January 23rd, 2025
by Raef Chenery
by Raef Chenery
I recently have written a lengthier resource that is intended to help Christians understand with greater depth what we believe about the Bible. This post splices a few sections from that resource together for a bit of a shorter read. I’ve attempted to elaborate on a few of the historic paragraphs of one of the classic confessions of the Christian faith (the 1689 London Baptist Confession), in order to help modern Christians understand what Christians really believe about the bible.
Table of Contents
Introductory Remarks
While the Bible is a book written by men, it is inspired by God. Within the pages of Scripture we find the very words of God that have been given to men in order to instruct them on all things pertaining to life, to meaning, to purpose, to God, and to eternity.
In our modern secular age it is more important than ever that Christians find themselves firmly rooted in God’s word. The world is searching for truth in all the wrong places. Some appeal to the scientific method, believing science alone can be relied upon as truth. Problems abound with this worldview, most notably that the scientific method is incapable of answering many of the biggest questions we ask about life. Why are we here? What is right and good and true? Who is God? What is salvation? What happens after I die? The scientific method was birthed out of a Christian worldview, but it is no substitute for the Bible.
Others in our modern age find truth in their feelings. They believe that one’s own lived experience is the ultimate source of truth. This is also filled with fatal flaws for the simple reason that one’s lived experience, one’s emotional core, can change quite dramatically in only a short period of time. If truth is able to change so rapidly and even contradict itself within a short period of time, then can we really be said to have a grasp of truth at all.
Still others, following the philosophies of postmodernism, have given up all pursuit of truth. Their battle cry is that there is no truth, which ironically enough, is a claim to truth. The postmodernist is incapable of living according to their own worldview, because in the real world, fixed objective truth is required for even the simplest of activities, for the most basic forms of communication, and especially for efforts at answering the deepest questions of the soul.
The Bible is God’s inerrant word. It is the standard of truth upon which every other claim must be measured. To contradict the Word of God is to be objectively wrong, for He who is omniscient, knowing every iota of knowledge in the entire created world, has inspired every word of Scripture. Far more than simply statements of truth to be learned and remembered, the Bible is “living and active.” When it is engaged with by a Christian who is filled by the Holy Spirit, it shapes and forms them into greater Christ-likeness.
God, in his mercy, did not hand us an encyclopedia of knowledge, but he wrote his revelation in such a way that speaks to the human soul. Through narrative, poetry, law, history, wisdom, and moral teaching, God’s Word is robust and able to speak to any and every situation we are in. God’s Word feeds our souls and sheds light upon our path.
The paragraphs from section one of the 1689 Confession covered in this post lay a helpful foundation for understanding God’s Word, and will hopefully equip the believer to address many of the questions often asked about the Bible in today’s world. But more importantly, this section of the 1689 Confession will deepen our love of the Scriptures, and therefore deepen our love of God.
In future posts, I will share write-ups on the other paragraphs from section one, but the sections below are more than enough for a single blog post to get my readers started
Section 1.1 – On The Necessity & Sufficiency of Scripture
"The Holy Scriptures are the only sufficient, certain, and infallible standard of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience. The light of nature and the works of creation and providence so clearly demonstrate the goodness, wisdom, and power of God that people are left without excuse; however, these demonstrations are not sufficient to give the knowledge of God and His will that is necessary for salvation. Therefore, the Lord was pleased at different times and in various ways to reveal Himself and to declare His will to His church. To preserve and propagate the truth better and to establish and comfort the church with greater certainty against the corruption of the flesh and the malice of Satan and the world, the Lord put this revelation completely in writing. Therefore, the Holy Scriptures are absolutely necessary, because God’s former ways of revealing His will to His people have now ceased."
- Section 1, Paragraph 1, 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith
At the heart of the Christian faith lies the reality that God is a revealing God. By this it is meant that God has not been content simply to spin the cosmos into being and then remain at a distance from his creatures. Rather, driven by divine love, God chose to reveal Himself, to speak. Before we consider the deeper realities and implications of Scripture, we must first pause and reflect with some depth at this single premise, God has revealed Himself to us. This premise seems mundane or overly simple, something not worthy of a moment’s reflection. But it ought not be so. In creating, God could have chosen any world to create. God was not limited by anything other than His will. The world in which we live out our moments is a world which has been infused with spectacular revelation by the architect and designer of it all. He who spoke galaxies into being, he who is aware and guides every movement of every subatomic particle in the known and unknown universe, he who holds the very fabric of existence together through his sustaining power, has written our story in such a way that we may know his heart, his design, and his purposes.
There is a tension here that ought not be overlooked. When we speak of God, we speak of One who is transcendent, and in a sense incomprehensible. God is not a being like us with limitations and boundaries. God is beyond human comprehension and understanding in his fullest sense. And yet, through his revelation, He has become knowable in a degree. We can glimpse into the infinite. We can peer into the unknown, and by the grace of God’s self-revelation, we can truly know God as He is, on His terms.
When we speak of God’s revealing of himself, it is helpful to recognize that God’s revelation has come in numerous forms. First is what we might refer to as General or Natural Revelation, or what section 1.1 refers to as the “light of nature and the works of creation.” God has revealed himself through nature in a general sense. We read in Romans 1 that, “his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made…” (Romans 1:20). In other words, no matter what religion a person ascribes to, even if they proclaim themselves as atheists who believe that no God exists, nature itself reveals God’s existence. One must only open their eyes and see a world teeming with life and beauty to disrupt the foolish notion that God does not exist. Psalm 14:1 famously states, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” While nature is a glorious revelation of God, it is insufficient to provide us with the “knowledge of God and His will that is necessary for salvation.”
Second, God has spoken in history through the prophets. When many think of prophecy in the Bible, they immediately consider the many predictions about the future. Certainly, the prophets often did speak of events that were to happen in their future—what is often our past—yet, the role of a prophet was far more than simply speaking of future events. True prophets spoke the very words of God, serving as the human mouthpiece of the divine, guiding, instructing, and often rebuking nations, kings, and peoples. Throughout the pages of the Bible, we are introduced to many men and women who served in this unique and extraordinary role. When prophets spoke authoritatively, they spoke the very words of God on God’s behalf. Therefore, a true prophet’s message was never only partially correct. If a prophet’s words were found to be inaccurate or inconsistent by even a syllable, they would be proven false prophets by the Scriptural standard. Here we might recognize the need, historically speaking, for a written record of the prophetic voice. For while the Hebrews were legendarily known for passing down their oral traditions by memory from one generation to the next; there was always the possibility that an error would be made in translation. But secondly, as the confession states above, this former way of revealing “his will to his people have now ceased.” There is no more prophetic spoken word.
Third, God has spoken through the person of Jesus Christ in an utterly unique way. Unlike the great prophets whom God spoke through, Jesus was Immanuel, ‘God with us’ (Matthew 1:23). “He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God… all things were created through him and for him…” (Colossians 1:15-17). To look on Jesus is to know more of God, for in his divinity he perfectly reveals the character and ways of the Father. Those who lived with Jesus and sat underneath His teachings were those privileged ones in all of history thus far who have sat at the feet of God incarnate and learned from the architect Himself. Through the incarnation God wrote Himself into the human story. More particularly we might say the Father “sent the Son” into the human story. To have communed with Jesus would have been to experience the heart of God being lived out through a human life. In Jesus there was nothing less than a persistent revealing of the heart and mind of the Father. The way Jesus engaged with the community, the way he responded to critics, the way he rebuked the proud, the way he healed the hurting, the way he comforted the sorrowful, the way he pursued the lost, all reveals in a direct and physical way the heart of God Himself. However, like the prophets of old, Christ is not here physically any longer to speak with. Therefore another kind of revelation is needed to propagate his teachings.
Fourth, and central to our current study, God has revealed Himself through the Bible. The Bible, all sixty-six books of both the Old and New Testament, as it was written and recorded in the original manuscripts, is the infallible Word of God. It is God’s Special Revelation, written in the form of human characters and words, given to us as a gift of grace in order that we might know him and “preserve and propagate the truth.” The Bible is in a sense our authoritative rule for life. The same God who missionally pursued his beloved when he incarnated Himself into the human story, is the same God who has left us His unchanging Word in order that we might always know His will and His ways.
Section 1.4 – On The Authority of Scripture
"The authority of the Holy Scriptures obligates belief in them. This authority does not depend on the testimony of any person or church but on God the author alone, who is truth itself. Therefore, the Scriptures are to be received because they are the Word of God."
- Section 1, Paragraph 4, of the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith
The subject of authority has already been described in previous sections, but we now expand on those thoughts and really consider the significance of the doctrine of authority. If the Scriptures truly record the very words of the infinite, omniscient God of creation, then we as finite created beings are “obligated” to believe every word. In a sense, we might say that the Scriptures are our rule that must dictate our vision, our direction, our moral compass, and our code of conduct. We are bound to obey God, and we obey God by submitting ourselves to his revealed Word. Put another way, we might say that how we respond to the Word of God, is how we respond to God himself.
It is on this point that the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Church differ greatly. Today, the Roman Catholic Church traces their authority to two separate sources. On the one hand they hold to the Word of God as authoritative, but on the other they hold to the traditions of the Church as authoritative. And in practice, over the last five centuries within the Roman Catholic Church, the authority of scripture has become secondary to the authority of the Church. While the early Church believed that the Church was dependent upon the Scriptures, the modern Roman Catholic Church believes the Scriptures are dependent on the Church. Against this two-fold stream of authority stands the Protestant Church with her resounding battle cry of sola scriptura “Scripture alone.”
We would do well to further explore the authority of Scripture, by considering two implications. First, we may examine how Scripture alone is able to bind our conscience. As we navigate the challenges of life and listen to the opinions of others, whether friends, family, or even pastoral counsel, the Christian recognizes that the opinions of the wisest saints can never replace or usurp the Word of God. It is only the Word of God that has the power to sear a Christian’s conscience with truth.
A second implication of the authority of Scripture is that God’s people, who take the Bible as God’s revealed authoritative word, ought to “tremble at his word” (Isaiah 66:5). No Christian filled by the Spirit should ever encounter God’s Word flippantly or irreverently. The Bible speaks the absolute truth, and we must posture our lives to develop both confidence and dependence on God’s Word for all of life.
Section 1.6 – On The Sufficiency of Scripture
"The whole counsel of God concerning everything essential for His own glory and man’s salvation, faith, and life is either explicitly stated or by necessary inference contained in the Holy Scriptures. Nothing is ever to be added to the Scriptures, either by new revelation of the Spirit or by human traditions.
Nevertheless, we acknowledge that the inward illumination of the Spirit of God is necessary for a saving understanding of what is revealed in the Word. We recognize that some circumstances concerning the worship of God and government of the church are common to human actions and organizations and are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian wisdom, following the general rules of the Word, which must always be observed."
- Section 1, Paragraph 6, of the London Baptist Confession of Faith
Thus far we have considered what books belong and don’t belong within the canon of scripture. But here we consider not just what titles, but what ideas are present in Scripture. If we had a canon of Scripture with many authoritative books, but those books did not contain the necessary content to aid humanity in their quest for proper living unto the glory of God, then we might say that the scriptures were insufficient. They might be the very words of God, but they wouldn’t be able to help us in life’s most important questions. This section clearly states that “everything essential” that God requires of man to know and do, is found within the pages of Scripture. God has not left us in partial darkness, but rather he has shone a great light on the path we are to walk.
This doctrine of sufficiency is not to say that scripture is exhaustive. There is much in this world that the Bible does not speak about. We are not given exhaustive lists of the various species within the animal kingdom, nor are we granted nuanced insight into molecular biology, or told the full hidden history of every nation. But on the vital topics of our relationship with God, our salvation, faith, and God’s purpose for our life, we have no shortage in Scripture. This doctrine is worthy of deep reflection, for if we understand this, it will transform our engagement with the Scriptures. Everything God wants us to know in this life has been granted to us. There is no situation we will ever find ourselves in, where the Scriptures will not be sufficient to guide our decision-making. There is no hardship we will ever face, where we will need more than the Scriptures to know how to proceed forward in a way that honors God. It is not the Scriptures plus the newest self-help book. It is not the Scriptures plus the wisdom of the age. It is the scriptures alone, in all their sufficiency, that will provide us with the wisdom and knowledge to proceed.
Importantly, The Confession states that “nothing is to ever be added to the Scriptures, either by new revelation of the Spirit or by human traditions.” Throughout church history, various groups and cults have emerged who have attempted to add to the divine revelation. Even today, there are large groups within Protestant Christianity that believe in God’s ongoing prophetic revelation. These groups believe that an individual may speak fresh words of God to individuals or groups. This section of The Confession protects against such an error. The Scriptures are sufficient, and no additional revelation from God is needed. No man or woman today ought to claim the ability to prophecy new revelation from God as the very words of God.
This is of course not to say that the Holy Spirit is not active in a believer’s life in countless ways. But the Holy Spirit’s work in a believer’s life is not to impart new revelation, but rather to shine a light on the God’s already provided revelation so that we might be instructed in all righteousness. The Confession refers to this inward work of the Holy Spirit as “illumination”. An unbeliever may master the content of the Bible, and be able to quote it with far greater recall than a believer, but without the inward illumination of the Spirit opening his heart and mind to the transformative power of the Word, the unbeliever will never experience what God fully intends. He may master the Word, but the Word will never Master him.
Finally, a very helpful word is given in this section in regards to the proper “worship of God” and “governance of the Church.” While the Word of God provides wonderful clear statements about many aspects of how these elements of the Christian faith should be practiced, we must recognize that the instructions provided in scripture are often painted with broad strokes. There is therefore room for wise and faithful Christian leadership, rooted in the principles provided in Scripture, and behaving with spirit filled Christian discernment, to develop specific practices for their local churches that they deem appropriate. In other words, no two churches will look and function the exact same way. There is charitable room for each church to determine how to lead their children most effectively, what time service is most effective, how long sermons ought to be, etc. Every true church however will never depart from the broad stroke regulations provided by the Word of God.
Section 1.7 – On The Clarity of Scripture
"Some things in Scripture are clearer than others, and some people understand the teachings more clearly than others. However, the things that must be known, believed, and obeyed for salvation are so clearly set forth and explained in one part of Scripture or another that both the educated and uneducated may achieve a sufficient understanding of them by properly using ordinary measures."
- Section 1, Paragraph 7, The London Baptist Confession of Faith
One of the most common questions I receive as a Pastor is in regards to why there are so many denominations within Christianity. This is a fair question that reveals a concern many people feel. The concern is that if so many Christians disagree on so many particulars of the faith, to such a degree that entire denominations continually arise defending one position or another, can we really say with any certainty that we can know what the Bible actually says. In other words, is the Bible clear?
Section 1.7 affirms the clarity of Scripture on the essentials of the faith, that which “must be known, believed, and obeyed for salvation,” while at the same time affirming that there are some points within Scripture that faithful Christians may disagree on their interpretation. Can a church truly be considered a true church if they deny the deity of Christ, or the Trinity, or the penal substitutionary atonement of Christ’s death? No they cannot. These doctrines, and many others related to what must be known and believed for salvation are “so clearly set forth and explained” in the Scripture that to deny them would be to deny God’s very word. Further, these ideas are clear in such a way that whether a person is “educated or uneducated,” they may understand them using simple ordinary means. “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29)
It is also true that there are other ideas presented in Scripture, ideas not vital to one’s salvation, that are less clear than others. On these issues, faithful Christians and churches may arrive at different interpretations. So, within the brotherhood of believers, there is room for various churches to adhere to different convictions on the secondary issues, while maintaining charity towards one another. A caution must be given here however. Some well intentioned believers make the mistake of assuming that if different camps exist within Christendom on any particular topic, that the issue at hand must be unclear, and therefore not worth investigating or holding a conviction on. This is a trap we must avoid. Many of the debated doctrines within Christianity only appear unclear with a surface level reading, but upon deeper study are revealed to have great clarity (God’s sovereignty, the charismatic gifts, etc.) We must not shy away from these topics because they take a little more effort to gain understanding, but should consider it a privilege to have a lifetime to investigate more and more of God’s revelation, and to build layer upon layer of well grounded understanding of God’s Word in our heart. The goal ought to be to study and to come to well reasoned convictions on these topics in order to continue going deeper in our faith. “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Revelation 15:4).
Table of Contents
- Introductory Remarks
- Section 1.1 – On The Necessity & Sufficiency of Scripture
- Section 1.4 – On The Authority of Scripture
- Section 1.6 – On The Sufficiency of Scripture
- Section 1.7 – On The Clarity of Scripture
Introductory Remarks
While the Bible is a book written by men, it is inspired by God. Within the pages of Scripture we find the very words of God that have been given to men in order to instruct them on all things pertaining to life, to meaning, to purpose, to God, and to eternity.
In our modern secular age it is more important than ever that Christians find themselves firmly rooted in God’s word. The world is searching for truth in all the wrong places. Some appeal to the scientific method, believing science alone can be relied upon as truth. Problems abound with this worldview, most notably that the scientific method is incapable of answering many of the biggest questions we ask about life. Why are we here? What is right and good and true? Who is God? What is salvation? What happens after I die? The scientific method was birthed out of a Christian worldview, but it is no substitute for the Bible.
Others in our modern age find truth in their feelings. They believe that one’s own lived experience is the ultimate source of truth. This is also filled with fatal flaws for the simple reason that one’s lived experience, one’s emotional core, can change quite dramatically in only a short period of time. If truth is able to change so rapidly and even contradict itself within a short period of time, then can we really be said to have a grasp of truth at all.
Still others, following the philosophies of postmodernism, have given up all pursuit of truth. Their battle cry is that there is no truth, which ironically enough, is a claim to truth. The postmodernist is incapable of living according to their own worldview, because in the real world, fixed objective truth is required for even the simplest of activities, for the most basic forms of communication, and especially for efforts at answering the deepest questions of the soul.
The Bible is God’s inerrant word. It is the standard of truth upon which every other claim must be measured. To contradict the Word of God is to be objectively wrong, for He who is omniscient, knowing every iota of knowledge in the entire created world, has inspired every word of Scripture. Far more than simply statements of truth to be learned and remembered, the Bible is “living and active.” When it is engaged with by a Christian who is filled by the Holy Spirit, it shapes and forms them into greater Christ-likeness.
God, in his mercy, did not hand us an encyclopedia of knowledge, but he wrote his revelation in such a way that speaks to the human soul. Through narrative, poetry, law, history, wisdom, and moral teaching, God’s Word is robust and able to speak to any and every situation we are in. God’s Word feeds our souls and sheds light upon our path.
The paragraphs from section one of the 1689 Confession covered in this post lay a helpful foundation for understanding God’s Word, and will hopefully equip the believer to address many of the questions often asked about the Bible in today’s world. But more importantly, this section of the 1689 Confession will deepen our love of the Scriptures, and therefore deepen our love of God.
In future posts, I will share write-ups on the other paragraphs from section one, but the sections below are more than enough for a single blog post to get my readers started
Section 1.1 – On The Necessity & Sufficiency of Scripture
"The Holy Scriptures are the only sufficient, certain, and infallible standard of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience. The light of nature and the works of creation and providence so clearly demonstrate the goodness, wisdom, and power of God that people are left without excuse; however, these demonstrations are not sufficient to give the knowledge of God and His will that is necessary for salvation. Therefore, the Lord was pleased at different times and in various ways to reveal Himself and to declare His will to His church. To preserve and propagate the truth better and to establish and comfort the church with greater certainty against the corruption of the flesh and the malice of Satan and the world, the Lord put this revelation completely in writing. Therefore, the Holy Scriptures are absolutely necessary, because God’s former ways of revealing His will to His people have now ceased."
- Section 1, Paragraph 1, 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith
At the heart of the Christian faith lies the reality that God is a revealing God. By this it is meant that God has not been content simply to spin the cosmos into being and then remain at a distance from his creatures. Rather, driven by divine love, God chose to reveal Himself, to speak. Before we consider the deeper realities and implications of Scripture, we must first pause and reflect with some depth at this single premise, God has revealed Himself to us. This premise seems mundane or overly simple, something not worthy of a moment’s reflection. But it ought not be so. In creating, God could have chosen any world to create. God was not limited by anything other than His will. The world in which we live out our moments is a world which has been infused with spectacular revelation by the architect and designer of it all. He who spoke galaxies into being, he who is aware and guides every movement of every subatomic particle in the known and unknown universe, he who holds the very fabric of existence together through his sustaining power, has written our story in such a way that we may know his heart, his design, and his purposes.
There is a tension here that ought not be overlooked. When we speak of God, we speak of One who is transcendent, and in a sense incomprehensible. God is not a being like us with limitations and boundaries. God is beyond human comprehension and understanding in his fullest sense. And yet, through his revelation, He has become knowable in a degree. We can glimpse into the infinite. We can peer into the unknown, and by the grace of God’s self-revelation, we can truly know God as He is, on His terms.
When we speak of God’s revealing of himself, it is helpful to recognize that God’s revelation has come in numerous forms. First is what we might refer to as General or Natural Revelation, or what section 1.1 refers to as the “light of nature and the works of creation.” God has revealed himself through nature in a general sense. We read in Romans 1 that, “his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made…” (Romans 1:20). In other words, no matter what religion a person ascribes to, even if they proclaim themselves as atheists who believe that no God exists, nature itself reveals God’s existence. One must only open their eyes and see a world teeming with life and beauty to disrupt the foolish notion that God does not exist. Psalm 14:1 famously states, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” While nature is a glorious revelation of God, it is insufficient to provide us with the “knowledge of God and His will that is necessary for salvation.”
Second, God has spoken in history through the prophets. When many think of prophecy in the Bible, they immediately consider the many predictions about the future. Certainly, the prophets often did speak of events that were to happen in their future—what is often our past—yet, the role of a prophet was far more than simply speaking of future events. True prophets spoke the very words of God, serving as the human mouthpiece of the divine, guiding, instructing, and often rebuking nations, kings, and peoples. Throughout the pages of the Bible, we are introduced to many men and women who served in this unique and extraordinary role. When prophets spoke authoritatively, they spoke the very words of God on God’s behalf. Therefore, a true prophet’s message was never only partially correct. If a prophet’s words were found to be inaccurate or inconsistent by even a syllable, they would be proven false prophets by the Scriptural standard. Here we might recognize the need, historically speaking, for a written record of the prophetic voice. For while the Hebrews were legendarily known for passing down their oral traditions by memory from one generation to the next; there was always the possibility that an error would be made in translation. But secondly, as the confession states above, this former way of revealing “his will to his people have now ceased.” There is no more prophetic spoken word.
Third, God has spoken through the person of Jesus Christ in an utterly unique way. Unlike the great prophets whom God spoke through, Jesus was Immanuel, ‘God with us’ (Matthew 1:23). “He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God… all things were created through him and for him…” (Colossians 1:15-17). To look on Jesus is to know more of God, for in his divinity he perfectly reveals the character and ways of the Father. Those who lived with Jesus and sat underneath His teachings were those privileged ones in all of history thus far who have sat at the feet of God incarnate and learned from the architect Himself. Through the incarnation God wrote Himself into the human story. More particularly we might say the Father “sent the Son” into the human story. To have communed with Jesus would have been to experience the heart of God being lived out through a human life. In Jesus there was nothing less than a persistent revealing of the heart and mind of the Father. The way Jesus engaged with the community, the way he responded to critics, the way he rebuked the proud, the way he healed the hurting, the way he comforted the sorrowful, the way he pursued the lost, all reveals in a direct and physical way the heart of God Himself. However, like the prophets of old, Christ is not here physically any longer to speak with. Therefore another kind of revelation is needed to propagate his teachings.
Fourth, and central to our current study, God has revealed Himself through the Bible. The Bible, all sixty-six books of both the Old and New Testament, as it was written and recorded in the original manuscripts, is the infallible Word of God. It is God’s Special Revelation, written in the form of human characters and words, given to us as a gift of grace in order that we might know him and “preserve and propagate the truth.” The Bible is in a sense our authoritative rule for life. The same God who missionally pursued his beloved when he incarnated Himself into the human story, is the same God who has left us His unchanging Word in order that we might always know His will and His ways.
Section 1.4 – On The Authority of Scripture
"The authority of the Holy Scriptures obligates belief in them. This authority does not depend on the testimony of any person or church but on God the author alone, who is truth itself. Therefore, the Scriptures are to be received because they are the Word of God."
- Section 1, Paragraph 4, of the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith
The subject of authority has already been described in previous sections, but we now expand on those thoughts and really consider the significance of the doctrine of authority. If the Scriptures truly record the very words of the infinite, omniscient God of creation, then we as finite created beings are “obligated” to believe every word. In a sense, we might say that the Scriptures are our rule that must dictate our vision, our direction, our moral compass, and our code of conduct. We are bound to obey God, and we obey God by submitting ourselves to his revealed Word. Put another way, we might say that how we respond to the Word of God, is how we respond to God himself.
It is on this point that the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Church differ greatly. Today, the Roman Catholic Church traces their authority to two separate sources. On the one hand they hold to the Word of God as authoritative, but on the other they hold to the traditions of the Church as authoritative. And in practice, over the last five centuries within the Roman Catholic Church, the authority of scripture has become secondary to the authority of the Church. While the early Church believed that the Church was dependent upon the Scriptures, the modern Roman Catholic Church believes the Scriptures are dependent on the Church. Against this two-fold stream of authority stands the Protestant Church with her resounding battle cry of sola scriptura “Scripture alone.”
We would do well to further explore the authority of Scripture, by considering two implications. First, we may examine how Scripture alone is able to bind our conscience. As we navigate the challenges of life and listen to the opinions of others, whether friends, family, or even pastoral counsel, the Christian recognizes that the opinions of the wisest saints can never replace or usurp the Word of God. It is only the Word of God that has the power to sear a Christian’s conscience with truth.
A second implication of the authority of Scripture is that God’s people, who take the Bible as God’s revealed authoritative word, ought to “tremble at his word” (Isaiah 66:5). No Christian filled by the Spirit should ever encounter God’s Word flippantly or irreverently. The Bible speaks the absolute truth, and we must posture our lives to develop both confidence and dependence on God’s Word for all of life.
Section 1.6 – On The Sufficiency of Scripture
"The whole counsel of God concerning everything essential for His own glory and man’s salvation, faith, and life is either explicitly stated or by necessary inference contained in the Holy Scriptures. Nothing is ever to be added to the Scriptures, either by new revelation of the Spirit or by human traditions.
Nevertheless, we acknowledge that the inward illumination of the Spirit of God is necessary for a saving understanding of what is revealed in the Word. We recognize that some circumstances concerning the worship of God and government of the church are common to human actions and organizations and are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian wisdom, following the general rules of the Word, which must always be observed."
- Section 1, Paragraph 6, of the London Baptist Confession of Faith
Thus far we have considered what books belong and don’t belong within the canon of scripture. But here we consider not just what titles, but what ideas are present in Scripture. If we had a canon of Scripture with many authoritative books, but those books did not contain the necessary content to aid humanity in their quest for proper living unto the glory of God, then we might say that the scriptures were insufficient. They might be the very words of God, but they wouldn’t be able to help us in life’s most important questions. This section clearly states that “everything essential” that God requires of man to know and do, is found within the pages of Scripture. God has not left us in partial darkness, but rather he has shone a great light on the path we are to walk.
This doctrine of sufficiency is not to say that scripture is exhaustive. There is much in this world that the Bible does not speak about. We are not given exhaustive lists of the various species within the animal kingdom, nor are we granted nuanced insight into molecular biology, or told the full hidden history of every nation. But on the vital topics of our relationship with God, our salvation, faith, and God’s purpose for our life, we have no shortage in Scripture. This doctrine is worthy of deep reflection, for if we understand this, it will transform our engagement with the Scriptures. Everything God wants us to know in this life has been granted to us. There is no situation we will ever find ourselves in, where the Scriptures will not be sufficient to guide our decision-making. There is no hardship we will ever face, where we will need more than the Scriptures to know how to proceed forward in a way that honors God. It is not the Scriptures plus the newest self-help book. It is not the Scriptures plus the wisdom of the age. It is the scriptures alone, in all their sufficiency, that will provide us with the wisdom and knowledge to proceed.
Importantly, The Confession states that “nothing is to ever be added to the Scriptures, either by new revelation of the Spirit or by human traditions.” Throughout church history, various groups and cults have emerged who have attempted to add to the divine revelation. Even today, there are large groups within Protestant Christianity that believe in God’s ongoing prophetic revelation. These groups believe that an individual may speak fresh words of God to individuals or groups. This section of The Confession protects against such an error. The Scriptures are sufficient, and no additional revelation from God is needed. No man or woman today ought to claim the ability to prophecy new revelation from God as the very words of God.
This is of course not to say that the Holy Spirit is not active in a believer’s life in countless ways. But the Holy Spirit’s work in a believer’s life is not to impart new revelation, but rather to shine a light on the God’s already provided revelation so that we might be instructed in all righteousness. The Confession refers to this inward work of the Holy Spirit as “illumination”. An unbeliever may master the content of the Bible, and be able to quote it with far greater recall than a believer, but without the inward illumination of the Spirit opening his heart and mind to the transformative power of the Word, the unbeliever will never experience what God fully intends. He may master the Word, but the Word will never Master him.
Finally, a very helpful word is given in this section in regards to the proper “worship of God” and “governance of the Church.” While the Word of God provides wonderful clear statements about many aspects of how these elements of the Christian faith should be practiced, we must recognize that the instructions provided in scripture are often painted with broad strokes. There is therefore room for wise and faithful Christian leadership, rooted in the principles provided in Scripture, and behaving with spirit filled Christian discernment, to develop specific practices for their local churches that they deem appropriate. In other words, no two churches will look and function the exact same way. There is charitable room for each church to determine how to lead their children most effectively, what time service is most effective, how long sermons ought to be, etc. Every true church however will never depart from the broad stroke regulations provided by the Word of God.
Section 1.7 – On The Clarity of Scripture
"Some things in Scripture are clearer than others, and some people understand the teachings more clearly than others. However, the things that must be known, believed, and obeyed for salvation are so clearly set forth and explained in one part of Scripture or another that both the educated and uneducated may achieve a sufficient understanding of them by properly using ordinary measures."
- Section 1, Paragraph 7, The London Baptist Confession of Faith
One of the most common questions I receive as a Pastor is in regards to why there are so many denominations within Christianity. This is a fair question that reveals a concern many people feel. The concern is that if so many Christians disagree on so many particulars of the faith, to such a degree that entire denominations continually arise defending one position or another, can we really say with any certainty that we can know what the Bible actually says. In other words, is the Bible clear?
Section 1.7 affirms the clarity of Scripture on the essentials of the faith, that which “must be known, believed, and obeyed for salvation,” while at the same time affirming that there are some points within Scripture that faithful Christians may disagree on their interpretation. Can a church truly be considered a true church if they deny the deity of Christ, or the Trinity, or the penal substitutionary atonement of Christ’s death? No they cannot. These doctrines, and many others related to what must be known and believed for salvation are “so clearly set forth and explained” in the Scripture that to deny them would be to deny God’s very word. Further, these ideas are clear in such a way that whether a person is “educated or uneducated,” they may understand them using simple ordinary means. “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29)
It is also true that there are other ideas presented in Scripture, ideas not vital to one’s salvation, that are less clear than others. On these issues, faithful Christians and churches may arrive at different interpretations. So, within the brotherhood of believers, there is room for various churches to adhere to different convictions on the secondary issues, while maintaining charity towards one another. A caution must be given here however. Some well intentioned believers make the mistake of assuming that if different camps exist within Christendom on any particular topic, that the issue at hand must be unclear, and therefore not worth investigating or holding a conviction on. This is a trap we must avoid. Many of the debated doctrines within Christianity only appear unclear with a surface level reading, but upon deeper study are revealed to have great clarity (God’s sovereignty, the charismatic gifts, etc.) We must not shy away from these topics because they take a little more effort to gain understanding, but should consider it a privilege to have a lifetime to investigate more and more of God’s revelation, and to build layer upon layer of well grounded understanding of God’s Word in our heart. The goal ought to be to study and to come to well reasoned convictions on these topics in order to continue going deeper in our faith. “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Revelation 15:4).
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