2. The Authority of the Scriptures

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2. The Authority of the Scriptures

• APTS-BIB528

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2.1 History of the Idea

• 2. 1 Hebrew Jewish Origins
• 2.1.1 "Until the middle of the second century,
  Christianity was primarily an offshoot of
  Judaism, from which it originated. The Old
  Testament was authoritative. The principal
  interpretative task that early Christians faced
  was to demonstrate that the historical and
  literary types and figures used was to
  demonstrate that the historical and literary
  types and figures used in the Old Testament
  pointed to their fullfilment in Jesus Christ as
  the Messiah." Rogers McKim, The Authority and
  Interpretation of the Bible An Historical
  Approach, 3

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2.1 History of the Idea

• 2.1 Hebrew Jewish Origins
• 2.1.2 "Neither the disciples of Jesus nor the
  first generation of Christians ever wanted a "New
  Testament." What the earliest Christians desired
  is clear enough they wanted the personal return
  of the risen Lord, the living voice of God among
  them and, at the same time, the full realization
  of the kingdom of God on earth as well as the end
  of this age. They had no need for a New Testament
  because the scripture they shared with Jews was
  accepted as sufficient,

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2.1 History of the Idea

• alongside the preached Gospel of Jesus Christ,
  recollections of the words of Jesus, and various
  oral and written testimonies to the apostolic
  tradition. . . . We in the modern period easily
  forget that the first reference to a group of
  books as a "New Testament" does not occur until
  about 150 A.D. and finds its first known advocate
  in Marcion, one of the earliest heretics of the
  Christian church." Sheppard, The Future of the
  Bible Beyond Liberalism and Literalism, 21-22

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2.2 History of the Idea

• 2.2 Influence of Greek Philosophical Thought
• 2.2.1 Platonic Neo-Platonic "The Platonic
  school assumed that the knowledge of great
  truths, like God as Creator, was born in every
  person. Knowledge of particular things in this
  world was known by deduction from those general
  principles. When applied to theology, the
  Platonic method assumed that faith preceded and
  provided a framework to make possible right
  reasoning." Rogers, "The Church Doctrine of
  Biblical Authority," 18

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2.2 History of the Idea

• 2.2 Influence of Greek Philosophical Thought
• 2.2.2 Aristotelian "The Aristotelian school took
  the opposite view. We are born with blank minds
  but a capacity for reasoning. All knowledge
  begins from sense experience of things in the
  world. We come to general principles by induction
  from a number of particulars. When applied to
  theology, the Aristotelian method assumed that
  reason, based on the evidence of senses must
  precede and would lead to faith." Rogers, "The
  Church Doctrine of Biblical Authority," 18

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2.3 History of the Idea

• 2.3 Biblical Authority in the Bible
• 2.3.1 Introduction
• 2.3.1.1 "The Bible itself gives not systematic
  doctrine of its attributes, of the relationship
  in it of the divine and human. Its point of view
  is other than that of theology." Ridderbos,
  Studies in Scripture and its Authority, 20
• 2.3.1.2 "The importance of a written text might
  be traced back to the tablets Moses received at
  Mount Sinai those, however, were not a book and
  could hardly have

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2.3 History of the Idea

• played as comprehensively authoritative a role
  as the Bible has since achieved. Although an
  apparently normative "book of the Lord's law" is
  ascribed to the time of Jehoshaphat, who ruled
  over Judah in the ninth century (2 Chron 17.9),
  the authority of the written word emerges most
  clearly about two hundred years later with the
  discovery of a scroll during the reign of Judah's
  King Josiah." Greenspahn, "The Authority of
  Scripture," 10

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2.3 History of the Idea

• 2.3 Biblical Authority in the Bible
• 2.3.2 Authority of the Bible in the N.T.
• 2.3.2.1 "The authority of the Scriptures is the
  great presupposition of the whole biblical
  preaching and doctrine. This appears most clearly
  in the way the NT speaks about the OT. That which
  appears in the OT is cited in the NT with
  formulas like "God says," "the Holy Spirit says,"
  and so on (cf., for instance, Acts 3.24, 25 2
  Cor 6.16 Acts 1.16). What "the Scriptures says"
  and what "God says" is the same thing."
  Ridderbos, 20

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2.3 History of the Idea

• 2.3 Biblical Authority in the Bible
• 2.3.2 Authority of the Bible in the N.T.
• 2.3.2.2 "In the NT the apostolic writings are
  already placed on a par with those of the OT (2
  Pet 3.15, 16 Rev 1.3). Gegraptai is already used
  of the writings of the NT (John 20.31). And the
  NT concept of faith is in accord with that it is
  obedience to the apostolic witness (Rom 1.5
  16.26 10.3)." Ridderbos, 21

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2.3 History of the Idea

• 2.3 Biblical Authority in the Bible
• 2.3.3 Infallibility
• 2.3.3.1 "Although, as far as I am aware, the
  equivalent of our word "infallibility" as
  attribute of the Scripture is not found in
  biblical terminology, yet in agreement with
  Scripture's divine origin and content, great
  emphasis is repeatedly placed on its
  trustworthiness. The prophetic word is sure
  (bebaios) (2 Pet 1.19). In the Pastoral Epistles
  Paul does not tire of assuring his readers that
  the word he has handed down is trustworthy
  (pistos) and worthy of full acceptance (1 Tim
  1.15 3.1 4.9 2 Tim 2.11 Titus 3.8). "
  Ridderbos, 21

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2.3 History of the Idea

• 2.3 Biblical Authority in the Bible
• 2.3.4 Purpose of Scripture
• 2.3.4.1 "It is obvious that Scripture is given us
  for a definite purpose. Paul says that it "was
  written for our instruction, that by
  steadfastness and by the encouragement of the
  scriptures we might have hope" (Rom 15.4). The
  famous pronouncement in 2 Timothy 3.15-16 is to
  the same effect . . . ." Ridderbos, 21

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2.4 History of the Idea

• 2.4 Biblical Authority in the Patristic Period
• 2.4.1 Origen
• 2.4.1.1 Origen exemplified the blending of
  Platonic philosophy and biblical thought.
• 2.4.1.2 ". . . for Origen, the very reason that
  human beings could know the revelation of God is
  that God had "condescended" and "accommodated"
  himself to our human ways of communicating and
  understanding." Rogers, "The Church Doctrine of
  Biblical Authority," 19

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2.4 History of the Idea

• 2.4.1.2 "Scripture was the work of a single
  divine author who adjusted himself to human
  thought in order that his saving message might be
  understood." Rogers, "The Church Doctrine of
  Biblical Authority," 19-20

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2.4 History of the Idea

• 2.4 Biblical Authority in the Patristic Period
• 2.4.2 Augustine
• 2.4.2.1 "The integration of biblical data and
  Platonic philosophy can be seen in the famous
  maxim of Augustine's method "I believe in order
  that I may understand." The biblical foundation
  came from the Septuagint translation of Isaiah
  7.9 "Unless you believe, you shall not
  understand." The philosophical foundation was the
  Platonic concept of innate first principles which
  enable us to make sense out of particulars."
  Rogers, 20

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2.4 History of the Idea

• 2.4.2.2 "Augustine's understanding of the
  authority of the Bible flowed from his general
  method, "I believe in order to understand." No
  discordancy of any kind was permitted to exist.
  Augustine had several ways of handling apparent
  disharmonies. He claimed variously that the
  manuscript was faulty, that the translation was
  wrong, or that the reader had not properly
  understood. When none of these answers seemed
  appropriate, Augustine sometimes concluded that
  the Holy Spirit had "permitted" one of the
  Scripture writers to compose something at
  variance from what another biblical author had
  written." Rogers, 21

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2.4 History of the Idea

• 2.4.2.3 "Variant readings were not an ultimate
  problem for Augustine because the truth of
  Scripture resided ultimately in the thought of
  the biblical writers and not in their individual
  words." Rogers, 21
• 2.4.2.4 "For Augustine, Scripture was not a
  textbook of science, or an academic tract, but
  the Book of life, written in the language of
  life." Rogers, 21

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2.5 History of the Idea

• 2.5 Biblical Authority in the Middle Ages
• 2.5.0 "The Christianized Neoplatonism of the
  early church formulated by Augustine had
  dominated theology for eight hundred years. Now
  it was gradually replaced by a theological system
  built on Aristotle that was to become normative
  for both Roman Catholic and later Protestant
  scholasticism. The assumption of Aristotle's
  empirical philosophy that all knowledge begins in
  human sense impressions reversed the Augustinian
  priority of faith over reason. Reason now came
  first and was thought to lead to faith. The
  deductive method of Aristotle's logic determined
  the style by which theological conclusions were
  derived." Rogers McKim, 43

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2.5 History of the Idea

• 2.5 Biblical Authority in the Middle Ages
• 2.5.1 John Scotus Erigena (d. 895) "Reason and
  authority come alike from the one source of
  divine wisdom, and cannot contradict each other.
  Reason is not to be overruled by authority but
  the reverse."
• 2.5.2 Thomas Aquinas
• 2.5.2.1 "Partly in response to the intellectual,
  political, and military pressure on Europe from
  the Arabs, Thomas sought common ground with them
  by using Aristotle, whom the Arabs accepted, to
  create a comprehensive and systematic
  philosophical theology." Rogers, 22

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2.5 History of the Idea

• 2.5.2.2 "For Thomas, following Aristotle, all
  knowledge came from the same source reason
  based on the data of our sense experience. "
  Rogers, 23
• 2.5.3 William of Occam (d. 1349)
• 2.5.3.1 "John Dun Scotus and his pupil, William
  of Occam, turned away from Aristotle to the older
  Platonic Augustinian thought and criticized
  Thomism. . . . Since Occam had deep reservations
  about the authority of the corrupt papacy he
  observed, he proclaimed the revelation of God in
  the Bible as the authoritative basis for faith.
  The Scripture was true for Occam, because
  inspired by the Holy Spirit." Rogers, 23

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2.5 History of the Idea

• 2.5.3.2 "For Occam, science and theology were
  separate realms, each with its own validations.
  Evidence was used to validate science, and faith
  was used to validate theology. Neither God's
  existence, nor unity, nor infinity could be
  rationally demonstrated. Faith, for Occam, did
  not supplement and perfect reason. The sphere of
  faith and reason were absolutely separate. The
  radical character of his approach was manifested
  in his assertion that reason could, on occasion,
  contradict faith. It was possible that something
  contradictory to certain dogmas might be
  demonstrated by reason. According to Occam, when
  that happened, the Christian was bound to follow
  faith even if it

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2.5 History of the Idea

• seemed to be irrational. In theology, faith was
  supreme and reason was irrelevant." Rogers
  McKim, 49
• 2.5.4 Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) Monastic
  Mysticism "His motto was 'I believe in order
  that I may experience.' Reason was disdained and
  de-emphasized in religion. Experience, especially
  mystical experience, became the goal of
  theological endeavor. Bernard and his followers
  emphasized contemplation of Scripture's mystical
  and devotional significance." Rogers McKim, 51

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2.6 History of the Idea

• 2.6 Luther
• 2.6.1 ". . . A rejection of an Aristotelian-Schola
  stic method of understanding and interpreting the
  Bible during the Middle Ages. Luther reached back
  to the attitudes of the early church by regarding
  the Bible's purpose as salvation and guidance in
  the life of faith. He also accepted its
  accommodated, incarnational form by which God had
  lowered himself to speak in human language and
  patterns of thought. Thus, Luther reunited two
  elements of the early church theological
  tradition a Neoplatonic-Augustinian acceptance
  of the Bible in faith, and a scholarly and
  critical appraisal of the natural, grammatical
  sense of the biblical text in its historical
  context." Rogers McKim, 76

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2.6 History of the Idea

• 2.6 Luther
• 2.6.2 Reason "For Isaiah vii makes reason
  subject to faith, when it says 'except ye
  believe, ye shall not have understanding or
  reason.' It does not say, 'Except you have reason
  ye shall not believe.'" . . . . "in spiritual
  matters, human reasoning certainly is not in
  order."
• 2.6.3 "The purpose of Scripture was to speak to
  us of personal salvation." Rogers, 24
• 2.6.4 Accommodation "What the early church
  theologians had called God's accommodation,
  Luther understood as an incarnational style of
  communication. Luther saw a divine and human
  nature of the Bible just as there was a divine and

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2.6 History of the Idea

• 2.6 Luther
• human nature in Christ. The Bible was the Word
  of God in the words of human beings." Rogers
  McKim, 78
• 2.6.5 The Holy Spirit "It is only the internal
  working of the Holy Spirit that causes us to
  place our trust in this Word of God, which is
  without form or comeliness . . . ." "The Bible
  cannot be mastered by study or talent you must
  rely solely on the influx of the Spirit."
• 2.6.6 Critical Concerns "Luther himself held
  some "critical opinions" regarding textual
  matters including his statements regarding the
  authorship of Genesis, Ecclesiastes, and Jude
  the propriety of

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2.6 History of the Idea

• 2.6 Luther
• the canonicity of Esther, Hebrews, James, and
  Revelation the "errors" of the prophets, the
  trustworthiness of Kings vis-à-vis Chronicles
  and the value of the Gospel accounts." Rogers
  McKim, 87

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2.7 History of the Idea

• 2.7 Calvin
• 2.7.1 Philosophic Background "Calvin, like
  Luther, reacted against the Aristotelian-Thomistic
  tradition. Plato was the best of all the
  philosophers for Calvin who cited him freely,
  though not uncritically." Rogers, 25

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2.7 History of the Idea

• 2.7 Calvin
• 2.7.2 Contextual Exegesis "As a humanist
  scholar, Calvin adopted . . . Contextual approach
  in the exegesis of Scripture. Calvin was always
  occupied with the circumstances and culture in
  which the biblical message was set." Rogers
  McKim, 97
• 2.7.3 Accommodation "Calvin expanded on and used
  the accommodation principle as a consistent basis
  for not only handling difficulties in Scripture,
  but also explaining every relationship between
  God and humankind." Rogers McKim, 98-99

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2.7 History of the Idea

• 2.7 Calvin
• 2.7.4 Reason, Spirit Scripture "Calvin strove
  for the Augustinian middle way of the church. He
  fought against two extremes. He rejected the
  rationalistic Scholasticism on the one side which
  demanded proofs prior to faith in Scripture. He
  rejected with equal firmness the spiritualistic
  sectarians on the other side who claimed leadings
  of the Spirit apart from the Scriptures. For
  Calvin, "Word and Spirit belong inseparably
  together." Rogers, 27

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2.8 History of the Idea

• 2.8 Post-Reformation Scholasticism
• 2.8.1 "Post-Reformation Protestants tried to
  prove the authority of the Bible using the same
  Aristotelian-Thomistic arguments which Roman
  Catholics used to prove the authority of the
  church. Melanchthon, the successor of Luther, and
  Beza, the successor of Calvin, both endeavored to
  systematize the work of their masters by casting
  it into an Aristotelian mold. Thus a significant
  shift in theological method occurred from the
  neo-Platonic Augustinianism of Luther and Calvin
  to the neo-Aristotelian-Thomism of their
  immediate followers." Rogers, 29

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2.8 History of the Idea

• 2.8 Post-Reformation Scholasticism
• 2.8.1 Terretin
• 2.8.1.1 "Turretin asked a twofold question "Is
  the Bible truly credible of itself and divine?"
  and "How do we know that it is such?" His
  response was to proclaim that the Bible was
  inerrant in all matters." Rogers, 30
• 2.8.1.2 "Turretin utilized the Aristotelian-Thomis
  tic method of putting reason before faith to
  develop theology. "Before faith can believe, it
  must have the divinity of the witness, to whom
  faith is to be given, clearly established, from
  certain true marks which are apprehended to it,
  otherwise it cannot believe." Rogers, 30

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Old Princeton Theology

• American Reformed Scholasticism

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Origins of Princeton Theology

• 1812 John 539 "Search the Scriptures"
• Finney "Straight jacket theology"
• 1812-1921 Charles Hodge "I am not afraid to say
  that a new idea never originated in this
  Seminary."

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Archibald Alexander

• 1772-1851
• Graham "If you mean ever to be a theologian, you
  must come at it not by reading but by thinking."
• Scottish Common Sense Philosophy
• "The first principle of Scottish Realism is that
  out sense experience is reliable and certain. . .
  . A second axion of S.R. was the principle of
  universality." Rogers, 39-40
• Degrees of Inspiration 1)Superintendence
  2)Suggestion 3)Evelation
• Francis Turretin "Bible's inerrancy in all
  things."

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Charles Hodge

• 1797-1886
• Made Professor at 24 ("original languages"
  "didactic theology" in 1840)
• Studied in Germany for 2 years meet Neander,
  Hengstenberg, Schleiermacher.
• Started and then Edited the Biblical
  RepertoryPrinceton Review for over 40 years.

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Charles Hodge

• Although Turretin and the Reformed scholastics of
  the 17th century resisted text criticism, it was
  acceptable by the time of the Princeton Theology.
• Charles Hodge rejected "Higher Criticism" as
  "rationalist" and "pantheistic." . . . . "The
  Latest Form of Infidelity" Leben Jesu (Strauss)

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Charles Hodge

• Inspiration of the Scriptures "The common
  doctrine of the Church is, and ever has been,
  that inspiration was an influence of the Holy
  Spirit on the minds of certain select men, which
  rendered them the organs of God for the
  infallible communication of his mind and will.
  They were in such a sense the organs of God, that
  what they said God said."
• "The whole end and office of inspiration is to
  preserve the sacred writers from error in
  teaching."

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Charles Hodge

• "It means, first, that all the books of the
  Scripture are equally inspired. All alike are
  infallible in what they teach. And secondly, that
  inspiration extends to al the content o these
  several books. It is not confined to moral and
  religious truths, but extends to the statements
  of facts, whether scientific, historical, or
  geographical. It is not confined to those facts
  the importance of which is obvious or which are
  involved in matters of doctrine. It extends to
  everything which any sacred writer asserts to be
  true."

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Archibald Alexander Hodge

• 1823-1886
• Missionary, Pastor, Theologian.
• The original autographs not translations were
  inerrant.
• "The fact that the Scriptures are thus inspired
  is proved because they assert it of themselves."

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Archibald Alexander Hodge

• "And because they must either be credited as true
  in this respect, or rejected as false in all
  respects . . . . God authenticated the claims of
  their writers by accompanying their teaching with
  'signs and wonders and divers miracles' Heb.
  2.4."
• ". . . the Church has never held the verbal
  infallibility of our translations, nor the
  perfect accuracy of the copies of the original
  Hebrew and Greek Scriptures now possessed by us.
  These copies confessedly contain many
  'discrepancies' resulting from frequent
  transcription."

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Archibald Alexander Hodge

• Alleged Discrepancies
• That the alleged discrepant statement certainly
  occurred in the veritable autograph copy of the
  inspired writing containing it.
• That their interpretation of the statement, which
  occasions the discrepancy, is the only possible
  one, the one it was certainly intended to bear .
  . . .
• He must also prove that facts of science or
  history, or the Scriptural statements, with which
  the statement is asserted to be inconsistent, are
  real facts or real parts of the autograph text of
  canonical Scripture, and that the sense in which
  they are found to be inconsistent with the
  statement in question is the only sense they can
  rationally bear.

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Archibald Alexander Hodge

• Alleged Discrepancies
• (4) When the reality of the opposing facts or
  statements is determined, and their true
  interpretation is ascertained, then it must, in
  conclusion, be shown not only that they appear
  inconsistent, nor merely that their
  reconciliation is impossible in our present state
  of knowledge, but that they are in themselves
  essentially incapable of being reconciled.

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Benjamin B. Warfield

• 1851-1921
• Professor of Didactic and Polemical Theology
• Warfield saw the Princeton system under attack .
  . . The task was defense and the technique was
  apologetics.
• "Warfield laid his stress not on the
  supernatural, but on the natural knowledge of
  God."

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Benjamin B. Warfield

• "For Warfield the Holy Spirit worked to produce
  acceptance of the humanly devised evidential
  reasons for faith."
• "All authority of the apostles stands behind the
  Scriptures, and all the authority of Christ
  behind the Apostles. The Scriptures are simply
  the law-code which the law-givers of the Church
  gave it."

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Benjamin B. Warfield

• ". . . Warfield predicated the authority of the
  Bible on his ability to prove the traditional
  apostolic authorship or sanction for each of the
  books. This set him in constant opposition to the
  Higher Critics." Rogers McKim, 334
• Warfield rejects "accommodationism" (James Stuart)