Understanding Ellen White

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Successors of the Old Testament prophets

Luke 11:47-50 (parallel to Matt. 23:29-37) is part of Jesus’ denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees. Just as their ancestors killed the (Old Testament) prophets (verses 47, 48), so they would kill the “ prophets and apostles ” that God would send to them (verses 49, 50). According to this text, both apostles and prophets would be the successors of the Old Testament prophets. UEGW 15.2

The complementary character of apostles and prophets can be seen as well in Ephesians 2:20. In Ephesians 2:19-22, the church is portrayed as a house built of people upon a solid foundation, which is the apostles and prophets in their relationship to the cornerstone Jesus Christ. Who are these apostles and prophets? In Ephesians 3:5 and 4:11, they are clearly in the New Testament era, not in the Old. The apostles and prophets together were agents of God’s revelation to the fledgling church. UEGW 15.3