02. Chapter II.
Chapter II.
What it means to infallibly believe that the Scripture is the Word of God My design requires that I should confine my discourse to as narrow bounds as possible, and I will do so, showing —
I. What it means in general to infallibly believe 37 that the Scripture is the word of God, and what the ground and reason is for our doing so; or what it means to believe that the Scripture is the word of God, as we are required to believe, in a way of duty.
II. That there are external arguments about the divine origin of the Scripture, which are effectual motives to persuade us to give an unfeigned assent to this.
III. That, moreover, God requires us to believe that it is his word with divine, supernatural, and infallible faith.
IV. Evidence the grounds and reasons on which we do and ought to believe so.
Most of what ensues in the first part of this discourse may be reduced to these heads.
It is fitting that we should clarify the foundation on which we build, and the principles on which we proceed, so that what we design to prove may be better understood by all sorts of persons whose edification we intend. For these things are the equal concern of the learned and unlearned. Therefore, some things must be insisted on which are generally known and granted. And our first inquiry is this: What does it mean to believe with divine and supernatural faith, that the Scripture is the word of God, as it is our duty so to do?
1. In our believing, or our faith, two things are to be considered:
(1.) What it is that we believe; and, (2.) Why we so believe it. The first is the material object of our faith — namely, the things which we believe. The second is the formal object of our faith — the cause and reason why we believe them.38 And these things are distinct. The material object of our faith is the things revealed in the Scripture, declared to us in propositions of truth; for things must be proposed to us, or else we cannot believe them. That God is one in three persons, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and similar propositions of truth, are the material object of our faith, or the things we believe. And the reason why we believe them is because they are proposed in the Scripture. The apostle expresses the whole of what we intend, in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, "I delivered to you first of all, that which I also received, how Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, are the things proposed to us to be believed; and so they are the object of our faith. But the reason why we believe them, is because they are declared in the Scriptures.39 Sometimes this expression, "believing the Scriptures," denotes by a metonymy,40 both the formal and material objects of our faith. We believe the Scriptures themselves, as such, and the things contained in them. Thus John 2:22 : "They believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus said;" or the things delivered in the Scripture and further declared by Christ, which they did not understand before. And they believed what was declared in the Scriptures, because it was declared in them. Under various considerations, both are intended in the same expression, "They believed the Scripture." So it is in Acts 26.27.41 The material object of our faith, therefore, is stated in the articles of our creed. By enumerating them, we answer the question, "What do we believe?" We give an account of the hope that is in us, as the apostle does in Acts 26:22-23. But if, moreover, we are asked for the reason of our faith or hope, or why we believe the things we profess — such as God is one in three persons, Jesus Christ is the Son of God — we do not answer, "Because it is so: for this is what we believe;" that would be senseless. Rather, we must give some other answer to that inquiry, whether it is made by others or ourselves. The proper answer to this question contains the formal reason and object of our faith — what it rests on and is resolved into — and this is what we are looking for.
2. In this inquiry, we do not seek any kind of persuasion or faith, except that which is divine and infallible; both of which are from its formal reason or objective cause. Men may be able to give some reasons why they believe what they profess; but that will not suffice or abide the trial in this case, even though they themselves may rest in them. Some, it may be, can give no other account for this, than that they were instructed by those whom they have sufficient reason to give credit to; or they received these things by tradition from their fathers. Now, whatever persuasion these reasons may produce in the minds of men — that the things which they profess to believe, are true — if they are alone,42 then it is not divine faith by which they believe, but merely human faith. It is resolved into human testimony only, or an opinion based on probable arguments. For no faith can be of any other kind than the evidence it reflects on or arises from. I say, this is so where these things are alone. For I do not doubt that some who have never considered the reason of their believing, further than that it is the teaching of their instructors, still have that evidence in their own souls of the truth and authority of God in what they believe. And it is with respect to this, that their faith is divine and supernatural. The faith of most has a beginning and progress that is not unlike that of the Samaritans in John 4:40-43 as will be declared afterwards.
3. When we inquire after faith that is infallible, or believing infallibly — which is necessary in this case, as we will show later — we do not intend an inherent quality in the subject, as though someone who believes with infallible faith must also be infallible himself. Much less do we speak of infallibility absolutely, which is a property of God. He alone, from the perfection of his nature, can neither deceive nor be deceived. Rather, infallibility is that property or adjunct of the assent of our minds to divine truths or supernatural revelations, by which it is differenced from all other kinds of assent whatsoever. And it has this from its formal object, or the evidence upon which we give this assent, For the nature of every assent is given to it by the nature of the evidence which it proceeds from or relies on. In divine faith, this is divine revelation. Being infallible, this renders the faith that rests on it, and is resolved into it, infallible also. No man can believe with divine faith that which is false, or may be false; for what renders it divine is the divine truth and infallibility of the ground and evidence on which it is built. But a man may believe what is infallibly true, and yet his faith not be infallible. It is infallibly true that the Scripture is the word of God; and yet the faith by which a man believes it is the word of God may be fallible; for his faith is only as infallible as his evidence.
He may believe it is the word of God based on tradition, or on the testimony of the church of Rome only, or on outward arguments — all of which being fallible, his faith is also fallible— even though the things he assents to are infallibly true. This is why, for this faith to be divine and infallible, it is not required that the person in whom such faith is found, be infallible himself. Nor is it enough that the thing believed is infallibly true; but more than this, the evidence on which the person believes must also be infallible. So it was with those who received divine revelations immediately from God. It was not enough that the things revealed to them were infallibly true, but they were to have infallible evidence of the revelation itself; then their faith was infallible, even though their persons were fallible. With this faith, then, a man can believe nothing but what is divinely true: therefore it is infallible; and the reason is because God’s veracity, who is the God of truth, is the only object of his faith. Hence the prophet says, "Believe in the Lord your God; so you will be established," 2 Chronicles 20:20 — or, that faith which is placed in God and his word is fixed on truth, or on what is infallible.
Hence the inquiry in this case is this: What is the reason why we believe anything with this divine or supernatural faith? or, What is it that, by believing it, our faith is made divine, infallible, and supernatural? Therefore —
4. The authority and veracity of God in revealing the material object of our faith, or what it is our duty to believe, are the formal object and reason of our faith, from which it arises and is ultimately resolved into. That is, the only reason why we believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that God is one single essence subsisting in three persons, is because God has revealed these things to be true. For he is the "God of truth," Deuteronomy 32:4, who "cannot lie," Titus 1:2, whose "word is truth," John 17:17, and whose Spirit which conveyed it is "truth," 1 John 5:6. Our believing these things on that ground, renders our faith divine and supernatural— supposing there is also respect to the subjective efficiency of the Holy Ghost inspiring it into our minds (more of that afterwards). Or, to speak distinctly, our faith is supernatural with respect to its production in our minds by the Holy Ghost; and it is infallible with respect to the formal reason of it, which is divine revelation. And on both accounts it is divine, in opposition to what is merely human. As things are proposed to us to be believed as true, faith in its assent respects only the truth or veracity of God. But as this faith is required of us in a way of obedience, and as it is considered not only physically in its nature, but also morally as our duty, it also respects the authority of God. I therefore join it with the truth of God as the formal reason of our faith.44 And the Scripture pleads and argues these things when faith is required of us in the way of obedience. "Thus says the Lord," is what is proposed to us as the reason why we should believe what is said. Other divine names and titles are often added to it, signifying the authority of the one who requires us to believe: "Thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel," Isaiah 30:15; "Thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy," Isaiah 57:15; "Believe in the Lord your God," 2 Chronicles 20:20. "The word of the Lord" precedes most revelations in the prophets; and the Scripture proposes no other reason why we should believe.45 Indeed, the interposition of any other authority besides that of God, between the things to be believed, and our souls and consciences, overthrows the nature of divine faith — I am not saying the interposition of any other means by which we should believe, for God has appointed many sorts of these — but the interposition of any other authority upon which we should believe, such as that pretended in and by the church of Rome. No men can be lords of our faith, even though they may be "helpers of our joy." 2 Corinthians 1:24
5. The authority and truth of God, considered in themselves absolutely, are not the immediate formal object of our faith, even though they are the ultimate object into which it is resolved; for we can believe nothing on their account unless it is evidenced to us. And this evidence is in that revelation which God is pleased to make of himself; for that is the only means by which our consciences and minds are affected with his truth and authority. Therefore, we do not rest on the truth and veracity of God in other anything, than as we rest on the revelation that he makes to us; for that is the only way by which we are affected with them. What we immediately regard is not "The Lord is true" absolutely; but "Thus says the Lord," and "The Lord has spoken." It is by this alone that our minds are affected with the authority and veracity of God; and by whatever way it is made to us, it is sufficient and able to thus affect us. At first, as it has been shown, revelation was given immediately to some persons and preserved for the use of others in an oral ministry. But now all revelation, as it has also been declared, is contained in the Scriptures only.
6. It follows from this, that our faith by which we believe any divine, supernatural truth, is resolved into the Scripture, as the only means of divine revelation, affecting our minds and consciences with the authority and truth of God. Or, the Scripture, as the only immediate, divine, infallible revelation of the mind and will of God, is the first, immediate, and formal object of our faith — it is the sole reason why and the ground on which we believe the things revealed, with divine, supernatural, and infallible faith.
We believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Why do we so do? On what ground, or for what reason? It is because of the authority of God commanding us to do so, and the truth of God testifying to it. But how or by what means are our minds and consciences affected with the authority and truth of God, so as to believe such things, which makes our faith divine and supernatural? It is the divine, supernatural, infallible revelation alone that he has made of this sacred truth, and of his will, that is the reason why we should believe it. But what is this revelation, or where is it to be found? It is the Scripture alone, which contains the entire revelation that God has made of himself, in all things which he will have us believe or do. Hence —
7. The last inquiry arises, How — on what grounds, for what reasons — do we believe that the Scripture is a divine revelation, proceeding immediately from God, or it is that word of God which is divine and infallible truth? To this we answer, It is solely on the evidence that the Spirit of God gives to us, in and by the Scripture itself; and that was given by immediate inspiration from God. Or, the reason and ground on which we believe that the Scripture is the word of God, are the authority and truth of God evidencing themselves in and by the Scripture, to the minds and consciences of men. Whatever we assent to, as proposed in the Scripture, our faith rests on and it is resolved into the veracity and faithfulness of God. And in believing that the Scripture itself is the infallible word of God, it is the same — seeing that we believe it on no other grounds than its own evidence that it is so. This is what is principally to be proved. And therefore to prepare for it, and to remove prejudices, something is to be said to prepare the way.