Excerpts from Bavink's Reformed Dogmatics vol.2: We can truly know God.

It is so encouraging to realize that God is infinite.  He is not like us humans, finite and limited.  So he is completely trustworthy and able to care for his creation.  What is also encouraging is though he is infinite and we cannot therefore never know God in the fullness of his awesome perfection, we can still know truly know him and fellowship with him.  In grace he reveals himself to us.  This is gospel.  Bavink explained it this way…

God Almighty is truly incomprehensible.  "The distance between God and us is the gulf between the Infinite and the finite, between eternity and time, between being and becoming, between the All and the nothing" (Page 30).  Yes, he is infinitely exalted above us and we will never know the fullness of the glory of God.  However, this does not mean we cannot truly know God.  Scripture teaches the incomprehensibility of God... "His ways are past finding out" (Is 40:13; 1 Cor 2:16).  However, the bible also sets "forth a doctrine of God that fully upholds his knowability...In Scripture the knowability of God is never in doubt even for a moment (Is 40:26; acts 14:27; Rom 1:19-20; Jn 17:3; 20:31).  The purpose of God's revelation, according to Scripture, is precisely that human beings may know God and so receive eternal life" (Page 30).

We can know God even though he is incomprehensible

“What is God Jehovah Almighty?”  “Who is God Jehovah Almighty?”  People often wonder if these questions can be answered; especially when we in the Christian Church proclaim that the true God is eternal, infinite, and perfect in all his being.  I mean, if he is without beginning or ending when will we ever fully know, say his love or justice?  Would we ever come to the end of his perfect love or justice?  Well, if he is infinite (without beginning or ending) then of course not.  So then can we know him? 

Yes.  Let me explain.

First, it is true it is impossible for anyone to give a perfect description of God or know God completely as God knows himself.  God is incomprehensible because he is infinitely perfect. No human mind or word can fully know and express the perfections of God!  See these Bible verses Job 11:7; 27:23; Psalm 77:19; 145:3; Isaiah 40:28; 45:22; Romans 11:33.

But secondly, though God cannot be fully know or described by us, yet we may know and describe something about him.  He has revealed himself to us, and that which he makes known to us we can know for he teaches it to us.  For instance God sent his only begotten Son, Jesus to this earth to be the Saviour of sinners.  Now we see God in the flesh.  “He that has seen me, has seen the Father,” Jesus said (John 14:9).  Also God’s glory is set forth in the Bible.  The Bible is God’s Word.  In it God teaches us about himself as we read of his works in our world.  And then there is creation.  Our natural world reveals the attributes of God to us…so much so as to leave us without excuse!  See Romans 1.

You see in Jesus Christ, in the God-the-Spirit-inspired-Bible, and in creation God overcomes our darkness and finite mind.  We can know something of God, because God wants us to know something about him.  Yes, we cannot know God perfectly, but what we do know about God from Jesus Christ and the Spirit speaking through the Bible is perfectly true.  And we come to know what God wants us to know through the things I mentioned above through the Spirit and the faith he gives us.  Thanks be to God that “in his light we see light.”  (Psalm 36:9)

God gives us theology, but how do we get it?

Reading in Richard Muller’s Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics I came across an excellent explanation of where theology comes from and how we get it.  The short answer is God Almighty.  However, a two sentence blog post is to short so here are the little-bit-longer answers.

God Almighty is the cause of our knowledge about God and his world. That is to say, by the grace of God the Father in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit’s teaching work, we come to know God.  God has the perfect theology of God, “for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.  For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God” (1 Cor 2:10-11).

Well, how do we get this knowledge?  Answer: God by his grace.  This comes in basically three parts.  Muller only lists two in the section I read today, but in other places he cites the third part. 

Part one: “God as he wills, gives us to know the mysteries of his heavenly kingdom by means of his Holy Spirit”  (Muller. vol.1, Pg.242). 

Part two: “An attentive meditation on the divine Word, by the grace of the Holy Spirit’s illumination.”  (Muller. Vol.1, Pg.242).    Getting the knowledge of God is a supernatural blessing.  God the Spirit gives it by grace as he speaks through the Scriptures which he has also given by grace. 

Part three and best of all: Jesus Christ the Word of God.  Through him, the eternal and immutable Word of God we come to know God the Father, God the Spirit, and God the Son. 

John 14:9-11  “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?  Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.”

Matthew 11:27  “All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

Praise God Almighty.  He gave us theology!  We can worship him and love our fellow man because of his gift of theology.

The Bible is a covenantal book

This is my last post on Peter Jensen’s book The Revelation of God.  The work’s strongest point is the connection between gospel and revelation.  His basic point is this: God’s gospel in Christ is revelation and Scripture serves to give that revelation.  The most helpful thing for me was the connection between covenant and revelation.  Here are his points.

1.  The fall was a rebellion against the kingdom of God; the covenant restores that kingly relationship with his people.

2.  God’s covenant arrangements differed from time to time, depending on the developing state of his people.  The covenant with Abraham bound a family to the Lord; the covenant through Moses bound a nation to him; the covenant with David bound a kingdom to him; the covenant through Jesus binds his people to him.

3.  Well, these “covenantal people of God” have a book of the covenant (i.e Ex 24:7).  The Old and New Testament are covenantal.  There origin is in the Lord’s covenant with his people, and the book of the covenant (where his promises, blessings, hope, and judgements are recorded), is coterminous with the Scriptures since God carried the prophets and apostles along to record his covenantal dealings with his people.

4.  The covenant origin of Scripture then reveals both the authority and the nature of Scripture.  It is not a mere textbook, nor a merely a witness to the word of God.  It is a witness and a description of God’s will because it is the record of God’s promises and judgement.  So obviously the Bible read and preached gives both the message of grace and judgment.

5.  The authority of Scripture is the personal authority of the Lord over the people whom he has saved.

6.  Therefore, Scripture’s didactic function is exercised in the context of relationship with God (covenant).  The authority of Scripture is the authority of the Lord, who exercises that authority first by redeeming his people and then by placing them in covenant loyalty to himself.

This truth is helpful.  After all God is our Father, so when he talks to us it is because he is in relationship with us.  All of the above can be found on pages 155-156.

Unity of Scripture.

Great explanation on the unity of Scripture by Peter Jensen, in The Revelation of God.

"The unity of Scripture depends on its connection with God, that is, on the divine authorship....this unity is consistent with a diversity of time, place, language genre, experiences, and outlook.  The biblical unity is a unity of source (in God), of function (covenantal rule), of narrative (the fulfillment of promise), and of message (the gospel of Jesus Christ)."  Pg. 224.

This unity in regards to the message and purpose between the OT and the NT is superbly shown by F.F. Bruce in the fourth chapter of his, The Canon of Scripture.  The chapter is aptly titled, The Old Testament Becomes a New Book.  It is one the best explanations on the unity between Old and New Testaments.

Behaveing before the bible

Actual words are not the things for which they stand.  Yet they convey the reality of which they speak.  God sanctified human language to convey his reality and the reality of his promises, warnings, and gospel etc.

In breathing out his will (and all the other things he wanted his people to know), through words through the prophets and apostles he made known to us his will in words. So what his word says he says; and this should affect how we behave toward the bible.  We behave this way:  we let his word judge, encourage, redeem, and direct our obedience as God himself judges, encourages, redeems, and directs our obedience.  For indeed, through his breathed-out word he is doing these things even as these very words take us to Jesus Christ.  In his The Revelation of God, Peter Jensen wrote this poignant paragraph about how God uses the bible in our lives.

"We must note that the role of language in the divine-human relationship brought into being through the gospel is far more integral than is allowed for in modern accounts of revelation.  It simply is not possible to call the gospel, as many wish to call the Bible, a witness to revelation.  The gospel is revelation, both in that it communicates truths about God, his actions and intentions, and also in that it communicates his person.  For instance, it tells us that he has fixed a day on which he will judge the living and the dead.  This assertion is intensely personal and self-involving. It constitutes both information and promise, and is received only by faith.  It demands that we align our lives with its message.  It is not in itself the day of judgment; language is not the thing for which it stands.  But language can, and in this case does, convey the reality of which it speaks, so that we behave exactly as we should towards that reality (Heb 4:12-13).  To this extent we are judged by the very words themselves.  Likewise, we behave towards these words as we behave towards God himself.  They convey his person to us, since they are to be treated as we would treat him.  When we obey his word, we obey him; when we trust his word, we trust him; when we study his word, we study him; and yet he is, for his word is the appointed place of our relationship, and he is supremely faithful to it.  His word communicates his self to us:  'If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you' (John 15:7)."  Pg. 88

Not Another Textbook

Oh no, not another textbook!  Continuing on the topic of Scripture's authority Peter Jensen has a good point for evangelicals to remember.  Often we think of the Bible as a textbook written about us for us that a better life or relationship might come out for us in the end; rather than as God's gift revealing his promises, Person, and truth for his glory and our good in his glory.

Yes, the Bible is for us from God.  And, yes, following God's will and way as it is revealed in Scripture does help the repentant believer live a better (more godly) life.  However, the Bible is for us and guides us to the good life because it takes us to God, and then to us.  The Bible is about God, and it is about us and for us precisely because it is about God.  God 's gift of himself in Christ and the Spirit is analogous here.  God gave himself for us and to us in order to redeem and sanctify us, precisely because our redemption and sanctification are about himself.  God wants us to know him and his good life for us.

Jensen puts it like this.  "In its (the Bible) pages we have the self-revelation of God.  Without doubt, the Bible teaches us about God.  It has a key didactic function: if we are to respond to God in the area of truth, we need to be instructed in the truth.  But we also need to do justice to its covenantal nature, its function of finding us and holding us for God through its promises.  the promissory nature of Scripture means that it gives us information about the plans and purposes of God.  The Bible is God's many-sided provision for his covenant people.  The Psalms and Proverbs of the Bible, its prophetic laments, its promises and covenants, its narratives - these and its other literary forms serve to sustain and direct obedient faith."

Bible is intented to take us to Christ

Bishop Peter Jensen, gave this thought on the authority of Scripture.  I though it was helpful.  At the back of it is the gospel.

“God has used the covenant to re-establish his rule over his people through his word.  The covenant is a characteristic form of the word of God, culminating in the gospel, the word of promise and demand that centres on Jesus Christ…When we enter relationship with God on the basis of his covenant; we enter a relationship with one whose very words may be trusted completely.  It means too, that the Bible functions as both gospel and covenant in that it is intended to create and sustain our relationship with the living God on the right basis, namely on our being his covenant partners, bound to him in loyalty and obedience and relating to him thought he mediator, Jesus Christ.”  Peter Jensen.  The Revelation of God.  (Intervarsity Press, 2002).  Pg, 82.

Scripture is breathed out by God

2 Timothy 3:16 reads, "All Scripture is giving by inspiration of God."  Donald Macleod in his work, A Faith to Live By, gave some important comments on the doctrine of inspiration of Scripture as described by Paul in this text.  I've paraphrased Macleod's comments.

First, this does not mean that God breathed into the bible. It means that God breathed out the bible. Once Paul was in prison for preaching Christ. While there he wrote the Colossian letter. The letter he wrote was “breathed out by God.” We can say the same thing about Psalm 23. Now the important thing was not Paul or David, but the Scriptures! Through them God breathed out the words he wanted us to have. His message was being communicated, breathed out and written down.


Secondly, because God breathed out the bible, inspiration is completely independent of our feelings. The Bible is not inspired only when you are inspired by it. God’s word is not inspired only when you have joy, or when you are moved by it, or when it really hits home. No, even when this book, as far as our experience goes, is dry or boring to us it is still God-breathed.  Yes, because of human blindness in sin we cannot understand it apart from the grace of God’s Spirit; yet it is still God’s own God-breathed book even in human darkness. And yes, there are times we really experience Christ being revealed to us in Scripture…yet before that event, and after that event the bible is still God’s written word.

A lot of weight on a word.

Much has been written about the term logos and its use in connection with Christology and revelation.  I read this in Peter Jensen's book.  I thought it was a nice summary.

"It is understandable that logos was chosen to bear the weight that has been laid upon it in modern theology.  First, it speaks immediately of revelation, of communication.  Secondly, it gives Jesus Christ his due and proper place as the substance and norm of revelation.  Thirdly, it enables us to see the significance of creation vis-s-vis Christ: all things were created through him.  Fourthly, it relates Jesus Christ to God in a way that makes it absolutely plain that when we deal with him we deal with God himself and not some secondary deity.  Fifthly, it shows from the very start that revelation is a matter of God's drawing near to us in event, not of our seeking and finding God.  Finally, it provides us with a term we can use to relate revelation to that which mediates revelation, as Karl Barth did in speaking of 'the Word of God in its threefold form'"  (Pg.47-48).

By God we Learn God

I'm reading Peter Jensen's book, The Revelation of God.  (InterVarsity Press, 2002).  The work is substantial.  After commenting on 2 Corinthians 4:1-6, where Paul describes the significance of the gospel, Jensen made this comment.  I think it is helpful in understanding the doctrine of revelation.

"By God we learn God.  The gospel is the very means by which God prosecutes his work in the world; it is the way he applies the salvation of the atoning death of Jesus to men and women.  Since the gospel is about God's grace, the way to knowing God is a way of grace...It (the gospel) teaches us what revelation is and what it achieves." (Page.37)

Torrance on the revelation of God. God giving himself.

Since I am blogging on God's revelation I thought I would post this great thought from T.F. Torrance on the revelation of God.

“ In him, the Word of God made flesh, God brought his long historical interaction and revelatory dialogue with Israel to its consummation in revealing, not just something further about himself, but now his very Self as the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, and gave specific personal content to his Name ‘I am who I am / I will be who I will be’ by identifying himself as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In this final revelation of himself God proclaims himself to all mankind as the one Lord God the Father Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth, who in his overflowing love will not be without us human beings but has freely come among us to be one of us and one with us in order to reconcile us to himself and to bring us into communion with himself.” Thomas F. Thorance, The Christian Doctrine of God, One Being Three Persons (Edinburgh, Scotland: T&T Clark, 1996). 15.

God gives and he gives himself, Pt.3. The chosen one: Jesus Christ.

This is the third post on the topic of God’s revelation. This is what we have seen so far.

First, remember, God is a giving God, but what present does he give? God gives himself in Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit. Both Jesus Christ and the bible show us this.

Secondly, to unpack the above point we read about election. God chooses people in order to reveal himself. Think of the OT stories. In all of them in one way or another we learn that God the Giver gave to give himself. He gave when he went after sinners and chose a special people he would call his own through whom he would reveal himself to the world.

Now we come to point number three and we still have to talk about election…the election not of a people, but the election of a Person. It is Jesus Christ.

In him he gave himself. He is the Word of God. He that has seen him, has seen the Father. Thinking back to the story of David and the Temple in 1 Chronicles 29 and how it connects with Jesus Christ we remember that he is the Son of David, the true Israel of God. He is the true Temple of God for he is greater than the Temple, and wiser than Solomon. The temple was destroyed and Solomon was not the eternal king, for the Lord had set up Christ Jesus his Son for this. In him the glory of God dwells. Jesus Christ brings us into fellowship with the Father and the Spirit. In him we worship God in the Spirit and in truth. And of course through Christ we are cleansed from guilt and sin, forgiven freely and made new. Jesus is the Word of God whom we are to hear and can hear by the Spirit’s work. In him we are the new Temple being built up into the dwelling place of God and so God dwells with us and we with God. God chose Christ from before the foundation of the world so he could give himself to us, and be our Savior. God the Son offered himself as our sacrifice, in the power of Spirit, according to the Father’s will. As God gave to the people so they could give to God for the building of the Temple (1 Chr 29), so God gave himself as a sacrifice for sin so he could give himself in forgiveness and love to his people. This giving of God brings us to praise him.

Here in Christ is God’s revelation of himself. “What God is toward us in Christ and the Holy Spirit he is eternally in himself.” T.F. Torrance.

God gives and he gives himself, Pt.2. The role of election in revelation.

Been busy over the past week and had no time to blog. But back at it today.

Here is part 2 of my thoughts on God giving himself to us in revelation.

We have to talk about election at this point. God chooses people. You might ask what does that have to do with God’s giving of himself in revelation? Well, let me put it this way, when man rebelled against God he freely took every effort to come to us. From Seth, to Noah, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob God gave himself. In revelation, in his promises, by his protection, and in his guidance God gave to them. Then think of Israel the nation. God chose them not because of anything in them, but for his names sake. He gave them Moses, through Moses his name; he gave them his presence in the tabernacle and gave them his leadership. From there he gave Israel the judges, and gave these judges his call, his power, his promise to them to do his work amongst his people. And what of Israel’s king!? God himself would give his king. Yes, the people chose Saul and God anointed him, but this Saul failed even as Judas did; yet, this failure served to show how much God needed to give his king…and he did.

In all this we learn that God the Giver gave to give himself. He gave when he went after sinners and chose a special people he would call his own through whom he would reveal himself to the world. Look at the story in 1 Chronicles 29. Here God gave to his people so that Israel could give for the building of the Temple. David and these people were part of that election. And in his grace he gave to them so they could serve him to build the Temple where God would give himself. In a true sense God giving himself is the whole story of the OT. Th2 1 Chronicles 29 account was one part, one brick in that plan.

But what plan? To give himself. He would come in the fullness of time, not in dreams, visions, or other gifts; he would come himself. He would be the chosen one who would be the very revelation of God. It was Jesus Christ.

God gives and he gives himself, Pt.1. Introduction

I’m starting a series of posts on the revelation of God, and how we can come to know him. Today is the introduction. This reminds me of the joke from Ireland. A young man asks a girl he would like to get to know, “Is this seat empty?” To which she abruptly said, “Yes, and this one will be if you sit down.” I hope this introduction will not cause you to leave your computer seat.

Our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is a giving God. He gave, and his giving continues. Over and over again Scripture tells of God, his mighty works, and what he is up to as it takes place in this place where we live. In all of this, this truth comes up: God is a giving God.

But what present does he give? Here we can’t give him any ideas, or a list. We can tell idols what to give and even give him a list. People do that, which is why Santa Clause is so popular. But you can’t give God in the Highest any ideas about giving. He is free. “Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?” (Is 40:14). No, only God himself teaches us about himself as giver and what he gives.

And this really brings us to the heart of what God has shown us about himself as Giver and his gift – both in the bible, and in Jesus Christ, namely that God gives, and that he gives himself.

The Bible testifies beyond doubt that God is a God of providence for a reason. You know what providence is? Simply it means God rules, and looks after all he has made in his wisdom, goodness and sovereign will. Scripture speaks of this providence this way; he feeds the birds of the field, he clothes the flowers, he gives the sun by day the moon by night. In other words God gives himself to care for this world. He gave creation, and even though sin came into it, he was not going to let it go. So God’s providence (sovereign rule & care over this world) is here because God gave himself as this world’s creator and he is giving it to us still…sustaining it.

Now we human beings should know this from what we see around us. Take for example the snowflake. Snowflakes are all six-sided. They start as hexagonal shapes and then grow forming an infinite variety of designs to delight us. No two are alike. This should cause us to see some the awesomeness of God. But sadly in man’s sinful nature, we sinfully twist it all around to our own purposes. Like someone who steels your camera, erases all your pictures and then uses it for himself, so man in his sin steels nature for himself and erases God from the picture; and sets up evolution, freedom of choice, dictatorships, etc. Scripture shines differently. It does not try to prove God, it declares God and in God’s grace, here we see God gave creation and gives himself to care for it, because he says it’s very good.

But there is more, Jesus Christ…and actually all of God’s creation and providence serve to give us Christ. Think of a watch, the whole thing all the wheels, springs, rods, and gears are for the hands. Now think of all the stories in the bible. From Adam and Eve, to Abraham, to the exile. Think of God allowing sin in, his feeding the fish, his confusing the languages at Babel. Think even of Saul and Judas; these all served his giving purposes, the giving of his very self for us to enjoy, worship, fear, and trust. “For God so loved the world, that he gave….” And he still does that. Just think of how God gave himself for you? There on the cross…and then now in a sermon, at the sacrament, sometimes even a song, or a severe trial and God by the Spirit makes the lights go on and you see what God the Son has done for you so you can have God as your Father.

God shines brilliantly.

We press on in our Calvin studies. We are in Book 1, chapter 10 of his Institutes. Here is the summary.

1. Calvin’s project here is to unfold how Scripture represents God to man.

2. The first and foundational truth the Scriptures teach is that, "God, the Maker of heaven and earth, governs the universe founded by him" (Pg. 97).

3. God is revealed to us in the Bible in various images because no man can see God and live to tell about it. These images manifest the awesome attributes of God so that we may experience and know God. He shows himself as he is toward us: so that this recognition of him consists more in living experience than in vain and high-flown speculation” (Pg. 97).

4. God’s names such as Jehovah and Elohim give us a summery description of the full orbed attributes of God. Jehovah designates God’s eternality and self-existence. Elohim describes the power and might of God. He shines with powerful brilliance, kindness. goodness. mercy, justice, judgment and truth.

5. Calvin tells us that there are three attributes necessary for us to know. They are “mercy, on which alone the salvation of us all rests; judgment, which is daily exercised against wrongdoers, and in even greater severity awaits them to their everlasting ruin; and justice, whereby believers are preserved, and are most tenderly nourished” (Pg.98).

6. The revelation of God in nature and Scripture has the same goal. They invite us to fear God and trust God, which results in the creature giving glory to God.

7. Also, nature and Scripture already tell us that God is one. Therefore, the worship of other gods instead of the one true God is idolatry.

Scripture and the Spirit of God

Here are some thoughts and a summary of chapter 8 & 9 of Calvin’s Institutes. I begin with quoting from The Westminster Confession of Faith. It follows Calvin when it says,

“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 as the Word of God. We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church to an high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scripture, 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” (WCF 1:4-5).

God must reveal himself through his revelation. Does that mean the Scriptures are not God’s Word? No. The Scriptures are God’s written revelation intent to reveal God’s incarnate revelation in his Son Jesus. However, to receive Scripture and Jesus as God’s true Word and hope requires faith and this faith is a sovereign gift of God through the Spirit.

Here is the summary for chapter 8

1. The witness of the Holy Spirit is the great Testifier to the authority of Scripture. God speaks in Scripture by the Holy Spirit.

2. The Scriptures are full of wonderful power. But this power is not fathered by the common agreement of the church or by external proofs or by other helps. It is made powerful, effectual by the testimony of the Holy Spirit.

3. "The testimony of the Spirit is more excellent than all reason. For as God alone is a fit witness of Himself in His Word, so also the Word will not find acceptance in men's hearts before it is sealed by the inward testimony of the Spirit." (p.79) Is 59:21; 1 Cor 2:14; 2 Cor 1:22.

A thought about Pietism & Scripture. Pietism has always been with the church in one form or other. It is mystical Christianity which deposits truth and religion in general in feeling, and personal relationship. To them Scripture is not the final authority, God speaking to them is. There is a sense in which this is true. The Spirit must open human eyes to see Scripture as God’s authority. However, the question is, “what is God’s speech?” Is it experience, reason, or Scripture? It is Scripture. God speaks to us in the church through preaching, but that preaching action has its foundation in Scripture and Scripture has its foundation in the Spirit. Is there an experience in this? Is there some kind of reason involved? Yes. God speaks and teaches us today, in a worship service, in a bible study, and in the sacrament together with the Word. This makes us feel and become wiser! But in this activity is the Spirit using Scripture. The foundation is Christ and Scripture, not our feeling or reason.

4. Many within the church practically destroy the authority of Scripture, by running away from it and running to some so called manifestation of the Spirit. They imagine that there is another way of reaching God, other than the Spirit using Scripture. They "despise all reading and laugh at the simplicity of those who, as they express it, still follow the dead and killing letter" (Pg, 93).

5. "The Spirit, promised to us, does not have the task of inventing new and unheard-of revelations, or of forging a new kind of doctrine, to lead us away from the received doctrine of the gospel, but of sealing our minds with the very doctrine which is commanded by the gospel" (Pg, 94).

6. If new revelations are possible, then the God of Scripture might differ from the god of your revelation. But the unchanging God has given us his Word by His Spirit. “He is the Author of the Scriptures: He cannot vary and differ from Himself. Hence He must ever remain just as He once revealed Himself there. This is no affront to Him, unless perchance we consider it honourable for Him to decline or degenerate from Himself" (Pg, 94).

To this I would add the revelation of Jesus Christ. Scripture’s subject is God’s Son. The triune God will not change from what he revealed of himself in his glory. Scripture will not downgrade God, because it is the story of himself. And this story, the history of God (that is the account of his will and work in our world, or “his story”), is creation and redemption in Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit. Scripture testifies to his unchanging work. Scripture itself did not make God, his Son, or his Spirit to happen! Scripture “happened” because the triune God was at work.

7. One thing cannot be separated; it is the Word and Spirit. They belong together. The Spirit's image is recognized in the Word, namely truth.

8. Calvin says, "God did not bring forth His Word among men for the sake of a momentary display, intending at the coming of His Spirit to abolish it. Rather, he sent down the same Spirit by whose power He had given the Word” (Pg. 95).

God is our authority and he gave us the bible…

My study of Calvin’s Institutes continues with chapter 7. The main feature here is the Holy Spirit’s witness to the authority of Scripture in the church and Christian’s life. The Bible will not be authoritative to anyone until “we are persuaded beyond doubt that God is its author. Thus the highest proof of Scripture derives in general from the fact that God in person speaks in it. The prophets and apostles do not boast either of their keenness or of anything that obtains credit fro them as they speak; nor do they dwell upon rational proofs. Rather, they bring forward God’s holy name, that by it the whole world may be brought into obedience to him” (Pg, 78).

I have summarized this chapter under these 7 points.

1. The words of Holy Scripture are authoritative because it is God speaking and commanding. "For it pleased the Lord to hallow His truth to everlasting remembrance in the Scriptures alone [Jn 5:39]." (p.74)

2. It is wrong to practice and believe that "Scripture has only so much weight as is conceded to it by the consent of the church." (p.75) Our faith will be subject to error and superstitions if the authority of the Bible is "dependent solely upon the good pleasure of men." (p.75). God’s Word is our authority because God is its author (WCF I:IV).

3. Does this mean the church gives adds no voice to Scriptures authority. Not all. There is a symbiosis, a living together, a connectionalism which occurs between Scripture and the church in regards to Scriptures authority.

4. Luther in his Lectures on the Psalms said, "The Scripture is the womb from which are born the divine truth and the church" (Pg, 76). The church did not give birth to Scripture, as a matter of fact the inspired words from God given to the apostles and prophets are the foundation of the church.

5. Augustine believed that the authority of Scripture does not depend upon the definition or decree of men; or that a man's faith is founded upon the authority of the church. However, along side this he maintained that the truth that the church gives it's seal of approval to the Word. There is the "consensus of the church." This carries weight.


6. But the witness of the Holy Spirit is the great Testifier to the authority of Scripture. God speaks in Scripture by the Holy Spirit. "The testimony of the Spirit is more excellent than all reason. For as God alone is a fit witness of Himself in His Word, so also the Word will not find acceptance in men's hearts before it is sealed by the inward testimony of the Spirit" (p.79). [See Is 59:21; 1 Cor 2:14; 2 Cor 1:22]

What comes first? The order of revelation.

I was unable to blog last week, but I’m back on track.

My last post on John Calvin’s Institutes covered chapter 5. Before I go on to chapter 6 I would like to give a few comments on the subject and order of revelation.

Due to Calvin’s theology of man’s fall, the revelation of God in nature “burns in vain.” Here is Calvin, “It is therefore in vain that so many burning lamps shine for us in the workmanship of the universe to show forth the glory of its Author. Although they bathe us wholly in their radiance, yet they can of themselves in no way lead us into the right path. Surely, they strike some sparks, but before their fuller light shines forth these are smothered. For this reason, the apostle, in that very passage where he calls the worlds the images of things invisible, adds that through faith we understand that they have been fashioned by God’s word [Heb 11:3]” (Pg, 68).

Notice, only through faith can man see creation’s light. God, in other words, has to open our eyes. “We have not the eyes to see unless they be illumined by the inner revelation of God through faith” (P.68). Notice in the same paragraph that though nature “burns in vain;" nevertheless nature’s revelation does leave man without excuse.

Contrast Calvin here to the 18th century Enlightenment passion for reasonable religion, and you wish that guys like John Locke, H.S. Reimarus, or Joseph Butler, would have read Calvin, or if they did, realize there is more to man’s knowing than reason. Obviously, Calvin believed man cannot know God from reason alone; after all nature's "spark" are smothered by us. Obviously, he like Jean Jacques Rousseau and others like him in the counter-enlightenment movement of later time held that faith is an element of human knowledge. Faith does seek understanding.

But the question is which faith, and who’s faith? Is it faith in any divine being or power? Is that faith a work of man or a gift? Obviously, we, like Calvin are driven to the question of revelation. Which faith? It must be revealed. Who’s faith? If man can’t gain faith through nature, including reason, then it must be given by grace. No matter how you look at it, God’s revelation of himself is the cornerstone and fulcrum to man knowing God.

The leads to a further question, which revelation must come first, God’s revelation in Scripture or God’s revelation in the Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ. As I said in my last blog, Barth put the Incarnate Word first, and then the Scriptures. Calvin reversed the order. Barth, like Calvin said it cannot be nature because “it must be Christ that we must hear.” But both said this for somewhat different reasons. Calvin said man’s sin blinds him to natural theology. Barth it could be said maintained natural theology blinds men to Jesus. To look to nature is to look to man in his sin, and for Barth this was Nazism.

What will help in this question of the order of revelation? Here are some of my thoughts. God’s chosen means of revealing himself directly to man is not nature, but Jesus. God wants people to look at his Son and see nature (including man) through his eyes. He is the reason for the covenants, the promises, and even the Scriptures. After all only through faith in God as Creator and Redeemer are we renewed can we see nature in it’s proper light; hence Calvin’s call to faith in Jesus.

The Spirit is involved of course, and this is where the Scripture comes in. Calvin, known as the theologian of the Holy Spirit, clearly explains that the Spirit uses the Scripture to reveal Christ. Perhaps this, as well as the 16th century question of authority in the church, is why Calvin put the revelation of Scripture before the revelation of the Incarnate Word. But it is not long begfore Calvin fully focuses on God's revelation in Jesus Christ. Books 2,3, and 4 of his Institutes are actually an exercise in the proper use of Scripture, namely to give the knowledge of Jesus Christ the revelation of God. To Calvin Scripture is not God, but a finger that points to him. To Calvin Jesus is God, and the Spirit’s task through the Scriptures, as well as through preaching, church sacraments, and prayer is to bring us to God. God brings us to God. He comes to us in the Word Christ, in the Word of Scripture, which points to Christ, in the sacraments, preaching, prayer, and church where Christ is present and takes us by the shoulders, and turns us around to look at his Son. This is incidentally, why worship was so important to Calvin.

To conclude, we cannot know God in nature without his grace. We cannot know God unless he reveals himself to us. He has done this in Jesus Christ and the Scriptures. The church needs both! It’s true that the starting point is the revelation of Scripture, but its goal and glory is Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, it is equally true that the starting point is Jesus Christ. He became man and in him, we saw the revelation of the Father full of grace and truth. Scripture would be empty if the church did not start with Christ. Therefore, the staring point is the revelation of Jesus Christ, and he is the goal and glory of the Scriptures.