Sunday, June 1, 2008
Ruled by the Word of God (AC)
Introduction
“Search the Scriptures,” said Jesus [John 5:39], and even
today we follow his words. They were words spoken to his
critics: to those who did not believe on him. Christ
submitted his own teachings to the light of Scriptures.
These critics were members of the visible congregation
(the OT equivalent of church) of God. The Pharisees were
not simply Jews, they were religious Jews, Jews who
claimed to worship God, and whose sect was the dominant
one. They were devoted to ritual and to the performance
of good deeds, yet they did not believe the Scriptures.
From Jesus’ words we can glean several lessons. First,
there are Scriptures. Scriptures, as Paul tells us [2 Tim
3:16] are given by inspiration of God. Such books exist.
There are Scriptures, something denied neither by my
opponent in this debate, nor by virtually any sect of
Christianity. Since the time of Moses, the Jews (later
the whole world) have had Scriptures.
Second, the Scriptures are searchable. They are able to
be searched i.e. examined. The Swedish Bible expresses
it, “I rannsaken skrifterna” – which we might interpret:
“Ransack the Scriptures.” The underlying Greek word seems
to justify a strong sense to searching. The word
describes a deep investigation, not merely a cursory
scan. The Scriptures can be examined deeply, in great
detail.
Christ thirdly teaches that Scriptures speak of him. This
is the topic of Scripture. Recall Luke’s account of
Christ on the road to Emmaus. Luke 24:27 And beginning at
Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all
the scriptures the things concerning himself.
So then, let’s diligently obey the command to search the
Scriptures, for they speak of Christ: both the Old
Testament and the New Testament. Philip the evangelist
preached Jesus to Ethiopian Eunuch from Isaiah [Acts
8:35]. So then, from Scripture we can learn about the
Messiah, the Lord Jesus, and the way to be saved from our
sins. It is there for us to read.
Summary of the doctrines
The WCF, chapter 1, provides the following ten sections,
each backed up by footnoted prooftext.
(I) The Reformed doctrine of Scripture is at heart a
practical one. We use the revelation that we have. We
acknowledge that there is general revelation of God in
the works of creation and providence, and that this
general revelation renders men unexcusable. We also
recognize that general revelation is not enough. We
acknowledge that Scripture is not the only way that God
has revealed himself propositionally to men. God has
revealed himself at various times in various ways. Today,
however, God does not speak to us face to face – as with
Adam in the garden. God does not speak to us out of a
burning bush, as He did with Moses in the wilderness.
Jesus does not teach us on the mountaintops or in the
synagogues, as during His earthly ministry. Nevertheless,
we have revelation: Scriptures. The Scriptures serve to
comfort the Church and provide resistance to human
frailty of memory, as well as to the hatred of Satan and
the world.
(II) We have sixty-six books of Scripture. Since this is
not a debate on the canon of Scripture, I will not
expound at length on the matter of the canon. The canon
of Scripture is simply all of those inspired writings
that God has given to us. We find it handy to write out
the list of the canon, as a sort of table of contents to
it. But of course the list itself, nor the ordering of
the list, is inspired. Indeed, even the titles of some of
the books are not inspired, but simply conventional.
(III) We reject as authoritative the Apocrypha – those
additional books and parts that are not inspired, but
which have sometimes been called Deuterocanonical. They
are of historical interest – and they are of grammatical
interest, since they are ancient books written in Greek.
Nevertheless, since they are not inspired, they do not
have any more authority than any other human writings.
Again, however, the topic of the Apocrypha is largely a
question of the canon of Scripture, which is not the
topic of this debate, and so a greater length exposition
of the matter is unnecessary for now.
(IV) The authority of Scripture is entirely the result of
Scripture being inspired by God. It is not the result of
the testimony of any man or group of men. It is the Word
of God, and is therefore to be believed. In other words,
we obey Scripture because it is God speaking, not because
men say that it is God speaking.
(V) The Church testifies to the Scriptures, and this may
be something that leads us to Scripture. Likewise, the
content of Scripture may itself persuade us that it is
God’s word – because of its beautiful style, its internal
consistency, and its providing a discussion of God and
his character. Ultimately, though, we accept Scripture
because we are inwardly persuaded by the Holy Spirit that
it is God’s Word. He may use means, but in the final
analysis we accept the Scripture’s as God’s Word because
the Spirit enlightens our minds. Such a distinction is
not intended to downplay or derogate the means. As
Scripture says: Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful upon the
mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings,
that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of
good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion,
Thy God reigneth! Nevertheless, we do not believe men,
but rather God.
(VI) The Bible is a complete document. It is sufficient.
It contains everything that we need to know for faith and
life in general, in order to glorify God and in order to
be saved. Nevertheless, the illumination of the Holy
Spirit – who persuades us of the truth of inspiration of
Scripture – is necessary for anyone to obtain a saving
knowledge of God, even from Scripture. It is complete –
but it is not exhaustive. It does not tell you how to
program in Fortran – it does not tell you whether to work
in retail sales or landscaping. The Bible doesn’t even
tell us what time of day to have our church services. It
does provide general guidance in those areas, and it does
teach the use of prudence.
(VII) Not all of the teachings of Scripture are equally
clear, but the things necessary to be known for salvation
are clearly taught, so that even uneducated people can
understand them. That is not to deny that a saving
knowledge requires the illumination of the Holy Spirit:
it surely does. It is also not to deny the value of
teachers in the church and of the counsel of our fellow
brethren whether with us or preceding us. Nevertheless,
we note that it is not those deep things of the word
(whose depths we plumb with the help of the great
theologians), but the necessary things of which we speak.
As Chrysostom so memorably put it in his Third Homily on
Second Thessalonians, “All things are clear and open that
are in the divine Scriptures; the necessary things are
all plain.”
(VIII) The authentic version of the Bible is the original
language in which the Bible was written. For the most
part, that is Hebrew (Old Testament) and Greek (New
Testament). Thus, when there are disputes they are to be
settled by reference to the original language texts.
Nevertheless, since many people cannot read the Greek of
the New Testament or the Hebrew of the Old Testament, it
is both proper and necessary to translate the Scriptures
into a language that is understandable to the reader.
Recall in Acts 2:7-21, the account of the outpouring of
the gift of tongues at Pentecost. By the miraculous gift
of tongues it was not only signified but provided that
the word of God would be preached to every part of the
world, not in a foreign language but their own.
(IX) Scripture interprets Scripture. That is to say, we
let Scripture speak for itself. We do not (or at least we
ought not to) seek to impose our own ideas, theories,
etc. on Scripture. If we come to a difficult passage, we
should search out its meaning by turning to more clear
passages, because that is safer. Indeed, this is how we
read documents normally. If there is some difficult word
in a letter, whose meaning is not perhaps immediately
apparent, we look to the context. If the immediate
context does not help we look to the broader context.
(X) Whenever there is a dispute among men on matters
pertaining to religion, the supreme arbiter that we have
is the Holy Spirit, speaking through Scripture. Thus,
when two Christians disagree, they ought to seek to
resolve their disagreement ultimately by reference to
Scripture. That does not mean that there is no role for
the church in resolving disputes. That is not to say that
the church always plays its role well. As the Apostle
John reminds us, speaking of Diotrephes, 3 John 10
Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he
doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not
content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the
brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth
them out of the church. Finally, Scripture provides a way
for men to settle their disputes over such doctrines as
the doctrine of alleged papal infallibility. Otherwise,
how would we decide whether that doctrine is a true
doctrine?
It is this doctrine, the doctrine that Scripture is the
ultimate arbiter, that ultimately seems to serve as the
primary bone of contention between the Reformed and the
papists. It should be noted that the fallible authors of
the Westminster Confession of Faith heavily footnoted
their work with Scripture. Thus, at least on its face
(and until someone has given us reason to doubt their
proofs), we might conclude that the WCF’s chapter I, on
the doctrine of Scripture were properly derived from
Scripture.
Definition of the Questions
There are two main questions to be considered. The first
question is whether the Scriptures are an authority – a
source to which Christians can turn to settle disputes.
The second question is whether there is any other
authority of equal or greater dignity in our possession.
The answer to the first question is that Scriptures are
authoritative: Christians can turn to them to settle
disputes. Normally this question is not disputed by the
papists. They normally admit to the authority of
Scripture. They normally recognize that any doctrine
contrary to Scripture is wrong. The answer to the second
question is that it is really up to the proponent of the
other authority to demonstrate its dignity. But the
papists cannot establish that there is some other
authority existing today that is God’s Word: that has the
same or greater authority than the Bible. Therefore, we
answer both questions in favor of the doctrines of Sola
Scriptura, leaving Mr. Bellasario the burden of
demonstrating any other Word of God.
Several objections, however, are sometimes raised.
Objection 1 – Scriptures are not Clear
Sometimes it is objected that Scriptures cannot serve as
an ultimate arbiter because they are not clear. This is a
very old objection, but as invalid today as when it was
first raised. A first part of the answer to this
objection may be found in the fact that Christ commends
the search of Scripture. If Scripture were so unclear as
not to be understandable, or not useful for resolving
disputes, it does not seem reasonable that Christ would
commend the study of Scripture.
Historically, some papists have acted consistently with
their view that Scripture is unclear by hindering the
promulgation of editions of Scripture in the common
tongue. For example, while the “Venerable” Bede is said
to have provided an early partial translation of the
Bible (perhaps only John’s Gospel) into English, and
there are various other partial translations (for
example, a translation of at least some of the Psalms in
Alfred’s day, and perhaps by his authority) that are
believed to have been made, they were incomplete and
poorly distributed. The first English Bible was not
published until the time of Wycliffe in the 14th century.
Wycliffe received martyrdom for his troubles, and the
papist authorities sought to destroy the copies of the
Bible that he printed. It was not until the beginning of
the 17th century, by which time the flood of English
Bibles was already unstoppable, that a complete papist
edition of the Bible in English was released.
The following admonition was included with the papist
Bible: “To prevent and remedy this abuse, and to guard
against error, it was judged necessary to forbid the
reading of the Scriptures in the vulgar languages,
without the advice and permission of the pastors and
spiritual guides whom God has appointed to govern his
church, Acts 20:28. Christ himself declared, “he that
will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the
heathen and the publican.” Matt. xviii. 17.” (all
emphases in original)
This objection was raised long ago. Irenaeus describing
heretics states, “When, however, they are confuted from
the Scriptures, they turn round and accuse these same
Scriptures, as if they were not correct, nor of
authority, and [assert] that they are ambiguous, and that
the truth cannot be extracted from them by those who are
ignorant of tradition.” [Ante-Nicean Fathers, volume 1,
page 415, Roberts et al.] Irenaeus’ comments confirm that
Ireneaus believed that Scriptures are correct, of
authority, not ambiguous, and that the truth can be
extracted from them by those ignorant of tradition.
The answer that Irenaeus gives is that these are people
who do not follow Scripture. They appeal to it when they
think it useful. They appeal to tradition when they think
that is useful. But when they are presented with
Scripture or tradition to the contrary of their views
they just reject it. Irenaeus’ reasoning makes sense.
Either Scriptures have God’s authority, or they do not.
Objection 2 – Scripture’s Authority Derives from the
Authority of the Church
Sometimes it is objected that Scripture obtains its
authority by recognition of the church. For example, some
papists object that it is the church that provides us
with Scripture, and that we trust Scripture because we
trust the church. In this matter, they are fond of
quoting Augustine.
But Scripture is authoritative because inspired. It is of
authority because God is its author, not because men
recognize it as such. Scripture was authoritative before
it was even complete. Scripture has been authoritative
since Moses wrote down the first parts of it. Scripture
is to be believed whether or not it is promoted by godly
men. The Scribes and the Pharisees were not godly men,
but they were those who promulgated the Scriptures in the
time from end of the prophets. But Moses’ writings had
authority, not because they were from the Pharisees, and
not because they were from Moses, but because they were
from God.
As Paul explained: 1 Thessalonians 2:13 For this cause
also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye
received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye
received it not as the word of men, but as it is in
truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in
you that believe.
Objection 3 – The Canon
Sometimes one sees objections to the authority of
Scripture based on the doctrine of the Canon. For
example, it is claimed that the Scripture contains no
infallible table of contents. But this objection is a bit
absurd. If they will grant that we know that these
sixty-six books of the Bible are from God, then the table
of contents is easily derived from the books, simply by
laying them on the table in front of us.
Usually the objection is more practical, though: how can
we convince someone of he canonicity of Esther (for
example)? The answer to that question, however,
ultimately lies in the persuasion of the Holy Spirit. We
must receive the word of God by faith. Thus, it is
written that “Through faith we understand that the worlds
were framed by the word of God, so that things which are
seen were not made of things which do appear.” (Hebrews
11:3)
Furthermore, Scripture was authoritative with an
incomplete canon. One only needs to look to Paul’s own
behavior: “And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto
them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of
the scriptures….” (Acts 17:2).
So let us hasten humbly listen to Scripture, recalling
Chrysostom’s exhortation, from his 3rd Homily on Second
Thessalonians, “Tell me then, I beseech you, if now, when
we are all present some one entered, having a golden
girdle, and drawing himself up, and with an air of
consequence said that he was sent by the king that is on
the earth, and that he brought letters to the whole city
concerning matters of importance; would you not then be
all turned towards him? Would you not, without any
command from a deacon, observe a profound silence? Truly
I think so. For I have often heard letters from kings
read here. Then if any one comes from a king, you all
attend; and does a Prophet come from God, and speak from
heaven, and no one attend? Or do you not believe that
these things are messages from God? These are letters
sent from God; therefore let us enter with becoming
reverence into the Churches, and let us hearken with fear
to the things here said.”
Positive Scriptural Presentation
Given the foregoing, we could rest the matter.
Nevertheless, let us hear the testimony of Scripture
itself, for it does speak of itself.
2 Timothy 3:14-17
14But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned
and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast
learned them; 15And that from a child thou hast known the
holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto
salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16All
scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness: 17That the man of God may
be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
What may we gather from these verses? First we may gather
that holy scriptures are sufficient to provide knowledge
for salvation. Paul tells Timothy that the scriptures
“are able to make thee wise unto salvation.” It’s hard to
imagine a more clear statement of the sufficiency of
Scriptures than that.
What else may we gather? “All scripture is given by
inspiration of God.” All Scripture is, literally,
God-breathed. God is the author, not man. Men pen the
Scriptures, but the Scriptures themselves are breathed by
God. It is His word, not theirs. This goes to the
authority of the Scriptures. Scriptures are of authority
because they are the word of God.
Next, “and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness.” While the
Bible is not a textbook, it is useful for dogmatic
inquiries both of a positive kind “for doctrine” “for
instruction in righteousness” and of a negative kind “for
reproof, for correction.” From the Bible we can determine
not only what things should be believed about God, but –
negatively – what things are not to be believed about
God.
Finally, “That the man of God may be perfect, throughly
furnished unto all good works.” This combination of
“perfect” from the Greek word αρτιος and the phrase
“throughly furnished” from the Greek word εξηρτισμενος,
provides a double confirmation of the sufficiency of
Scripture.
Romans 15:4 similarly calls us to Scripture, specifically
indicating that there was a purpose to Scripture and that
its purpose was not limited to its immediate audience but
to future generations as well. It is written for our
learning. That is to say, it provides teaching. And it
provides our hope, thereby giving us reason for patience
and comfort. This speaks, like the previous verse, to the
sufficiency of Scripture.
We may see that Jesus himself relied on Scripture as
authoritative. In disputing Jew tradition regarding the
Sabbath, in Matthew 12:1-8, Jesus hammered the Pharisees
with Scripture. As noted above, the nation of Israel was
the Old Testament equivalent of the Church in the New
Testament. Their tradition was errant, and Jesus
corrected it from Scripture.
We can see something similar in Mark 7:1-23. In that
passage, Jesus again hammers the Jews for their
extra-scriptural traditions. Note that Jesus condemns not
only the extrascriptural requirement of continual
handwashing, but even more so the contrascriptural
tradition of misusing the concept of “Corban” to avoid
filial duties. Of significance, Jesus here identifies
Scripture as “the word of God.”
Of course, “the word of God” is any revelation from God.
Moreover the word of God is exclusive and not to be added
to by human authority:
Proverbs 30:5-6
5Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that
put their trust in him. 6Add thou not unto his words,
lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.
And of course, Proverbs is not the only such warning:
Deuteronomy 4:2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I
command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it,
that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God
which I command you.
Deuteronomy 12:32 What thing soever I command you,
observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor
diminish from it.
Revelation 22:18 For I testify unto every man that
heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any
man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him
the plagues that are written in this book:
Next, let us turn to a verse that doesn’t mention
Scripture explicitly:
John 6:68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom
shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
This verse is important because it sums up the practical
aspect of Sola Scriptura. We trust what the Bible says,
and don’t go away from it, because – frankly – what’s the
point? Scripture has the words of eternal life: it has
not only the law, but the gospel.
As it is written:
Hebrews 1:1-4
1God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in
time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2Hath in
these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath
appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the
worlds; 3Who being the brightness of his glory, and the
express image of his person, and upholding all things by
the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our
sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
4Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by
inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
From this passage too we can see a shift in the
revelation of God. There were prophets for the fathers –
and there was Christ himself for the apostles and
evangelists. There were before many ways in which God
revealed himself, but now through the Gospel of Christ.
And how is that Gospel provided? Through Scripture.
But not everyone will hear Scripture. Let us turn to the
passage that Jesus quoted against those who had decided
to impose human tradition:
Isaiah 29:11-13
11And the vision of all is become unto you as the words
of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that
is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith,
I cannot; for it is sealed: 12And the book is delivered
to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray
thee: and he saith, I am not learned. 13Wherefore the
Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with
their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have
removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me
is taught by the precept of men:
Notice how this passage goes? It answers the first
objection identified above. It answers the objection that
Irenaeus was faced with, and it answered them more than
700 years before the virgin birth of Christ. Fro you see,
the learned people try to claim that they cannot read the
Bible, and so do the unlearned people – but the
implication is that both can read them. Isaiah is not
afraid to question their motivation for doing so, either:
he explains that their heart is far removed from Him, and
instead of learning from His Word, they prefer to learn
by the “precept of men.”
One thing we know for sure, the word of God is true.
Psalm 119:160 Thy word is true from the beginning: and
every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.
1 Peter 1:25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever.
And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto
you.
So then, as well, Scripture is the standard by which we
measure all things. Jesus Christ himself, in the passage
that opened in the introduction to this essay was willing
to submit his teachings to Scriptural scrutiny, and
furthermore, in the passages discussed above, used
Scriptures as an authority to judge human traditions.
We can see the same thing confirmed elsewhere in
Scripture. For example, the Bereans are commended in this
way:
Acts 17:11 These were more noble than those in
Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all
readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily,
whether those things were so.
Notice that they searched the Scriptures diligently to
determine whether the things they were being taught were
true. For this to be commendable, it must be understood
that there is possible for Scripture to be used as a
standard. In other words, it is not the height of
arrogance, but a noble trait, to search the Scripture to
determine whether a doctrine is true or not.
That does not mean that mere human effort is guaranteed
to produce the correct answer in every instance. As
mentioned above, the Holy Spirit’s illumination is
necessary:
Luke 24:45 Then opened he their understanding, that they
might understand the scriptures,
Furthermore, contrary to some contentions of adversaries
of Scriptures as our sole rule of faith, it is not the
knowledge of Scriptures, but lack of knowledge of
Scriptures that leads to error:
Mark 12:24 And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not
therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures,
neither the power of God?
Matthew 22:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do
err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.
Finally, let us turn to a most practical passage:
Galatians 1:6-9
6I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that
called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
7Which is not another; but there be some that trouble
you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 8But though
we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto
you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be
accursed. 9As we said before, so say I now again, If any
man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have
received, let him be accursed.
This verse provides a serious warning. But how do we
check for gospel versus false gospel? It is by comparison
to the gospel preached by Paul – a gospel that we have in
Scripture. We don’t have Paul. But even if we did, it
wouldn’t make a difference. Look carefully at verse 8.
Paul writes “though we” – to wit the apostles. Paul
places the gospel message, the true one, in a higher
position than his own teachings, such that if he himself
apostatized and taught another gospel, it should be
rejected. Such a warning presumes that the men of Galatia
would compare Scripture (or the remembered preached
message) to the newly preached message to determine
whether the new message is true.
Why? Because we know that there will be false prophets –
those claiming to have the word of God, who do not have
it.
2 Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the
people, even as there shall be false teachers among you,
who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even
denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon
themselves swift destruction.
And the apostle John provides the solution to the
problem, the way to discern the spirits:
1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the
spirits whether they are of God: because many false
prophets are gone out into the world.
How do we try (i.e. test) the spirits? By comparing their
teachings to those teachings we know to be true. John
even provides a specific example in 1 John 4:2-3 of how
we can rightly pass judgment on the teaching of teachers.
Conclusion
The conclusion of all the above is that Scripture is
authoritative. It is to be believed. It is a reliable
standard by which we may judge other things. There is no
other such standard. What we will turn to? Our church?
But churches have erred. The Old Testament church, the
congregation of Israel, erred. The church at Galatia
erred. Other churches erred as well. How can you know if
your church errs? Turn to Scripture. Determine whether
the doctrines it teaches come from God or not by
comparing them to the sure and steadfast word of God. 2
Peter 1:19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy;
whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light
that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the
day star arise in your hearts: “For whatever things the
Scripture says, are more to be trusted than things we
see.” (Chrysostom – 8th Homily on 1 Thessalonians) As it
is written, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the
word of God.”
-TurretinFan
Posted by Turretinfan at 10:53 PM
Labels: Affirmative, Opening Argument, Sola Scriptura vs.
Roman Catholicism Debate