1689 Confession of the Holy Scriptures (part 1)

There are many different views of the Bible today. The Baptist tradition has long had a very high opinion on the Holiness and sufficiency of the scriptures. One of the best confessions I have read regarding this topic is from the 1689 London Baptist Confession. Below is the modern-day reading of the Queen's English from 1689 by Carey Publications, 1975. It reads:

1. The Holy Scripture is the all-sufficient, certain and infallible rule or standard of the knowledge, faith and obedience that constitute salvation. Although the light of nature, and God's works of creation and providence, give such clear testimony to His goodness, wisdom and power that men who spurn them are left inexcusable, yet they are not sufficient of themselves to give that knowledge of God and His will which is necessary for salvation. In consequence the merciful Lord from time to time and in a variety of ways has revealed Himself, and made known His will to His church. And furthermore, in order to ensure the preservation and propagation of the truth, and the establishment and comfort of the church against the corrupt nature of man and the malice of Satan and the world, He caused this revelation of Himself and His will to be written down in all its fullness. And as the manner in which God formerly revealed His will has long ceased, the Holy Scripture becomes absolutely essential to men.

Pss 19:1-3; Prov 22:19-21; Isa 8:20; Luke 16:29,31; Rom 1:19-21, 2:14-15, 15:4; Eph 2:20; 2Tim 3:15-17; Heb 1:1; 2Pet 1:19-20.

My favourite part of this beginning confession is the first sentence. Holy Scripture is all-sufficient for knowledge, faith and obedience. As a minister of the Word, I do my best to encourage others to open their Bibles and read from the Holy Scriptures every day, for this is how we gain knowledge to fight heresy and recognize wolves amongst the flock, to recognize and know the things of God, to follow in obedience and to encourage us in our faith. There are far too many of us that get caught up reading all sorts of devotions, theologies, books and novels that talk much about God, but none of these take the place of reading God's direct revelation TO us! Study of scriptures is important, reading the great theologians and preachers of both past and present is good, but if we're spending the majority of our time reading them and not reading the Scriptures, we are missing the greatest teachings of all, for our Great Councilor is the Holy Spirit. The bible does not NEED to be supplemented by anything else as it is sufficient all on its own. This is why there is no need for further revelation from modern-day prophets or Pope's. We have a direct link to God through faith in His Son who has been revealed in time and space and has been documented through the Saints via Holy Scripture. In our Bibles, we have the fullness of God's revealed nature and salvific plan.

Open the scriptures, and feed on the Word.