I want to thank Dr. Van Kleeck for inviting me to contribute to the posts on Stand Sacred Text. The goal of the blog, written by Dr. Van Kleeck, is stated in the sub-title, “Belief in Scripture to Change the World.” It is not enough to make a cogent and convincing argument for a standard sacred text; the apologetic must serve to unite the Church around a standard copy of Scripture to the glory of God as a bulwark against the inroads of the Adversary in the battle for the eternal souls of men. While there will be strongly held beliefs on how the Scripture should be rendered, true unity between brothers in Christ about what is and is not Scripture must first be restored. Dr. David Otis Fuller had Reformed ministers in the Wealthy Street Baptist Church pulpit knowing there were differences in ecclesiology and eschatology but when it came to the center of the center of the Christian faith, the vicarious death of Christ, a high view of sin, the necessity of separation from the world and the pressing need to reach the lost with the gospel, the message was the same, the power of the preaching was the same, all because those concerned served the Lord and preached from same standard sacred text.
You will find over the past year that the posts are didactic, apologetic, and polemic. Much of what is written is meant to inform the reader, especially dealing with Reformation era authors and relevant secondary sources upon which much of our apologetics is based. The blog also contains an apologetic defense of the Faith historically, theologically, exegetically, and philosophically. And there is a polemic element in exposing those ideas, systems, and advocates that have compromised the unity the Church once experienced around a standard sacred text.
Dr. Van Kleeck has shown that non-traditional, philosophical methods also effectively serve in the defense of a standard sacred text, and that future favorable arguments need not be hemmed in by traditional means. Why one would not take advantage of every discipline in the defense of Truth should be conspicuous. The narrow empirical focus of interlocutors leaves them ill-prepared to deal with the scope of an argument that encompasses theology, history, exegesis, and philosophy. Even then it is incumbent on opponents to maintain the current understanding of the evidence, no matter how narrowly construed. In other words, Dr. Van Kleeck has demonstrated that a robust defense of a standard sacred text can be made apart from the archaic appeal to manuscript evidence and that it can be effectively defended by anyone who allows the Scripture to make the argument for them.
At StandardSacredText we look forward to the opportunities God in His sovereignty will open this coming year encouraging the saints to trust their Bible.
Blessings!
Isa. 59:21; Acts 4:12
Standard Sacred Text.com 