Summary of the Doctrine of Scripture

(Adapted from an unpublished statement on the doctrine of Scripture.)

The Bible consists of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments. They were produced by God's inspiration, and collected and preserved by God's providence, so that they function as a whole and are referred to as a single volume.

The Bible is God's verbal revelation. It is his very voice. All the words of the Bible were inspired and breathed out by God. He caused men to write down the exact words that he wanted to use to communicate his thoughts.

A word is a symbol, and a symbol can represent any idea or combination of ideas. Therefore, human language is sufficient to communicate anything from or about God. Any limitation must rest in man's ability to think or to process the ideas that God communicates. Since God has made man in the divine image, man has the ability to think or to process the ideas that God communicates.

Scripture is coherent and consistent. It is a unity. Each document agrees with itself, and all the documents agree with one another. It contains no logical contradictions, paradoxes, or antinomies, whether actual or apparent. To perceive an apparent contradiction where there is no actual contradiction means that the apparent contradiction is a delusion, a product of the person's mind, and not a feature of the text.

Scripture is infallible and inerrant. Just as God does not lie or err, the Bible, which is the very voice of God and whose words are the very words of God, does not lie or err. The Bible cannot and does not contain errors, whether it is referring to spiritual, historical, or other matters. It is correct in all that it asserts and implies. A person who considers any portion of Scripture as fallible or errant has no basis to claim to be a Christian. After much admonition and warning, he is to be declared reprobate and excommunicated.

Scripture is authoritative. It is more than an instrument, but it is God's very voice. Its authority is identical to the authority of God. There is no difference between God speaking and the Bible speaking, and there is no difference between obeying God and obeying the Bible. To believe and to obey one is to believe and obey the other.

Scripture is perspicuous. It is generally clear and easily understood. The Bible communicates effectively to all kinds of men in different times and cultures. It is characterized by a basic simplicity in thought and language such that it is possible for anyone with elementary abilities, without human aid, to read and learn from it the central tenets of the Christian faith, including the knowledge that is necessary and sufficient for salvation.

Scripture is sufficient. It contains the information one needs for salvation, spiritual development, and personal guidance, and all that is needed for a person to live a life that is fully pleasing to God. It contains the necessary information for a complete worldview, a true view of reality, of knowledge, of ethics, and other matters. Extra-biblical revelations such as visions and prophecies are unnecessary; however, Scripture does not declare that they have ceased. God may still grant them whenever he pleases, but all claims concerning extra-biblical revelations must be tested, and false prophets must be excommunicated.

Scripture is self-authenticating. It supports itself by the excellence and sufficiency of its own content, and it has no need to depend on premises external to itself. The Christian system receives Scripture as its first principle. The rest of the system follows by valid deductions. This first principle verifies itself to be true, and all propositions validly deduced from it are also true. Since it is true, and since it contradicts and condemns all other systems of thought, the Christian faith is the only true religion, philosophy, or worldview.