The Necessity Of Scripture:
There Is No Other Saving Revelation
The Light of Nature –
Revelation in the Works of Creation and Providence – All
Inexcusable – General Revelation is not Sufficient to Give
Saving Knowledge
The man or woman suffering from a physical disease that will prove
terminal, unless treated by the one
available remedy, will not be interested in false claims to provide a
cure. He or she knows that the effective remedy is essential and that
it will be futile to seek an alternative where none exists. It is sad
that sinners do not apply the same logic to the matter of salvation
but often pin their hopes of eternal life upon some natural religion
instead of upon the teachings of Scripture. It is, however, made
crystal clear in the Christian Gospel that it is only in Scripture
that the remedy for sin is found and that all efforts to derive
saving knowledge from the exploration of the universe are in vain.
In its first chapter the Westminster
Confession of Faith states:
'Although the light of nature and the works of creation and
providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God,
as to leave men unexcusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that
knowledge of God and of His will, which is necessary unto salvation.
Therefore it pleased the Lord, at sundry times, and in divers
manners, to reveal Himself, and to declare that His will unto His
Church; and afterwards, for the better preserving and propagating of
the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the
Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan
and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which
maketh the Holy Scripture to be most necessary; those former ways of
God's revealing His will unto His people being now ceased.'1
This opening paragraph of the Confession follows the Bible in
avoiding any debate concerning the existence of God. There is no
attempt to present any philosophical arguments to prove that a Divine
Being exists. As Professor Louis Berkhof explains: 'For us the
existence of God is the great presupposition of theology. There is no
sense in speaking of the knowledge of God, unless it may be assumed
that God exists. The presupposition of Christian theology is of a
very definite type. The assumption is not merely that there is
something, some idea or ideal, some power or purposeful tendency, to
which the name of God may be applied, but that there is a
self-existent, self-conscious, personal Being, which is the origin of
all things, and which transcends the entire creation, but is at the
same time immanent in every part of it.'2
Scripture warrants this presupposition. Moses proceeds similarly in
the first book of the Bible. In Genesis chapters 1 and 2 no effort is
made to prove by argumentation that God exists. The whole of the
creation record presupposes that he
is.3
Moses sets out, not to prove God's existence, but to record his
works. As we shall see, those works provide such evidence of the
Being of God that not to believe in him is inexcusable.
The starting point of the Confession should be compared with the
first two chapters of Paul's Epistle
to the Romans because the proof texts4
show that the framers of the Confession had this epistle in mind.
This letter was intended by the Apostle Paul to provide a systematic
exposition of the Gospel he preached. The theme of Paul's letter to
the Romans, as announced after his greetings, is fully evangelical.
He is concerned with 'the gospel of Christ' which 'is the power of
God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and
also to the Greek.'5
Paul is setting out an orderly doctrinal statement of the message of
salvation. In this exposition he commences, not with Christ and
redemption, but with man's condition as a creature of God faced with
a clear revelation of his Maker. This is not incompatible with Paul's
missionary task. There is something vitally important about the whole
matter of revelation. Whatever knowledge of God sinners might have in
their fallen state, that knowledge can only condemn them, it cannot
save them. The Confession follows Paul in this starting point. At the
very outset there is an urgent question as to where an authoritative
saving revelation of God can be found. It is this that leads on to
the necessity of redemptive revelation and the preservation of the
truth in written form but, following the example of Paul, the
Westminster Divines first dealt with the subject of the revelation of
God the Creator.
If we analyze the content of the opening paragraph of the Confession
we see the following:
The need for the Bible arises
because the revelation of God the Creator cannot save sinners.
God is made known to us in various ways: (a) by the light of nature
and (b) by his works of creation and providence. By these different
ways Divine perfections are revealed to us such as: (a) the goodness
of God, (b) the wisdom of God, and (c) the power of God. We
consequently have no excuse for not worshipping our Creator but this
revelation does not make God known to us as Saviour and the
revelation of God the Creator cannot save sinners.
The need for the Bible arises
because the preservation and proclamation of saving truth in the face
of the attacks of the world, the flesh and the Devil is better served
by a written revelation.
God has revealed Himself as Saviour in a variety of ways to his
Church. But his purpose of salvation is better served by written
revelation because (a) it provides for the preservation of saving
truth, and (b) it provides for the proclamation of saving truth. It
thus provides for the comfort of the Church against: (a) the flesh,
(b) the malice of Satan, and (c) the malice of the world.
The need for the Bible arises
because the fragmentary revelations of the way of salvation have ceased.