Simple Truths of Scripture Now Doubted or Rejected by the Church

Samuel Trickett (1632-1712) , Sermons Doctrinal and Practical (1656), edited by John Edward Blakeney (London: Printed by G. Norman, Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, 1863), 1.

“Now the Scriptures do instruct us what to do, and what to believe. That they teach us perfectly, unto salvation, will appear.

God being the author of these book, they must needs be perfect, as he himself is, who being for his wisdom able, and for his love of the Church willing to set down such a rule as may guide them to eternal life, hath not failed therein. 2 Tim. 3:15, ‘And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.'”

1. God is the Author of Scripture

When Trickett writes he is not speaking of the autographs but the Hebrews, Greek and English texts he is about to expound. This assessment is reinforced when he quotes 2 Tim. 3:15 and Timothy’s knowledge of the Holy Scripture since his youth. Timothy only had copies of copies of the Hebrew text, and yet the Holy Spirit, calls these copies Holy Scripture. For God to be the Author the Holy Spirit was not just the instrumental Agent superintending the writing of God’s Word by the penmen, but he was also the creative agent giving the penmen the words to write. Both the creative element and the oversight of the writing of Scripture by the Holy Spirit assured that the written text was infallible and pure, the written word of God. Furthermore, Trickett states what every believer held in his epoch of time – that God is the Author of Scripture, and because God gave the written text the text reflects the perfection of its Author. Could God do any less?

2. Because God is the Author the Scriptures are perfect, as he is.

Because God is the Author the “Every word,” Prov. 30:5 in a distributive sense, and “All Scripture, 2 Tim. 3:16, in a collective canonical sense is perfect, or without corruption. And this perfection is not a perfection spoken of as if applied to the text by some external authority, designating the text to be such. Rather, the Scripture is perfect because God is its Author. If the Church is to say, “The Scripture is God’s Word,” then the Church must not engage in the rigamarole of quibbling over the issues of providential preservation and infallibility. And yet then Church and Academy have created ecclesiastical and institutional industries trying to say “The Scripture is God’s Word,” but it is far from perfect, building an ideological idol of scholarship based on the theological schizophrenia inculcated in its worshippers.

3. The Scriptures are a rule (canon) of unfailing authority.

Trickett calls the Scripture “a rule (canon) as may guide them to eternal life, hath not failed therein. Herein, lies one of the unsolved curiosities of contemporary Evangelical and Reformed Christianity. Through some intellectual contortions, the Church argues that the supernatural work of regeneration and the impartation of eternal life continues to press on unbated through amalgamated texts of Scripture and “hath not failed therein,” but indeed everything else about the Scripture has failed miserably. Expansion of the notion of inerrancy demonstrates the point sufficiently. Inerrancy is a blank slate to be colored on my scholars. Some we might say, “stay between the lines”; for others, it looks more like scribbling. So, the transcendent power of God to generate saving faith belongs to the text, but the mundane aspects of Scripture are beyond repair? This quandary has over time became party orthodoxy for the critical text camp and the Church generally speaking is an avid subscriber. Which begs the question, has not the Church degenerated into an existential milieu where experience is the final arbitrator of what is and is not God’s Word. Or maybe even a little Barthianism. One might say, “I ascribe authority to the Bible because I have a sense of peace with God after praying the sinners’ prayer. Therefore, all modern versions can become Scripture to me.” And not the old-fashioned way, “because the Bible is the infallible word of God, I can trust its promises to save my soul.” Scripture is intrinsically the unfailing rule apart from any soteriological contingencies. Salvation simply demonstrates Scriptures’ authority, is a proof of Scripture’s authority but is not the existential arbitrator of Scriptural authority.

Maybe the modern Church is having some kind of existential spiritual encounter, and in the midst of this encounter, they realize that all modern versions of the bible are holy Scripture.