It is available at: http://www.amazon.com/
Mr. (Dr.) Dockery offers "basics on the basics," but even at that...they are worth revisiting, reviewing, and holding consistently before the eye of faith and the life of the Church. We've added a few points here and there.
Why is the Bible needed?
• Man is in God’s image, God is unlimited, and man is limited. “Man is unable, unaided, to investigate him” Mr. Dockery informs us (1). It was God’s initiative to make Himself known. A “Self-disclosure,” “unveiling,” “revelation.”
• Human sin has noetic, affectional, and volitional. There is a “blinding” (2 Cor. 4.4) and inability “to understand correctly” (2).
• We must offer the Westminsterians’ inimitable insight, The Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 1, paragraph 1: “I. 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; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of his will, which is necessary unto salvation; therefore it pleased the Lord, at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal himself, and to declare that his will unto his Church; 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; which maketh the holy Scripture to be most necessary; those former ways of God's revealing his will unto his people being now ceased.”
Natural and Special Revelation
• Natural—Psalm 19, Rom. 1.18ff., inter alia.
• Special—forms such: visions (e.g., Isaiah 6), dreams (e.g., Daniel), specific ideas as God’s Word, deeds (e.g. creation, exodus, Red Sea, Jericho falling, etc.), incarnation
• Some claim the Bible is fallible reports by fallible men about God (perhaps the majority report in the mainline??). For example, Barth and Brunner spoke of “encounters” with God as a form of revelation as the form and manner of revelation.
• “An accurate and reliable source of truth requires preservation in a written form” (8).
Inspiration
• Jeremiah: “These are the words the LORD spoke concerning Israel and Judah” (Jer. 30.4)
• Isaiah: “The LORD spoke to me…” (Is. 8.11). This is repeated often in the major and minor Prophets.
• 2 Tim. 3.15-17: “15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Or, kαὶ ὅτι ἀπὸ βρέφους [τὰ] ἱερὰ γράμματα οἶδας, τὰ δυνάμενά σε σοφίσαι εἰς σωτηρίαν διὰ πίστεως τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ. πᾶσα γραφὴ θεόπνευστος καὶ ὠφέλιμος πρὸς διδασκαλίαν, πρὸς ἐλεγμόν, πρὸς ἐπανόρθωσιν, πρὸς παιδείαν τὴν ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ, ἵνα ἄρτιος ᾖ ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ ἄνθρωπος, πρὸς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθὸν ἐξηρτισμένος.
• 2 Peter 1.20-21. “ And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God[c] spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Or, kαὶ ἔχομεν βεβαιότερον τὸν προφητικὸν λόγον, ᾧ καλῶς ποιεῖτε προσέχοντες ὡς λύχνῳ φαίνοντι ἐν αὐχμηρῷ τόπῳ, ἕως οὗ ἡμέρα διαυγάσῃ καὶ φωσφόρος ἀνατείλῃ ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν: τοῦτο πρῶτον γινώσκοντες, ὅτι πᾶσα προφητεία γραφῆς ἰδίας ἐπιλύσεως οὐ γίνεται: οὐ γὰρ θελήματι ἀνθρώπου ἠνέχθη προφητεία ποτέ, ἀλλὰ ὑπὸ πνεύματος ἁγίου φερόμενοι ἐλάλησαν ἀπὸ θεοῦ ἄνθρωποι.
• Acts 1.16, the Holy Spirit spoke by the mouth of David in reference to Psalm 69.25 and 109.8. Other references here might be cited.
• Jesus and the Temptation addressed the Anti-Christ with the authoritative “Word of God.”
• Jesus: “Scripture cannot be broken…” (Jn. 10.35).
• Mt. 5.18: “Not a jot or tittle would pass away from the law…”. Sometimes this is referred to as “jot-and-tittle inspiration.”
• We would add that Jesus stated His own words would not pass away, a direct claim to co-equal authority with the Old Testament writers.
Theories/Approaches to Inspiration:
• Intuition = insight = gift of those who are more religiously gifted, thoughtful and insightful.
• Illumination theory = a variant of the above, that is, a “heightened state given by the Holy Spirit”
• “Dynamic theory” = Holy Spirit guides ideas, not words
• “Plenary, Verbal view” = God governs and superintends the ideas and very words. This is the classic Protestant and Reformed view.
• “Dictation view” = the writers were stenographers. This approaches the Roman Tridentine view.
Inerrancy and Infallibility
• Some claim these are new terms
• Mr. Dockery, regrettably, does not reference the “International Council on Biblical Inerrancy,” 1978, or Mr. (Rev. Dr. Prof.) R.C. Sproul’s work on it. Explaining Inerrancy. http://www.amazon.com/
• Various periods have addressed different issues: Trinity (e.g. ecumenical councils), deity and humanity of Christ (4th-5th centuries), atonement (11th-12th centuries), soteriology (16th century) and the 19th-20th centuries: inspiration, authority, and infallibility.
• Some protest that the term “inerrancy” or “infalliblity” is not in the Bible. Nor is the word “Trinity” or “sacrament.” The objection is empty.
Illumination
• John 16.8-11: the Holy Spirit brings conviction of sin, righteousness and judgment
• John 14.26: Holy Spirit sent by the Son to illumine. (Let the American Anglican accommodators to the Greek Filioquesters eat this and related texts. The Americans have other agendas in their sell-out.). The Holy Spirit gives internal testimony, conviction, and assurance of the divine authority and infallibility.
• Of course, the Westminster Confession (I.5) gives the following: “V. We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church to an high and reverent esteem of 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.”
• Or, as from our good South African friend, Mr. Griesel, at: http://
• To wit, Franciscus Junius (1545-1602) was a Reformed scholar and theologian who studied under John Calvin and Theodore Beza at Geneva and later became professor at the universities of Heidelberg and Leiden. Below are excerpts from his posthumously published Opera Theologica, in which he states that the testimony of the Holy Spirit is the ultimate assurance of the divinity, inspiration and authority of Scripture.
Junius distinguishes between a testimonium internum and a testimonium externum for the authority of Scripture:
“The testimonies are either internal or external. The internal testimony that exceeds all other authority and without which all the other testimonies and arguments will be of no weight or importance for us, is the Holy Spirit speaking to our hearts and testifying to our spirits that these books of Holy Scripture are θεοπνευστος (God-breathed), that is, dictated by Him.”
- Franciscus Junius (1545-1602), Opera Theologica 1, Opuscula Theologica Selecta, 117-118
Junius then states that the external testimony is threefold: The first external testimony is Scripture itself or rather God who speaks to us in Scripture and asserts its divine authority. The second is the testimony of the prophets and apostles who have handed over to the church what they received from the Lord. The third is the witness of the church that gives a constant and perpetual consent to Scripture. This third externum testimonium is restricted. Just as Scripture is canonical and authentic in itself (in se), it also appears to be so to us (nobis), and the testimonium of the church is mute and invalid without the testimony of the Spirit. The internal testimonium not only persuades believers that everything in the Scriptures is dictated by God, but also enables them to discern these books from the counterfeit books by a spiritual judgment. After the testimonies Junius mentions eleven arguments from which the authority of the Scriptures also can be concluded. Among these are some of Calvin’s arguments, such as the heavenliness of its doctrine, the unity of its parts, and its antiquity. But he says:
“Although all these arguments bind and force our judgment and strongly prove that Scripture is truly divine, still they absolutely cannot persuade us firmly of this, unless the testimonium of the Holy Spirit comes with them. That alone gives these arguments power and not only forces and presses us, like them, but also awakens our whole mind to assent and fills our hearts with wonderful assurance (πληροφορια) and causes us to embrace Holy Scripture as truly θεοπνευστος (God-breathed).”
- Franciscus Junius (1545-1602), Opera Theologica 1, Opuscula Theologica Selecta, 118
What is said of the arguments can be applied to the external testimonies as well: only the Holy Spirit can give us the full assurance of the divine origin and authority of Scripture.
