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Commentary on "The Authority of the Prophets"

GABRIEL PROKSCH

 

Day 1: Sabbath afternoon, February 14, 2009

The introduction of this week’s study brings on the stage in a straightforward manner the consequences of rejecting the message of the prophets:

“All through the Bible, a theme recurs: God talks to people through His prophets, and the people either accept or reject what’s being said. Of course, by rejecting the words of the prophets, they’re not rejecting the prophets; they’re rejecting the One who sent them.“

Since the message of the prophet originates in God and it’s actually God’s message, rejecting it is the equivalent of rejecting God whose authority stands beside the message. Authorship establishes the locus of authority.

 

Problems

This part contains little of anything objectionable, except that its thesis about authority stands in contradiction with what will be affirmed afterwards in the study, especially with the study for Thursday, February 19, which says about Ellen White’s writings:

“Her writings are not another Bible, nor do they carry the kind of authority found in the Bible.”

How does this lesser authority mesh with the thesis that prophetic messages carry God’s authority and rejecting them is tantamount to rejecting God? If Ellen White speaks prophetically, she’s the mouthpiece of God, and her messages bear the same authority as God has, the same authority that stands behind the biblical prophets and their writings collected in the Bible.

 

Summary

 

 

Copyright 2009 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised February 14, 2009. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.

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The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.

 

Official Adventist Resources

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