Over the next several weeks, we will dedicate every other post to an exposition of chapter 1 of the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith. The goal of these expositions is to analyze the confession and engage in theological reasoning with the goal of knowing God by receiving discipleship from the past as we seek to humbly receive and confess the faith that came before us for the benefit of those who come after us.
Chapter 1 paragraph 1 (LBC 1.1) of the confession reads as follows:
The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience, (2 Tim 3:15-17; Isa 8:20; Luke 16:29,31; Eph 2:20) although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God and his will which is necessary unto salvation (Rom 1:19-21; 2:14-15; Ps 19:1-3). Therefore it pleased the Lord at sundry times and in divers manners to reveal himself, and to declare that his will unto his church (Heb 1:1); and afterward 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 dwriting; which maketh the Holy Scriptures to be most necessary, those former ways of God’s revealing his will unto his people being now ceased (Pro 22:19-21; Rom 15:4; 2 Pet 1:19-20).
LBC 1.1 describes the necessity of Scripture. The necessity of Scripture is one of several attributes or perfections of Holy Scripture that, as theological concepts, became refined especially as the Reformed argued against the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) and the Anabaptists. As we examine each attribute, we will highlight how the Reformed avoided the errors of each camp, but with regard to the necessity of Scripture, one should note that both theological opponents diminished this teaching. The RCC argued that Scripture was necessary for the well-being of the church but not her existence since tradition and the magisterium preserve and propagate those teachings that are necessary (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 80-83). The Anabaptists reduced the external word, Scripture, to a past revelation and relied upon the Holy Spirit for an inner word, leading to fanaticism. Both the RCC and Anabaptists err by separating the work of the Spirit from the Word of God and creating other necessary rules for faith and obedience.
What did the Reformed believe? The Reformed argued that a word revelation from God is necessary due to our finitude and fallenness. Adam in the Garden of Eden needed a Word revelation from God and this need for the words from the Creator and Redeemer continues after the fall. The will of God for man’s salvation was revealed to Adam in the Covenant of Works when God provided a positive law to Adam, forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Apart from God’s revelation, Adam would not have known the positive law of God and the attending blessing and cursing. After Adam’s sin, God’s word revelation remained necessary as he progressively revealed the plan of salvation that culminated in Christ Jesus.
For this reason, LBC 1.1 states, “The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience.” The confession properly emphasizes Scripture’s unique role without diminishing other rules. Scripture is the rule that rules all rules and norm that norms all norms because Scripture’s words, not this or any other confession’s words, are God’s words. Lesser ministerial rules are binding insofar as they are faithful to the magisterial rule, Holy Scripture. As a proof text, the confession refers to Isaiah 8:20, which reads, “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.” Other sources that fail to consult the law and testimony of God walk in darkness without a future hope whereas those who turn to Scripture find words whose certainty is grounded in their Author.
Peter van Mastricht captures the importance of the necessity of Scripture by connecting the relationship between Scripture and the goal of life, which is living to God. He states, “The skill of living for God is not a natural power, one to which we are not taught but made; it is instead an acquired faculty, and therefore it certainly demands a rule to direct it, and in fact one that has been prescribed by God, as we taught just above. Over and above the life of Christ and one’s own conscience, we previously established that this rule is the Word of God, or Scripture. And as it is the norm for living, it is thus also a common complex of precepts and rules that apply to living. For this reason it is called the principium of theology,” (Van Mastricht, Theoretical-Practical Theology, I.113). Scripture, not our conscience or Christ isolated and abstracted from Scripture, guides and governs humanity into communion with God and since this can only occur in the form of a word revelation, Scripture is necessary.
The doctrine of the necessity of Scripture says something about God and us. God is the fount of all things and there is nothing we have that we have not received in both being and knowing. Our entire existence and knowledge depends upon God’s free self-revelation. The doctrine of the necessity of Scripture teaches us that what mankind needs most, and has always needed, is communion with God; yet man is unable to achieve or initiate this on his own. Man does not have the capacities, innate or by reason, to attain communion with God apart from covenantal communication from our Maker. For this reason, we say with Peter, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,” (John 6:68).
Next time, we will consider the difference between general and special revelation.