Ellen G. White’s experience and writings parallel much of what we have studied this week regarding God’s messengers in the Bible. She, too, received a divine commission to write out what had been revealed to her.
Reflecting in 1909, Ellen G. White wrote, “Because of the accident which had nearly cost me my life, I had been feeble in health and unable to write. . . . But one night the angel of the Lord came to my bedside and said to me, ‘You must write out the things that I give you.’ I said, ‘I can not write.’ Again the command was given, ‘Write out the things I give you.’ I thought I would try, and taking up a lapboard from the table, I began to write, and found that I could trace the words easily.”—The General Conference Bulletin, May 31, 1909.
Like the inspired writers of Scripture, Ellen G. White also employed literary assistants. Her secretaries did the work that editors are expected to do—assist authors in expressing their messages clearly while not inserting thoughts of their own. They were not ghostwriters or coauthors. Their work was dependent upon the material that Ellen G. White herself produced, whether written out by hand or delivered orally.
Ellen G. White also quoted and adapted material from other literary sources in her writing to aid in the presentation of her messages. By recommending to her readers some of the very books she used, it is evident that she was not intending to be deceitful or unfair to those authors, but she found in their language apt expressions to convey the truths that she wished to express.
What about discrepancies or inaccuracies?
“In regard to infallibility,” she wrote, “I never claimed it; God alone is infallible.”—Selected Messages, book 1, p. 37.
One may encounter certain statements in her writings that are difficult to understand or harmonize with others. Ellen G. White’s humanity was not overridden by her divine calling. Like all of us, Ellen White would grow and mature as well, a growth and maturity that is revealed in her writings.
As already stated, but worth repeating, she also corrected those who believed that every word she wrote came directly from heaven. “There are times when common things must be stated, common thoughts must occupy the mind, common letters must be written and information given that has passed from one to another of the workers. Such words, such information, are not given under the special inspiration of the Spirit of God.”—Selected Messages, book 3, p. 58.
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Supplemental EGW Notes
Ye Shall Receive Power, “Light Lasting Until the End,” August 30, p. 251.
God’s Amazing Grace, “Christ Our Righteousness,” June 24, p. 183.\
The above quotations are taken from Ellen G. White Notes for the Sabbath School Lessons, published by Pacific Press Publishing Association. Used by permission.