The Gift of Prophecy

Theological and Exegetical Use of Scripture

While Ellen G. White uses the Bible to accomplish pastoral purposes, her use of Scripture is not just for personal edification, exhortation, and correction, i.e., for practical purposes. She also uses Scripture to sustain doctrinal issues and to clarify issues of faith. ⁸⁰ GOP 316.1

Careful readers of Ellen G. White have repeatedly noted her keen perception when employing Bible texts, doing so in a manner entirely in keeping with the original biblical text in Hebrew and Greek. It is amazing how often she brings out remarkable theological insights into the original meaning of the biblical text even though she never studied Hebrew or Greek. ⁸¹ While Ellen G. White made many helpful comments on biblical passages, she did not comment and interpret every text in the Bible. Neither did she see herself as the exegete or interpreter of Scripture who made personal Bible study superfluous. Yet she often commented and interpreted the Bible in a responsible theological manner. GOP 316.2

A theological use of Scripture is present when crucial biblical themes or ideas are employed or alluded to without explicit quotation. ⁸² It has been said that to “interpret a text theologically means to look for the implications the text has for the larger theological scheme contained in Scripture. The text is seen not only in its literary and historical context but also in the context of the divine revelation, as a whole.” ⁸³ GOP 316.3

An illustration of her ability to use Scripture theologically as well as exegetically is her use of John 5:39, ⁸⁴ where the King James Bible translates Jesus’ words as an imperative: “Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” The Greek ἐραυνᾶτε (ereunate) can be a present imperative or a present indicative and the context seems to favor the indicative: “You study the scriptures diligently, supposing that in them you have eternal life; their testimony points to me” (REB). Pfandl has pointed out that “many Jews believed that knowledge of the law would assure them eternal life. But Jesus reminds them that the Scriptures in which they thought to find eternal life were the very writings which testified of Him.” ⁸⁵ While Ellen G. White frequently uses the phrase from John 5:39 to encourage Bible study, ⁸⁶ thus showing pastoral wisdom in endorsing something Scripture encourages us to do, she is also aware of its exegetical meaning. In The Desire of Ages she relates the situation as it is reported in John, and uses the Revised Version instead of the KJV to bring out its exegetical meaning: “Ye search the Scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of Me. John 5:39, RV.” ⁸⁷ This is also an illustration how Ellen G. White did not slavishly depend on the KJV but showed a keen perception of the message of the original biblical text. GOP 316.4

Ellen White demonstrates another theological use of Scripture when she sometimes conflates biblical concepts to express valid biblical ideas with words that do not precisely match their original biblical usage, but are very well within the general biblical framework of God’s salvific work. GOP 317.1

For example: in the Bible the concept of the baptism of the Holy Spirit occurs only seven times in the New Testament, interestingly always as a verbal construction, “baptize in the Holy Spirit” (Mark 1:8; Matt. 3:11; Luke 3:16; John 1:33; Acts 1:5; 11:15, 16; 1 Cor. 12:13), though other texts may refer to the phenomenon in other ways. In the New Testament the baptism of the Holy Spirit seems to refer to the initial empowerment of God’s people at Pentecost that enabled them to start and fulfill their gospel commission. In the New Testament the baptism of the Holy Spirit also seems to be connected with the water baptism of the believer. Beyond this initial baptism with the Holy Spirit, the believer is encouraged to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 5:18). While Ellen G. White also makes reference to this initial and special baptism at Pentecost and seems to acknowledge that baptism, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit belong together, ⁸⁸ she frequently uses and employs the expression “baptism with the Holy Spirit” to emphasize the present need of believers to be fully committed to God and to be empowered and filled by the Holy Spirit to do their task and to exemplify Christ’s character in them. For her, being filled with the Holy Spirit and being baptized with the Holy Spirit often shows the same effect. Thus there can be for her a “fuller baptism of the Holy Spirit” ⁸⁹ or a “greater baptism of the Holy Spirit” ⁹⁰90 or “daily a fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit,” as Jesus received, ⁹¹ and we can and should receive too. ⁹² Thus Ellen G. White seems to conflate the biblical concepts of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the filling with the Holy Spirit, and uses the expression “baptism of the Holy Spirit” to describe something that biblically corresponds more to the daily filling of the Holy Spirit. GOP 317.2

From the above-mentioned uses, it is obvious that Ellen G. White used Scripture in much more than a strictly exegetical manner. In fact, it has been pointed out that her “most characteristic role was that of an evangelist—not an exegete, nor a theologian, as such, but a preacher and an evangelist. . . . The prophetic and hortatory mode was more characteristic of her than the exegetical.” ⁹³ Thus, at times she is able to use the same biblical passage in different ways. Hence it is important to carefully study how she is using a particular biblical text. It would be wrong to see every single statement she makes about a biblical text as the ultimate interpretation of a biblical passage, thereby neglecting our own careful investigation of the biblical text. GOP 318.1