“Fundamentally, depending on the relationship, we are all called to respect and follow those whom the Lord has placed in positions of leadership over us. For example, in speaking to believers about their relationship to civil government, even the ruthless Roman government, Paul writes, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God” (Rom. 13:1). This recognizes that civil government, as imperfect as it can be, is designed by God to provide order and protection for our daily lives” (Timothy Z. Witmer, The Shepherd Leader At Home, 68).
Monthly Archives: January 2016
Creational & Moral Order
“[M]arriage was designed by God to bring blessing and order to his creation. Together with the creation ordinances of work and Sabbath rest, marriage would provide rhythm to life. Therefore, we must affirm that he ordained foundational principles not only for the natural order but also for the moral order of his creation” (Timothy Z. Witmer, The Shepherd Leader At Home, 19).
WCF I.4, 5
“An even clearer testimony to the authority of Scripture is Scripture itself. Its focus is heavenward, like no other book. Its teaching transforms. Its prose and poetry have moved men and women for thousands of years. And readers old and new continue to marvel at the weight and density of this book, and the way in which the various parts of the Bible inform and illumine each other. And this is only the beginning! Is there any other book that has so perfectly achieved its purpose of giving all glory to God? Is there another place where we can learn all that we need to know about the one way of salvation? Really, there are so many incomparable excellencies to which we could point, such overwhelming evidence of perfection, that we can only conclude that the Bible ‘abundantly evidence[s] itself to be the Word of God’. In a very real sense, we can say that Holy Scripture is self-authenticating” (Chad Van Dixhoorn, Confessing the Faith: A Reader’s Guide to the Westminster Confession of Faith, 14).
Frequent Bible Reading
“If this is God’s Word, then little wonder that it is to be our rule of faith and life. Here we learn who and how to worship, who and how to trust for our salvation and all of our needs, and how to live our lives. It is for this reason that the whole Bible should be read frequently by all Christians, and should be at the centre of the Christian church” (Chad Van Dixhoorn, Confessing the Faith: A Reader’s Guide to the Westminster Confession of Faith, 10-11).
Total Number of Books Inspired by God
“Protestants understand that these books [66 books of the Bible] are not an anthology of works collected from a greater corpus, a mere selection from a wider number of God’s writings. On the contrary, this is the total number of the books that are inspired by God and preserved for his church. For that reason, we do well to take the warning at the close of the book of Revelation and apply it to the whole of God’s revelation, for who are we to add to it or take away from it? (Rev. 22:18, 19; see also Deut. 4:2)” (Chad Van Dixhoorn, Confessing the Faith: A Reader’s Guide to the Westminster Confession of Faith, 10).
Special Revelation
“This general revelation has limits. As the confession reminds us, ‘they are not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of his will, which is necessary unto salvation.’ . . . Therefore, since the real objective of Christian theology, and of this confession, is to show the way to life and the way to live life, this chapter goes on to tell us about God’s spoken revelation. . . . Above all, it is the purpose of Scripture to reveal God. It is his self-revelation, for it is not only the case that he himself is the one who reveals, but it is also the case that what he reveals is his own self” (Chad Van Dixhoorn, Confessing the Faith: A Reader’s Guide to the Westminster Confession of Faith, 5).