by Rev. Donald MacLean, Glasgow
2. The Source of Theology
Man by searching cannot find out God. He dwells in light which is unapproachable and full of glory. “No man,” said the Saviour, “hath seen God at any time; the Son which dwelleth in the bosom of the Father, He hath revealed Him.” It is clear that our knowledge of God must come from God’s revelation of Himself to us and that such a revelation alone can be the true source of the “science of God,” which we call theology. Unless God be pleased to reveal Himself, He cannot be known; and the extent to which He is known depends on the degree to which He is pleased to reveal Himself.
To those to whom He has not given the Bible, God has not left Himself without a witness. His power, wisdom and Godhead have been revealed in the works of creation, while in His works of providence He has given them rain and fruitful seasons and filled their hearts with food and gladness. He thus continues to testify that He is not very far from any of them.
This revelation of God is sometimes called General Revelation, and it is mentioned in Psalm 19: “The heavens declare the glory of God.” Such a revelation is to man as man, but man as a sinner resists this and refuses the knowledge of God. He prefers to worship the creature rather than the Creator Who is blessed for ever. Thus, while men of science may be highly gifted and wonderfully qualified in many respects, in only too many cases their eyes are blind to the glory of the Creator while they investigate the wonders of the universe. Although these discoveries within the realm of creation cry out with united witness to the fact of a glorious supreme Being Who is the source of its existence and laws, yet these men resist this witness, not because of any intellectual capacities they may possess, but because of the carnal mind which reigns within them as sinners.
This General Revelation, however, does not meet the case of man as a sinner. There is nothing there to speak peace to a guilty conscience or to show a sinner the way of reconciliation to the God against whom he has so grievously sinned. Another revelation of God was necessary for this particular purpose, and this again we find in Psalm 19, where we read: “The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul.” Here, in the Word of God alone, is the divine revelation which can bring the sinful soul to the saving knowledge of God, giving him to say with David, “He restoreth my soul.” (Ps. 23, v. 3). The Word of God, being that place where the Lord makes himself known, is, therefore, the true source of theology, and the only place where the doctrines of Truth are to be found.
As already indicated, revelation is one of the outstanding aspects of the Word of God. When Man fell in the Garden of Eden, it pleased God to begin to reveal Himself as One Who had a purpose of mercy towards multitudes of the human family. In thus making Himself known, God worked by a process, as He so often does. For instance, He could, had He so been pleased, have created the world immediately, but He rather chose to do this in a process lasting six days. So, with the revelation of Himself as a just God and a Saviour, He was pleased to begin with individuals, then proceed to a family, then to a nation, until finally, in the fulness of the times, the revelation became the possession of the whole world. “God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past to the fathers by the prophets has in these last days spoken to us by His Son.” (Heb. 1, v. 1, 2).
We shall not wait, at present, to make a detailed examination of the “divers manners” in which the Lord was pleased to reveal himself to certain persons chosen by Him to be visited in these wonderful and gracious ways. It will suffice to say at present that to some He spoke directly, as to Abraham in the plains of Mamre; to others he spoke by visions and dreams as to the prophets and others; and finally appeared in Jesus of Nazareth as the Personal Word made flesh Who dwelt among us full of grace and truth. It further needs to be said that it is plain that many revelations were given of which we have no record, as the following words indicate: “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they could be written every one, I suppose the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.” (John 21, 25). The revelations considered necessary by God have been recorded in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments with a particular end in view: “But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God: and that believing, ye might have life through His name.” (John 20, v. 30).
The recording of these revelations in the words which the Holy Spirit teaches is the real meaning of the Inspiration of the Scriptures. Inspiration, therefore, secures the trustworthiness of the Scriptures, because it refers to the special influence of the Spirit of God by which He is the author of Scripture, although men were used as instruments. Thus the phrase, “All scripture is inspired of God” means that all scripture is “God-breathed” in the sense of being the product of the creative breath of God. As the Scriptures are the product of the Holy Spirit, we are told that the men who were the instruments used by Him were “moved by the Holy Spirit”. This movement of the Holy Spirit on the souls of these men of God secured that the Word of God would be given free from error. The Scriptures are, therefore, infallible and inerrant because they are inspired. Such inspiration is absolutely necessary, so that the children of men may have God’s revelation completely free from taint or error. It is absurd to think that God would reveal Himself down through the ages, and leave the recording of these revelations in the unaided hands of sinful men. This doctrine of scripture is a fundamental part of the abiding faith of the Church of God.
It is maintained by many today that the Bible is full of errors and that it is adversely affected by the customs and cultures of the writers of its books. If this be the case, the Scripture is untrustworthy, and is of no value to sinful men. They can have no assurance that what they read is true and according to the mind of God. Nor are they very likely to get much assurance from the critics of the Bible who are very ready to tell them what parts they should accept and what parts they should reject. But these critics cannot agree among themselves on this very point. Like the “unanimous consent of the fathers” so beloved of the Church of Rome, the “consensus of scholarly opinion” is a complete fable. Like the unbelieving scientist, the infidel professing Christianity rejects God’s Word because he is carnal and an enemy to God in his heart.
The Lord does not leave His Church to be carried about with the winds of the doctrines of men. He has given, in His word, the revelation of His mind to which a soul may trust his all in the light of death, judgment, and eternity. By the inward testimony of the Holy Spirit, God’s people are given to receive and rest in the Bible as the Word of God and to find a fulfilment of the passage already quoted: “But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God: and that believing ye might have life through His name.”
In the Bible alone, therefore, is to be found the doctrines of the Christian faith, and here alone is the source of true theology. By the rule of the Word must every tenet and opinion be tested. “The Supreme Judge, by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.” (Westminster Confession, Chap. I, Sec. X.)