Centerpoint School of Theology [Got Questions? Visit

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1 Centerpoint School of Theology [Got Questions? Visit The Bible: How It Came to Us THE DOCTRINE OF SPECIAL REVELATION (CONT D) All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. 2 TIMOTHY 3:16 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 2 PETER 1:19-21 Afterwards for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which makes the Holy Scripture to be most necessary; those former ways of God s revealing His will unto His people being now ceased. WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH I:1 1

2 INSCRIPTURATION It pleased the Lord to reveal himself (and) afterwards to commit the same wholly unto writing (WCF I:1) o Distinction between REVELATION and INSCRIPTURATION o Necessity of Inscripturation: For the better preserving and propagating of the truth For the more sure establishment and comfort of the church Because the former ways of God s revealing his will to his people have now ceased o Adequacy of Human Language Liberal and radical thinkers of the past 100 years include: Schleiermacher, Bultmann, Tillich; the Bible is a collection of culturally conditioned myths which serve as symbols of non-verbal pressure that God moves on the human spirit evoking experiences of mystical, emotional, and ethical insight. This skepticism draws on three things: 1. Idea of the inadequacy of all human language as a means of personal communication. Poets like Stein, novelists like Kafka, playwrights like Beckett (Waiting for Godo). Philosophers like A. J. Ayers and Ludwig Wittgenstein (Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 1922). The study of syntactics. This is thought to be true of exchange among humans, let alone between God and man. T. S. Eliot (Four Quartets): Words strain, Crash and sometimes break under the burden, Under the tension, slip, slide, perish, Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place, Will not stay still. 2. Doubt that language can convey transcendent realities. Runs deep in linguistics (sociology of language, evolutionary development from grunts and groans etc.). Words mean what we tell them to mean, no more and no 2

3 less said Humpty Dumpty in Alice in Wonderland. Words have meaning because we give them meaning, not because they have inherent meaning. 3. Unwillingness of Christian teachers to allow God to inform us through Bible words: liberalism. Kant. Schleiermacher (religion consists in the feeling of dependence). Ritschl (out and out hostility to supernatural). Reaction to nineteenth century liberalism by neo-orthodoxy: Barth (that the Word breaks through from the Bible somehow) and Brunner (that because God is personal his communication cannot be propositional!!). Response? Jesus! Yes, Jesus. The Incarnation tells us that God the only God there is became flesh and talked (Aramaic?) using words, nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc. Coherent, intelligible communication in verbal form from God. When Jesus spoke, God spoke. o ACCOMMODATION The same divine humility which decreed that God should become a baby at a peasant s woman s breast, and later an arrested field preacher in the hands of the Roman police, decreed also that he should be preached [and, we may add, written about] in a vulgar, prosaic and unliterary language. C. S. Lewis, Introduction to J. B. Phillips, LETTERS TO YOUNG CHURCHES (London: Bles, 1947). John Calvin: God condescends to talk to us in homespun language with a contemptible meanness of words (sub contemptibili verborum humilitate). INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION I.viii.1 God condescends [se demittit] to our ignorance [ruditatem] When God prattles to us [balbutit] in Scripture in a rough and 3

4 popular style [crasse et plebio stylo], let us know that this is done on account of the love which he bears to us. COMMENTARY ON JOHN (on John 3:12) What is Calvin thinking about? Paul s forgetfulness: I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else (1 Corinthians 1:16). Paul s coarseness: I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves! (Galatians 5:12) o For more on this topic, see J. I. Packer, The Adequacy of Human Language, in Collected Writings of J. I. Packer, 4 Vols. (Carlisle, Cumbria: Paternoster, 1999), 3: INSPIRATION NEW TESTAMENT BASIS EXEGETICAL o 2 TIMOTHY 3:16 (see page 1) ALL Scripture is inspired not all inspired Scripture What Scripture says, God says. Scripture doesn t become God s word (e.g. when we are moved by what it says). It IS the Word of God. Because Scripture is inspired, it is profitable o 2 PETER 1:19-21 (see page 1) Human writers in view: men spoke from God 4

5 These men are carried along [fero/menoi] (cf. Acts 27:15 And when the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along. ) No prophecy is the result of a purely human initiative (v.20). [Note: RC use of this text suggests that only the church has the right to interpret Scripture. Peter is not talking about interpretation but origin.] o JOHN 10:35 Scripture cannot be broken [Root: lu/w] Side-remark: Strictly, all these texts refer to Old Testament ORGANIC INSPIRATION Organic = Dual authorship: God wrote men wrote. Basic thought: God s words in men s mouths. o Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, Behold, I have put my words in your mouth (Jeremiah 1:9). o Who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? (Acts 4:25). o Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, Today, if you hear his voice (Hebrews 3:7, citing Psalm 95:7-11). o And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us (Hebrews 10:15, citing Jeremiah 31:31). o For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. (Romans 9:17; note that it is God who spoke these words to Pharaoh. Scripture says = God says). QUALIFICATIONS [OF ORGANIC INSPIRATION] o At times the message is given by DICTATION DECALOGUE, REVELATION 2-3 Sometimes prophets were told, Take this down 5

6 Liberal Responses: Typewriter view of inspiration The twin suppositions which liberal critics make that, on the one hand, divine control of the writers would exclude the free exercise of their natural powers, while, on the other hand, divine accommodation to the free exercise of their natural powers would exclude complete control of what they wrote are really two forms of the same mistake. They are two ways of denying that the Bible can be both a fully human and fully divine composition. And this denial rests (as all errors in theology ultimately do) on a false doctrine of God; here particularly, of His providence. For it assumes that God and man stand in such a relation to each other that they cannot both be free agents in the same action. J. I. Packer, FUNDAMENTALISM AND THE WORD OF GOD (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1972), 80. o At times, Bible writers wrote beyond their own understanding Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories (1 Peter 1:10-11). o We can t parcel out inspired bits and non-inspired bits CHARACTERISTICS [OF ORGANIC INSPIRATION] o Differences of STYLE Temperament, education, background, etc. Isaiah: Holy One of Israel Jeremiah: subjective analysis of himself John: simple words Paul: his passion can do damage to his grammar! 6

7 o Dependence on ORDINARY SOURCES (Samuel, Chronicles): Book of Nathan the Seer, Samuel the Seer Luke s preface researched, eye-witnesses Secular and Religious documents, styles: Ancient Near Eastern treaties and biblical covenants Paul s training under Gamaliel Rabbinical Golden Rule and Lord s Prayer have parallels outside (and before) Jesus gave them o Revelation is not FLAT Isaiah makes unique contributions to Doctrine of God Hosea s discussion of covenant love Ezekiel s contribution on glory of God Paul on justification o There may be development within a particular writer or individual book of the Bible From Galatians to 2 Timothy (20 years?) Acts 2 to Acts 28 (house churches, private property) PLENARY INSPIRATION Plenus = full All Scripture [a sa grafh\] (2 Timothy 3:16). Whatever is Scripture [grafh\]. Every single Scripture is human and divinely inspired (breathed-out). AUTOGRAPHS: o Strictly: it is the autographa that are inspired, not the KJV or NIV or ESV. o The Old Testament in Hebrew (which was the native language of the people of God of old), and the New Testament in Greek (which, at the time of the writing of it, was most generally known to the nations), being immediately inspired by God, and, by His singular care and providence, kept pure in all ages, are therefore authentical; so as, in all controversies of religion, the Church is 7

8 finally to appeal unto them. But, because these original tongues are not known to all the people of God, who have right unto, and interest in the Scriptures, and are commanded, in the fear of God, to read and search them, therefore they are to be translated in to the vulgar language of every nation unto which they come, that, the Word of God dwelling plentifully in all, they may worship Him in an acceptable manner; and, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, may have hope. [WCF 1:8]. o The writers were not always inspired or preserved from error or kept from sin in their lives (except Jesus). Think of Peter, Solomon, David, Moses, and Paul. DENIAL OF PLENARY INSPIRATION o From the human-ness of the Bible To err is human, to forgive divine (Alexander Pope?) Overlooks compatible, concurrent divine superintendence Proves too much! No part that isn t human. o From the phenomena of the Bible It employs literary forms such as fables (Judges 9); supposed contradictions ATTESTATION OF SCRIPTURE o AUTHORITY The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed, and obeyed, depends not upon the testimony of any man, or Church; but wholly upon God (who is truth itself) the author thereof: and therefore it is to be received, because it is the Word of God (WCF 1:4). Circular reasoning and Presuppositional apologetics: To deny circularity when it comes to an ultimate authority is to subject oneself to an infinite regress of reasons. If a person holds to a certain view, A, then 8

9 when A is challenged he appeals to reasons B and C. But, of course, B and C will certainly be challenged as to why they should be accepted, and then the person would have to offer D, E, F, and G, as arguments for B and C. And the process goes on and on. Obviously it has to stop somewhere because an infinite regress of arguments cannot demonstrate the truth of one s conclusions. Thus, every worldview (and every argument) must have an ultimate, unquestioned, self-authenticating starting point. Another example: Imagine someone asking you whether the meter stick in your house was actually a meter long. How would you demonstrate such a thing? You could take it to your next-door neighbor and compare it to his meter stick and say, see, it s a meter. However, the next question is obvious, How do we know your neighbor s meter stick is really a meter? This process would go on infinitely unless there were an ultimate meter stick (which, if I am not mistaken, actually existed at one time and was measured by two fine lines marked on a bar of platinum-iridium alloy). It is this ultimate meter stick that defines a meter. When asked how one knows whether the ultimate meter stick is a meter, the answer is obviously circular: The ultimate meter stick is a meter because it is a meter. This same thing is true for Scripture. The Bible does not just happen to be true (the meter stick in your house), rather it is the very criterion for truth (the ultimate meter stick) and therefore the final stopping point in intellectual justification. Michael Kruger The Sufficiency of Scripture in Apologetics, The Master s Seminary Journal 12/1 (Spring 2001) The Testimony of the Church (WCF 1:4) (Difficult for Protestants). The Church is the keeper and transmitter of the Word of God. The Church does NOT convey authority. It merely recognizes the Bible s own authority. The Church says that the Bible deserves reverence and esteem because it is the Word of God. Limited: it moves to a high and reverent esteem. The self-attestation of Scripture We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church to an high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scripture. And the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, the majesty of the style, 9

10 the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole (which is, to give all glory to God), the full discovery it makes of the only way of man s salvation, the many other incomparable excellencies, and the entire perfection thereof, are arguments whereby it does abundantly evidence itself to be the Word of God: yet notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and with the Word in our heart. [WCF 1:5] o It takes beyond high esteem. o There is logical cogency to the Bible upon hearing it. Calvin: the divine image is viscerally impressed upon Scripture. Testimonium internum Spiritus sancti Scripture bears upon the face of it as clear evidence of its truth, as white and black do of their color, sweet and bitter of their taste Let it therefore be held, that those who are inwardly taught by the Holy Spirit acquiesce implicitly in Scripture; that Scripture carrying its evidence along with it [ self-authenticated, autopiston (Gk)], deigns not to submit to proofs and arguments, but owes the full conviction with which it ought to receive it to the testimony of the Spirit. John Calvin INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION I.vii.2,5 If the Bible does not witness to its own infallibility, then we have no right to believe that it is infallible. If it does bear witness to its infallibility then our faith in it must rest upon that witness, however much difficulty may be entertained with this belief. If this position with respect to the ground of faith in Scripture is abandoned, then appeal to the Bible for the ground of faith in any other doctrine must also be abandoned. The doctrine of Scripture must be elicited from the Scripture just as any other doctrine should be. If the doctrine of Scripture is 10

11 denied its right of appeal to Scripture for support, then what right does any other doctrine have to make this appeal? John Murray The Attestation of Scripture in The Infallible Word 3rd. ed. Paul Woolley and Ned B. Stonehouse (Philadelphia: P & R, 1967), 8-9 If one objects that any sophisticated reasoning or pre-understanding would bar the ordinary Christian from reaching the conviction that Scripture claims to be the Word of God, the answer is at hand. We are ultimately persuaded of the inspiration and authority of Scripture not on the basis of coherent arguments in textbooks of doctrine but through the inward work of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts. It is by reading Scripture under the Spirit s influence, rather than by skill of logic, that trust in God s Word is born. Sinclair B. Ferguson How Does the Bible Look at Itself? in INERRANCY AND HERMENEUTIC: A TRADITION, A CHALLENGE, A DEBATE Ed. Harvie Conn (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1988), The witness of Spirit: o [Lydia] The Lord opened her heart Acts 16:14 o The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:14 o because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction 1 Thessalonians 1:5 o when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the 11

12 word of men but as what it really is, the word of God (1 Thessalonians 2:13) o CANON Old Testament canonical self-consciousness grows out of its view of itself as a covenant document (written documentation accompanied a covenant relationship). [see, Meredith Kline, The Structure of Biblical Authority] The New Testament views the Old Testament as the Word of God as Scripture. [see above] Note the way Old Testament quotations are introduced by It is written (John 6:31, 8:17, 12:14, etc.). It is a phrase which in the New Testament puts an end to all contradiction. [Herman Ridderbos, Studies in Scripture and Authority (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1978), 21.] Then note the way John rounds off his own Gospel with the words, these are written (John 20:31). Paul viewed his teaching as the Word of God ; when you received the word of God, which you heard from us (1 Thessalonians 2:13) Disobedience to the teaching in these letters could lead to excommunication: If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed (2 Thessalonians 3:14). Apostolic letters are read alongside Old Testament Scripture: And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea (Colossians 3:14). cf. Revelation 22:18-19: I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes 12

13 away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. Note the way 1 Timothy 5:18 cites both Old and New Testament books (Deuteronomy 25:4 and Luke 10:7) with the words, for the Scripture says. 2 Peter 3:15-16, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. A consciousness of canonical status See Michael J. Kruger, Canon Revisited: Establishing the Origins and Authority of the New Testament Books (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012). Bart Ehrman s crusade: His point of view is to say, This is what all seminaries teach and students accept it without question. This is NOT true. Jesus Interrupted (2009) The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot (2006) Lost Scriptures (2005) 13

14 Lost Christianities (2003) Responding to Bart Ehrman See Michael Kruger s YouTube Video: What advice would you give to students taking Dr. Ehrman s class? -- or