LBCF 1:4 - The Implicit Authority of Scripture
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LBCF 1:4
LBCF 1:4
4. The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed (WCF, and obeyed), dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God (who is truth itself), the author thereof; therefore it is to be received because it is the Word of God.
Survey of Scripture
Survey of Scripture
The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed , dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or church, [Luke 24:27, 44; Rom. 3:2]
And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.”
Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God.
but wholly upon God (who is truth itself), the author thereof; therefore it is to be received because it is the Word of God. [2 Pet 1:19-21; 2 Tim 3:16; 2 Thess 2:13; 1 John 5:9]
And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth,
If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son.
What Does This Teach Us?
What Does This Teach Us?
The Confession begins with a classic theological argument to first speak of the authority in itself and then proceeds to state its authority with us.
Sam Waldron, This theological distinction is based on the difference between two questions which may be asked about the authority of the Bible: ‘Why is the Bible authoritative?’ and ‘How do we know that the Bible is the Word of God and, thus, authoritative?’
Paragraph 4 speaks nothing about our confidence in the Bible, but it speaks of the authority of the Bible itself. Paragraph 5 speaks to our recognition of the the authority of the Bible upon us.
Paragraph 4 is objective in emphasis, while paragraph 5 is subjective.
In itself (or the fact of its divine authority)
In itself (or the fact of its divine authority)
Paragraph 4
The divine authority of the Bible means its absolute authority, its verbal, plenary inspiration. Verbal, plenary inspiration is the teaching that the words of the Bible — all of the words of the Bible — are the products of a direct, supernatural influence of the Spirit on the men who were his organs or instruments.
It is completely inerrant. This is the proper implication of the Confession.
It is important to begin by noting that the Bible never adversely criticizes itself.
The Bible nowhere asserts of another statement in the Bible that it is in error.
We see this very explicitly in the New Testament’s use of the Old Testament; the New Testament understands, implicitly, the authority of the Old Testament.
The authority of the Old Testament
The authority of the Old Testament
The Old Testament is sacred (2 Tim. 3:15) and holy (Rom. 1:2).
and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures,
Like the temple (note the relation of both words to the temple) the Old Testament is peculiarly associated with God.
The Old Testament writings are God’s writings.
The Old Testament writings are the oracles of God (Rom. 3:2; Acts 7:38; Heb. 5:12).
Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God.
“This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us,
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
The word translated ‘oracle’ universally designates a divine utterance.
Romans 3:2 refers to the written embodiment of these oracles, as their being ‘entrusted’ to Israel indicates.
God is the ultimate, determinative speaker and author of the Old Testament (Acts 2:16-17; 4:24-25; Matt. 13:35).
But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.
So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: “Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, who by the mouth of Your servant David have said: ‘Why did the nations rage, And the people plot vain things?
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world.”
For this reason the phrases ‘God says,’ and ‘Scripture says’ are equivalent.
In Romans 9:17 and Galatians 3:8, what God said in the Old Testament is attributed to Scripture, while in Matthew 19:4-5, what Scripture said in the Old Testament is attributed to God.
This holy confusion can only be explained on the supposition that Scripture is viewed as God’s very speaking.
Since God is the true author of the Scriptures, they can be and are written with the distant future in mind (Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor. 10:11).
For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.
Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
Note the implication of the plenary inspiration of the Old Testament in Romans 15:4.
Since God is the author of Scripture it is not only invested with plenary authority; it is also authoritative in detail.
Arguments are built on the very form of a single word (Matt. 22:32; Luke 16:17; Matt. 22:41-6; John 10:35; Gal. 3:16).
‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail.
While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” They said to Him, “The Son of David.” He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool” ’? If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?” And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.
If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),
Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.
Since Scripture is divine, it is, so to speak, the transcript of God’s divine decree.
A divine necessity demands its fulfilment (Acts 1:16; 2:24-36; 13:34-35; John 19:34-36, 24; Luke 22:37; Matt. 26:54; John 13:18).
The five classic passages which enunciate the divine authority of the Old Testament are 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:19-21; Matthew 5:17-18; John 10:34-36; Matthew 4:1-11.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods” ’? If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ” Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ” Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ” Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.
They assert that the Old Testament as an organic whole and in detail is God-breathed, the product of direct, divine origination and determination, permanent and unbreakable in its every assertion, and as written is perfectly authoritative.
Warfield: ‘The effort to explain away the Bible’s witness to its plenary inspiration reminds one of a man standing safely in his laboratory and elaborately expounding — possibly with the aid of diagrams and mathematical formulae — how every stone in an avalanche has a defined pathway and may easily be dodged by one of some presence of mind. We may fancy such an elaborate trifler’s triumph as he would analyse the avalanche into its constituent stones, and demonstrate of stone after stone that its pathway is definite, limited, and may easily be avoided. But avalanches, unfortunately, do not come upon us, stone by stone, one at a time, courteously leaving us opportunity to withdraw from the pathway of destruction. Just so we may explain away a text or two which teach plenary inspiration, to our own closet satisfaction, dealing with them each without reference to its relation to the others: but these texts of ours, again, unfortunately do not come upon us in this artificial isolation; neither are they few in number. There are scores, hundreds, of them: and they come bursting upon us in one solid mass. Explain them away? We should have to explain away the whole New Testament.”
The authority of the New Testament
The authority of the New Testament
The argument for the authority of the New Testament is an inference from the New Testament’s doctrine of the authority of the Old Testament Scriptures.
We need simply to establish that in principle the New Testament possesses the same (God-breathed) authority as the Old Testament.
John Murray, The organic unity of both Testaments is the presupposition of the appeal to the authority of the Old Testament and of allusion to it in which the New Testament abounds. This fact of organic unity bears very directly upon the question of the inspiration of the New Testament. For if, as we have found, the authoritative witness of the New Testament bears out the unbreakable and inerrant character of the Old, how could that which forms an organic unit with the Old be of an entirely different character as regards the nature of its inspiration? When the implications of the organic unity are fully appreciated, it becomes impossible to believe that the divinity of the New Testament can be on a lower plane than that of the Old. Surely then, if the Old Testament, according to the testimony that in this matter has the greatest relevance or authority, is inerrant, the New Testament must also be.
The New Testament is as authoritative as the Old Testament because of the unity between the two testaments.
The presupposition and primary ground for the extension of the authority of the Old Testament to the New Testament is the specific relationship of organic unity which exists between them.
The prophetic nature of the Old Testament called for a New Testament, a fulfillment of its proclamations.
In the organic unfolding or redemptive history it must therefore exist on at least the same plane as the Old.
This fact, demands that an equal authority and inspiration be attributed to the writings of the New Testament.
The classic passages which teach the organic unity of the Old and New Testaments are Hebrews 1:1–2 and 2 Corinthians 3:10–11.
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.
Specific passages which teach the equal authority of the New Testament are those texts which teach the equal authority of the personal authorities of the New Covenant (Romans 16:25–26; 2 Peter 1:16–21; 1 Corinthians 14:37; 15:3–11; 2 Peter 3:1–2; John 2:22) and those which teach the equal authority of the written authorities of the New Covenant (2 Peter 3:16; 1 Timothy 5:18).
Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith—
For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord.
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior,
Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.
as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer is worthy of his wages.”
The New Testament remains inerrant, as does the Old Testament.
There are many objections to inerrancy, all of which are built on presuppositions of error within Scripture; we cannot debunk all of these, time is too limited.
One that Sam Waldron addresses is that the Bible was written by men who are with error because of sin.
That the Bible was written by men and is thus both a divine and human book cannot and must not be denied.
Two considerations manifest the falsity of the conclusion drawn from this fact by this objection.
The first is the parallel with the doctrine of the person of Christ.
The humanity of Christ does not mitigate or negate his full deity, with all its implications. So also the humanity of the Bible does not mean that it is errant.
Jesus was a true man without being errant. So the Bible is a human book without being errant or any less divine.
The second is the reformed doctrine of organic inspiration.
This view denies any mechanical or dictation view of inspiration, in which the humanity of the human writer is suspended. It teaches the full humanity of the Bible, i.e., that the human writers’ own personalities and freedom were fully operational.
It also teaches the complete and detailed divinity of the Bible, i.e., it is precisely God speaking without human distortion.
God made these men’s mouths—through general providence and special grace—creating the precise instrument desired.
Organic inspiration assumes the reformed and biblical view that the same activity can be and is both divinely ordained and the product of free, human agency.
As a result, the Bible can be the product of human beings writing and acting freely, while at the same time it is divinely inspired and inerrant.
The implication is that those who reject reformed views of divine sovereignty and yet understand the pervasive humanity of the Bible must logically reject the complete inerrancy of the Bible.
This has in fact occurred in a well-known evangelical theologian named Clark Pinnock who wrote Scripture Principle .
Pinnock was, at one time a defender of biblical authority, and came to adopt Arminian views, and later denied the unlimited inerrancy of the Bible.