 1887 (The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, 36). In July 1888 she wrote that “the Bible is the only rule of faith and doctrine.”—The Review and Herald, July 17, 1888EWIT 116.1

“Search the Scriptures carefully to see what is truth,” she counseled Adventism’s leading ministers a month later. “The truth can lose nothing by close investigation. Let the Word of God speak for itself, let it be its own interpreter.”EWIT 116.2

“Our people,” she continued, “individually must understand Bible truth more thoroughly, for they certainly will be called before councils; they will be criticized by keen and critical minds. It is one thing to give assent to the truth, and another thing, through close examination as Bible students, to know what is truth.... Many, many will be lost because they have not studied their Bibles upon their knees, with earnest prayer to God that the entrance of the Word of God might give light to their understanding....EWIT 116.3

“The Word of God is the great detector of error; to it we believe everything must be brought. The Bible must be our standard for every doctrine and practice.... We are to receive no one’s opinion without comparing it with the Scriptures. Here is divine authority, which is supreme in matters of faith. It is the word of the living God that is to decide all controversies.”—The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, 38-40, 44, 45EWIT 116.4

She claimed that “the Word of God is sufficient to enlighten the most beclouded mind and may be understood by those who have any desire to understand it.” She regarded her own writings as an instrument to bring people “back to the word that they have neglected to follow.”—Testimonies for the Church 5:663EWIT 116.5

That last point is an important one. Ellen White always held that her function was to point people to the Bible. “The Spirit was not given,” she wrote, “—nor can it ever be bestowed—to supersede the Bible; for the Scriptures explicitly state that the Word of God is the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested” (GC vii). Thus, she held, her own prophetic ministry needed to be tested by the Bible. She saw her writings not as a substitute for the Bible but as “a lesser light to lead men and women to the greater light.”—Colporteur Ministry, 125EWIT 117.1

For Ellen White, personal Bible study was of the utmost importance for every Christian. And while that was true in a general way, it would be especially crucial in the closing days of earth’s history. At the end of time, she asserts, “Satan employs every possible device to prevent men from obtaining a knowledge of the Bible” so that human beings will not be able to detect his own deceptions (The Great Controversy, 593). Thus Bible study becomes a part of the endtime struggle. And “none,” she states, “but those who have fortified the mind with the truths of the Bible will stand through the last great conflict.”—The Great Controversy, 593, 594.EWIT 117.2

That thought brings us to a fifth pervasive integrative theme in Ellen White’s writings—the second coming of Jesus.EWIT 117.3