Reformed Dogmatics by Herman Bavinck

Author:Herman Bavinck [Bavinck, Herman]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: REL067000, Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerk (Netherlands)—Doctrines, Reformed Church—Doctrines, Theology, Doctrinal
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2015-10-26T16:00:00+00:00

THE RISE OF CRITICAL PROTESTANTISM

[111] The Reformers accepted Scripture and its God-breathed and God-breathing character as it had been handed down to them by the church. Luther now and then, from his soteriological position, expressed an unfavorable opinion about some books of the Bible (Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah, James, Jude, Revelation) and admitted some minor discrepancies, but on the other hand he clung to the inspiration of Scripture in the strictest sense, even extending it to the very letters.42 Although the Lutheran confessions have no separate article on Scripture, its divine origin and authority is everywhere assumed.43 The Lutheran dogmaticians, Melanchthon in his preface to his Loci, Chemnitz, Gerhard, etc., all have the same view. Quenstedt and Calovius were not the first to use such language, but Gerhard already calls the authors the “amanuenses of God,” the “hands of Christ,” and the “notaries public” and “stenographers of the Holy Spirit.”44 Later theologians only further developed and applied this notion.45 Among Reformed scholars we encounter the same doctrine of Scripture. Zwingli frequently gives priority to the internal over the external word, points out historical and chronological inaccuracies, and sometimes extends inspiration also to pagan authors.46 But Calvin regards Scripture in the full and literal sense as the Word of God.47 While he does not recognize the Letter to the Hebrews as Pauline, he does consider it canonical, and he assumes the presence of error in Matthew 22:9 and 23:25 but not in the autographa.48 The Reformed confessions almost all have an article on Scripture and clearly express its divine authority;49 and all the Reformed theologians without exception take the same position.50 Occasionally one can discern a feeble attempt at developing a more organic view of Scripture. Inspiration did not always consist in [new] revelation but, when it concerned familiar matters, it consisted in assistance and direction. The authors were not always passive but also at times active. They used their own intellect, memory, judgment, and style but always in such a way that they were guided and kept from error by the Holy Spirit.51 Also in that way there was not the least tendency to detract from the divinity and infallibility of Scripture. The writers were not authors but scribes, amanuenses, notaries, the hands and pens of God. Inspiration was not negative but always positive, an “impulse to write” and “the suggestion of matters and words.” It not only communicated unfamiliar but also familiar matters and words, for certainly the writers had to know them precisely thus and precisely so, not only materially but also formally, not only humanly but also divinely.52 Inspiration extended to all chronological, historical, and geographic matters, indeed to the words, even the vowels and the diacritical marks.53 Barbarisms and solecisms were not accepted in Holy Scripture. Differences in style were explained in terms of the will of the Holy Spirit, who wanted to write now in one way and now in another.54 Materially, as it concerns letters, syllables, and words, Scripture is “considered from the human perspective”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.