Blogging through and answering the questions from G. I. Williamson's The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes for personal review and comprehension.
Prior posts:
I. Of the Holy Scriptures - 1.
I. Of the Holy Scriptures - 2-5.
I. Of the Holy Scriptures - 6.
I. Of the Holy Scriptures - 7.
WCF. I. Of the Holy Scriptures - 8.
1. How many "Bibles" are there (in the ultimate sense)?
In the ultimate sense, there is only one Bible, "given by inspiration of God, to be the rule of faith and life" (WCF. I.2.).
2. Give the correct definition of "the Bible."
It is the original text [the "autographa of the inspired authors" (15)] written by authors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
3. Do we actually possess the original manuscripts upon which the Word of God was originally written?
No. We only have copies (apographa) of the original text. But these copies "actually possess it [the original text] in "authentical" form" (15).
4. What does the Modernist say about the "original, infallible Word of God"?
He says, "What use . . . is an infallible Bible when no one possesses it?" (The Modernist equivocates the original manuscript, which we no longer have, with the original text, which we do have preserved in copies.)
5. Could a copy of the infallible Word of God be as infallible as the Word of which it is a copy? Explain.
Yes. A copy preserves and transmits the truth of the original.
6. Were the early copies perfect?
Some could have been, but they could not all necessarily be perfect because they were copied by uninspired persons. They were copied by hand and men make mistakes.
7. What two chief factors worked to preserve the perfect text even through imperfect copiers?
First, there is a cloud of witnesses (copies). Each copiest made his own mistakes, and the other copies stand as witnesses of both a) the entire text and b) against that copiest's mistakes.
Second, the Greek-speaking Churches that were founded outside of Palestine were familiar with the text and mistakes would have been noticed, this "helped reduce the errors of copiers to an exceedingly small amount" (17).
8. Which of these do you believe most important?
Williamson believes the former is weightier.
9. Why is it no longer necessary that preservation of the true text depend on the Greek-speaking Church?
Because we now have "mechanical means of printing" (17), i.e., printing presses, copy machines, e-publishing, photographs and digital imaging, etc.
10. What is the glorious result of God's singular care and providence so far as Scripture is concerned?
God has by his "care and providence" kept the original text pure through the ages; "We do now actually possess before our very eyes the "authentical" text of the Word of the living God" (17).
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