Defense and Demonstration

"As twenty-first-century evangelical Protestants, we must combine our defense of biblical inerrancy with a positive demonstration of the transforming power of God's Word" (Joel R. Beeke, The Family at Church: Listening to Sermons and Attending Prayer Meetings, 5).

Scripture and Christian Formation

"The Christian Scriptures are the primary text for Christian spirituality. Christian spirituality is, in its entirety, rooted in and shaped by the scriptural text. We don't form our personal spiritual lives out of a random assemblage of favorite texts in combination with individual circumstances; we are formed by the Holy Spirit in accordance with the text of Holy Scripture. God does not put us in charge of forming our personal spiritualities. We grow in accordance with the revealed Word implanted in us by the Spirit" (Eugene H. Peterson, Eat This Book, 15).

Col. 3:16-17, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

Worship, which is Spirit-led and Scripture-saturated, is corporate discipleship; by Spirit and Word, worship provides both corporate-formation and personal spiritual-formation.

Puritan Hermeneutics and Exegesis

Excerpt from the conclusion to the second chapter ("Puritan Hermeneutics and Exegesis") in A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life by Joel R. Beeke and Mark Jones.

Thus, their [Puritan authors like John Owen, Thomas Goodwin, John Howe, Stephen Charnock, etc.] covenantal reading of the Bible, whereby history is divided into two basic covenants (i.e., works and grace) meant that they were consciously reading the Scriptures with a Christ-centered lens, which was seen in their use of typology and, at times, allegory. They rejected the many "sense" of Scripture (i.e., the so-called quadriga), but their writings certainly show that they were often keen to press home the "fuller sense" of certain passages, which may have multiple layers of meanings and was a legitimate application of the literal meaning (sensus literalis). Their view that the Scriptures were internally consistent and that most theological truths had to be gathered out of more than one place in the Bible made the basic principles of the analogy of faith and "good and necessary consequence" [WCF. I.] an indispensable part of their hermeneutic. These principles of interpretation are important, but if reason alone tries to make sense of the mystery of the gospel, a Christian will forever run into error and heresy. Only a Spirit-wrought, supernatural faith will allow a Christian to believe that God had a Son as old as Himself! And yet to come to formulate such a truth a host of interpretative techniques were required (40).

Theology and Controversy

I remember distinctly during undergraduate studies my Theology instructor telling our class, "Theology is controversial." There were two maxims our instructor had us repeat throughout the class, the former more frequently than the latter, and they were, "I am a theologian," and "Theology is controversial."

Theology is messy business. Case in point: recently Peter Leithart critiqued theological musings from David Bentley Hart's newest book. Leithart defends the literal sense of Scripture, contra Hart, and Leithart's comments are excellent, but, additionally, the article is a good reminder that, as my undergraduate professor said, "Theology is controversial." So, here we have two learned and well respected churchmen, but they just don't see eye to eye. Thus, controversy. 

Truth

Discussing the tenet "Christianity is true and anything opposing it is false," K. Scott Oliphint says, "God's revelation describes the way things really and truly are in the world. That is, we are saying that what God says about the world is the way the world really is" (Covenantal Apologetics: Principles and Practice in Defense of Our Faith, 51).

Bible and Lordship of Christ

"The Bible is authoritative not because we accept it as such, but because it is the word of the risen Lord. It has a claim on all people. Its truth is the truth for every person in every place. Why, then, would we be reluctant to communicate that truth in our apologetics? Perhaps because we have not reckoned with the actual lordship of Christ. Perhaps we haven't really set him apart as Lord in our hearts" (K. Scott Oliphint, Covenantal Apologetics: Principles and Practice in Defense of Our Faith, 37).

Internal Evidence of Scripture's Divine Origin

"The Bible claims to be the word of God; it speaks in his name, it assumes his authority" (Charles Hodge, The Way of Life: A Handbook of Christian Belief and Practice, 17).

Praying and Reading

What to pray while reading Scripture: "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law" (Psalm 119:18).

Treasury of Scripture

"When Scripture is stored in the mind, it is available for the Holy Spirit to take and bring to your attention when you need it most" (Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, 42).

High-View of Scripture in a Nutshell

An illustration from one of C. H. Spurgeon's sermons: a high-view of Scripture in a nutshell.

"I believe in the Bible," said one. 

"How can you do that?" sneered another. 

"Because I know the Author," was the fit reply.

Revelation

"We may, and must, emphatically protest against any two-sources-theory, which places Scripture and tradition, or Scripture and nature, or Scripture and history, on one line, as sources of knowledge of equal import [emphasis original]. Any such equalization has always resulted in a devaluation of Holy Scripture. But also every attempt to prove, on the basis of fallen mankind's blinded eyes, that God has revealed himself only by his Word, and not already in the works of his hands, must be rejected" (G. C. Berkouwer, General Revelation, 280).  

Unity of Scripture by Inspiration of Holy Spirit: Purpose - Make Us Wise unto Salvation Through Faith in Christ

From many points of view the Scriptures show a manifold variety, but they present an impressive unity when considered in the light of the purpose for which they were given, to make us wise unto salvation through faith in Christ. This unity we believe to be the result of their inspiration, and it is to be appreciated by the illumination of that same Spirit who controlled the writers in their recording of the revelation and guided the Church in its discerning of what was so inspired (F. F. Bruce, “What Do We Mean By Biblical Inspiration?” Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute, 78 (1946): 120-139).

Scripture & Christ

Scripture is God speaking to us; Scripture is God abstracting the world in order to teach us about the world. This is why Scripture is more like a poem, a song, or a novel, and less like a textbook. Scripture is more like an italicized word--carrying emphases and nuance--and less like a proper noun or another part of speech. In Scripture we see God isolating, enhancing, and highlighting elements of history. Why? Because Scripture is all about Jesus. Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit the Father is telling the created world (God is telling us) about his son, the second person of the Trinity, who is the Lord Jesus Christ.Why? Because God loves the world (John 3:16), and this means that Scripture provides for Christians both true and enhanced knowledge of God and the world.

Christian Ministers: Preach Scripture

Christ is all: Christian ministers must preach and live Christ (“Christ is the mainspring both of doctrinal and practical Christianity” (J. C. Ryle, Holiness, 309). Christ is all: Christian ministers must give hope and truth to the church by washing her in the Word. The timeless foundation for making Christ all is clinging to the voice of Christ echoing in the Scriptures; in order for the church to make Christ all, she must listen to the voice of her Beloved. Therefore, a Christian minister must never exchange the voice of his own clever ideas for the voice of Christ in the Scriptures!