The Belgic Confession of Faith (3)

We have written the last time that the Lord reveals Himself in two ways. He has two books of instruction: a) the book of nature which reveals something of the majesty, the greatness, the glory, the power of God, and b) His Holy Word. But we said that the Lord also has given us an innate knowledge that there is a God. That first book, however, is not sufficient in order to make us wise unto salvation. We need something more in order to read that book of nature in the right way, to understand ourselves, to understand our place in the world, to understand why we are here and where we are traveling to.

To that end the Lord gave us His special revelation, His Word, which tells us three things which the first book does not tell us: a) Nature tells us there is a God, but God’s special revelation tells us who God is; b) nature can give us an impression that God is great and we are small, but it does not tell us how this God has to be served, what His will is, how He wants to be worshipped; c) that book of nature doesn’t tell us that we are lost, condemnable, in profound darkness. It doesn’t tell us the way wherein we can escape the darkness and punishment and be restored into God’s favor, the way of salvation. These things the Lord revealed in His special revelation, His Word.

There has been a time that there was not a written Word. Then the Lord spoke by dreams, by visions, by appearances. Sometimes by an angel, sometimes God appeared Himself. He also revealed His will by casting lots and by the Urim and Thummim. These means were sufficient at that time because the people lived much longer. The number of people living on earth was much less than now. We also know that later the Lord commanded Moses to write the Scriptures and several of God’s servants became instrumental in the composition of God’s Word. This written Word of God was not sent nor delivered by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, as the apostle Peter said.

I don’t doubt for a moment that all of you believe that this Word of God is the inspired, infallible, eternal, reliable, unchangeable Word of God. But can we also prove that? We live in a world which shows much disrespect and disregard for God’s Word, but also in the theological world there are many other opinions about the truthfulness of this Word. Some theologians will say that God comes to you with His message in this Word. They will say that God’s word is in the Bible, but they will not accept that the Bible is God’s Word from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21. How do we prove that God has inspired His Word? That it is not a human word, but that it is theopneustos, that means that God has breathed that Word into the writers by His Spirit? When we speak about God’s Word being inspired, we must know what is the meaning of that word “inspired.” What is the characteristic of it? Secondly, we must know the extent of this inspiration: a) the nature of it. There is an opinion that this inspiration is mechanical; b) that it is dynamical; c) that it is an organic inspiration. Mechanical inspiration implies that the Lord has used the human authors as secondary authors, like we use, for instance, the typewriter. That typewriter doesn’t feel, doesn’t think; it is just a dead instrument. It doesn’t do any investigating; it just types letter after letter as commanded. So, some say, the Lord has used authors as mere instruments who did not think of what they were writing but just wrote down what the Lord spoke to them, word by word. But this is not scriptural. The Lord did not use these authors as dead instruments, putting aside their feelings, their emotions, and their characters.

It is necessary that the Holy Spirit applies the Word, but that does not mean that otherwise it is but a dead letter.

The second opinion is that the nature of inspiration is dynamical. That means the Lord came, through the Spirit, down upon a certain author (for instance, Jeremiah) so that this prophet, from that time until the very end of his life, was filled with the Spirit and whatever he spoke and whatever he wrote was divinely inspired. We don’t believe that. The Lord used Jeremiah to write His revelation, but this prophet as well as the other authors have also spoken many other words which were not inspired. We believe that at certain moments the Lord inspired them with His Spirit, but that this was not the case for their entire life.

We believe in organic inspiration. That means that the Lord has used His servants as human beings, not as dead instruments, but that He used them with their talents, with their education, with their character, with their family, social or political background, with their training — as Paul, for instance, had received at the feet of Gamaliel and as Moses was educated in Egypt. Although the Lord kept them from error, from writing anything down which would be unreliable or untrue, yet you see in the prophecy of Isaiah, in his style, that he is a man with much education and of a good upbringing. If you compare him with Amos, then you see clearly that this man also had an entirely different training — on the field as a farmer or guarding the cattle. Therefore, we believe the Lord used His servants as organs, as instruments, but with their own characters, even with investigation of some matters, as we read that Luke had investigated the matter before he began to write. Scripture teaches us organic inspiration.

The extent of the inspiration, that is, how far does the inspiration of Scripture go? There are three opinions: 1) There are those who say the thoughts expressed in Scripture, the ideas, are inspired, but the way wherein they are expressed is very human. 2) Others believe that God’s Word is in the Bible, not the complete Bible. If you have a package and you open it, then you will find the contents of it which is the present. You have just to open the package (the Bible); it is given to you in this written Word and then you have to find the divine message. They say, the Bible is partly inspired. 3) We believe that the Bible is verbally inspired — verbal plenary inspiration. That means each word to its full extent, from the very beginning to the very end, is inspired. That is the extent of inspiration. The nature is organic and the extent is verbal, from the beginning to the very end.

God’s Word, however, already reveals that there are mockers, people who do not believe the truth. The Anabaptists in the time of the Reformation did not have much esteem for the Word of God. They said that the Word of God is just a dead letter. For you can read in 2 Corinthians 3:6, “the letter killeth but the Spirit giveth life.” Surely, it is necessary that the Holy Spirit applies the Word, but that does not mean that otherwise it is but a dead letter. The Anabaptists believe that the inward word is only of importance, the inward light, by the Spirit. Thus they make a separation between Word and Spirit. They seem to have a high esteem for God and for His Spirit, but they do not really have much respect for the God of this Word when they despise His written Word.

When this text says, “the letter killeth,” it means the letter which is written in stony tables, the administration of the law of God. When the Lord comes in our life and opens our eyes and places us before His holy law, God’s holiness becomes reality and we see we have transgressed that law, then that letter begins to kill us. Has this already happened to you? There can never be any form nor comeliness in the Lord Jesus Christ and we can never be married with Him, with this Bridegroom, if we have not died to the first husband, the law (Rom. 7:3). That happens when the Lord begins to erect that law as a mirror before us and we try to find life by the law, but the law, instead of giving us life, puts us down and says: You are not perfect and all your works are not sufficient. When the Lord opens the eyes for the spiritual meaning of the law, we see that whatever we do, we are transgressing the law. Hence, this text does not teach that the Word of God is but a dead letter.

Then in the time of the Reformation there were the so-called Libertines, the liberals. They believed that the Word of God had just a symbolical meaning. Our Reformers waged hard battle against the Anabaptists but also against these Libertines. The Roman Catholic Church officially believed the inspiration of God’s Word. The Council of Trent and also the Council of the Vatican which came together in the 1880s again affirmed that. They teach that this inspired Word comes to us under papal authority and with his explanation, so in the way the pope and the bishops of the church explain that word, so only is it the Word of God. We believe that the Lord reveals the truth of His Word by His Spirit unto His children. The Lord also uses instruments. We have our expositors and our books which can shed much light upon this Word, but they don’t have divine authority.

Then many theologians today, as we have said, teach that the Bible is partially inspired and that God’s Word is in the Bible. It sounds good but it is subtle; it is a trick of Satan. For this takes away all its certainty and reliability. How do I know when, for instance, I read Paul’s opinion about the offices in the church, about the place of women in the church, what God’s meaning is? God’s Word is just in the Bible? How do I know, when Paul speaks about Christian lifestyle, about homosexuality, that this is God’s opinion?

We also want to mention the vision of Karl Barth, a Swiss theologian whose theology is quite influential also in Reformed and Protestant circles all over the world. Barth’s theology seemed to be so spiritual, for he said that it is so necessary that God speaks to us by means of His Spirit and it is not enough that you read or preach the Word of God. But then he said: We must not believe that the Bible is only inspired at the moment they wrote it down, otherwise you make a pope of it. He believes that the prophets or the apostles have spoken in truth, sometimes with errors. They have brought a very important message for us, but only when the Spirit comes down and uses that Word, then, like lightning, it strikes in your life. Just as a tree is hit by the lightning and it is cut open, so it is when God comes with His Spirit and uses that human word, the Bible. We would say this is not so superficial — as many people who say, just read the Bible, take it, and believe it. Karl Barth emphasizes that God’s Spirit must use and must apply that word, and then it becomes God’s Word. But that means, as long as the Spirit is not involved, I can do with that Word what I please, for it is just a human word. But when the Spirit comes, God lifts up that human word and makes it to be a divine word which strikes at our hardness, opens the rock of our existence, and makes us tremble before the majesty of the Word — then only it becomes God’s Word. But friends, no, when we speak about the Word, then we speak about the Holy Bible, about the holy inspired Scriptures.

How Firm a Foundation

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?

“In every condition, in sickness, in health,
In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth;
At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,
As your days may demand,
shall your strength ever be.

“When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; - I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

“E’en down to old age, all My people shall prove
My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;
And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,
Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.

“The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no, never, no, never forsake!”

Rev. C. Vogelaar is pastor of the Ebenezer Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey.

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