Our last article on the Confession examined the theological reasoning underlying the doctrine of the canon of Scripture. After affirming the Protestant list of books that comprise the canon, the Confession states, “All of which are given by the inspiration of God to be the rule of faith and life.” Accordingly, the Confession rejects Apocryphal books since they are not inspired by God, nor given to be a rule of faith in the church, and, consequently, are to be treated as human writings since they do not possess the authority of God.
The Confession’s explication of the Canon is relatively short, but the implications are vast and its argumentation precise. Only the Apocrypha is explicitly rejected, however, the reasoning provided allows one to likewise reject any book that fails to meet the Confession’s criteria, such as the Gnostic Gospels. A canonical book must be God’s speech given to God’s people. As we discussed in our previous post, this model gives precedence to the being and will of God over and against community models—historical or ecclesiastical—that give either ontological or epistemological preeminence to the hearing ear. Of course, we affirm that the true church has historically received God’s speech as her rule of faith and practice, acknowledging the importance of the hearing ear, but this simply follows as a descriptive consequence of God’s self-authenticating speech and wise purposes.
In the rest of this article, we wish to put forth the exegetical grounding for the approach set forth in the Confession. We will demonstrate that God speaks through spokespersons and his speech is recognized and received by virtue of divine authority.
First, God is identified throughout Scripture as the God who speaks. False gods cannot speak (Jer 10:6) despite having mouths (Ps 115:5); they cannot even utter an indistinct sound (Ps 115:7). When called upon by their people they are incapable of providing an answer (1 Kgs 18:26-28). By way of contrast, the true and living God speaks the universe into existence (Ps 33:6) and commands its actions (Jer 10:13). The one who makes the mouth of the speaking man teaches his spokespersons. (Ex 4:11-13). He speaks to his people in the following ways: he tells them what to say (Ex 4:12), he puts words in their mouth (Deut 18:18), he speaks to his prophets (Hos 1:2; Hab 2:1-2), and he speaks for himself (Lev 1:1). Although not all of God’s speech is Scripture, for God does not will to give all his speech to all his people, all of Scripture is breathed out by God (2 Tim 3:16), written by men who were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet 1:19-21). God’s speech not only distinguishes him from false gods, but it also grounds canon methodology. A book’s canonical status and our ability to discern this status rests on the doctrine of inspiration.
Second, God’s primary means of communicating his speech to his people is through his chosen spokespersons. The commissioning of prophets evidences itself throughout the OT narrative (Ex 3, 1 Sam 3, Jer 1, Ezek 1-3). Second Chronicles 36:15 identifies God as the one who frequently sent his messengers since he had determined to make his speech known through his prophets as he revealed his secret counsel (Amos 3:7-8). The NT is no different, as God continued to reveal himself through his spokespersons (Eph 2:20; 1 Pet 1:1:10-12, 23-25) and those who associated with them in the apostolic age (Heb 2:3-4). In various times and in various ways, the Lord spoke through his chosen instruments for the sake of declaring his word to his people (Heb 1:1-2).
Third, God’s speech is received by his people because it is his speech for his people. This affirmation does not privatize God’s speech to a select group of people with secret knowledge or access, for God’s speech is self-authenticating regardless of the hearers' darkened moral impairments (a topic to be addressed in a future article). The canon creates its hearers by virtue of its existence as God’s speech but does not depend on the hearers to become or be recognized as God’s speech.
Peter illuminates the truth that the canon is a received and proclaimed word from God that creates God’s people in 1 Peter 1:10-25. Men prophesied about the coming of Christ by virtue of the Spirit of Christ who indicated and predicted the person and work of Christ (1 Pet 1:11). These prophecies find their origin in God being revealed by the Spirit to spokespersons and were given for the church since they were prophesied for the sake of those who were yet to be born. Having been born, the believing audience of 1 Peter receives the prophetic message as the truth that purifies their souls (1 Pet 1:22). Note, Peter identifies the message preached to them from Isaiah as the received and proclaimed word of God (1 Pet 1:23, 25), emphasizing God’s speech and his intention that his words be publically received by his people.
Peter’s declaration does not make Isaiah’s writings God’s word, for Scripture teaches us that it is God’s word by nature of being God’s speech and it was already received as Scripture. The gospels all quote from Isaiah as the authoritative word of God (Matt 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4; John 1:23). Jesus, upon entering the synagogue, was handed the writings of Isaiah and proceeded to read from and expound upon the Scriptures (Luke 4:17). Luke states that the Ethiopian eunuch was reading from the Scripture when he read Isaiah 53. All this could occur because the book of Isaiah was an oracle of God given to the Jewish people (Rom 3:2), specifically, the portion identified as “the prophets,” (Luke 24:27, 44). The book of Isaiah just is the word of God for the people of God that came through the commissioned prophet, Isaiah.
Similar reasoning can be drawn from other texts of Scripture. In Ezekiel 13:1-3, the Lord draws a sharp contrast between true and false prophets. Ezekiel and the prophets of Israel prophesy, but the false prophets speak from their own inspiration or heart. Although they claim to speak from God, they speak from themselves. Ezekiel, on the other hand, receives and is commanded to speak God’s words. The prophets saw nothing whereas Ezekiel saw visions that came from God by special revelation. For this reason, Ezekiel speaks the words of God against the prophets.
A text with related concerns may be found in Jeremiah 14:14. False prophets have gone forth on their own initiative without the commission of God or a word from God (cf. Jer 23:21). They speak from themselves and on their own authority, yet they claim to speak for God, making their message false and futile. Elsewhere, speaking of these same prophets, God asserts that they speak from their own imagination rather than from his mouth (Jer 23:16).
Isaiah provides a positive example of a commissioned prophet, an instrument through whom God’s word would come to his people. Ezekiel and Jeremiah also fit this description and we find in their writings criticism of false prophets who neither had God’s words nor were they commissioned by God to speak to his people. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel’s words endure with the church to this day for the same reason that the rest of canon endures: these words find their origin in God who intended to give these words to his people. The false prophets of Ezekiel and Jeremiah’s day are rejected for the same reason the Apocrypha and Gnostic Gospels are rejected.
God’s speech and intention warrant a book's canonical status and ground the creature’s ability to recognize the canon on God’s authority. These books did not await the judgment of a council nor were God’s people without assurance that God had spoken until an official canonical list was written. God’s people receive God’s words on the authority of God himself (Exod 24:7) as it comes through his spokespersons. So, we join God’s people and humbly receive God’s words written down for us (Rom 15:4) not as the word of man but as the word of God (1 Thess 2:13).