The Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures.
The divine authority of Scripture consists in the fact that faith and obedience are due to it, as to God Himself, with respect to everything it says. We have already seen that this is the position that Christ and the apostles take with respect to the Scriptures of the Old Testament.1033) This is the position that Christ and the apostles demand for their own word in the New Testament as well.1034) He who rejects or even criticizes the Scriptures offends God's majesty. He commits a crimen laesae maiestatis divinae. Hence Christ's warning, "The word which I have spoken shall judge him at the last day."1035)
1032) Cf. Zöckler, Handbuch d. theol. Wissenschaften 2 III, 151.
1033) Jn. 10:35; Luke 24:25-27, 44-47; 2 Tim. 3:16. 17; Matt. 4:4-7.
1034) Jn. 8:31-32; 1 Cor. 14:37-38; Gal. 1:8.<w:t>1035) Jn. 12:48.
372 ><w:t xml:space="preserve">The Holy Scriptures. [English ed. ~ 307-308]
This divine authority of Scripture is absolute, that is, it is not founded in the personal reputation of the writers, nor in the testimony that individuals or a whole number of individuals or even the whole Church have given or are giving to Scripture. The divine authority of Scripture is founded solely in its nature, that is, in its theopneusty. It is a proper theological axiom: "Scripture is αντόπιστος because ϑεόπνευστος [“God-breathed”. 1036)
But if we ask how the divine authority of Scripture is known by us men, or how Scripture becomes a divine authority for us, we distinguish between Christian certainty (fides divina) and natural or scientific certainty (fides humana).
Christian certainty arises only through the self-attestation of Scripture. This self-affirmation is accomplished by the fact that the word of Scripture, independent of human evidence, works faith in itself by the power of the Holy Spirit who is active in it, and provides eo ipso recognition. This is clearly taught 1 Cor. 2:4-6, where the apostle Paul reminds the Corinthians how it came to be with them that they believed the divine doctrine (τό μαρτύρων τον ϑεόῦ) which they had heard from him. He first says in negative clause, "My word and sermon was not [accomplished] εν πειϑοϊς σοφίας λόγοις [for wisdom’s sake], then adds in positive clause: άλλ' εν αποδείξει πνεύματος και δννάμεως [“but in proof of spirit and power”] and finally points out the purpose why he used this method, according to which he dispensed with human evidence: The purpose was: ινα πίστις ΰμών μη η (having its continuance or reason) εν σοφία ανϑρώπων, άλλ εν δυνάμει ϑεον [“in the wisdom of men, but in virtue of the power of God.”]. The same thing Christ says of His preaching of the Word in the days of the flesh, John 7:17: "If any man will do the will of [the Father] [namely, hear Christ's Word and believe, John 6:40], he shall know (γνώσεται) whether this doctrine be of God, or whether I speak of myself." We can also express this important truth in this way: The Word of Scripture, because
1036) Baier-Walther 1, 119: Scripturae Sacrae auctoritas in ipsa ϑεοπνενατία seu dependentia a Deo, tanquam ab Auctore, … fundatur. Non autem a causa minus principali, sicut nec aliae scripturae ab amanuensibus … auctoritatem habent. Atque inde patet, quod Scriptura Sacra nec ab ecclesia habeat auctoritatem, quippe quae illius auctor et causa efficiens non fuit. [Google]
373 ><w:t xml:space="preserve">The Holy Scriptures. [English ed. ~ 308-309]
it is God's Word, is an object of knowledge that creates its own organ of knowledge, faith, and thereby testifies to itself as divine authority. This is the so-called testimonium Spiritus Sancti internum. The testimony of the Holy Spirit is not present only when a special sensation of the divinity of Scripture, entering also into sensual feeling, has arisen in man, but is already present in and with the faith in the Word of Scripture wrought by the Holy Spirit. By the fact that the Holy Spirit produces faith in the Word of Scripture, which faith has its seat in the spirit or in the inner being of man, the Holy Spirit bears witness to the divinity of the Word of Scripture in the spirit of man. According to 1 John 5:9, 10, he who believes God's testimony of His Son has God's testimony in him (εν αντω). When it is further said 1 Thess. 2:13 states: εδέξασϑε ον λόγον ανΰρώπων, αλλά καϑώς έστιν άληϑώς, λόγον ϑεοῦ, it is said, that the Thessalonians already by accepting the Word, that is, by believing in the Word, became acquainted with the divinity of the Word. Therefore it also comes that the Scripture calls the faith in God's Word a sealing or confirmation of the truthfulness of God, Jn. 3:33: ό λαβών αυτοΰ [Christ's] την μαρτυρίαν, εοφράγιοεν δτι ό ϑεός άληΰής έοτιν, and of unbelief toward the testimony of God says that it makes God a liar, ό μη πιοτεύων τφ ϑεω ψεύοτην πεποίηκεν αυτόν, δτι ον πεπίοτευκεν εις την μαρτυρίαν ην μεμαρτύρηκεν ό ϑεός περί τον νίον αντου.1037) This truth, that Christian certainty of the divinity of Scripture arises from the self-attestation of Scripture, is of the greatest practical importance. If doubts about the divinity of Scripture come to Christians, they must deal with Scripture, that is, read the word of Scripture, listen to it, ponder it in the spirit, and thus let it affect them. Then, through the self-testimony of Scripture, through the testimonium Spiritus Sancti internum, the doubts disappear.
Of course, objections are now raised against this self-affirmation of Scripture. Rome, in the interest of the Pope's supremacy over Scripture, and newer theologians, in the interest of the detachment of faith from Scripture, speak of a circular argument (idem per idem).1038) But
1037) 1 John 5:10.
1038) Cf. above under the section "Theology and Certainty," p. 131.
374 ><w:t xml:space="preserve">The Holy Scriptures. [English ed. ~ 309-310]
the objection is not valid. We have to do here with the generally recognized way that we men become certain of a thing by perception. Whoever seriously denies this way of becoming certain has sunk into the abyss of agnosticism. Now faith in the Word of Scripture is nothing more and nothing less than the perception of this Word as what it is, as the Word of God, brought about by the Word of Scripture itself through the action of the Holy Spirit. Philippi reminds us,1039) that Strauß (Glaubenslehre I, 136, cf. 345) calls the doctrine of the testimonium internum Spiritus Sancti for the Word of God "the Achilles' heel of the Protestant system" and also speaks of a circular argument. But Philippi adds: "This is just as if the blind man blames the sighted man for a circular argument, because he claims that the sun shines, since he sees in its light." Like Philippi, the old Lutheran theologians speak. Gottfried Hofmann († 1728) writes: Quemadmodum principia prima per se nota sunt et suamet luce radiant, et in naturalibus lumen testatur de se ipso nec opus habet alio lumine, ita et- Spiritus Sancti testimonium non opus habet alio testimonio, sed suamet luce radiat et se divinum esse efficacia sua ac virtute qua gaudet divina abunde testatur, licet hoc alteri persuaderi non possit, nisi et ipse Scripturam Sacram attente legat atque ita testimonii huius interni particeps fiat.1040) [Google]
As certain as it is that Christian certainty (fides divina) of the divinity of Scriptures arises only by way of self-attestation, it cannot be denied, on the other hand, that there is also a natural-reasonable conviction (fides humana or "scientific certainty") of the divinity of Holy Scriptures, based on proofs of reason. Our ancient theologians call these proofs of reason argumenta, quae divinam Scripturae originem humana fide agnoscendam seu credibilem declarant.[“ arguments which declare the divine origin of the Scriptures to be recognized or believed by human faith”]1041) All works of God bear the divine stamp, recognizable to human reason, by which they are distinguished from the creations of human hands, from human products. There is hardly anyone in danger of confusing a made flower with a natural flower. Now the Holy Scriptures are a work of God, "God's book", like the Creation
1039) Doctrine of Faith 3 1, 136.
1040) Synopsis Theologiae Purioris, p. 86. 1041) Baier-Walther 1, 121.
375 ><w:t xml:space="preserve">The Holy Scriptures. [English ed. ~ 310]
of the world. And as the naturally rational contemplation of the Creation reveals God as its Creator,1042) so also the naturally rational contemplation of the Holy Scriptures usually already points to God as its Author. If we compare the Holy Scriptures according to content and style with other religious writings, e.g. with the Koran, with the religious books of the Orient etc., 1043) and the victorious spread of Christianity, although its doctrine is an offence to the Jews and a folly to the Greeks,1044) and the unique effects of the religion taught in the Scriptures, both among individuals1045) and among whole peoples1046) : rational reason cannot fail to conclude that the Scriptures are divine, and that it is more reasonable to accept the divinity of the Holy Scriptures than to reject them. This is the field of apologetics.1047)
As for the value of arguments that convey a human or scientific conviction of the divinity of Scripture, there is a double extreme to be avoided: overestimation and underestimation. Overestimation would be present if we wanted to think that someone could become a Christian by reasoning arguments. Becoming a Christian happens until the Last Day and
1042) Rom. 1:18 ff.
1043) A longer quotation from the Koran in Baier-Walther 1, 130 f. Max Müller [sic: Monier Monier-Williams] in the paper on the specific content of the "holy books of the East" given above, p. 15 f.: "One refrain through all — salvation by works … Our own holy Bible, our sacred Book of the East, is from beginning to end a protest against this doctrine. .... It contains that faithful saying, worthy to be received by all men, women, and children, and not merely by us Christians-that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." [Wrong name! It was actually Monier Monier-Williams, not Max Müller — see this blog post] On the style or form of expression: Luthardt, Apol. Vorträge I, 208 f., Rousseau and Pascal (in Luthardt, op. cit., pp. 263. 265).
1044) Baier-Walther I, 129; Luthardt, op. cit.
1045) The certainty of being reconciled with God through faith in Christ's satisfactio vicaria, the holy walk, patience in suffering, the joy of dying. Max Müller [sic: Monier Monier-Williams] in the quote just given: "Let us teach Hindus, Buddhists, Mohammedans, that there is only one sacred Book of the East that can be their mainstay in that awful hour when they pass all alone into the unseen world."
1046) Christianity concededly civilizes the fastest and safest.
1047) Cf. Synodal Report of the Western District of the Missouri Synod of 1865. A detailed compilation of the arguments relating to fides humana: Baier-Walther I, 121-131.
376 ><w:t xml:space="preserve">The Holy Scriptures. [English ed. ~ 311]
in every single case only one way, the way of contritio and fides, namely by the fact that a man experiences the divine judgment of condemnation because of his sins (terrores conscientiae) through the law of God testified in the Scriptures and then believes the forgiveness of his sins through the Gospel testified in the Scriptures. As Christ teaches this way of the coming of his kingdom in the world, when he is called to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins among all nations in his name.1048) Only when someone has become a Christian in this way, a sheep of Christ's flock, and the Holy Spirit has entered his heart through faith in the forgiveness of sins, does he recognize the Holy Scriptures as the Word of God, as the voice of his good Shepherd; in other words, he has the Christian certainty, the fides divina, the testimonium internum Spiritus Sancti of the divinity of the Holy Scriptures, as we have already seen.1049) An underestimation of the arguments that can generate human faith (fidem humanam) would be present if we wanted to dismiss them as totally worthless. Christ and the apostles also used them in passing.1050) They serve to reject the frivolous judgments that unbelief allows itself to make about the Scriptures. Reasonable grounds can also be usefully presented to Christians challenged with doubts concerning the divine nature of Scripture. After all, these doubts stem from the unbelieving flesh of Christians, and through proofs of reason the flesh of Christians is also outwardly bridled and restrained.1051) Proofs of reason, historical proofs, etc., can also serve conversion insofar as they may become an inducement for those outside the church to read and hear God's Word for themselves and thus become faithful to the Word through the action of the Holy Spirit in the Word. But we must not think that the presentation of
1048) Luke 24:46. 47; Mark. 1:15.<w:t>1049) Jn. 8:37. 43. 47.
1050) To the Sadducees, who declared the resurrection of the dead impossible, Christ points not only to the Scriptures, but also to the omnipotence of God, which is already recognized by natural reason. He declares that the doctrine of the Sadducees contradicts not only the Scriptures but also reason. Paul holds the same against the Corinthians, 1 Cor. 15:34. Peter also mentions a reason on the first day of Pentecost, Acts 2:15. Paul refers to Acts 17:28 to the Athenians about "some poets".
1051) Gerhard, L. De Scriptura S., § 20: Si fideles in tentationibus de auctoritate Scripturae dubitare incipiunt, perinde cum illis agendum atque cum iis, qui negant. Est enim dubitatio negationi proxima. [“If in temptations the faithful begin to doubt the authority of the Scriptures, the same should be done with them and with those who deny. For doubt is close to negation.”]
377 ><w:t xml:space="preserve">The Holy Scriptures. [English ed. ~ 312]
proofs of reason is a necessary preliminary to the proclamation of the Word of God. The claim that the "Christian certainty of truth" is conditioned by mediation with "other possessions of truth of mankind" belongs to the basic error of modern theologians. The assertion that the "Christian certainty of truth" is conditioned by the mediation with the "other truth possession of mankind" belongs to the basic error of modern theologians. As Eduard König rightly points out, this is based on the erroneous opinion that "Holy Scriptures are not capable of acquiring an authority which can be believed with conviction for its statements." 1052) On the contrary, it must be stated that the self-attestation of Scripture as the Word of God is completely independent of all proofs of reason and of all human testimony, whether from individual persons or from the "Church. The objection that the self-attestation of Scripture extends only to its content, not to its words, has already been repeatedly proven to be contrary to Scripture and senseless.1053)
The question has now been raised again and again as to how someone can tell whether he has the Christian faith wrought by the Holy Spirit or only a human conviction of the divinity of the Holy Scriptures. Christians also ask themselves this question. It must be admitted that deception is possible here. Some who do not have the testimony of the Holy Spirit think they have it, while others who think they do not have it actually do. So: Who has the testimony of the Holy Spirit, and who does not have it? 1. Since, according to Scripture, the testimony of the Holy Spirit is not without the word of the apostles and prophets, but only through it, all judgments of Scripture in those who actually disengage themselves from the word of Scripture are not the testimony of the Holy Spirit, but pure human invention and imagination. 2. The inner testimony of the Holy Spirit to the divinity of the Scriptures is also lacking in all those who only accept the Scriptures as the Word of God on the basis of rational evidence, or who, on the basis of human authority, such as the authority of the pastor or parents or other men, hold that the Scriptures are the Word of God. 3. Consequently, those who deny the vicarious satisfaction of Christ cannot have the testimonium Spiritus Sancti of the divinity of the Holy Scriptures,
1052) Der Glaubensakt des Christen 1891, p. 118 f.
1053) Cf. p. 80 f. 262 ff.
378 ><w:t>The Holy Scriptures. [English ed. ~ 312-313]
because the Christian faith is fides Christi crucifixi and the Holy Spirit enters the heart of a man only with this faith and enables him to make a correct judgment about divine things, thus also about the Holy Scriptures. On this point Philippi also says:1054) "Only faith in the full sacrifice made on the cross in humiliation for our sins, which is our Lord and our God, puts us anew into actual fellowship with God, brings the spirit of filiation and the certainty of inheritance, and fills us with powers of eternal life. Therefore also only the Church, which teaches the righteousness that is valid before God and the finding of life by faith alone in the blood of reconciliation, has recourse to the testimony of the Holy Spirit to the Word of God and to the unconditional and exclusive authority of this Word infallibly sealed in the Spirit." The practice of both our missionaries in the heathen countries and our traveling preachers and our pastors in city and state institutions corresponds to this. They do not begin with rational proofs of the divinity of the Holy Scriptures, but preach repentance and forgiveness "into the multitude." Once faith in Christ crucifixum has been established, there is no need for faith in the divinity of the Holy Scriptures. Here also settles the special question with regard to Johann David Michaelis († 1791), who almost gained a world-wide reputation in theological circles by confessing that in his whole life he had never felt a testimony of the Holy Spirit to the divinity of Scripture. Whether this covers Michaelis' case "in his whole life" we leave unexamined here. But that he did not and could not have the testimony of the Holy Spirit in his later life is explained by the fact that he denied the Scriptural doctrine of the satisfactio Christi vicaria and based the divine forgiveness of sins on the moral correction of man. The Holy Spirit does not confirm pagan doctrines of works, but testifies outwardly in the Word of Scripture and inwardly in the heart through the effect of faith in the Word of Scripture that Christ died for our sins according to Scripture.1055)
1054) Glaubenslehre 3 1, 135.
1055) About Michaelis RE. 2 IX, 746 ff; Meusel IV, 597. The case of Michaelis and comrades is also treated by Andreas Knös in Inst. Theol. Practicae. Holmiae 1768, p. 66-71, cited in Baier-Walther I, 136.
379 ><w:t xml:space="preserve">The Holy Scriptures. [English ed. ~ 313-314]
4. But the inner witness of the Holy Spirit is given to everyone who believes the Scriptures for their own sake, that is, who believes what the Scriptures say to be divine truth because they say it. And that is, faith itself is the witness of the Holy Spirit. This is the point at which the deception occurs, that such in whom the testimony of the Holy Spirit is actually present, miss it in themselves and groan for it. As those err who think they have the testimony of the Holy Spirit without faith in the external Word, so do dear Christians err who believe the Scriptures, think what the Scriptures say to be incontrovertible truth, but yet do not think they have the testimony of the Holy Spirit to the divinity of the Scriptures. Their error consists in the fact that they do not identify faith in the Holy Scriptures and the inner testimony of the Holy Spirit to the divinity of the Scriptures, whereas both must be identified because they factually coincide. The matter stands like this: No man believes the Word of God of himself. The natural man believes neither the terrible judgment of the law, as it is in the words of Scripture, nor the comforting judgment of the gospel of the forgiveness of sins for Christ's sake alone, as it is also in the words of Scripture. In particular, the word of the gospel about the forgiveness of sins propter Christ crucifixum is an offence and foolishness to every natural man. But if a man believes both the word of Scripture which promises him eternal damnation and the word of Scripture which promises him the forgiveness of his sins for the sake of Christ crucified, this is merely the effect of the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit has given him inward testimony, through the effect of faith in the heart, that the word of Scripture is not foolishness but divine truth. Expressed still differently, the testimony of the Holy Spirit, which is objective in the Word of Scripture, that is, apart from us, becomes inward testimony of the Holy Spirit to us through the Holy Spirit's working in our hearts to the objective testimony in the Word of Scripture. This, as we already saw, is explicitly taught in 1 John 5:9, 10. V. 9 is the address of God's testimony, which God has begotten of His Son, that is, of the Word of God. But in v. 10 the apostle adds: "Whoever believes in the Son of God" — namely on the basis of the testimony that God has testified of
380 ><w:t xml:space="preserve">The Holy Scriptures. [English ed. ~ 314-315]
his son — "he has such a testimony with him, Greek: ev εαντφ, in himself, in his inside.1056) According to Scripture, then, the Holy Spirit's testimony to the divinity of Scripture does not exist only when it is expressed in sensual feeling. This sensual feeling exists. Among Christians there are days and hours, sometimes even only moments, in which they feel the truth, the majesty, the glory, the divinity of Scripture so strongly that they are overwhelmed, as it were, by this sensation even in feeling. But it is not only in these special times of joy that the witness of the Holy Spirit to the divine nature of Scripture is present. Rather, this special sensation entering into feeling belongs, precisely speaking, to the consequences and fruits of faith in the truth of the Scriptural word, and in this respect to the external testimony of the Holy Spirit (testimonium Spiritus Sancti externum). The inner testimony of the Holy Spirit, in the first and proper sense, coincides according to 1 John 5:9-10 with the faith in the scriptural word worked by the Holy Spirit. It is also present when faith does not express itself in feeling, but the heart nevertheless remains attached to the word of Scripture, desires it and reaches out for it in an inner longing. Luther says1057) about the fact that the testimony of the Holy Spirit coincides with faith in the Word of Scripture: "We do not distinguish the Holy Spirit from faith, nor is it contrary to it; for it is the certainty itself in the Word, which makes us certain of the Word, so that we do not waver in it, but believe without all doubt in the most certain way, that it is so and not otherwise than as the Word of God presents to us and says. But it is given to no one without and apart from the word, but through the word. ... Without the oral word the Holy Spirit does not work." It stands thus: The Holy Spirit, who originally spoke His Word through the apostles and prophets, remains in binding with His Word until the Last Day, and through His Word works the
1056) Huther: "Instead of εαντφ Tischendorf reads according to A. G. K., which is only another spelling." For the factual explanation Huther adds: εχει εν εαντφ, "that is, to him the testimony is no longer merely an external one, but by virtue of his faith he has it in himself; the external has become to him an internal one."
1057) Erl. Ed. 58, 153 f.
381 ><w:t xml:space="preserve">The Holy Scriptures. [English ed. ~ 315-316]
faith that believes for the sake of the Word itself and not for the sake of reason and human authority. This is the Christian or divine faith (fides divina) as distinguished from a merely human opinion or conviction (fides humana).