THE BELGIC CONFESSION OF FAITH – A Commentary – By Dr.
Chuck Baynard
The Belgic Confession of Faith, Article III
The Written Word of God
We confess that this Word of God was not sent nor delivered by the will
of man, but that men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit, as the
apostle Peter says; and that afterwards God, from a special care which He has
for us and our salvation, commanded His servants, the prophets and apostles, to
commit His revealed word to writing; and He Himself wrote with His own finger
the two tables of the law. Therefore we call such writings holy and divine
Scriptures.
The plenary-verbal inspiration
of the Scriptures along with the inerrancy and infallibility of the Scriptures
are essential doctrines. By plenary-verbal it is meant the Bible is God breathed
and so inspired it is as if God had also written the whole with His own hand as
God wrote the two tables of the Law. By plenary it is meant first every single
word of the Scriptures and secondly that it applies to all mankind with no
exceptions. The Bible is an absolute unchangeable whole, written by God. By
verbal or God-breathed the authorship is assigned directly to God and not the
human writers whom God chose to transmit the revelation of Himself through.
Some otherwise orthodox and wise
Christian scholars have faltered here and allowed this only pertains to the
original autographs, or that exact first piece of parchment used by the original
human author to transcribe these truths. Perhaps the most important among the
American scholars to embrace this terminology concerning the autographs was
Warfield. This error was born during the so-called age of enlightenment and
higher criticism. Make no mistake this is an error of the highest order and
should not be acceptable to any Christian on the face of the earth. To the
knowledge of man not one single scrap of any original manuscript of either the
Old or New Testament exists. The appeal is then to nothing and leaves the
Christian with no defense of the Scriptures.
As noted by John Calvin so
eloquently in the opening chapters of the Institutes of the Christian
Religion the real testimony of the Bible’s authenticity and authority
comes from within the text itself and the testimony of the Holy Spirit to the
spirit of man. Nonetheless to ascribe the very word of God to oblivion
contradicts the words of Jesus Christ who said not the smallest portion would
pass away before the end of the world. God has providentially protected His
revealed word, the Bible though the ages. Not to unduly fault a brother and
scholar such as Warfield who felt the need to make the concession to the
academic and secular world, nonetheless such wording is a cop-out and not to be
tolerated in the church.
By inerrant it is meant that
there is no error in the word of God. That is where the Bible speaks of history,
science, or any other topic it does not contain error so far as it addresses
that topic. Infallible means that God has spoken and every word spoken by God
will come to pass in God’s time without failure. While not all of the words
spoken have been literally fulfilled yet, the majority of the prophetic words
have been fulfilled in Christ and all the detractors of God throughout the ages
have disclosed not one failure. The word of God will not fail and the proof is
within the text itself where we read that God is able to complete or do all of
His holy will. Likewise not one single error of fact has ever been disclosed
though the devil and his advocates have most ardently tried to cast doubt on the
word of God from the beginning. In the garden with our first parents we find the
first attack of Satan is to cast doubt on what God has said, and that battle
continues today.
The only concession God made in
revealing His will to man was the use of a human intermediary whom God used to
actually put pen to paper to write the Holy Scriptures. Thereby, God
condescended to man and used the language and nuances of man’s limited ability
to make the revelation. However, not one writer wrote of his own accord, but as
he was borne along by the Holy Spirit. Some object that this removes man and
makes man no more than a tool in the hand of God. So it is! Paul seldom wrote
with his own hand according to the Bible and none doubt the work of Paul was
Paul’s though another actually placed pen to paper. Why then would it seem
contrary to practice for God to so dictate what God wanted written?
By nature a divine word would
have all of these qualities: God breathed, unaltered or complete in all aspects,
contain no errors, and could not fail for the purpose it was intended.
Unfortunately because of the darkness of sin that besets all flesh the church
has had to add these adjectives or qualifying terms as if God needs a defender.
The Holy Spirit will testify to the believer that this is God’s word and that
should be sufficient. Share this revelation boldly and without apology. Do not
fear the ridicule the evil one will bring to bear through his children of the
world. Be prepared then in season and out to proclaim Jesus Christ, the Son of
God is Lord of all. Fear not those
who can destroy the body, but God who is able to condemn the immortal soul to
hell forever. God has spoken, and so it is!
