Saturday 21 April 2018

Chapter 7 Scripture must be confirmed by the witness of the Spirit. Thus may its authority be established as certain and it is a wicked falsehood that its credibility depends on the judgment of the Church


1 Scripture has its authority from God not from the Church

Chapters 7-9 of this Book are about the authority of the Bible.  Prior to the Reformation the Church was the agent through which scripture was interpreted and explained.  Calvin regards the “consent of the Church” in weighing scripture as a “pernicious error”, for him it mocks the Holy Spirit.  Yet questions centred on the authority of written work are often raised in our world today- who is qualified to interpret and give meaning to a text? In addressing this questions Calvin makes the case for inner testimony -  a self- authentication of the Bible as the work of God, even if distilled and written down by fallen humanity.  If someone asked you who is the overall author of the Scriptures what would you say?