Ellen White

Introduction

Many fellow Christians have doubts about Seventh-day Adventists because of Ellen G. White, whom we believe had a prophetic ministry.  Some of our friends misunderstand this to mean that SDAs believe she was the same as the prophets who wrote Scripture. This is untrue, in fact heretical—effectively qualifying for the curse in Revelation 22 about adding to the authority of God’s Word. So any prophet with us today must have less than Scriptural authority—which needs to be clearly stated and understood.

There are two different types of prophets we read about in the Bible: Those who wrote Scripture—canonical prophets, like Paul and Isaiah—and prophets who led movements but didn’t write Scripture, like John the Baptist and Elijah.

Since the Bible is complete with its 66 books, there is no such thing anymore as a canonical prophet. But the New Testament informs us of a continuing role for prophets, until the end of time, to help the church grow into maturity. Such leadership prophets are inspired by God through their example and teaching to help the church fulfill its purpose and rebuke God's people when we fall short of obedience to the Bible. Adventists believe that Ellen White fits into this latter category of a prophetic messenger--but we emphatically do NOT regard her as a canonical prophet with doctrinal authority.

At least officially we don’t. In reality, Adventists have often violated our own Fundamental Belief #1, which does not lack clarity about the prime and exclusive role of Scripture in doctrinal authority: "The Holy Scriptures are the infallible revelation of His will. They are the standard of character, the test of experience, the authoritative revealer of doctrines, and the trustworthy record of God's acts in history."

So Adventists accept the Bible alone as the supreme authority. It is true that Fundamental Belief #8 says that Ellen White's writings are "a continuing and authoritative source of truth which provide for the church comfort, guidance, instruction, and correction." That sentence can be confusing until we remember that this doesn’t say that the authority of the prophetic gift is comparable with Scripture. Any ambiguity about this is clarified in the next sentence, referring to Ellen White’s writings: "They also make clear that the Bible is the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested." Any Adventist—whether leader or lay person—who teaches that EGW or anyone else has infallibility or authority over doctrine is out of line with SDA fundamental beliefs. Ellen White herself declared that the Bible is to be the authority by which her writings are tested. The best way to “undo” her ministry is to overdo it by claiming too much for it.

Bottom line: prophets do have a continuing and authoritative ministry from God, as do pastors and other church leaders. But the Bible is the test of all their teaching. For many years, a number of Adventists have continually and emphatically declared the Bible to be supreme in its authority. To clarify questions on the role of Ellen White in relation to the Bible, we have posted Martin’s chapter: "David Koresh versus Ellen G. White,” written in 1994. Also his 1983 (published 1985) chapter that teaches the primacy of Scripture.

Articles

Ellen White Vs. David Koresh

How a True Prophetic Messenger Differs from an Imposter - from the 1994 book by Martin Weber: Who's Got the Truth?

A Non-prophet Organization?

Understanding the Gift of Prophecy in Relation to Ellen White - from the 1985 book by Martin Weber: Some Call It Heresy (written in 1983)

Frequently Asked Questions