Ellen G. White's Understanding of How God Speaks
Exhibit One. From The Great Controversy, pages
v-vii.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 entrusted to earthen vessels, yet it is, nonetheless,
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.
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, R.V.
Exhibit Two. From Selected Messages, book 1, pages 19-22.
OBJECTIONS TO THE BIBLE
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.
The Scriptures were given to men, not in a continuous chain of unbroken
utterances, but piece by piece through successive generations, as God in His
providence saw a fitting opportunity to impress man at sundry times and [p. 20]
divers places. Men wrote as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost. There is
"first the bud, then the blossom, and next the fruit," "first the blade, then
the ear, after that the full corn in the ear." This is exactly what the Bible
utterances are to us.
There is not always perfect order or apparent unity in the Scriptures.
The miracles of Christ are not given in exact order, but are given just as the
circumstances occurred, which called for this divine revealing of the power of
Christ. The truths of the Bible are as pearls hidden. They must be searched,
dug out by painstaking effort. Those who take only a surface view of the
Scriptures will, with their superficial knowledge, which they think is very
deep, talk of the contradictions of the Bible, and question the authority of
the Scriptures. But those whose hearts are in harmony with truth and duty will
search the Scriptures with a heart prepared to receive divine impressions. The
illuminated soul sees a spiritual unity, one grand golden thread running
through the whole, but it requires patience, thought, and prayer to trace out
the precious golden thread. Sharp contentions over the Bible have led to
investigation and revealed the precious jewels of truth. Many tears have been
shed, many prayers offered, that the Lord would open the understanding to His
Word.
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.
The stamps of minds are different. All do not understand expressions and
statements alike. Some understand the statements of the Scriptures to suit
their own particular minds and cases. Prepossessions, prejudices, and passions
have a strong influence to darken the understanding and confuse the mind even
in reading the words of Holy Writ.
The disciples traveling to Emmaus needed to be disentangled in their
interpretation of the Scriptures. Jesus [p. 21] walked with them disguised, and
as a man He talked with them. Beginning at Moses and the prophets He taught
them in all things concerning Himself, that His life, His mission, His
sufferings, His death were just as the Word of God had foretold. He opened
their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures. How quickly He
straightened out the tangled ends and showed the unity and divine verity of the
Scriptures. How much men in these times need their understanding opened.
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.
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. (Manuscript 24, 1886;
written in Europe in 1886.)
UNITY IN DIVERSITY
There is variety in a tree, there are scarcely two leaves just alike.
Yet this variety adds to the perfection of the tree as a whole.
In our Bible, we might ask, Why need Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in
the Gospels, why need the Acts of the Apostles, and the variety of writers in
the Epistles, go over the same thing?
The Lord gave His Word in just the way He wanted it to come. He gave it
through different writers, each having his own individuality, though going over
the same history. Their testimonies are brought together in one Book, and [p.
22] are like the testimonies in a social meeting. They do not represent things
in just the same style. Each has an experience of his own, and this diversity
broadens and deepens the knowledge that is brought out to meet the necessities
of varied minds. The thoughts expressed have not a set uniformity, as if cast
in an iron mold, making the very hearing monotonous. In such uniformity there
would be a loss of grace and distinctive beauty. . . .
The Creator of all ideas may impress different minds with the same
thought, but each may express it in a different way, yet without contradiction.
The fact that this difference exists should not perplex or confuse us. It is
seldom that two persons will view and express truth in the very same way. Each
dwells on particular points which his constitution and education have fitted
him to appreciate. The sunlight falling upon the different objects gives those
objects a different hue.
Through the inspiration of His Spirit the Lord gave His apostles truth,
to be expressed according to the development of their minds by the Holy Spirit.
But the mind is not cramped, as if forced into a certain mold. (Letter 53,
1900.)
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