THE SHORTER CATECHISM: Question 2 & 3

Question: What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him?

Answer: The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, (2 Tim. 3:16, Eph. 2:20) is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him. (1 John 1:3–4)

Question: What do the scriptures principally teach?

Answer: The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man. (2 Tim 1:13, 2 Tim 3:16)

The importance of setting out a doctrine of Scripture early in the Catechism is fundamental to Reformed thinking.  Over and against the Church in Rome the Reformation stood up and against the introduction of the traditions of men into the Church of Christ.  This same doctrine that serves well in protecting a belief and faith based in the teaching of the Apostles against the Anabaptist movement of the same era.  Today Reformed Churches are protected against false prophet and inauthentic books claiming divine origin by testing these deceptions against the infallible word of God.

Scripture is the starting point and ultimately the finishing point for all theology.  This is addressed and taught in the Reformation doctrine of Sola Scriptura (scripture alone).  One thing every Christian should remember is that Sola Scriptura is not SOLO Scriptura.  It would be an incredible act of hubris to believe that as an individual we can separate ourselves from 2,000 years of Church history and interpret the bibles message alone.  In fact the Westminster Confession teaches that, “in a due use of the ordinary means, may [we] attain unto a sufficient understanding of them [scripture].”  “Ordinary means” in this context is the preaching of the Word and the teaching of sound doctrine by the ordained Minister of the Word and Sacrament.

The Westminster divines are not teaching the entirety of the doctrine of Scripture in the Shorter Catechism, they do not address issues such as authenticity, inspiration, sufficiency or a host of other subheadings in the doctrine of Scripture.  It should be readily acknowledged that the Confession was written before the affects of the enlightment on any doctrine dealing with the supernatural.  I wonder if the Divines would have included more direct questions regarding the reliability of Scripture if they were doing their work now.

Looking at the authenticity of the Bible we have only 5,000+ manuscripts and an entire field of textual criticism for the New Testament, while for the Book of Mormon we have an astounding total of zero manuscripts.  Looking at manuscript evidence alone, it is no wonder people question the Holy Bible’s authenticity while accepting the Book of Mormon’s.  The Old Testament has an astonishing textual tradition as well the inter-testamental testimony of the New Testament writer using, quoting, or alluding to Old Testament texts.  I am unaware of any New Testament quotes from the Book of Mormon.

The number of places where the Bible claims authority are to numerous to list.  There are a good number of examples of the New Testament authors claiming authority for the Old Testament (Matt 5:7; Luke 16:17; 29, 31; John 10:5).  There are examples of New Testament authors claiming authority for other New Testament books (2 Pet 3:15, 16).  B.B. Warfield in his work entitled “The Authority and Inspiration of the Scriptures” explains where the Bible receives its authority over the Church of Christ

If, then, the apostles were appointed by Christ to act for him and in his name and authority in founding the Church — and this no one can doubt; and if the apostles gave the Scriptures to the Church in prosecution of this commission — and this admits of as little doubt; the whole question of the authority of the Scriptures is determined… Still less does the authority of the Scriptures rest on the authority of the Church. The Church may bear witness to what she received from the apostles as law, but this is not giving authority to that law but humbly recognizing the authority which rightfully belongs to it whether the Church recognizes it or not… The point is, whether the Scriptures are a product of the Church, or rather of the authority which founded the Church. The Church certainly did not exist before the authority which Christ gave the apostles to found it, in virtue of which they have imposed the Scriptures on it as law.

One thing that is absent from the Old and New Testaments is any reference to praying to discover the truthfulness of Scripture a fact that seems to be overlooked by Joseph Smith when he wrote Moroni 10:4 in the Book of Mormon.   When you look to the vast number of places that the Scripture simply claim truthfulness, it is incoherent to base a doctrine of scripture of the subjectivity of individuals.

Understanding that there are a number of other things that can be discussed in greater detail the Reformed Church has also confessed the sufficiency of Scripture or that there are the “only infallible rule of faith and practice” or as the Westminster Confession puts it,

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.”

This precludes the newly canonical and binding prophesy from either a Pope or a prophet.  While there are numerous examples of prophesy in the Old and New Testaments there is no promise to the Church of continuous divine revelation.  I do not deny that God can speak in any method he wishes, what I deny is that God has promised to speak to his Church by the use of extraordinary means.  For example God spoke to Balaam through an extraordinary means by using his ass.  This does not bind the Church into listening to the pronouncements of every ass that comes along.

A second example comes from a rencent comment at Mormon Coffee claimed that, “Jesus Christ Himself said in reference to the creeds of men: “all their creeds were an abomination in His sight” and that the religions of men “draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.””  Just like listening to Balaam’s ass there is nothing in the New Testament to direct Christ’s Church to trust new extraordinary revelation without testing it against the infallible word of God in the Bible.  This is a test that Joseph Smith has never passed.

The doctrine of scripture and revelation are intricately tied together, the Westminster Divines were showing their understanding of how important, by addressing them early in the catechism. 

~ by gundek on June 7, 2009.