Blogging through and answering the questions from G. I. Williamson’s The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes for personal review and comprehension.

WCF. I. Of the Holy Scriptures – 6.

1. Cite Scripture proof that God’s Word is now complete.

     Jesus Christ said he was the “truth” (John 14:6) and the author of Hebrews unwraps the logic of that statement, stating that “God …. at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets” but now he “hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son” who is the “express image of his person.” The former was provisional, and the latter final.

2. Cite Scripture proof that God’s Word discloses all of his will for man.

     Paul says in Acts 20:27 that he declared “all the counsel of God.” In 2 Timothy 3:15-17, Paul argues that Scripture is able to teach, reprove, correct, and train us in righteousness/perfection.

3. Why is guidance given in terms of general principles rather than particular directions? (Two reasons may be given.)

     God’s law addresses all things, it is all encompassing, and if guidance is given in terms of general principles instead of particular directions that is actually a possibility (otherwise it would merely be wooden, legalistic, and bulky/verbose). Each of us is personally responsible to “apply these principles to [our] own circumstances” (11) in order to do all to the Glory of God. This involves engaging our thoughts and imaginations. But since the principles apply to specific and personal circumstances, Christian Liberty must be engendered and practiced.

4. How can the Bible suffice for all men in all times an places?

      These all-encompassing principles are universal, applying to all men, everywhere, at all times.

5. In the categories of worship and government give examples of things which are, and things which are not, circumstances of worship and government.

     Regarding worship: the time of day, location (indoors, out doors, in a building owned or rented), the color of the chairs, the paint on the walls, etc. Regarding government: the rules of church order (e.g., Book of Procedures), the specifics of constituting as a local church, etc.

6. Give an example to show that the general principles of the Word of God must control circumstances, and that the circumstances must not control (or be allowed to cause violation of) principles of the Word of God.

     In Exodus 23:4 we read, “If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again.” A wooden interpretation that would cause violation would be as follows: a man sees his enemy’s sheep going astray, but since it isn’t the man’s ox or ass he doesn’t feel compelled to return the animal to his enemy.

The proper view – the principle from this case law is this for a contemporary circumstance: even if someone is your enemy, if you come across their misplaced (gone astray) property, then you have an ethical responsibility to restore the property to them. An example: your neighbor is always agitating you, complaining about your fence, about your lawn, about where and how you place the trash out by the curb on pick-up days, etc. You find his wallet on the sidewalk. You have a moral obligation, on the basis of the principle demonstrated in Exodus 23:4, to return the wallet to your neighbor.

Blogging through the questions from G. I. Williamson’s The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes.

WCF. I. Of the Holy Scriptures – 2-5.

1. What is the “proof” that the Bible is inspired?

     Evidence both internal and external to God’s Word is “proof” that the Bible is inspired. The internal evidence claims it is the Word of God, the New Testament authors believed the Old Testament was inspired, Jesus Christ promised to give his Holy Scripture to his disciples in order to write the New Testament Scriptures (see John 14:26), within the New Testament we see that the different authors treat each others writings as the inspired Word of God, the Bible contains information that could only be revealed (e.g., Creation, the future new heaven and new earth), in addition, the Bible contains many prophesies that were fulfilled. The “external evidence is subordinate, but important” (7): the Church in all ages has acknowledge Scripture as inspired, and the Scriptures have “been preserved as no other writing on earth” (7), indicating God’s special care.

2. How does the Bible express the claim that it is inspired?

     The Bible claims to be the word of God. The Bible claims God is its author.

3. Why cannot the authority of the Bible depend on the “testimony” of any man or Church?

     The authority of the Bible cannot depend on the “testimony” of any man or Church because both can and oftentimes err. “Yet it is no small thing that the Church even in its darkest days has acknowledged that the Bible is the Word of God” (7).

4. What is Rome’s audacious claim?

     Rome’s audacious claim is that the the Bible is the Word of God, but that this certainty depends upon the testimony of the Church. (See the Baltimore Catechism, Q. 1327: “it is only from Tradition (preserved in the Catholic Church) that we can know which of the writings of ancient times are inspired and which are not inspired.”)

5. How do Protestants sometimes subordinate the authority of Scripture to men?

     This occurs when Protestants foolishly grant or give credence to the unbeliever’s claim that there is nothing within Scripture that warrants them to believe it is the Word of God. That is, when Protestants grant that there is a “neutral” starting point from which to dive into the complex web of data (i.e., archaeological, historical, etc.) and attempt to sift through the facts and arrive at the truth of the matter. This is foolishness because it is idolatrous, it makes the reason of man the measure of all things.

6. Where must the evidence of Scripture’s divinity be sought?

      The evidence must be sought in the Divine-Word; the evidence is evident in the intrinsic qualities. The Word of God is there. It is and in it are the evidences of its divinity. “As Prof. John Murray puts it: ‘The authority of Scripture is an objective and permanent fact residing in the quality of inspiration'”(8).

7. If the evidence is there, why does not faith always result when men are confronted with that evidence?

     There is no deficiency in the evidence, so the reasons faith does not always result when men are confronted with the evidence is because “not all men have the requisite perceptive faculty” (8). What is the state of the man’s heart? If they hate God, if the grace of God is not active in their heart, then their understanding is darkened by bondage to sin. The truth (evidence) is there, but they attempt to hold it down and suppress it (see Romans 1:18).

8. When the Confession speaks of the Holy Spirit “bearing witness,” does it mean that the new truth conveyed to the mind?

     No. The Holy Spirit is not conveying new truth to the mind of man. The Holy Spirit “bearing witness” does so “by and with the word in our hearts.” There is both the objective witness of Scripture and the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit, and man through the internal work of the Holy Spirit responds appropriately to the truth that is the objective witness of Scripture. The truth in the Bible is the truth conveyed to the mind of believers through the work of the Holy Spirit. “God’s whole truth to man is contained in Scripture” (8). The Word of God is inherently perfect, therefore, the Holy Spirit does not convey new truth to the mind of man.

G. I. Williamson’s The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes is a well known reference on the WCF. Williamson provides a commentary for each of the Confession’s chapters with closing questions. I am going to blog through the questions for personal review and comprehension. Let’s roll.

WCF. I. Of the Holy Scriptures – 1.

1. How many kinds of revelation are there? Name them.

     There are two kinds of revelation: the two kinds of revelation are natural and special.

2. It has been imagined by some that natural revelation spoke clearly to Adam (some even imagined that he needed no word revelation before the fall), but that it does not speak clearly to us. Disprove.

     Natural revelation certainly spoke clearly to Adam, however, it was not intended to exist in isolation from special revelation. Special (word) revelation was also present in the Garden (see Genesis 1:28-30; 2:16-17). Natural revelation speaks clearly to us today, but we suppress because of our rebellion (Romans 1:18-20).

3. Is there proof for the existence of God? Where?

     Yes. Proof for the existence of God is everywhere: the general creation is proof, man himself is proof, etc.

4. What is wrong with the traditional “proofs” for the existence of God?

     The traditional “proofs” for the existence of God merely make God’s existence a probability. This is wrong because it makes man’s perceptions the measure of all things; this is wrong because it makes man’s “perceptions” the base of Epistemology.

5. What are the two aspects of man’s nature as “the image of God”?

     The two aspects are metaphysical (man’s being) and ethical (man’s will/purpose).

6. Which of these could man “lose”?

     Man was created with freedom – “man is free to do as he will” (2). When Adam freely chose to rebel against God this ethical aspect was lost.

7. Which of these was produced wholly by God?

     Man’s being was produced wholly by God; man’s being is entirely dependent upon God. However, “even in his freedom of will man cannot escape the absolute control of God because the being of man (he is only an image) is wholly dependent upon God. . . . man can only violate, but can never destroy, his dependent relationship to God” (2).

8. Which of these was partly produced by man?

     Man’s will/purpose is partly produced by man. Because we have been created with free will the “purpose of man is a matter of choice” (2).

9. Was natural revelation alone sufficient before the fall? Why?

    Natural revelation was not “alone sufficient before the fall” because the “two forms of revelation are always coordinate” (3). There was no deficiency in God’s revelation before the fall because both natural and special revelation were “related to, and designed to operate through, Adam’s obedience” (3).

10. What does natural revelation now declare that it did not declare before the fall of man?

     It reveals the wrath of God (see Romans 1:18).

11. Does man still exist in the image of God?

     Yes. Man still exists in the image of God. In our nature (being) we are image bearers of God. Sin is merely an ethical disease that defiles our natures; sin cannot destroy our nature, it only defiles. “As long as men are men they exist in God’s image” (2).

12. What prevents man from having consciousness of the true and living God who hates sin?

     We prevent ourselves. The revelation is still there, but in our sin we shrink back and make up lies about reality (Romans 1:20-21).

13. Why must the remedy to man’s condition come by special (word) revelation?

     Natural and special (word) revelation are “always coordinate” — this was true under the Covenant of Works made with Adam, as well as under the Covenant of Grace made with the Second Adam — “But just as the test of man’s obedience came by the way of word revelation, so the remedy for man’s present need comes by way of word revelation” (3).