Scripture as the Rule

“The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience. 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 they are not sufficient to give that knowledge of God and 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 afterward 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 Scriptures to be most necessary, those former ways of God’s revealing His will unto His people being now ceased.” (2LBCF 1:1)

What a strong statement to begin a confession! Tom Nettles and Russ Bush say of this entire chapter, “This article contains the clearest confessional statement on Scripture in all of Christendom.” (Baptists and the Bible, pg. 41).  The strongest and clearest portion is the first sentence of the paragraph.  It is entirely new when compared to the preceding Baptist, Presbyterian, and Congregational confessions (respectively, the 1st London Baptist Confession, The Westminster Confession, and the Savoy Declaration).  Specifically referencing the first sentence of paragraph 1, Bush & Nettles go on to say, “Baptists are even more explicit than the Westminster divines in their affirmation of Scripture as the only authoritative source of God’s revealed truth.”(ibid. pg.42).  Because of the importance of this first sentence, they proceed to give an exposition of it and it's relation to the rest of the confession.  I will follow suit.

Scripture is described here as a rule. According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, a rule is “one of a set of explicit or understood regulations or principles governing conduct within a particular activity or sphere; a principle that operates within a particular sphere of knowledge, describing or prescribing what is possible or allowable.” Its origin comes from Latin meaning “straight stick.” Applying that definition to the first sentence, we discover that Scripture is an explicit set of principles or regulations to govern all of our knowledge in salvation, faith, and obedience. The proceeding lines of paragraph 1 tease this out by comparing and contrasting general and special revelation (to be expounded later), concluding with the thought that Scripture is “most necessary.”

This most necessary rule and guide is described with four adjectives: only, sufficient, certain, and infallible.  These will be the subjects of the next posts.