Round the Sphere Again: Presuppositionalism Once More

Act 17 Twice

1. A concise outline for the transcendental argument for the existence of God, and an example from scripture:

   Paul … in his entire speech in Acts 17, assumes God’s existence from his first sentence and builds upon that transcendental foundation. Whether it’s the fact that God is Creator (v. 24), that he is self-sufficient and all men depend on him (v. 25), that all men come from a common ancestor and God is the Lord of history (v. 26), that God demands repentance (v. 30), and has appointed a final day of judgment (v. 31), or that Christ was raised from the dead, Paul argues for his worldview from his worldview…. (RealApologetics Blog)

2. A discussion of “the problem of the criterion.”

   To avoid a subjectivist guessing game and/or utter skepticism, we must appeal to an ultimate locus of authority that is comprehensive in knowledge. This is what Christians call the Triune God, and I proclaim to you in Pauline fashion (Acts 17:23) that He is the only actual Criterion that humans can appeal to in order to justify knowledge. (Triablogue)

Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy 21

What do Christians mean when they say the Bible is inerrant? The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy tells us what leading inerrantist mean by inerrancy. I’ll be posting a section of this statement each week until I’ve posted the whole thing.

You can read previously posted sections of this statement in by clicking here. After a preface and a short statement, the Chicago Statement contains a section called Articles of Affirmation and Denial.

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Article XIX.

We affirm that a confession of the full authority, infallibility, and inerrancy of Scripture is vital to a sound understanding of the whole of the Christian faith. We further affirm that such confession should lead to increasing conformity to the image of Christ.

We deny that such confession is necessary for salvation. However, we further deny that inerrancy can be rejected without grave consequences, both to the individual and to the Church.

The Christian Metaphysic

The Bible sets forth a definite metaphysical scheme. It begins with God who is a personal, infinitely perfect, pure spirit (Ex. 15:11; Mal. 2:10; John 4:24). The triune God (2 Cor. 13:14) is unique in His nature and works (Ps. 86:9), self-existent (Ex. 3:14; John 5:26; Gal. 4:8-9), eternal (Ps. 90:2), Immutable (Mal. 3:6) and omnipresent (Ps. 139:7-10). Everything else that exists has been created out of nothing (Col. 1:16-17; Heb. 11:3), whether the material world (Gen. 1:1; Ex. 20:11), the realm of spirits (Ps. 148:2,5), or man. Man was created as the image of God (Gen. 1:27), a being who exhibits both a material and immaterial character (Matt. 10:28), surviving bokily death (Ecc. 12:7; Rom. 2:7) with personal awareness of God (2 Cor. 5:8), and awaiting bodily resurrection (1 Cor. 6:14; 15:42-44).

In creation God made all things according to His unsearchable wisdom (Ps. 104:24; Isa 40:28), assigning all things their definite characters (Isa. 40:26; 46:9-10). God also determines all thing by His wisdom (Eph. 1:11—preserving (Neh. 9:6), governing (Ps. 103:19), and predetermining the nature and course of all thing, thus being able to work miracles (Ps. 72:18). The decree by which God providentially ordains historical events is eternal, effectual, unconditional, unchangeable, and comprehensive (e. g. Is. 46:10; Acts 2:23; Eph. 3:9-11).

These truths are paradigmatic for the believer; they are the ultimate principles of objective reality, to be distinguished from the delusions set forth in contrary views of the world.

From Chapter 31: The Problem of Knowing the “Super-Natural” in Always Ready: Directions for Defending the Faith by Greg Bahnsen.