(For parts of this lecture I am indebted to Roger W. Coon's lecture outline, Ellen G. White and S.D.A Doctrine--Part II: The Issue of Prophetic Authority, April 19, 1995. For further study, see Herbert E. Douglass, Messenger of the Lord, pp. 416-433.)
 

Introduction

    1. The concept of authority has become one of the most controversial notions of modern times. Baby Boomers and Gen Xers have openly challenged established authority as much in secular society as in religious institutions. It is no wonder that the authority of God's prophets, and what they have to teach, has also been subject to challenge.
 

    2. But even before these two generations began their challenge of authority in general, in his book The Spirit of Protestantism (chapter 14), Robert M. Brown discussed the challenge of authority among Protestants.

        a. He believes that Protestantism has an Achilles' heel, it is located in the Protestant understanding of authority. Protestants will readily agree that the Bible is where one finds the will of God, that it is the ultimate authority.

        b. However, when hard-pressed to define what this means, what this authority consists of, all kinds of answers appear.

        c. This is the Achilles' heel of Protestantism: it does not agree on the role of Scripture as God's authority on earth, it does not really agree on what the authority from God is and what it means.
 

    3. In the SDA Church today there are also some who challenge the authority of Scripture. Our understanding of God's revelation in Scripture has become our Achilles' heel.
 

    4. Authority is even more so a contemporary issue within Adventism as far as Ellen G. White's writings are concerned. Two issues are raised in various places, and with varying frequency:

        a. Some do not wish to give Ellen White doctrinal authority.

        b. And some others do not wish to give doctrine any authority.
 

    5. The Bible gives examples of prophets whose authority was challenged by some of their contemporaries.

        a. Moses' prophetic authority was challenged by Korah, Dathan, Abiram and their supporters (Num 16:3-33).

            (1) Their charge was : "You [Moses and Aaron] have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord's assembly?" (v.3)

            (2) Moses' analysis of the situation was that "You Levites have gone too far!" (v.7) and that these people were opposing the Lord himself (v.11).

            (3) Moses did not claim to have this authority or to perform his tasks of his own. The Lord had vested him with authority (v.28).

            (4) The Lord was displeased with this rebellion and severely judged and punished the guilty people (v.32-35).

            (5) Ellen White equated the opposition of her critics with that of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram's opposition of Moses (5T 66,67).

        b. Moses' prophetic authority was challenged by Aaron and Miriam (Num 12:1-10).

            (1) Their charge was : "Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?" they asked. "Hasn't he also spoken through us?"

        c. Christ's authority was challenged by the ecclesiastical leaders of his day (Matt 21:23):

            (1) Their charge was : "By what authority are you doing these things?" they asked. "And who gave you this authority?"

            (2) This charge had to do with the nature and the specific source of Christ's authority.
 

    6. Ellen White had to meet challenges to her authority during her lifetime. How she handled the issue is worthy of note in today's climate. It may give a clue as to an appropriate direction for the church to take today.
 

    7. The challenges to Ellen White's authority today are largely (but not totally) in the area of doctrinal authority.

        a. Her authority in areas of spiritual discernment and homiletical application of Scripture are usually not challenged.
 

    8. The issue of prophetic authority must be viewed in the context of our first lecture on Ellen G. White and the development of SDA Doctrines and, specifically, how we arrived at our basic doctrines. To Seventh-day Adventists, Scripture is our only rule of faith and practice. Yet, we believe that God inspired Ellen White to give special messages to the Seventh-day Adventist church. A constant concern is to achieve a balance between the authority of the Bible and that of the writings of Ellen White.
 

    9. If we claim that Ellen White is the messenger of the Lord, what doctrinal authority do her writings have? But a first question to answer is how (and why) do her writings have authority?
 

I. MODELS OF AUTHORITY

A. The concept of authority

    1. But, first of all, what is authority?

        a. Bernard Ramm defines authority as "that right or power to command action or compliance, or to determine belief or custom, expecting obedience from those under authority, and in turn giving responsible account for the claim to right or power." (The Pattern of Authority, p. 10)
 

    2. Kinds of authority

        Ramm mentions various expressions of authority, such as :

        a. Imperial authority : king, general, principal of a school. It is based on a superior position.

        b. Delegated authority : closely related to imperial authority. It is granted by imperial authority : captain, vice-president, viceroy.

        c. Veracious authority (authority of truth) : a person, a book, a principle.

        d. Functional authority : teacher.

        e. Authority of custom.
 

    3. Recognition of authority

        a. An authority becomes authoritative to a person only as that person accepts the authority through personal decision. All authority must be personally recognized.

        b. However, an authority may be authoritative without being able to function as such because the person has not accepted it. If the Scriptures are the truth of God, they are authoritative whether they are personally accepted or not; but the Scriptures function as an authority only to the believer. (Ramm, p. 14)
 

    4. Authority in Religion

        a. Bernard Ramm comments, "When one turns to the question of authority in religion the basic problem immediately arises: is there anything in religion which demands that a man think a certain way about religion and not another? Is there a man, a society, a principle, or a document which has the right to prescribe religious belief?

"Nothing could be more foolish in religion than the rejection of an authority which contained the truth of the living God; and nothing could be more tragic than the substitution of the voice of man for the voice of God" (Pattern of Authority, p. 16).
 

    5. Authority of God in Christianity

        a. We agree that God is the supreme and absolute authority in the universe (imperial authority). But God is in heaven (transcendence), and we are on earth, therefore, how does God express his authority to us?

        b. God's authority is intimately related to the concept of revelation. God expresses his authority to humankind through divine self-revelation. He takes the initiative to reveal himself.

        c. God revealed himself to special key persons (patriarchs, prophets, apostles, etc.) and from them to larger groups of people.

        d. Rather than speaking a divine word to every believer, God spoke his word (will) to these special persons, and all believers enjoyed the divine word through them. A prophet was such a spokesperson of divine revelation, and spoke with a delegated authority. His authority was not of his person, but resided in the word of God he/she spoke.

        e. Furthermore, because God is truth, genuine and has no shade of evil in him, the word he reveals is also truthful and genuine. It has veracious authority. Thus the utterances of the prophets have both delegated and veracious authority.

        f. God intended also that the central and representative part of this divine revelation be preserved, and the Holy Spirit further guided the prophets in writing the revelation. The written revelation has the same status as the inspired utterances of the prophets. The written word has both delegated and veracious authority.

        g. Thus, to disobey the prophetic utterance of the prophet was to disobey God, and to disbelieve the utterance was to disbelieve God.

            (1) 2 Peter 1:19-21 : "And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."

            (2) The actual authority of the Old Testament, according to Peter, was the Holy Spirit speaking the revealed word through the prophet.

        h. Ramm concludes,

"The Bible is not the authority for the Christian because it was written by religious geniuses. Nor is it the Christian's authority because it has been pragmatically verified through the centuries, nor because it inspires great religious experience. The Bible is binding upon the Christian because it is part of the organism of divine revelation. It is authoritative because it shares in revelation. It is a divine revelation in written form in various literary genres" (p. 38).

"The Bible is authoritative because it is the Word of God.... Through the Holy Spirit it possesses delegated imperial authority and veracious authority in all matters in which it intends to teach. All other reasons for giving the Bible the supreme role in religious authority are defective. The content of the Bible is given by the double action of special revelation and divine inspiration, and therefore it is for the Christian the revealed word of God" (p. 38).

B. The biblical model

    1. God has supreme prophetic authority:

        a. Daniel 2:27,28,47 : "Daniel replied, `No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come.'"

        b. Isaiah 42:9 : "See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you."

        c. Isaiah 46:9,10 : "Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please."
 

    2. God's role in prophetic authority:

        a. To commission the prophet (See 1 Samuel 3).

        b. To empower (See Isa 6:6,7).

        c. To communicate (See Jer 1:4 : "The word of the Lord came to me saying...").
 

    3. Prophet's role in prophetic authority:

        a. To hear what God says to him/her.

        b. To warn God's people (Ez 2:5-7; 3:11,17-21; 33:7-9).

     (1) "I am again and again reminded that I am not to try to clear away the confusion and contradiction of faith and feeling and unbelief that is expressed. I am not to be depressed, but am to speak the words of the Lord with authority, and then leave with Him all the consequences. I am instructed by the Great Physician to speak the word that the Lord gives me, whether men will hear or whether they will forbear. I am told that I have nothing to do with the consequences, that God, even the Lord Jehovah, will keep me in perfect peace if I will rest in His love and do the work He has given me...." (UL 279; Letter 146, 1902).

    4. Man's role in prophetic authority:

        a. To hear what God says through the prophet:

            (1) "Whosoever hears my words...." (Matt 7:24).

            (2) "My sheep hear my voice" (John 10:16).

        b. To obey God:

            (1) "... and puts them into practice..." (Matt 7:24).

            (2) "Not everyone who says to me..." (Mat 7:21).

            (3) Which of the two sons did the will of his father? (Mat 21:31).

            (4) "To obey is better than sacrifices" (1 Sam 15:22).

                (a) "It is our work to obey God--to learn and obey the laws of His kingdom" (UL 341).

(b) "God has made known His will, and it is folly for man to question that which has gone out of His lips. After Infinite Wisdom has spoken, there can be not doubtful questions for man to settle, no wavering possibilities for him to adjust. All that is required of him is a frank, earnest concurrence in the expressed will of God. Obedience is the highest dictate of reason as well as of conscience" (AA 506).
 

C. Ellen G. White's perception of her authority

    1. With regard to her own attitude toward authority, and her understanding of her unique role and commission from God, the following statement summarizes her view in which she states that her authority rests in the words she spoke or wrote because they came from God (through inspiration) :

During the night season I was specially moved upon by the Spirit of God. My soul had been drawn out in earnest supplication to God. I was distressed on account of the backsliding of His people.

While lying in bed, unable to sleep because of the burden resting upon me, I was pleading with the Lord. I fell asleep, and in the night season I was taught of God. My guide said, "I have a work for you to do. You must speak the words given you by the Lord. After these words have been spoken, your duty here is done. You are not required to enter into details before individuals, whatever may be their position or work, if they do not recognize the voice of God in the message He gives you to bear in His name. All your efforts to remove their doubts will be of no avail if they gather the clouds of darkness about their souls. If you enter into particulars, you weaken the message. It is not you speaking, but the Lord speaking through you. Those who want to know the will of God, who do not desire to follow their own will and judgment, will be easily entreated. They will be ready to discern the right way.

The whys and wherefores are concealed from you; yet speak the words I give you, however painful it may be to you. The ways in which God leads His people are generally mysterious. You have asked to know God's way. Your supplication has been answered. God knows better than you do what is good and essential for His children. He never leads them otherwise than they would wish to be led, if they were able to see as clearly as He does what they must do to establish characters that will fit them for the heavenly courts.

The people whom God is leading must venture out upon His word. They must walk forward by faith. Truths have been committed to them which they must obey. The work of God is aggressive. No one can stand in a neutral position and yet be a soldier in the Lord's army. God has commands for His people, and if they keep in close connection with Him, they will hear His voice, and will keep in step with their Captain. They will go forward in the conflict to fight the battles of the Lord. But those who place themselves in an indifferent, noncommittal position will gain no victories. (Manuscript 29, November 21, 1890, "Diary," vision dated Nov. 29, 1890. In Upward Look, p. 339.  Note: the continuation of this manuscript is found in MR #1596.)

You are to act your part, and then leave the rest to God. You will have startling, surprising messages to bear, but if those who hear cannot see the import of these messages, explanations from you will not lead them to understand any more clearly. They have ears, but they hear not. Satan takes control of their unsanctified reason, and leads them to misunderstand and misapply.

Before you enter into private counsel to give the details of your message, be sure that the Lord would have you do this. After the message from God is given, you will feel that you have risked much, that there are those who have not faith enough to appreciate the message because they have not kept the way of the Lord, but have walked in the sparks of their own kindling. You feel a remorse which they should feel, and wish you had not spoken.

God desires the pure gospel to be preached to His people. Selfishness will appear in many ways. The despondency which you feel after bearing a plain testimony comes not because you have erred in bearing this testimony. If you do not bear the message given you, God will send it to His people through some other channel.

II. Ellen G. White's perception and attitude regarding her role in defining doctrine

A. Her perception of her message and ministry

    1. Her message : "One stood by my side and said, `God has raised you up and has given you words to speak to the people ... as He has given to no other one ... now living" (5T 667, 668).
 

    2. Her ministry : "God has not given to my brethren the work He has given me" (5T 667).
 

B. Instances where she did NOT have special light from God

    1. There are instances where EGW did not have any special light from God. Examples of such instances include the issues of :

        a. The "law" in Galatians (6BC 1109, 1110; R.W. Olson, 101 Questions, p. 56, 57.)

        b. The "daily" (1SM 164; R.W. Olson, 101 Questions, p. 42.)

        c. The identity of the 144,000

        d. The identity of the king of the North

        e. Issues of divorce and remarriage.
 

    2. Her counsel was simple :

        a. "You have the Bible. Study it for yourself.... The divine mind will guide those who desire to be led" (TDG, 188; Letter 207, 1904).
 

    3. Her counsel follows her understanding that our doctrines and practices come from Scripture alone. Some secondary points of doctrines did not necessarily need to be clarified by her.
 

C. Instances where she DID have light from God

    1. Ellen White dealt with doctrinal issues. In these instances, her writings confirmed and emphasized some biblical truths that were set aside or denied by some Seventh-day Adventists.

        a. Semi-Arian views of some early Adventists :

            (1) Uriah Smith, "The Mind of Christ," RH, 16 March 1897, p. 168.

            (2) E. J. Waggoner : "There was a time when Christ proceeded forth and came from God, from the bosom of the Father (John 8:42; 1:18), but that time was so far back in the days of eternity that to finite comprehension it is practically without beginning" (Christ and his righteousness [1890], 21-22).

            (3) "In Him [Christ] was life original, unborrowed, underived" (DA 530).

        b. Pantheistic views of J. H. Kellogg (Living Temple, 1890) and E. J. Waggoner (GCB 1897, 1899, 1901).

            (1) "God's handiwork in nature is not God Himself in nature. The things of nature are an expression of God's character; by them we may understand His love, His power, and His glory; but we are not to regard nature as God.... So, while nature is an expression of God's thought, it is not nature but the God of nature that is to be exalted" (8T 263).

            (2) "The theory that God is an essence pervading all nature is one of Satan's most subtle devices.... Pantheistic theories are not sustained by the word of God. The light of His truth shows that these theories are soul-destroying agencies" (8T 291). (See also 1SM 193-208; 8T 255-328.)

        c. "Holy Flesh" movement in Indiana, 1900 :

            (1) See 2SM 31-36.

        d. Albion F. Ballenger's views on the sanctuary which denied the fulfillment of prophecy in 1844 and ministry of Christ in the investigative judgment, (1900-1905) :

            (1) Ellen White repeatedly reaffirmed that the SDA sanctuary doctrine was given under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and God never contradicts Himself.

    (2)  I have been pleading with the Lord for strength and wisdom to reproduce the writings of the witnesses who were confirmed in the faith and in the early history of the message. After the passing of the time in 1844 they received the light and walked in the light, and when the men claiming to have new light would come in with their wonderful messages regarding various points of Scripture, we had, through the moving of the Holy Spirit, testimonies right to the point, which cut off the influence of such messages as Elder [A.F. Ballenger] has been devoting his time to presenting. This poor man has been working decidedly against the truth that the Holy Spirit has confirmed.

When the power of God testifies as to what is truth, that truth is to stand forever as the truth. No after suppositions contrary to the light God has given are to be entertained. Men will arise with interpretations of Scripture which are to them truth, but which are not truth. The truth for this time God has given us as a foundation for our faith. He Himself has taught us what is truth. One will arise, and still another, with new light, which contradicts the light that God has given under the demonstration of His Holy Spirit. A few are still alive who passed through the experience gained in the establishment of this truth. God has graciously spared their lives to repeat, and repeat till the close of their lives, the experience through which they passed even as did John the apostle till the very close of his life. And the standard bearers who have fallen in death are to speak through the reprinting of their writings. I am instructed that thus their voices are to be heard. They are to bear their testimony as to what constitutes the truth for this time.

We are not to receive the words of those who come with a message that contradicts the special points of our faith (1SM 160-161; cf. Letter to Bro. Burden, 11 December 1905).

        a. "I was enabled clearly to define what is truth and what is error" (GW 302).

        b. "... instruction that the Lord has given me ... to correct specious error and to specify what is truth" (3SM 32; cf. Letter 117, 1910).

        c. "When the power [Spirit] of God testifies as to what is truth, that truth is to stand forever as the truth. No after suppositions contrary to the light God has given me are to be entertained" (1SM 161).

        d. "The instruction contained in my books establishes present truth for this time" (Letter 50, 1906; cf. Letter to W.W. Simpson, 30 January 1906).

        e. "In my writings there is one straight chain of truth, without one heretical sentence" (3SM 52; cf. Letter 329a, to Mabel White, 16 November 1905).
 

Conclusion

    1. Does Ellen G. White have doctrinal authority? The answer to this question needs to be kept in the context of all we have studied thus far in this course.

    2. Yes, she does have doctrinal authority when it comes to doctrines that affect the theological framework (or worldview) of Seventh-day Adventist beliefs. She claimed that her writings testified to the truth of God's word, and the Seventh-day Adventist church has accepted that claim. There are four reasons for this claim:

        a. In the last days, God has promised to guide his remnant people through the maze of doctrinal errors and false prophets, in preparation for Christ's second coming. Ellen G. White's doctrinal authority resides in this divine promise and never supercedes that of Scripture.

        b. We believe that evidences show that the Holy Spirit led in her life and ministry. We have the evidences to support this claim.

        c. Since God has revealed to her his will and has asked her to write it, her written word is therefore authoritative, it has delegated and veracious authority from God.

        d. However, we consider her ministry to be similar to that of a non-canonical prophet. Her authority is, thus, secondary to the Scriptures. Only the Scriptures are the ultimate delegated and veracious authority of God on earth. Her ministry has been and is one of pointing us to the Scriptures as the only rule of faith and practice.
 

    3. For those who believe and accept the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the foundation of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and in the prophetic ministry of Ellen G. White, then her writings have authority, but not superceding that of Scriptures. James White even argued in 1856, that once the writings of Ellen White had become authoritative in a person's life, they become "a test [of fellowship] to those who believe them [to be] from Heaven" (Review and Herald, 14 February 1856).
 

    4. For those who do not yet believe in the authenticity of her prophetic gift, the Bible is still the only rule of faith and practice and is to be the support for all doctrines.
 

    5. One expression of the Seventh-day Adventist beliefs in Ellen White's doctrinal authority is Fundamental Belief #17 : One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is prophecy. This gift is an identifying mark of the remnant church and was manifested in the ministry of Ellen G. White. As the Lord's messenger, her writings are a continuing and authoritative source of truth which provide for the church comfort, guidance, instruction, and correction. They also make clear that the Bible is the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested.
 
 

Roger W. Coon. "Ellen White's disturbing disclaimer of 1904: Did she really deny her prophetic gift?", Sourcebook, C-5.

--------. "The inspiration and authority of the Ellen G. White writings," Ministry, August 1982 and February 1983.

Robert W. Olson. "God's true Church today," Sourcebook, B-3.

--------. "Pluralism--How much?", Sourcebook, B-4.

--------. "Ellen G. White as an interpreter of Scripture," Sourcebook, D-1.

--------. One Hundred and One Questions on The Sanctuary and on Ellen White (Washington, D.C., Ellen G. White Estate, 1981).

Arthur L. White. "The position of "the Bible, and the Bible only" and the relationship of this to the writings of Ellen G. White," January 1971.