Second Presbyterian Church
Officer Training Retreat
The Bible in the Life of Faith
1. What the Bible is not:
· Not a rule book
· Not a phone directory
· Not a collection of interesting but unrelated stories and other miscellaneous things
· Not a private possession but a treasure of the whole church
· How have you seen the Bible misunderstood and misused?
2. What the Bible is:
· The word of God written
· The witness to the mighty acts of God
· The only rule for faith and life (belief and ethics) – the authority of scripture
· The lens through which we see God and see ourselves
· A story that finds its center in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ
· The word of God that forms and informs the church
· How do you see the Bible?
3. What our confessions say about the Bible
THE SCOTS CONFESSION CHAPTER 18 THE TRUE KIRK
…The notes of the true Kirk, therefore, we believe, confess, and avow to be: first, the true preaching of the Word of God, in which God has revealed himself to us, as the writings of the prophets and apostles declare; secondly, the right administration of the sacraments of Christ Jesus, with which must be associated the Word and promise of God to seal and confirm them in our hearts; and lastly, ecclesiastical discipline uprightly ministered, as God’s Word prescribes, whereby vice is repressed and virtue nourished. Then wherever these notes are seen and continue for any time, be the number complete or not, there, beyond any doubt, is the true Kirk of Christ, who, according to his promise, is in its midst… (T)he doctrine taught in our Kirks, (is) contained in the written Word of God, that is, the Old and New Testaments, in those books which were originally reckoned canonical. We affirm that in these all things necessary to be believed for the
salvation of man are sufficiently expressed. The interpretation of Scripture, we confess, does not belong to any private or public person, nor yet to any Kirk for pre-eminence or precedence, personal or local, which it has above others, but pertains to the Spirit of God by whom the Scriptures were written.
When controversy arises about the right understanding of any passage or sentence of Scripture, or for the reformation of any abuse within the Kirk of God, we ought not so much to ask what men have said or done before us, as what the Holy Ghost uniformly speaks within the body of the Scriptures and what Christ Jesus himself did and commanded. For it is agreed by all that the Spirit of God, who is the Spirit of unity, cannot contradict himself. So if the interpretation or opinion of any theologian, Kirk, or council, is contrary to the plain Word of God written in any other passage of the Scripture, it is most certain that this is not the true understanding and meaning of the Holy Ghost, although councils, realms, and nations have approved and received it. We dare not receive or admit any interpretation which is contrary to any principal point of our faith, or to any other plain text of Scripture, or to the rule of love.
THE AUTHORITY OF THE SCRIPTURES CHAPTER XIX
As we believe and confess the Scriptures of God sufficient to instruct and make perfect the man of God, so do we affirm and avow their authority to be from God, and not to depend on men or angels. We affirm, therefore, that those who say the Scriptures have no other authority save that
which they have received fro m the Kirk are blasphemous against God and injurious to the true Kirk, which always hears and obeys the voice of her own Spouse and Pastor, but takes not upon her to be mistress over the same.
THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH Chapter 1
Of the Holy Scripture
1. Although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence, do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable;1 yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of his will, which is necessary unto salvation; 2 therefore
it pleased the Lord, at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal himself, and to declare that his will unto his Church;3 and afterwards for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing;4 which maketh the Holy Scripture to be most necessary; 5 those former ways of God’s revealing his will unto his people being now ceased.
2. Under the name of Holy Scripture, or the Word of God written, are now contained all the books of the Old and New Testaments, which are these:
Of the Old Testament
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I Samuel, II Samuel, I Kings, II Kings, I Chronicles, II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, The Song of Songs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
Of the New Testament
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts of the Apostles, Romans, I Corinthians, II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I Thessalonians, II Thessalonians, I Timothy, II Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, I Peter, II Peter, I John, II John, III John, Jude, Revelation
All which are given by inspiration of God, to be the rule of faith and life.
3. The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the canon of the Scripture; and therefore are of no authority in the Church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved, or made use of, than other human writings.
4. 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 is the Word of God.
5. We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church to an high and reverent esteem for 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.
6. The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man's salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men. Nevertheless we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the Word; and that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, and government of the Church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be observed.
7. All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all; yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed, for salvation, are so clearly propounded and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them.
8. The Old Testament in Hebrew (which was the native language of the people of God of old), and the New Testament in Greek (which at the time of the writing of it was most generally known to the nations), being immediately inspired by God, and by his singular care and providence kept pure in all ages, are therefore authentical; so as in all controversies of religion the Church is finally to appeal unto them. But because these original tongues are not known to all the people of God who have right unto, and interest in, the Scriptures, and are commanded, in the fear of God, to read and search them, therefore they are to be translated into the language of every people unto which they come, that the Word of God dwelling plentifully in all, they may worship him in an acceptable manner, and, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, may have hope.
9. The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture, is the Scripture itself; and therefore, when there is a question about the true and full sense of any scripture (which is not manifold, but one), it may be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly.
10. The Supreme Judge, by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture
THE CONFESSION OF 1967
2. THE BIBLE
The one sufficient revelation of God is Jesus Christ, the Word of God incarnate, to whom the Holy Spirit bears unique and authoritative witness through the Holy Scriptures, which are received and obeyed as the word of God written. The Scriptures are not a witness among others, but the witness without parallel. The church has received the books of the Old and New Testaments as prophetic and apostolic testimony in which it hears the word of God and by which its faith and obedience are nourished and regulated.
The New Testament is the recorded testimony of apostles to the coming of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, and the sending of the Holy Spirit to the Church. The Old Testament bears witness to God’s faithfulness in his covenant with Israel and points the way to the fulfillment of his purpose
in Christ. The Old Testament is indispensable to understanding the New, and is not itself fully understood without the New.
The Bible is to be interpreted in the light of its witness to God’s work of reconciliation in Christ. The Scriptures, given under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, are nevertheless the words of men, conditioned by the language, thought forms, and literary fashions of the places and times at which they were written. They reflect views of life, history, and the cosmos which were then current. The church, therefore, has an obligation to approach the Scriptures with literary and historical understanding. As God has spoken his word in diverse cultural situations, the church is confident that he will continue to speak through the Scriptures in a changing world and in every form of human culture.
God’s word is spoken to his church today where the Scriptures are faithfully preached and attentively read in dependence on the illumination of the Holy Spirit and with readiness to receive their truth and direction.
3. The doctrine of inspiration of Scripture
4. How the Bible came to be.
· The Exodus is the formative event of the people of Israel
· Moses is seen as the great figure of the Hebrew Scriptures because he is the one God chooses to liberate the people, through whom God gives the law (Torah), and through whom God makes the covenant with the people. He is traditionally seen as the author of the Torah (first five books of the Bible).
· The people look back over their history, remember the stories of their ancestors, and ponder the mystery of how the world and human life came into existence.
· In all these things the people see the hand of God at work.
· The Hebrew Scriptures are the work of many voices and many hands inspired by the Holy Spirit giving witness to the mighty acts of God. There are many theories about the composition of the Pentateuch (Torah). The documentary hypothesis, which cites four main sources, has recently been questioned, but it is still a helpful way to think about the composition of the Torah:
a. the Yahwist source ( J ): around 950BC in the southern Kingdom of Judah.
b. the Elohist source ( E ): around 850BC in the northern Kingdom of Israel.
c. the Deuteronomist ( D ): around 600BC in Jerusalem during a religious renewal.
d. the Priestly source ( P ): around 500BC by exiled Jewish priests in Babylon
· The histories (Joshua, Judges, I and II Samuel, and I and II Kings (and I and II Chronicles) are known in the Jewish tradition as the former prophets (in contrast to the latter prophets which are the books that bear the names of particular prophets). The histories tell one continuous story from the entrance into the Promised Land (Joshua) to the fall of Jerusalem (II Kings). Ezra and Nehemiah tell the story of the people after the return from exile in Babylon.
· The prophets are often divided into two groups: the major prophets and the minor prophets. This distinction does not refer to the value or worth of their message, but simply to their length. Hence, the major prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel; the 12 minor prophets are Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
· The books categorized as the writings include poetical books and wisdom literature such as Psalms, Proverbs, Job and the five festival scrolls which are read on festival days: Song of Songs (Passover), Ruth (Festival of Weeks – giving of Torah), Lamentations (destruction of the two temples), Esther (Purim – deliverance of the Jews), and Ecclesiastes(Festival of Booths – harvest)