Exposition by Max A Forsythe
Question 3:
Q: What do the scriptures principally teach?
A: The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.
Years ago I saw a movie based on the story The Prince and the Pauper. The premise of the story was that identical look alike young men traded places because they were both bored silly with their roll in life. Of course, the novelty of the other "twin" quickly wore off and it took the story some time to get everyone back where they properly belonged. While the pauper had been in the palace had used a heavy metal object to crack nuts. And while he had been in residence, the ministers of court had been busily searching for the Great Seal of State which had to be affixed to all the royal declarations and documents of state.
In his ignorance, the pauper had no idea of the proper use for the object that he used so carelessly. It reminds me of an antique shop that I was once in. I saw a black metal eagle with a number etched in bold at its feet. For some reason the eagle intrigued me and the dealer supposed that it would take a long time to find some one with the proper street address to come along and need the heavy piece. Years later, I am almost persuaded that I had seen a Napoleonic Eagle, like the one's given by the French Emperor to each of his regiments. At this point in time it is very unlikely that I will ever remember where that little shop is located so that I can go and pay the $35 for an item now worth its weight in gold!
A last example, I can still remember the dirty old pith helmet hanging in my Grandmother's garage, the one she wore in the garden when it was sunny. I can just vaguely picture the funny palm tree with the broken cross painted center front. Four decades later I realize that that pith helmet may have once been worn by some member of the Deutche Afrika Korps. Please realize that grandma's German connection was several generations before the second world war!
Of course, these vague memories may be nothing more than wishful thinking as another German, a philosopher from the last century might have described them: a phantasmagoria (an idle dream of the mind). That Marxist manifestation is shared more widely than many would suppose. After all, the humanistic materialists would all agree that truth, beauty, love and all the other hundred and some great ideas of mankind are nothing more than mere fantasies of the mind. Hades forbid that hard actual true truth, as Francis Shaeffer described it, might actually exist and have some application in every age and every place. And it is one of these eternal truths that we know doctrinally that we will be discussing today.
The truth in question involves the revelation record of the Creator God's spoken words to all of mankind. In theological terms, the Scriptures of the Old and the New Covenants. Certainly, my idle dreams and the fictional story of a pauper's ignorance pale in comparison besides the revelation records of the Lord God Almighty. However, there are many humanistic counselor's who would give more credence to my wishful thinking than they would to God's Holy Word!
In the same way, A.A. Hodge lays along side each other, the modernist and catholic idea that the church is the infallible teacher of men in religion with the historic, orthodox, protestant doctrine that the Scriptures are the only rule of faith and practice. Even I have my doubts about that eagle and pith helmet that I told you about, especially since I cannot lay my hands on the evidence and no one else can verify my memory either! Could I wish it true and make it true? If those vague half-faded memories were of child abuse, a good lawyer could probably make a case in a contemporary court as the media has recorded in the last few years.
However, it is not vain human memories that are the basis of eternal truth. No indeed, the Scriptural record which we are pleased to affirm, has more than enough evidence through many millennia to stand on its own recognizance. God's Word does not need our imagination or our depositions to stand the test of time! Now, if we are all in agreement with the doctrine that we studied last week that God's Word is the only infallible rule to guide us, then we are ready for the next step.
What is the purpose or as Westminster frames it, "what do the scriptures principally teach?" At the time of the Reformation, the answer was so well known that my principle commentator passed over this topic with very minimal references.
A.A. Hodge affirms as we do that "the Scriptures are the only authoritative voice in the Church." Our confession and catechisms are as they faithfully declare only subordinate standards to the essential truths of God's authoritative Word. We are allowed on the basis of Christian liberty to reject any non-essential teachings of the confession if we have a viable and respected affirmation based upon clear passages of Scripture. We do not have the liberty or freedom to throw out the detailed doctrines or clear guidelines to living and working within Christ's Church that are outlined in God's Word.
John Gerstner would let us know that" by Scripture alone is Scripture to be understood. The church can help in understanding the Bible. The minister is a specialist who can aid the less trained parishioner. Nonetheless, the Bible is for all, can and must be understood by all. This is the famous doctrine of the perspicuity of Scripture -- the see-throughability of Scripture." In another place, he teaches that the Bible is the sole criterion of truth. Every theologian, every controversy, every council has to be judged by the word of God. If they be not according to that, there is no light in them." A further point that we must testify about is the fact that even while the words of scripture are finished, the Holy Spirit is still working through the words to enlighten our minds. Nothing new is being revealed and nothing is to be subtracted.
God has spoken and as our theme verse Micah 6: 8 clearly teaches is that God "has showed you, O man, what is good. And what doe the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Very clearly does the prophet clarify the second portion of our doctrinal answer where our duty before God is clearly outlined! See the threefold requirement there: to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly. The scriptures clearly declare what the demands of justice are. But then in our day, justice is just another of those phantasmagorias that only limit the creative making of law. Today, the due process or legal procedures are of much greater importance than mere justice.
But we who affirm the infallibility of Scripture understand that God did not give ten suggestions to mankind so that we could have a better life here and now only! No indeed, the commandments are for all time and even within the forty years in the desert, the Holy Spirit enabled Moses and his judges to expand the ten principles so that they encompassed every legal aspect of living in the midst of others for all time. And except where the New Testament clearly puts aside the execution of adulterers and the ceremonial eating habits of the Old Covenant, what remains is for all time.
The second aspect is Micah's revelation that we are to be "loving mercy". Now that is a strange conception, but perhaps if we think about a phrase in the Lord's Prayer we shall not be too far off. "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." If we love the mercy shown to us through the grace of God, we too will be merciful and forgiving in all our relationships so that we can witness to the grace of God who saved us while we too were yet sinners.
The third of Micah's aspects is the most difficult: "to walk humbly". I know that I have failed in this area many many times. Why is it, that the redeemed of the Lord are many times less than winsome in their relationships within the family or neighborhood? Isn't it because we are just barely converted? Without the regular counsel of God's Holy Spirit we would soon forget the mercy and grace freely given to each and every one of us!
Just this Friday night, I observed one of the few times that the words "frozen chosen" could truthfully be used to describe the half of our congregation gathered around the campfire as our breath hung briefly in the air before being swept away by the wind as it whistled through the trees and penetrated the many layers of clothing we had wrapped around us. How well we huddled around the fire which consumed the branches and logs which the Lord began preparing for us fifty to seventy-five years before. Of course we knew that the wood we burned had some age to it! So does the word which would warm our hearts if we would listen to the Spirit as He speaks to us therein. In addition to guiding us in our daily walk where we can learn humbly all that God would teach us, we must understand that the other purpose of the revealed word is to inform our beliefs. All of our doctrines are to be based on clearly related passages. Paul tells Timothy in 1:13 and 3:16 that the God-breathed word has its purposes for teaching and training as well as in rebuking and correcting doctrines. And we are obligated just as Timothy was to keep the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. So all of the doctrines and practices of Christ's churches are to proceed from this premise and nothing ought to be allowed unless it is clearly taught in the Scriptures.
We are not to bring our vain imaginations or theories to the word, no indeed we are to submit our hearts and minds to the revealed truth which has a primary purpose for our good. This is what we see in our two passages from the glorious gospel of John. Having believed the testimony of the scripture and the Spirit, we too may know the revealed Christ and by believing in Him have eternal life in and through His Name. With that divine purpose in mind, we can see the age old preparations very clearly, that God in His revelations was preparing the world for the coming of His own Son so that those who might believe can have life in His Name.
And having life in Him they may be empowered to life a life of obedience which is pleasing to Him. Please understand that we must get these two aspects of the Confession in the proper order. Both catechisms are divided into these two sections, belief and duty. In our Shorter Catechism, questions one to thirty-eight define what we are to believe and the balance from thirty-nine to one hundred and seven detail how we are to live humbly in obedience to our Lord and Savior. As we continue our studies of these subordinate confessional standards may our hearts and minds be lifted up so that our lifelong focus may be on Jesus Christ both now and forever.
Resources Used:
Gerstner, John H. A Guide to the Westminster Confession of Faith.
Green, James B. A Harmony of the Westminster Presbyterian Standards.
Hodge, A.A. The Confession of Faith.
(PCA) The Confession of Faith: The Shorter Catechism.
Places Preached:
Christ Covenant REFORMED (Presbyterian Church in America)
Box 132049 -- Columbus, OH 43213-8049
WSC003 28 April 96
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