Theological Term of the Week: Authority of Scripture

authority of scripture

The principle that the individual believer and the church are subject to the rule of scripture because the words of scripture come from God, so obedience to scripture is obedience to God himself.

• From scripture:

…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, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:15-17 ESV)

• From The London Baptist Confession 1689, Chapter 1, Section 4:

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

• From Concise Theology by J. I. Packer, page 16:

The Christian principle of biblical authority means, on the one hand, that God purposes to direct the belief and behavior of his people through the revealed truth set forth in Holy Scripture; on the other hand it means that all our ideas about God should be measured, tested, and where necessary corrected and enlarged, by reference to biblical teaching. Authority as such is the right, claim, fitness, and by extension power, to control. Authority in Christianity belongs to God the Creator, who made us to know, love, and serve him, and his way of exercising his authority over us is by means of the truth and wisdom of his written Word.

Learn more:

1. The Gospel Project: Why do we call the Bible our authority?
2. Simply Put: Authority of Scripture
3. In Whan Kim: The Reliability and Authority of the Bible
4. Matthew Barrett: The Authority and Inerrancy of Scripture
5. Don Stewart: What Does the Bible Have to Say About Its Own Authority?
6. Sinclair Ferguson: The Authority, Sufficiency, Finality of Scripture
7. Herman Ridderbos: The Inspiration and Authority of Holy Scripture

 Related terms:

• inerrancy of scripture
• infallibility of scripture
• inspiration of scripture
• norma normans non normata
• sola scriptura
• sufficiency of scripture

Filed under Scripture

---

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured as a Theological Term of the Week? Email your suggestion using the contact button in the navigation bar above. 

Clicking on the Theological Terms button above the header will take you to an alphabetical list of all the theological terms.

Theological Term of the Week: Anthropopathism

anthropopathism

A figure of speech in which human feeling or emotions are ascribed to God. Sometimes anthropopathism is contrasted with anthropomorphism, with the term anthropomorphism defined narrowly as the attribution of human form to God. But when anthropomorphism is defined more broadly as any language that speaks of God in human terms, then anthropopathism is seen as a special kind of anthropomorphism.

• In scripture:

And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel (1 Samuel 15:35 ESV).

 Related terms:

• anthropomorphism
• biblical hermeneutics

Filed under Scripture

---

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured as a Theological Term of the Week? Email your suggestion using the contact button in the navigation bar above. 

Clicking on the Theological Terms button above the header will take you to an alphabetical list of all the theological terms.

Theological Term of the Week: Anthropomorphism

anthropomorphism

The attribution of human form to God, or more broadly, a description of God using human categories; language that speaks of God in human terms, ascribing human features and qualities to him. 

• In scripture:

The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them (Exodus 7:5 ESV).

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.  When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds,  I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth” Genesis 9:12-16).

• From A. B. Caneday in Veiled Glory: God’s Self-Revelation in Human Likeness—A Biblical Theology of God’s Anthropomorphic Self-Disclosure, an essay included in Beyond the Bounds: Open Theism and the Undermining of Biblical Christianity:

…God’s Word does not simply contain anthropomorphism as one figure of speech alongside metaphor, simile, synecdoche, and others. Rather, God’s word is intrinsically anthropomorphic, for the Bible is God’s speech to humans in human language. God’s speaking to humans is anthropomorphism. Anthropomorphism is a description of God’s revelation; anthropomorphism is not a description of our interpretation of Scripture. The fact that God revealed himself anthropomorphically does not warrant us to subscribe to “anthropomorphic interpretation.” We are not to read the Bible anthropomorphically. Rather, we are to recognize that the Bible is anthropomorphic in character. Therefore, I propose the following definition of anthropomorphism, a definition that emerges from the soil of Scripture: Because God formed Adam from the “dust of the earth” and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, making him in his own image and likeness, God makes himself known to his creatures in their likeness, as if he wears both their form and qualities, when in fact they wear his likeness (pages 160-161).

Learn more:

1. Got Questions: What is an anthropomorphism?
2. Theopedia: Anthropomorphism
3. Simply Put: Anthropomorphism
4. R. C. Sproul: Describing God in Human Terms

Related terms:

• anthropopathism
• biblical hermeneutics

Filed under Scripture

---

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured as a Theological Term of the Week? Email your suggestion using the contact button in the navigation bar above. 

Clicking on the Theological Terms button above the header will take you to an alphabetical list of all the theological terms.