Studies in the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689

Introduction

Good morning. My Name is Emmanuel Mkandawire from Kabwata Baptist Church. I have come with my family- My wife and our children. We are truly delighted to be joining you this morning for the worship of our great God.

For the Bible Study, we are considering the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith Chapter 1 on the Scriptures. I understand you considered the first few paragraphs dealing with why we need Confessions of Faith and you looked at the first three paragraphs on the Neccessity of the Scripture:

Paragraph 1 affirms that the Scriptures are necessary for knowledge of God and salvation. It states that God has revealed himself in the Scriptures, which are given by divine inspiration, and that they are therefore the only infallible rule of faith and practice.

Paragraph 2 emphasizes the clarity of the Scriptures, stating that they are sufficiently clear and plain in matters of salvation, and that the Holy Spirit enables believers to understand them.

Paragraph 3 addresses the sufficiency of the Scriptures, stating that they contain all that is necessary for faith and obedience, and that nothing should be added to or taken away from them.

Overall, these paragraphs emphasize the central role of the Word of God in the life of a believer and in the worship of God.

Specific Introduction

Today we are going to answer two questions:

How do we know that the Bible is the word of God?

What is the Canonicity and Authority of the scriptures?

The Canonicity

How do we know that this book belongs to the Canon or not?

Only those Books which Christ and his Apostles recognised as the written work of God are entiled to be regarded as canonical.

The 37 OT Books were affirmed by the Lord Jesus Christ and the New Testament writings were commissioned by Jesus

Jesus affirmed the Old Testament

● Quotes from the Old testament

● He called them the scriptures- the scriptures must be fulfilled, he opened up minds so that they may understand the scriptures Luke 24:27 beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself

● He affirmed its histostoricity- Creation was actual history, the killing of Abel, Jonah being swallowed by the fish, the prophet Daniel etc

● Christ never considered the Apocrypha as part of the Scriptures and neither did the jews of Jesus times, nor the writers of the apocrypha themselves.

Jesus Commissioned the Apostles to write the New Testament

● Matt 28:20 In the great Commission, the apostles were to make disciples of all nations….. “Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded.” So the disciples were commissioned to be witnesses and to teach everything that he had commanded them. So when we read the new testament we are reading God’s word

● John 14:26 but the Helper the Holy Spirit … He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you (see also JOhn 16:12-15; John 17:8)

So for the New Testament Canon. its those books and those alone which can be proved to have been written by the Apostles or to have received the apostles’ sanction are to be recognised as of divine authority.

The apostles were the duly authencicated messengers of Christ - Jesus Christ said “He that heareth you, heareth me” Luke 10:16 ““The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.””

Divine Authority of the Scriptures

the whole authority of the Scripture in itself depends solely on its divine original

Paragraph 4 and 5 of the Baptist Confession of Faith

"The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, depends not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God (who is truth itself), the Author thereof; and therefore it is to be received because it is the Word of God."

This paragraph affirms that the authority of the Bible comes from God himself and not from any human source. The Scriptures are to be believed and obeyed because they are the Word of God.

Paragraph 5 states:

"We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church to an high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scripture; and the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole (which is to give all glory to God), the full discovery it makes of the only way of man's salvation, the many other incomparable excellencies, and the entire perfection thereof, are arguments whereby it does abundantly evidence itself to be the Word of God: yet notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts."

Hebrews 1:1-2 “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”

He spoke to the forefather like that. Rom 3:2 “Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.” Rom 9:4 “They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.”

Why we believe the Bible to be the true

Works of John Owen: Volume 16 Chapter 2

The authority of God, the supreme Lord of all, the first and only absolute Truth, whose word is truth—speaking in and by the penmen of the Scriptures—evinced singly in and by the Scripture itself—is the sole bottom and foundation, or formal reason, of our assenting to those Scriptures as his word, and of our submitting our hearts and consciences unto them with that faith and obedience which morally respect him, and are due to him alone.

The Bible itself attests to itself that is it the word of God.

The scripture has its authority from its author without any other assistance

Implications

We need to obey the voice of God

Lexham Survey of Theology The Bible’s Authority

“a Christian believeth to be true whatever is revealed in the Word, for the authority of God himself speaking therein; and acteth differently upon that which every particular passage thereof containeth; yielding obedience to the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life, and that which is to come.”

The Scripture is itself the very standard, ultimate criterion of what is true and right

The bible is the guide on how we should glorify worship him

1 Peter 1:25 The word of the Lord endures forever

1 Peter 1:25 ESV

but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

1 Thessalonians 2:13 ESV

And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

2 Peter 3:16 ESV

as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

2 Timothy 3:14–16 ESV

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

Hebrews 4:12 ESV

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Matthew 19:5 the words of Genesis 2:24 are called the word of God

Genesis 2:24 ESV

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Matthew 19:5 ESV

and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?