In their statement of fundamental beliefs Seventh-day Adventists set forth their position on the inspiration of Scripture as follows: “The Holy Scriptures, Old and New Testaments, are the written Word of God, given by divine inspiration through holy men of God who spoke and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. In this Word, God has committed to man the knowledge necessary for salvation. 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 ( 2 Peter 1:20 , 21 ; 2 Tim. 3:16 , 17 ; Ps. 119:105 ; Prov. 30:5 , 6 ; Isa. 8:20 ; John 17:17 ; 1 Thess. 2:13 ; Heb. 4:12 )” ( Church Manual [1990], p . 23).
SDA s do not believe in verbal inspiration, according to the usual meaning of the term, but in what may properly be called thought inspiration. The SDA point of view on this matter has best been set forth by Ellen White: “The Bible is written by inspired men, but it is not God’s mode of thought and expression. It is that of humanity. God, as a writer, is not represented. Men will often say such an expression is not like God. But God has not put Himself in words, in logic, in rhetoric, on trial in the Bible. The writers of the Bible were God’s penmen, not His pen. Look at the different writers.
“It is not the words of the Bible that are inspired, but the men that were inspired. Inspiration acts not on the man’s words or his expressions but on the man himself, who, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, is imbued with thoughts. But the words receive the impress of the individual mind. The divine mind is diffused. The divine mind and will is combined with the human mind and will; thus the utterances of the man are the word of God” ( 1SM 21).
“The Bible, with its God-given truths expressed in the language of men, presents a union of the divine and the human. Such a union existed in the nature of Christ, who was the Son of God and the Son of man. Thus it is true of the Bible, as it was of Christ, that ‘the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us’ ( John 1:14 ).
“Written in different ages, by men who differed widely in rank and occupation, and in mental and spiritual endowments, the books of the Bible present a wide contrast in style, as well as a diversity in the nature of the subjects unfolded. Different forms of expression are employed by different writers; often the same truth is more strikingly presented by one than by another. And as several writers present a subject under varied aspects and relations, there may appear, to the superficial, careless, or prejudiced reader, to be discrepancy or contradiction, where the thoughtful, reverent student, with clearer insight, discerns the underlying harmony.
“As presented through different individuals, the truth is brought out in its varied aspects. One writer is more strongly impressed with one phase of the subject; he grasps those points that harmonize with his experience or with his power of perception and appreciation; another seizes upon a different phase; and each, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, presents what is most forcibly impressed upon his own mind-a different aspect of the truth in each, but a perfect harmony through all. And the truths thus revealed unite to form a perfect whole, adapted to meet the wants of men in all the circumstances and experiences of life” ( GC vi).
The original autographs of Scripture have, of course, long since been lost, and the sacred documents have passed through the hands of countless copyists, redactors, and translators. Naturally, there have been certain modifications but, almost without exception, these have been of relatively minor importance. The Bible has been transmitted to us with vastly greater accuracy and reliability than any other similar ancient document. Of textual changes such as these, Ellen White wrote: “I saw that God had especially guarded the Bible; yet when copies of it were few, learned men had in some instances changed the words, thinking that they were making it more plain, when in reality they were mystifying that which was plain, by causing it to lean to their established views, which were governed by tradition. But I saw that the Word of God, as a whole, is a perfect chain, one portion linking into and explaining another. True seekers for truth need not err” ( EW 220, 221).
“Some look to us gravely and say, ‘Don’t you think there might have been some mistake in the copyist or in the translators?’ This is all probable, and the mind that is so narrow that it will hesitate and stumble over this possibility or probability would be just as ready to stumble over the mysteries of the Inspired Word, because their feeble minds cannot see through the purposes of God. . . . All the mistakes will not cause trouble to one soul, or cause any feet to stumble, that would not manufacture difficulties from the plainest revealed truth” ( MS 16, 1888; The Testimony of Jesus, pp . 12, 13).
We should not “lament that these difficulties exist, but accept them as permitted by the wisdom of God.” The Bible “is plain on every point essential to the salvation of the soul” (5T 706).
Despite the finite limitations of human language, and of the human writers, and of those through whose hands the sacred documents have since passed, the Scriptures as we have them today are sufficient to convey a knowledge of God’s infinite purpose for humanity and to lead all to salvation in Jesus Christ. Essential truth, perhaps obscure in one passage, shines forth with clear luster elsewhere. In their present state, and taken as a whole, the Scriptures are altogether adequate, for all practical purposes, to fulfill the purpose for which they were intended by their divine Author.