Today is Wednesday and we continue our weekly walk through the Westminster Confession of Faith. The next two points in section 1 are excellent and well worth contemplating. Last week we considered the canon of Scripture; today we look at the authority of Scripture.
1. Of Holy Scripture
IV. The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, dependeth 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.
V. We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church to a high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scripture.[a] And the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, the majesty of the style, 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 doth 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 hearts.
What does this mean? It means that the authority of Scripture rests alone on God. Why? Because God’s Word comes with God’s divine authority. It does not need to be backed up by lesser authorities such as the Church or human reason and argument. Let’s think about this with an analogy. When arguing about the efficacy of a vaccine, to use a current example, if a qualified vaccinologist argued for the efficacy of the vaccine, nothing would be added by saying, “And Bob the baker in Blenheim agrees, as does Florence the florist and Facebook addict. One does not appeal to lesser authorities because it adds nothing. As Williamson says in his study on the Confession, “Authority can depend only on that which is higher than itself.” But there is no authority higher than God. This of course does not mean that there is no clear and helpful evidence for Scripture’s truth and authority. However, these pieces of evidence hold less weight than the authority of God which is tied to his Word.
Our detractors would argue that this creates a vicious circle of argument. But all arguments ultimately rely on some authority and are, therefore circular. For the humanist this might be his own reason or experience. The Christian realises the finiteness and fallenness of man is no very strong foundation for truth. Yet God, the infinite, the sinless, omniscient and omnipotent God is.
It’s also interesting to reflect on how God’s Word presents itself. The Bible opens in Genesis with, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” We are not presented with an argument for the existence of God. He is and he speaks. He does not need to prove his existence to the creatures whose existence is contingent on His creative Word.
So why can people not see this truth? As finite creatures, we are of course at a disadvantage in the knowledge realm. But more than that, as fallen creatures, we are both self-deceived and blinded to truth. We are naturally hostile to God and biased to reject his authority. This is why man will naturally reject His Word. In Romans 1 we learn that unbelievers suppress the truth and in 2 Corinthians 2:4 we are told that unbelievers are blinded and kept from seeing “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.” Further in this passage, we see that God the Creator who shone light into the darkness is also the Redeemer who shines redemptive truth into our lives. This is done by the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 2:14-15 the implication is that though the natural (fallen man without the Spirit) does not accept things that come from the Spirit of God, the redeemed man does.
This is what we see in the Confession. God’s Word is its own authority, and the inward work of the Holy Spirit shows this to man. Wilkinson in his study on the Confession puts it this way, “The Scripture is truly God’s Word, and bears on every page the stamp of authenticity as God’s Word, but without the work of the Holy Spirit we would never be able to see it an accept it as such.