Sermon Tone Analysis

! Introduction

!! The Question Stated

 

By what means are we to come to the knowledge of God and of ourselves through Holy Scripture?

Given what we understand to be the purposes of the scriptures, we may put the question this way: "What are we to do with this sacred deposit of divine truth in order to be made "wise unto salvation," to be kept and sanctified, and to be made 'thoroughly furnished unto every good work?'"[1]

If, as already shown in this conference, the Bible is the authoritative and all-sufficient guide for every good work, does it not follow that it must also be the authoritative and sufficient guide for the work of expounding the scriptures themselves, and, if of expounding, then necessarily of understanding the scriptures to be expounded and applied?

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The Importance of the Question

This was an important issue for the authors of our Savoy Declaration and it is no less important for today.

The greatest challenges facing our forefathers were directly related to the question of Scriptural authority.

At that time, there were two principle challenges to the position taken by Savoy.  1) On the one hand, there was the claim of the Romanists that the ultimate authority for the Christian on earth was the Roman church.

This was so not only because the church allegedly possessed the authority to determine the extent of the canon, but also because only the church, with its deposit of unwritten tradition and the promise of its infallibility, would be able to competently interpret the Scriptures.

Since he lacked both of these (not to mention lacking skill in the original languages and in scholastic philosophy), permitting the layman to interpret Scripture was to invite damnation for his soul, and heresy and schism for the church.

2) On the other hand, there were those who had rejected the authority of the church for something more personal, something that had its center in the "self."

This personal center of ultimate authority expressed itself as ultimate confidence in the mind, or reason (rationalism), or as ultimate confidence in the heart, or feeling (mysticism).

Though in some cases this led quite early to the outright rejection of the authority of the Bible, more commonly it was not the Bible, /per se/, that was rejected, but some received doctrine.

For the rationalist, the Bible would be subjected to supposed rational analysis, with the rejection of any interpretation that did not prove acceptable to "right reason."

Interpretations they thought to be unreasonable or impractical, such as the doctrine of the Trinity, or predestination or regeneration, could not be true or necessary.

For the mystic, the Bible would mean what the interpreter subjectively "sensed," or felt" for in such ways it was alleged that "the Christ," or "Spirit," or "inner light" would speak, or would confirm or dismiss the thoughts of the interpreter.

An interpretation giving rise to strong feelings of joy or sorrow would likely be true, but one lacking the confirmatory feeling (or vision, or voice) or giving rise to feelings of dismay or disgust (such as the doctrines of reprobation or substitutionary atonement) must be rejected.

The Reformed confidence in the rationality of God's word (a revelation given in human languages, in particular historical contexts) and its conviction that the Holy Spirit was truly active in the illumination of the reader, required one sailing from Rome to Jerusalem to be able to navigate between the Charybdis of the rationalism and the Scylla of "enthusiasm."

There were other forms of these three basic challenges, but all must be rejected by the sincere Christian,  as depriving the soul of the voice of his true Captain and Pilot, through the intrusion of a substitute.

Though the language has changed, modern Christians are still paying great heed to substitutes.

The Roman church has indeed "unchained" the Bible from the pulpit, but its meaning is still chained to the "chair" of the papacy.

It simply cannot be supposed that only the "Liberal Protestant" interprets the Bible rationalistically, any more than it may be taken for granted that only the Pentecostal interprets the Bible mystically.

The distressing      outcomes, however, include a generally low level of biblical literacy, a general lack of confidence in the Bible as a practical guide for faith and life, the substitution of guides, a plethora of contradictory theological formulations, and a widespread acceptance of relativism in doctrine and life.

The very failure of Protestantism to arrive at unity of doctrine is given as justification for returning to Rome with its unwritten tradition.

!! Objectives

Surely, modern Christians need two things.

The first need is not merely a renewed confidence that the Bible is God's word, but a confidence that its riches are available /to them/.

Second, they need that confidence to be well grounded through the "/due use/ of the ordinary means."

It will be my objectives in this paper 1) to demonstrate that, as stated in our Savoy Declaration, the Holy Scriptures do, in fact, teach us that "not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordi­nary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them," and 2) to describe those means.

! Proof that Biblical Means are Sufficient

It is necessary for us first to address the question, "Sufficient for what?"

It is true that we are to be "bringing every though captive to Christ."

Nevertheless, it is, we believe, a point difficult to prove that this means we can draw from Scripture any more than the most general principles and rudimentary maxims concerning natural science, economics, art and politics.

These general principles ought to be drawn, and their applications carefully made, but the value, the utility of Scripture is not to be determined by its applicability to these questions for that is not its purpose.

The Savoy Declaration is quite specific here: what we are asserting is that the Bible is sufficient for "those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed for salvation."

To make us "wise unto salvation" is the end of Holy Scripture.

That biblical means are sufficient unto that end is clear from the following considerations:  1) The nature of scripture as revelation, 2) The fact that, as promised, the biblical characters, using biblical means came to understand the  scriptures sufficiently,  3) The guilt of those who failed to arrive at such ends when the means were available.

Let us look at each of these points.

!! Scripture is Revelation

Scripture, as stated in the Savoy, is the revelation of God Himself, and the declaration of His will.

Whether or not "new revelations of the Spirit" may be expected (the topic of another paper), the fact remains, those that have been received have been revelation indeed.

By them, God was showing Himself, disclosing the otherwise unknowable, i.e., His name, His attributes, purposes and plans, explaining His actions, expressing His knowledge of, and will for, man.

Furthermore, He was doing so for the precise redemptive purpose that His name and mind might be thus known by man.

This refers not merely to the /initial/ verbal expression of revelation, in the divers ways God spoke in the past to the fathers by the prophets, and in these last times by a Son.

God did not ordain the writing of his word merely for its physical preservation, but He did so in order that /through it/ the revelation of Himself might be /continuous and present./

That is, whether or not there were living and powerful prophets or apostles on hand, the word of God would always be living and powerful through the reading and preaching of Holy Scripture.

While this is seen in the Old Testament, it is, perhaps, nowhere more obvious than in the book of Hebrews.

Here the author plies argument after argument from the Old Testament text, all the while insisting that God is /presently addressing/ them from heaven through these texts.

They are not dissuaded from going against sage advice drawn from history, they are warned against drawing back from the God who is saying to them, "Today, hear my voice and harden not your hearts."

The point of this is that, with the obvious exception of punitive revelation, the purpose of God's giving revelation is that it be received, understood, embraced by faith, and that when it is so received, understood, and embraced, it imparts, to the soul and to the church, the true knowledge of Himself.

!!

The Scriptures assume that the biblical characters would obtain come to salvation and blessing using biblical means, and asserts that they did.

Though we have not yet described those means, we may prove this point.

The question is, "Were the people of God, through the written and preached word of God, enabled to become wise unto salvation, to be kept, sanctified, and equipped for living in obedience to God?" Let us consider some examples.

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The Promise to Israel

In the 29th chapter of Deuteronomy, Moses exhorts the people saying, “Therefore keep the words of this covenant, and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do"  (Deut.

29:9) before warning them of the dire consequences of failing to keep the covenant.

What is clear in the chapter is that the words Moses was saying pertained to the written covenant, the things "written in this book."

Their response was “The secret /things/ /belong/ to the Lord our God, but those /things/ /which/ /are/ revealed /belong/ to us and to our children forever, that /we/ may do all the words of this law."

In the following chapter he tells them, 

1“Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call /them/ to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you, 2“and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3“that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you,  . .

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6“And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

7“Also the Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you.

8“And you will again obey the voice of the Lord and do all His commandments which I command you today.

9“The Lord your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good.

For the Lord will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers, 10“if you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, /and/ if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

11“For this commandment which I command you today /is/ not /too/ mysterious for you, nor /is/ it far off.

12“It /is/ not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’

13“Nor /is/ it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’

14“But the word /is/ very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it."

In these two chapters, we see the curse of disobedience, and the blessing of repentance unto obedience to the written covenant.

Beyond the regenerating work of the Spirit (the circumcising of the heart) which results in love to God, nothing is required of the people for their souls to live and for them to enjoy the blessing of God but that they keep the word of the covenant.

Furthermore, this is asserted to be neither mysterious nor far off.

Both Moses and Paul (in his application of the passage to the gospel) strictly deny that there is anything intrinsic to the covenant making sufficient understanding beyond the capacity of the hearer.

!!! Joshua

To Joshua as generally to all the rulers of Israel, prosperity is attached to reading and meditating on the Book.

Thus, Joshua is told,

Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.

8This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it.

For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

(Joshua 1:7-8)

Joshua not only did so, but also, at Mount Gerizim and Ebal, carried out the commandment given him of reminding the nation to continue faithful to the covenant.

Again, he admonished them to renew the covenant, and wrote a copy of it.

!!! David

Near the end of his life, David tells his son Solomon, in First Kings, chapter 2,

3“And keep the charge of the Lord your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn;  . . .

David knew the value of the Word, as he tells us in Psalm 19,

 7The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;

8The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;

9The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;

The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

10More to be desired are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

11Moreover by them Your servant is warned,

And in keeping them there is great reward.

The great introduction to the Psalter describes the righteous, prosperous, and secure man as one who delights in, and meditates on, the Law of the Lord day and night, and the point is made quite conclusively by nearly every verse of that longest of biblical meditations, the acrostic Psalm 119.

To highlight some of the evidence we observe that the use of the written word has the following results: The user of the word is blessed, undefiled, unashamed, upright in heart, rejoicing, delighting, observing wondrous things, counseled, revived, with eyes turned away from worthless things, with answers against reproach, walking at liberty, comforted in affliction, taught good judgment and knowledge, wiser than enemies, ancients and teachers, imparting gladness to others, secured in the midst of great affliction, and possessing great peace.

Though toward the end of his reign Solomon forgot his own inspired writing, the Book of Proverbs testified strongly to the utility of the word of God through ordinary means.

The sufficiency of Scripture has already been addressed by Dr. Davis, but the point here, again, is that it yields its sufficiency to ordinary means that the simple, the ordinary and unlearned may employ: receiving, treasuring the words of God, inclining the ear, applying the heart, crying out with the voice, obeying what is revealed, etc.

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The Prophets

The prophets were the Lord's advocates with his people, charging them with violations of the covenant, promising His judgment (i.e., reminding them of the curses of the covenant), reasserting the basis for the hope of the penitent, and reasserting the promises of blessing for those who repent and~/or remain faithful to the covenant.