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Basic Principles of Understanding Ellen G. White’s Writings
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“God has spoken! But what has He said? Every utterance, every written document, demands interpretation. And the need increases in proportion to the distance the text stands in time and culture from our own.” 1
Hermeneutics is the science of interpreting literary documents. We use this term when we attempt to understand the writings of secular writers such as Homer, Plato, and Shakespeare, as well as inspired writers such as Moses, Paul, and Ellen White. Hermeneutical rules help us understand what writers meant by what they said. Ellen White noted the need for hermeneutics when she suggested, “Let us in imagination . . . sit with the disciples” on the Mount of Blessing (Matt. 5). “Understanding what the words of Jesus meant to those who heard them, we may discern in them a new vividness and beauty, and may also gather for ourselves their deeper lessons.” 2 Table of Contents 1. What It Meant and What It Means 2 2. Understanding Ellen White 3 3. Danger of Blind Obedience 3 4. Attitudes Make a Difference 4 5. Thought or Verbal Inspiration 5 6. Infallibility 6 7. Sola Scriptura (Bible only) 7 8. Use of Common Sources of Information 8 9. Distinguishing Between the Sacred and the Common 10 What It Meant and What It Means Here we are advised to study (1) what the words “meant” in 30 A.D., and (2) what we should understand them to “mean” to us today. That study must follow the rules of hermeneutics if two or more people are to agree on what a document original...
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