Mention has already been made, in the fourth and final division of the preceding document, concerning Ellen White’s appraisal of the revised versions of the Scriptures that were extant in her day. But since Seventh‑day Adventists hold, as an article of faith, that Mrs. White was an authentic, genuinely‑inspired prophet of the Lord,¹ the fact of her frequent and generous use of such versions has the potential for creating a crisis in faith for some of the “KJV-Only” persuasion.

It may, therefore, be appropriate here to consider in greater detail indisputable facts concerning:

1. Why Ellen White made such a generous, liberal use of non-KJV translations available in her day.

2. How she employed such in her writings.

3. The widespread extent of such usage.

1. Why she used modern translations. Although Ellen White did not complete more than three or four years of elementary schooling, in the broadest sense of the word she yet cannot be thus viewed as uneducated. The four sources of her real education are generally held to be: (a) wide reading; (b) extensive travel on three continents; (c) close association with highly-educated ministers and educators, with whom she frequently consulted; and (d) some 2,000 prophetic visions and divine dreams during the 70‑year course of her unique ministry, in which she regularly held direct converse with either Jesus or the angel Gabriel.²

Though not seminary‑trained, Ellen White was, nonetheless, a very well informed and astute theologian. And from her theological study she understood fully (as do well‑informed theologians today) that a Hebrew or Aramaic word in the original Old Testament text—as, also, a Greek word in the original New Testament text—may frequently have more than one legitimate translation into the English language.

An excellent example may be cited in Philippians 2:7 where the apostle Paul employs the Greek verb kenoun—the doctrine of “the emptying of the preexistent Christ,” in which Christ set aside His divine attributes at the incarnation, in order to become fully human.³

In A.D. 1611 the translators of the King James Version chose to emphasize only one particular aspect of this “emptying,” by translating this verse, “But made himself of no reputation.” They thus focused solely upon the fact that Jesus willingly took upon Himself the stigma of illegitimate birth as a consequence of the manner in which the incarnation was consummated.

Other translations from Mrs. White’s time through ours, however, have tended to treat the subject in a more generalized manner: The Amplified Bible offers, “but stripped himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity]”—a verb also employed by W. J. Coneybeare, Richmond Lattirmore, J. B. Phillips, and Richard Francis Weymouth.

Three others versions—the New International Version, the New English Bible, and the Revised New English Bible— translate the passage, “He made Himself nothing.”

But a survey of 30 different modern versions reveal an overwhelmingly strong preference by translators for the simple declaration found in 12 of the 30—a full 40 percent of them: “He emptied Himself.”⁴

Only the New King James Version, among all of 30 translations examined, stands with the old KJV in declaring that Christ “made Himself of no reputation.”

The more important fact that should be noted, however, is that all of these versions are correct, despite their different phraseology! The KJV/NKJV focus upon only one aspect of this emptying of the preexistent Christ, while the others present a much broader picture of the kenosis. And all are true!

And Ellen White, inspired by the Holy Spirit, used different translations, in different places, to serve her own various purposes as an author, as we shall now note!

2. How she used modern translations. The theme of the emptying of the preexistent Christ was a favorite one upon which Ellen White loved to dwell. And a survey of her writings reveals that she treated this doctrine at length, applying it in at least nine different categories.⁵

In The Desire of Ages, her most extensive writing upon the life and experience of Jesus, Mrs. White quotes both the rendering of the KJV and also that of the Revised Version, in different sections of the book, the better to serve her particular purpose in each instance! She thus uses two different translations of the same text in the same book!

First, in dealing with the “bastardy” issue—Christ’s alleged illegitimate birth (Jesus’ possessing a human mother, but not a human father)—she dwells upon His humiliating sacrifice in “[making] himself of no reputation.” And she points out that Jesus had to meet the insinuations of doubtful parentage at least on five different occasions in His life: (1) as a child in Nazareth, (2) during His early ministry in Galilee, (3) during His ministry at Jerusalem, (4) at His trial, and (5) while hanging upon the cross. He, truly, “made himself of no reputation!”

But, second, in treating the emptying of the preexistent Christ, in the very first chapter of The Desire of Ages she ignores the KJV rendering, pointedly preferring instead the reading of the RV, “but emptied Himself.”⁶

Both the renderings of the KJV and of the RV are true and correct—and Mrs. White used both, in different portions of the same book, to serve her different purposes as an author.

3. The extent of her usage of modern translations. Examination of Ellen White’s use of then‑available new translations shows widespread reference to them. During the last three decades of her life (1885‑1915), when the first of these—the RV, and a dozen of its successors, began to find their way into general circulation, she began a series of citations from them. According to a White Estate tabulation, Mrs. White quoted from at least ten different versions in her various writings during this period, in addition to citing updated marginal references in both the RV and the KJV—the vast majority of all of the modern translations that were available in her day!

She reportedly cited scriptures from the following translations in her writings:

• Leeser

• Noyes

• Rotherham

• Basic

• Boothroyd

• Bernard

• Westminister

• Lamsa

• ARV

• RV⁷

In summary, during the last three decades of Ellen White’s life a number of new translations and versions of the Scriptures began to appear. The evidence is clear that she welcomed their advent, and instructed her helpers to purchase copies for her perusal as soon as such became available in bookstores. And she quoted their variant readings repeatedly, when and where it served her purposes as a writer.

Seventh-day Adventists today who allege that the King James Version is the only safe and acceptable version for a Christian to use, and at the same time who also accept Ellen G. White as an authentic, divinely‑inspired prophet, find themselves in a position as conflict‑ridden as it is illogical.

For surely, if there were dangerous theological error and eternal disaster in the use of non‑KJV versions, God would not only have quickly warned her from the ground when she was about to quote from the first one, but would He not have also instructed her to sound the warning to her readers, as well?

Yet this He clearly did not do.

The indisputable facts are that the “KJV‑Only” position is not only unsupported by the teaching of Ellen White (who was herself instructed directly by both Jesus and the angel Gabriel for a period of some 70 years), but in literary practice she frequently employed the expressions of other more recent translations.

And these are facts with which proponents of the “KJV-Only” school of thought must not only contend, but also explain.

Scriptures quoted from NASB are from the New American Standard Bible © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977.

Scriptures quoted from NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version, copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by Permission.

Scriptures quoted from RSV are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission.