the Confession does not say that the Bible is inerrant. And neo-orthodoxy loudly insists that the word of God is found in the Bible, perhaps only in the Bible, but that not everything in the Bible is true. They could even point to the catechism as quoted above. "Does it not say that the word of God is contained in the Scriptures? Somewhere, but not everywhere, between Genesis and Revelation, the word of God is to be found." This is their contention. But if now we wish to know whether or not this was the view of the Reformers, whether or not this is the position of the Presbyterian standards, and whether or not it is the teaching of the Scriptures themselves, which the standards summarize, we need only read other parts of the Confession. Quotations will not be multiplied here because the reader should examine the Confession for himself.
Article I, Section 1, says that at sundry times the Lord revealed his will to the prophets; afterwards, for the better preserving of the truth, it pleased the Lord to commit these revelations wholly unto writing. In this committal, may we ask, did it please the Lord to mix in some error with the truth he intended to preserve?
Section 4 says that the authority for which the Scriptures should be believed depends wholly on God, who is truth itself and the author of the books; therefore the sixty-six books itemized in Section 2 are to be received because they are the word of God. Here it is to be noted that the authority of God attaches to all the Scriptures, not to a part only. Scripture has been defined as the sixty-six books, and God is declared to be the author of them all. God is truth itself, and the Scripture not merely contains but is the word of God.
Section 5 even uses the word infallible. It says that our full assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority of these books is the work of the Holy Spirit. Can there be error in infallible truth? To the same end Section 9 teaches that the infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself.
Can it now be maintained that the Presbyterian standards admit the existence of error, of mistakes, of false teaching in the Bible? And if not, what can be thought of Presbyterian ministers who do not believe in the full truthfulness of the Scriptures? Though they may believe that the word of God is to be found somewhere in the Bible, and perhaps only in the Bible, yet what can their ordination vows have meant to them, if they reject the very basis on which all the remainder of the Confession rests?
For those of us who believe the Bible, the Confession can supply an invaluable introduction to its main doctrines. Growth in grace will follow upon a careful study of the Confession as we compare its statements with the Biblical passages which it combines and summarizes. Let us not neglect this excellent document.
"Above The Issue of Organic Union . . . The Battle for Truth"
By Rev. Robert Henderson, Raleigh, N. C.
Amid the din of our present unfortunate controversy concerning organic union with other Presbyterian bodies, it has been very easy to fail to recognize that transcending and far more crucial conflict, namely the conflict over Truth, God's authoritative and infallible Word of Truth. This conflict has raged from the very beginning, since the very time when the Serpent challenged the authority of God's Word in the garden . . . "Yea, hath God said?"
Calvin found himself facing the same conflict and though he did not relish the prospect of open disagreement and opposition to the stated leaders of the church, he came to this conclusion: "They charged me with two of the worst crimes—heresy and schism. And the heresy was, that I dared to protest against dogmas which they received. But what could I have done? I heard from Thy mouth that there was no other light of truth which could direct our souls into the way of life, than that which was (arrived at) by Thy Word. I heard that whatever human minds of themselves conceive concerning Thy Majesty, the worship of Thy Deity, and the mysteries of Thy religion, was vanity. I heard that their introducing into the church instead of Thy Word, doctrines sprung from the human brain, was sacrilegious presumption. But when I turned my eyes toward men, I saw very different principles prevailing. Those who were regarded as the leaders of faith neither understood Thy Word, nor greatly cared for it." (from Letter to Cardinal Sadolet).
It is a clever tactic of the devil, that great arch enemy of Christ and all His people, to so confuse the issue that energy is used tilting at windmills, while he continues his pernicious work of rendering the church impotent. Now even though we know by the promise of Christ (Matt. 16:18) that the devil shall not ultimately succeed, nevertheless he does make onslaughts that accomplish temporary victories. It is in the light of this fact that God has called us to be sober and vigilant and be aware of the conflict that rages around the proclamation of His redemptive truth.
So, even though we are at this moment preoccupied with the issue of organic union and the adverse consequences of that eventuality, we should not overlook the fact that it only betrays a much deeper problem in our denomination—a doctrinal and theological weakness. We profess to be a church that holds that the "Reformed Faith" is a correct setting forth of Biblical truth. Thus we are called a "Reformed" denomination. The term "reformed" stems from the fact that our Calvinistic forebears SEPTEMBER 29. 1954 PAGE 7
