Gateway Article 2

The God we worship is a God who speaks. In fact, his first act recorded in the Bible was a speech act: “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light”

EFCA. Evangelical Convictions (Kindle Locations 1191-1192). Free Church Publications. Kindle Edition.

EFCA. Evangelical Convictions (Kindle Locations 1191-1192). Free Church Publications. Kindle Edition.

God continues to speak (the heaven’s declare your glory

God spoke through the prophets

This collection constitutes the canon of Scripture—those books recognized as having divine authority by Jesus and by the early church. The books of the Old Testament were categorized by Jesus as the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms (), and all were authoritative for him.

EFCA. Evangelical Convictions (Kindle Locations 1209-1211). Free Church Publications. Kindle Edition.

we seek the intent of the human authors as the primary means by which to discover the meaning God intends for us in the biblical text.16 Focusing on the author’s intent is often referred to as the grammatical-historical method of interpretation. We ask, what did the writer mean when he wrote these words?

EFCA. Evangelical Convictions (Kindle Locations 1244-1247). Free Church Publications. Kindle Edition.

The meaning of the Bible for today must begin with and be controlled by the meaning intended by those who wrote it.18

EFCA. Evangelical Convictions (Kindle Locations 1256-1257). Free Church Publications. Kindle Edition.

Scripture is its own best interpreter

EFCA. Evangelical Convictions (Kindle Location 1256). Free Church Publications. Kindle Edition.

“all Scripture is God-breathed” (). From this we speak of the Bible as “inspired” by God.

EFCA. Evangelical Convictions (Kindle Location 1290). Free Church Publications. Kindle Edition.

we affirm three essential qualities of the Bible—that it is true, it is complete, and it is authoritative.

EFCA. Evangelical Convictions (Kindle Locations 1311-1312). Free Church Publications. Kindle Edition.