1990 issue 3 - the inspiration of the scriptures: the plenary inspiration of the bible - counsel of...

8/12/2019 1990 Issue 3 - The Inspiration of the Scriptures: The Plenary Inspiration of the Bible - Counsel of Chalcedon

1/3

The Inspiration

of

the Scriptures

more

and more

manifest. Such catch

words as 'progressive revelation,'

'per-

sonal experience,'

'devotion

to the truth,'

etc.,

are one

by

one being cast

into the

discard.

Moderni

sm

and

Liberalism,

by

the confession

of heirown d h e r ~ n t . s

a r ~

terribly bankrupt,

noth

ing but 'cracked

cisterns,' into

which men lower

in

vain

theirvessels

for thew

ater oflife. There

is

no plausible

substitute

for an

inspired

Bible.No one can preach with the power

and influence of him

who

draws a sword

bathed in heaven, and

who goes

into the

pulpit with

a

'Thus

saith the

Lord'

back

of him. .

When

man faces the over

whelming facts

of

sin, passion, pain,

sorrow, death,

and the

beyond-death, the

glib

andeasy

phrases

of

c

urrent Modem-

ism

and

flippant Liberalism are found to

VI. The Plenary Inspiration of the Bible

by

Loraine Boettner

Inconsistent Position of

the Modernists

W

havealreadysaidthatso-called

Moclemists

or

Liberals have

no

consistent stoppingplace. They

must

either

go clear over

to rationalism

and barren negation, or they must turn

back again to an authoritative Scripture.

The

history

of

Protestant Liberalism

shows us very clearly that

it

has had

extreme difficulty

in

maintaining itself

even on the platform

of

theism,

to

say

nothing of that of Christianity. Its ten

dency has been constantly downgrade, a

progressive repudiation ofall the funda

mentals of he Christian faith.

The

Mod-

ernist,

i

he proceeds logically

in

the

direction which his premises carry him,

denies, first, tlle

in

spiration

of

he Scrip

tures, then

the

miracles, then the deity

of

Christ, then the atonement, then

the

res

urrection, and finally, i he goes to the

end of his road, he ends up in absolute

skepticism. New England Unitarianism

affords an example of this very thing.

Strange as the words may sound in

our

ears, it is not uncommon in some places

in

America today to hear the atlleistic

shade of mode

rn

theology spoken of.

There

is,unfortunately

for so

me, a happy

consistency in

the

processes

of

reason

whi

ch drives the various philosophical

and religious systems to their logical

conclusions.

Practically all evangelical churches

require those

wh

o are ordained

to

the

ministry to take a public

vow that

they

accept the Bible

as

the

Word of

God.

In

the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., for

instance, every minister

and

elder athis

ordination solemnly

vows

before

God

and men that he "believes

the

Scriptures

of he Old and New Testaments to be the

Word

o

God the o

nly

infallible rule

of

faith and practice." (Italics ours.) (Form

ofGovernment, XIII:

IV;

XV:XII.)Since

this confession is thoroughly evangelical

it

means that

none but

evangelicals can

honestly and intelligently accept this

ordination.

AModemisthasnot

he slight

est

right to

be

a minister

or elder

in an

evangelical church, and any Modernist

who

does become such lacksgoodmoral

ity as

well

as

good

theology.

To

declare

one

thing while believing

the

contrary is

hardlyconsistentwith thecharacterofan

honestrnan.Andyetwhileourordination

vows

are so thoroughlyevangelical,

how

"Therefore, he who preaches historic Christi

anity

n ~

takes his stand upon a diyine revelation

has, amtd the storms and confusions and dark

~ e s s o ~ ~ present day, an incomparable posi

tion

many there are even among theministers

of

our

churches who either deny or pass

lightlyoverthis basic Christian truth, the

infallibility of the Scriptures

Sometimes those

who hold

a low

view

of inspiration attempt to evade

the

issue

by merely saying that the

Bible

contains

the word

of God. This loose formula,

however, means practically nothing. A

river

in

India ro

lling

down

iu golden

sands, certainly contains gold.

But just

what the

relative proportion is between

the

s

and and

the

gold

may

be

very

hard to

determine.

If

the

Bible

only containsthe

Word

of God, as even the Modernist is

willing to admit, then certainly

it may

lack

a great deal of being infallible, and

we

are then

left to

the mercies of"H.igher

Criticism,"or o ourown ndividual opin

ions, as to just when elements are the

words

of God

and which are only the

words of man.

As

Dr. Clarence

E. McCartney

has

recently said, Thosewho have departed

from

faith in an infallible Bible have .

made desperate,

but

utterly vain efforts,

to

secure a suitable s

ub

stitute

and

other

standing ground.

But

as time

goes

by,

the

path

etic hopelessness

of

this effort is

be nothing but a brokenreed. Therefore,

he

who

preaches historic Christianity

and

takes

his

stand upon a divine revelation

has, amid the sto

rms

and confusions and

darlcness ofour present

day,

an incompa

rable position .

There

are

not

wanting

signs today that

men will

return to the

Holy Scripture,

to

drink again of

the

Water of Life and strengthen their souls

with

theBreadofLife,and that

aprodigal

Church,

sickof he hu

sks

of he far co

un

try, will return to its

Father's

ho use.

Those who reject the Church

doctrine

of

inspiration

in favor of some

lowered

formhave neverbeen able to agreeamong

themselves as to

whichparts of

he

Bible

are inspired and which arenot, or to what

extent any part is in

spired.

If

this high

doctrineof verbal inspiration

is

rejected,

there is no consistentstopping pla

ce

short

of saying that the Scripture writers were

inspired

only

as

was

Shakespeare,

or

Milton,

or Tennyson; and in fact someof

thecritics have consistently followedout

their premises and

have reached

that

conclusion.

We

submit, however, that i

th other

miracles

recorded in

Scripture

l >e

accepted there is no

logical

reason

for

rejecting the miracle of inspiration, for

The Counsel

of

Chalcedon April 1990 page 9


2/3

inspiration is s:i.lnply a Iriiracle in the

realm

of

speaking orwriting.

Mostof

he

objections which are brought against the

doctrine today can

be

traced more or less

to the assumptionthat the supernaturalis

impossible.

Assurance

That

the Bible

s

the Word of God

The question naturally arises, How:are

we to

know

that the Bible is the Word

of

God,

Wereply:Bythewitnessofthe,Holy

Spirit within our hearts

s

we read.

As

the Christian reads the Bible he

instini::

. ively feels that God is speaking to him.

The Holy Spirit bears witnesswith his

spirit that these things are so, the primary

similar

to thatofproving the existenceof

God from the external world. We may

cite the ontologicil. the teleological, the

cosmological and the moral arguments,

and the evidence seems convincing

enough to the believer. Yet none

of

hese

arguments are demonstrative and coer

cive, and they usually leave the skeptics

unconvinced. When we consent to stake

the authority of Scripture on external

arguments we ateconsenting to fight the

battle on. the field

of

our opponents'

choosing, and we then simply have

to

make

t

best of 'a vulnerable position.

These arguments in

t h e m s e l v ~ a{e of

such a nature as to invite doubt in 'the

unregenerate mind, and they can never

petmanendy settle the question. When

''The authority

of

he Holy Scripture, forwhichitoughtto be

believed and obeyed, dependeth not upon he testimony of any

man or church, but wholly upon God (who is truth itself), the

author thereof;

ai:td

therefore it is

to

bereceived, because it is

the Word

of

God

(Westminster Confession, :IV)

' . .

and decisive grounds for his conviction we.consent to fight the battle on these

being not external but internal. To the . ground we are making c

0

nces5icin

to

spiritually illuminated the word

-is

self- . Ratlonilism,

a

y ~ t e i n which assumes

authenticating. He does, indeed, find thatthehumanreasoniscapableofsittirtg

much additionalll$Surance to be had

in

in judgment .upon and eV-alu'ating all

noting the many incomparable excellen- human experiences, and'which denies he

cies of the writings, such as the l0ft)' necessity of any divine revelation what-

spiritual and moral truths set forth, the soever. '

unity of

all

the parts, the majesty of the n our deepest selves we are either

style, the unifonnly uplifting influenceof regenerate or i.mtegenerate. Paul tells us

the Bible wherever

it

has gone, its appeal that thenatural (unregenerate) man re-

at one and the same time to the learned ce.ivethnotthe thingsoftheSpiritofGOd:

philosopher and to the poor black inan

of

for they are foolishness unto hini; and he

the jungle, its statement of trUth

in

such carinotknow them, because they arespirl-

simple language that evena child

c ~

tuillyjuQ.ged'

1

(I Cor .

~ 1 4 :

and agaiithe

grasp its meaning while even the most says-that.thegospelofChristcrucifiedis

learned man cannot exhaust its depths, . ''tinto Jews

a-stWn.bling

block, and unto

the minute fulfillment

of p r o p h e c i ~ s

derttiles foolishness ; but unto them that

centuries after they were

spoket1,

ate called,

b9tp

rews and Greeks,

it

1s

These are, indeed, proofs which should the power

of

God, and the wisdom of

compel acceptance, and they can beef God

urito

s;llvation (I Cor. 1:23, 24).

fectively used to stop the mouths of ob- Ccinsequendy the unregenerate inan as-

jectors; but in the final analysis they are sumes an antagonistic attitude, and will

ofsubordinatevalue only.Apartfrom the n o t b e c o n v i ~ t e d b y any amountofexter-

inner illumination

of

he Holy Spirit they . nal testimony. Yll;imately every person

willnotcimvincetheunbeliever;normHter ,

. .

hastoma1ce

a hoiCe tletWeenthevoxDei

how logically and skillfully theyrui:Y

be .

and the

vox:nwridi,

the voice

of

God and

presented. . . ' . the

voiCeof

he

o d d ;

~ d the question

as

The attempt to

r o ~ e the

divine origin to which

pf

these he c ~ o w l e d g e s to be

oftheBiblefrorntheseexrerrialcritenais the more authOritative is determined by

The

counsel

of

Chalcedon April, 1990 page 2

whether the soul is regenerate or unre

generate, t is as impossible for the un

aided human reason o understi.rtd the

deep things of the Spirit as it is for the

ordinary psychologist to give

an ade

quate explanation

of

the process

of

con

version. Every attempt to convince the

unregenerate soul

of

he divine origin

of

the Bible by means of scholarly and his

torical proof can only result in failure,

and must be given up as completely as

when

Jesu,s

forebore to convince the

members

of

he Sanhedrin thathewasnot

guilty

of

blasphemy when they had made

up their

niinds

to the contrary. This was

the principle for which the Protestant

Cl\urch stood at he timeof the Reforma-

-tion. While heRomanCatholicsacknowl

edged the Churchas thesourceofauthor

ity, and

theHurnan:ists

acknowledged the

human reason,

the

Protestant principle,

as it was given typical expression for

instance in the

Westminster Confession,

was the voiceof

GOd

speaking n he soul.

The authority

of

the Holy Scripture, for

.which it ought

o

be believed and obeyed,

dependethnot upon the testimony of any

man or church, but wholly upon God

(who is truth itself), the u t h ~ thereof;

and therefore it s to be received, because

it is the Word of GOd. . . .

Our

full

persuasion and assurance

of

he infallible

truth, and

divine

authority thereof,

is

from

the inward work

of

he Boly Spirit, bear

ing witness by and with the word in our

hearts (I:IV, V).

We

would doubdess

make better progress in our present day

discussions

if we kept that principle in

mind.

In the final analysis, then, the Chris

tian's faith does not depend upon exter

nal proofs, but \lpon an inner experience.

He lives by

the Scripture and enjoys its

light. He

has an

inner conscious assut

ance call

it mysticism

or

whatever you

will that

he is a child

of

God, and that

the Scriptures are the word

of God.

The

external proofs help to clarify

and

strengthen

his

faith, but his absolute and

inescapable proof that the Christian sys

tem in general is the true system is found

in the witness of the Holy Spirit in his

heart as he reads and n his experience as

a Christian. Although he may not .be

possessed

of

scholarly and scientific

evidence which wouldenablehim

to

meet

the des tructivecritics on their own

ground,

he repels all their doubts in the same


3/3

manner as did the blind

man

who was

healed by the Saviour, andwho replied

to

every argumentof the Pharisees with the

immovable conviction of certainly:

"Whether he is a sinner, I know not: one

thing I know, that, whereas I was blind,

now I see." He no more asks pennission

of the critic to believe than he asks per

mission

of

the scientist

to

breathe, but

finds both nost natural and spontaneous.

He

does, indeed, fmd that truly scientific

and scholarly study gives clearer direc

tion to the word and that it enables

him

o

systematize and understand it better. But

his

authority for belief is from the heart

~ a t h e r

than from the reasoning processes

of the head.

This does not mean that we deprecate

scholarship. Nowhere has the principle

of

soundscholarship and scientific inves

tigation existed in a healthierstate

than

in

the

loyal

sons

of

he Evangelical churches.

In fact,

we

are persuaded that except for

the service which scholarship has ren

dered, the Christian faith would have

been well-nigh helpless against the at

tacks of unbelief. We desire a solid his

torical foundation for our faith, and our

investigation shows that we have such.

We acknowledge that the external proofs,

when presented

to

unbelievers in a rea

sonable way, point the way to God and

often prepare the heart for the gracious

work

of

the Holy Spirit. But we simply

wish to

point out that these proofs

which

are relied upon so heavily by some are

ineffective unless supplemented

by

the

work of the

Holy

Spirit in the heart.

Our opponents will probably complain

that this method of procedure gives a

strong dogmatic cast to the d.isc1 1.ssion.

They forget, however, that they proceed

in exactly

the

sameway: they tooproceed

from premises which are as axiomatic,

even though they profess

to

be particu

larly subject to reason. Their axiom is

that

the

human reason is competent to

judge

all

things, even the deep things

of

God. While

we

acknowledge that theirS

is also a dogmatic procedure, we do not

complain about it, since they cannot

do

otherwise-the mind which has notbecm

enlightened by the Spirit is not able to

discern the things

of

the Spirit. As

Thomwell has fittingly said. "the reality

of evidence is one thing, the power

to

perceive it, is quite another.I is no objec

tion to the brilliancyof he

sun

i t fails to

illuminate the blind." We each have our

fixed method

of

procedure. All we can

ask is that these principles be put to a

practical test, and thatwe be givenoppor

tunity to see which best squares with the

experiences of life and reality.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, then, we would say that

it is of the u t o s ~ importance that the

Lord's people be thoroughly rooted and

grounded in this great doctrine of the

plenary inspiration of Holy Scripture,

and that having examined the evidence

they be convinced that the Bible is the

very Word ofGod. Since allof the other

Christian doctrines are derived from the

Bible and rest upon it for their authority,

this doctrine is,

as

it were, the mother and

guardian

of

all theothers. We believe that

the foregoing statements are facts which

will stand the test

of

scholarship and

of

historical nvestigation, and that they will

not be denied by any infonned and han-

est-minded person.

While in our day the Bible has been

sadly neglected even in many of the

churches, we believe that the time is

coming when the Bible shall have its

rightful and honored place in the Church

and in the affairs

of

men. At any rate

we

look forward confident that when the

tumult is over, when the presentstorm

of

unbeliefhas subsided, the sacred heights

of Sinai and Calvary will again stand

forth, and that amid the wreck

of hroneS

extinct nations, and shattered moral prin

ciples, mankind, tried by so many sor

rows, purified by so much suffering, and

wise with so much unprecedented expe

rience, will again bow before an omnipo

tent and merciful God asHe s revealed in

an infallible Bible.

[Thuswe conclude Dr.Boettner'sworkon

The Inspiration

o

he Scriptures

taken from

his book Studies in Theology, publishedby

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company,

Grand Rapids, Ml,

1947.]

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The Counsel

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Chalcedon April, 1990 page 2

1990 issue 3 - the inspiration of the scriptures: the plenary inspiration of the bible - counsel of...

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