The Inspiration of Holy Scripture
In some ways, the doctrine of the Scriptures’ divine inspiration is the most important of all doctrines. Every other doctrine—and all instruction in piety and godliness—comes from the Scriptures. Without them we cannot know God and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent, whom to know is life eternal (John 17:3). Nor can we know how to please God apart from the Scriptures. Therefore, if the Scriptures are not the inspired word of God, we lose everything.
II Timothy 3:15–17 teaches this doctrine of inspiration. There God says of His word that it is “God-breathed” (the words “given by inspiration of God” translate one Greek word meaning “God-breathed”). This is a striking way of saying, first, that Scripture is the work of the Spirit of God (breath and Spirit are the same word in Greek), and second, that Scripture is therefore the very speech of God’s own mouth.
Because the Scriptures are the breath of God, they must be perfect and without error. God does not have bad breath! This must be stated plainly, because to speak against the Scriptures is blasphemy: it is to speak against God Himself as He is revealed in Christ. When we read the Bible, we hear the sweet voice and smell the sweet breath of Him whose “lips are like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh” (Song 5:13). Who, then, dares to be critical?
II Timothy 3 does not just teach inspiration, however. It also teaches plenary inspiration. The word “plenary” means “full” or “complete.” It refers to the fact that the Scriptures are inspired in all parts, in all the different kinds of literature they contain and in all matters that they address. Not only in their doctrines but also in matters of geography, history, science, culture and life they are God-breathed and therefore perfect and infallible. Even their grammar is God-breathed. That is one reason we must insist on a careful translation of these Scriptures and must not be satisfied with a paraphrase (e.g., Good News for Modern Man) or something that is a kind of compromise between a translation and a paraphrase (e.g., The New International Version).
Because the Scriptures are fully inspired, they are also profitable. II Timothy 3:15–17 speaks of four ways in which they profit us: for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. Without treating each in detail, notice the beautiful completeness. Scripture is profitable for everything we need for salvation. It shows us the way (the basic sense of “doctrine”); it brings us to the way by convicting us of sin (reproof), without which we will never know our need of Christ and His cross; and it keeps us in the way by “correction,” restoring us when we are weak and wandering. It also nurtures us in the way (the word translated “instruction” is the same word translated “nurture” in Eph. 6:4), leading us to spiritual maturity, perfection, and glory in Christ. Nothing else is necessary in the Christian’s life. Scripture is therefore able to make us “wise unto salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.” Let us, then, receive and honour it as the very breath of God. Rev. Hanko
Unity in Christ (1)
That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (John 17:21).
The reader who sent in this text for treatment asked that it be considered in the light of its use by those who advocate a false ecumenism.
Perhaps the question requires a few remarks of explanation.
The ecumenical movement is bent on uniting all existing churches into one broad denomination, which will, it is hoped, bring about a one-world church. In the broadest sense of the word, Protestant ecumenists are even prepared to bring into the unity of the church pagan religions. This was amply demonstrated by the meeting of the World Council of Churches in Canberra, Australia, when the delegates were led in various pagan rites and ceremonies.
Such ecumenicity is picking up some momentum after a period of stagnation. Most recent evidence of this is in the continual movement of the Church of England towards a return to Rome.
The argument raised in support of such ecumenicity is an appeal to this text found in our Lord’s “high-priestly prayer” (John 17). It is argued that Christ desires that the church overcome her fragmentation and join in the unity of one church.
Sometimes churches which have held to distinctive Reformed and Presbyterian truths are ready to compromise these truths for the sake of union so that the church is able to wield greater political, social and economic influence in world affairs. Churches with disparate doctrines, for example, are willing to tone down their distinctives for purposes of cooperation in such a matter as opposition to abortion.
One will notice, if he has paid any attention to these movements, that unity is always at the cost of compromising (and even forsaking) the distinctive doctrines of the Christian church. But such abdication of the truth is justified on the grounds that the question of what is truth is said to be a relative question, for truth itself is described as relative.
And this, in turn, involves one in a particular view of Scripture. The question is: Are the Scriptures the infallibly inspired word of God which contain that truth which is the rule of our faith and life? Fewer and fewer are prepared to answer this question with a resounding affirmative.
It is more than likely that the pressures towards ecumenicity will grow stronger with the passing of the years so that, in the days of Antichrist, there will not only be one world-wide political kingdom, but also one world-wide church, which will be the religious right arm of Antichrist himself.
If such should indeed be what happens when Antichrist rules, it is not an unsound conclusion that, within this one-world church, room will be found for every denomination and every religion—be it Roman Catholicism, Mohammedanism, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.
One exception will, however, be made to membership in this world-wide church: the truth of Scripture. The promoters of ecumenicity are very tolerant towards every religion—except the true religion. The umbrella sheltering all churches will be sufficiently large to cover every person—except those who confess the name of Jesus Christ according to the Scriptures. Only God’s faithful people will be excluded.
Scripture suggests this when, in Revelation 13:15, in that frightening vision which John received of Antichrist, it reminds us that: “He had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.”
It is not surprising that God’s people will be excluded from such a world-wide church and will be killed for refusing to become a part of it: they are the only ones who insist that Scripture is the absolute rule of faith and life, and that, therefore, the only true religion is that one religion faithful to Scripture. These same faithful, though they be few in number when Antichrist rules, will insist that their religion is the one true religion and all other religions are false. That insistence will be enough to brand them as intolerant and worthy of death.
It is within this context that we must be careful to understand properly the words of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But we shall have to discuss these words specifically in another article. Prof. Hanko
The Order of Salvation (1)
One of our readers has written the following: “I am currently studying (or rather, seeking to establish) the order of salvation (sometimes called ordo salutis). I have stumbled across a number of ‘orders’ which seem to vary slightly, and I would value your teaching on this in a fairly simple, straightforward way, based of course on Holy Scripture.”
The so-called “order of salvation” (ordo salutis is the Latin term) refers to God’s work in us and the order in which that work takes place. A typical order is: regeneration, calling, faith, justification, sanctification, preservation, and glorification.
We might notice immediately that the order of salvation does not include such things as election and the atonement. The reason is this, the order of salvation is not describing that part of salvation that we refer to as the work of God for us. Then election and the cross would be included. Rather, it refers to the work of God in us. This is the work of God by which He actually gives us all of the blessings of salvation decreed for us in eternity and earned for us by the death of Christ on the cross. This work of God in us has to do, therefore, with the application of salvation to the believer. We must be clear on this point. For example, when we speak here of justification, we are not speaking of justification as it is objectively accomplished at the cross, but of justification as it is subjectively applied to the believer and received by him by faith.
We should be clear, too, that this is a logical order. In time and in our experience many of these blessings are received simultaneously, not one after another. The calling is a good example. It is something that the believer must hear all his spiritual life long. Likewise, sanctification and conversion are not one-time events in our spiritual life that happen mechanically in a certain order, but the lifelong experience of God’s people until they are glorified.
Nevertheless, the logical order of salvation is important. For one thing, it emphasizes the important truth that the application of salvation is not something that takes place all at once and is then finished. Perfectionism and the doctrine of entire sanctification teach that. Instead, the application of salvation is a lifelong process that involves growth in grace until our final glorification.
For another thing, the order of salvation, rightly taught, presents some very important biblical truths. We might notice that in the order given above regeneration precedes faith. That is the Reformed and Calvinistic order, and gets at a very significant difference between Calvinism and Arminianism. The Arminian order (a la Billy Graham) would be faith before regeneration—i.e., we must believe before God can begin to work in us. That is an order that begins with man, not God! The most important thing to remember, therefore, in any discussion of the order of salvation, is that the whole order is the work of God and a wonder of His grace. “It is God that worketh in you both to will and do of his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).
In the next issue we will talk about some other differences in the order of salvation within the Reformed tradition. Rev. Hanko
