Rev. Angus Stewart
Belgic Confession 5: From Whence the Holy Scriptures Derive Their Dignity and Authority
We receive all these books, and these only, as holy and canonical, for the regulation, foundation, and confirmation of our faith; believing, without any doubt, all things contained in them, not so much because the church receives and approves them as such, but more especially because the Holy Ghost witnesseth in our hearts that they are from God, whereof they carry the evidence in themselves. For the very blind are able to perceive that the things foretold in them are fulfilling.
Belgic Confession 5 addresses this issue: How do we know that the 66 books of the Bible are the Word of God? How do you know personally? What biblical and theological arguments would you use? This was one of the key issues at the time of the sixteenth-century Reformation. The Roman church claimed that people know the Scriptures to be the Word of God simply because Rome says so! Thus the Roman church puts itself above Holy Scripture!1
If you read Belgic Confession 5 carefully, you will see that our creed mentions three things in connection with our knowing the Bible as the Word of God: the church, the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures themselves. This does not mean that there are three separate grounds for knowing that the Bible is God’s Word. Rather, there is essentially one ground with three aspects.
Scripture
Scripture itself is the objective ground for our knowledge that it is God’s Word. The 66 books of the Bible claim to be God’s Word; many times we read, “Thus saith the Lord.” This is no false or idle assertion, for they “carry the evidence [that they are divinely inspired] in themselves.”
Westminster Confession I:5 mentions some of the ways in which Scripture “doth abundantly evidence itself to be the word of God:” “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.”2
We could develop these things further by speaking at length of the Bible’s fulfilled prophecies, the unity of Scripture (despite its having over forty penmen in three continents over 1,600 years!), its profound doctrines (such as the Holy Trinity, double predestination, the incarnation and cross of Christ, and justification by faith alone), etc. The Word of God far excels all of man’s religions and literature.
The last sentence of Belgic Confession 5, “For the very blind are able to perceive that the things foretold in them are fulfilling,” refers specifically to biblical predictive prophecy. Of course, there are various subjects of prophecy. For example, as regards the history of Israel, its apostasy, captivity in Babylon and return were predicted. Christ’s virgin birth (Isa. 7:14), crucifixion (Ps. 22; Isa. 53), resurrection (Ps. 16:10-11), session at God’s right hand (Ps. 110:1) and pouring out the Holy Spirit (Joel 2:28-32) were prophesied. The New Testament age was predicted as that of the salvation of a largely Gentile church, with the gospel going out to the four corners of the world (Matt. 24:14). The signs of the times are presented in Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21, II Thessalonians 2, the book of Revelation, etc., as including earthquakes, famines, wars and rumours of wars, Christ’s gathering of His church by the Word, apostasy, persecution and the development of a one-world Antichristian government. Of these three main subjects of prophecy (the history of Israel, Jesus Christ and the New Testament age), it is the New Testament age that is referred to at the end of Belgic Confession 5. This striking reference to the signs of the times adds something to Belgic Confession 37, the only article in our Belgic Confession on eschatology.
The “very blind” are unbelievers who, perceiving “that the things foretold in them [i.e., the Scriptures] are fulfilling,” are left “without excuse” (Rom. 1:20; Belgic Confession 2). However, because we are fallen, if Scripture’s testimony to itself were the only witness that the Bible is the Word of God, even the elect would not believe (to speak as a fool for a moment).
Holy Spirit
Belgic Confession 5 states, “the Holy Ghost witnesseth in our hearts, that they [i.e., the Scriptures] are from God.” If the Bible itself is the objective testimony (outside of us), the Holy Spirit is the subjective testimony (in our hearts). The external testimony of the Spirit is the Bible, which He inspired; the internal testimony of the Spirit is illumination, the Spirit’s giving us to understand and believe the external testimony of Scripture.
Remember that the Holy Ghost is the great agent of assurance. He gives the believer certainty and confidence, for example, that he or she is a child of God (the assurance of salvation), that Jesus is the Christ and that the Bible is God’s Word.
I John is the great epistle on assurance. In I John 5, we read of the assurance of salvation (v. 13) and the assurance of answered prayer (vv. 14-15). I John 2 refers to the believer’s unction or anointing by the Holy Ghost (vv. 20, 27), which gives us assurance that the Bible is God’s Word (vv. 20-21, 27), that Jesus is the Christ (vv. 21-23) and that we are saved (vv. 24-29). How true it is that “it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth” (5:6)!
How does the Spirit assure us that the Bible is God’s Word? The Spirit does not do this without or apart from Scripture, as if God simply whispered in our ears (the error of mysticism). The Spirit testifies that the Bible is God’s Word through Scripture, that is, by means of the preaching and reading of the Word, and by our discussing and meditating upon it.
Church
Moreover, the Spirit assures us that the Bible is God’s Word not without or apart from the church (the error of individualism), but in living connection with the church. The Spirit witnesses to the inspiration of Scripture through the church, that is, the true church (not the false church), in fellowship with the universal church of all ages. If Scripture is the objective ground and the Spirit the subjective ground, the church is the instrumental means by which we are graciously convinced that the Bible is God’s Word.
Belgic Confession 5 states that we believe the inspiration of the 66 canonical books “not so much because the church receives and approves them as such.” The testimony of the church is not the main thing, though sadly there are many who make too much of it (e.g., the Romanists). There are others who make too little of it, by well nigh discounting the church’s witness (e.g., the Anabaptists).
The church introduces us to the Bible and proclaims that Scripture is the very Word of God. I Timothy 3:15 calls the church “the pillar and ground of the truth,” for it upholds, preaches and defends the truth of Holy Writ in the world. Paul argues in Romans 10:14-15 that people cannot hear Christ without a preacher and that they will not come into contact with a preacher unless Christ sends such through His church. This is what Augustine was getting at in his oft-quoted remark that he would not have believed the gospel if it had not been for the church, for the church with its preaching is the necessary instrument or means by which God brings His elect from the kingdom of darkness to the light of salvation.
We could, perhaps, illustrate this by referring to two biblical scenes. First, the church is like John the Baptist pointing to the Christ revealed in the Holy Scriptures. Second, the individual believer is like the Samaritans to whom the woman at the well witnessed and who then heard Jesus directly. Their response was: “Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world” (John 4:42). The church proclaims Jesus as the incarnate Word according to the written Word, but the believer’s faith in the truth is not based on the church’s say-so but on the certainty of the Word of God’s own witness blessed to his or her heart by the Spirit.
Conclusion
Do you now see the relationship between the three factors? The objective ground for believing that the Bible is God’s Word is Scripture itself. The subjective ground which enables us to receive this truth is the Holy Spirit and His powerful work in our hearts. The instrumental means is the church, for the Spirit empowers the church’s preaching and teaching of the Word for the salvation and assurance of the elect.
Westminster ConfessionI:5 teaches the same truth as Belgic Confession 5:
We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church to an high and reverend 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.
In this way, we know and are utterly convinced, first, of the canon of Scripture. After listing the 66 biblical books in Belgic Confession 4, article 5 begins, “We receive all these books, and these only, as … canonical.”
Second, by the external and internal witness of the Spirit through the church, we are likewise assured of the holiness of Scripture. “We receive all these books, and these only, as holy,” for the God who inspired them is holy. These books are set apart from all other books, even Christian books which explain and apply the Bible.
Similarly, it is in this way that we are certain, third, of the inerrancy of Scripture, “believing without any doubt, all things contained in them.”
Fourth, we are likewise convinced of the authority of Scripture “for the regulation, foundation, and confirmation of our faith.” As the basis and ground of our faith, the authoritative Word guides and directs us, and sustains and strengthens us.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
- Express in your own words how you know that the Bible is the Word of God. (Be sure to include all the three factors.)
- Read Calvin’s Institutes 1.7. How has this helped you further grasp this important truth?
- How does the truth of Belgic Confession 5 add to your understanding of the blessed ministry of the Holy Spirit?
- How would sinfully absenting oneself from church adversely affect one’s assurance that the Bible is God’s Word?
This article is based on part of the audio of this doctrine class: “From Whence the Holy Scriptures Derive Their Dignity and Authority“
