He is supremely powerful to perform all his holy and perfect will, ruling over his creation with total dominion, righteousness, wisdom, and love. Our God is the infinite fountain of being who created all things, and all things exist by him and for him. God is not divided into parts, but his whole being includes all of his attributes: he is entirely holy, loving, wise, just, good, merciful, gracious, and truthful. His knowledge is exhaustive, including all things actual and possible, so that nothing-past, present, or future-is hidden from his sight. He is spirit, transcendent and invisible, with no limitations or imperfections, immutable, and everywhere present with the fullness of his being. God is eternal, independent, and self-sufficient, having life in himself with no need for anyone or anything. There is only one true and living God, who is infinite in being, power, and perfections. As we devote ourselves to God’s Word, we commune with God himself and are fortified in faith, sanctified from sin, strengthened in weakness, and sustained in suffering by his unchanging revelation in Scripture. Ultimately, Scripture interprets Scripture, and the meaning of each text must be understood in light of the whole. Therefore, the Bible is to be prayerfully interpreted according to its context and original intent, with due regard to the progressive nature of revelation and the collective interpretation of believers through the ages. God’s intended meaning is revealed through the intentions of the inspired human authors, rendering the truth of God’s Word a fixed, historical reality. As the Scriptures are preached and read, the Spirit delights to illuminate our minds so that we understand, cherish, and obey his Word. We come to know that the Bible is God’s Word through Scripture’s own self-attesting authority and by the work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness through the Word in our hearts. The Scriptures must not be added to or taken away from, and all creeds, confessions, teachings, and prophecies are to be tested by the final authority of God’s Word. Scripture alone is our supreme and final authority and the rule of faith and life. Although not all Scripture is equally plain, when its intended meaning is misunderstood, the fault lies not in the clarity of God’s communication but in the recipient. The Word of God is clear, and everything we need in order to know, love, and fellowship with God can be plainly understood through ordinary means, without appeal to any human authority. The Word of God is therefore necessary and wholly sufficient for knowing the Father’s love in Christ, experiencing his glorious plan of redemption, and being instructed in the way of fruitful and godly living. Furthermore, God in his loving providence has determined to preserve his Word as pure and trustworthy throughout history, just as he guided the early church in discerning and identifying the canon of Scripture he inspired.īelievers live by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Because there is one divine author behind all of Scripture, we are able to arrive confidently at a harmonious, doctrinally unified understanding of the whole. In its original manuscripts, the whole of Scripture (and all its parts) is inerrant-without error in all it affirms. With the fullness of revelation given in Christ and his completed redemptive work, no new normative revelation will or need be given until Christ returns. We therefore receive the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments as the perfect, infallible, and authoritative Word of God. Through the medium of human language, which is suitable and adequate for communication with those who bear his image, God has preserved in Holy Scripture the only authoritative and complete revelation for all humanity.Īll of Scripture is breathed out by God, being accurately delivered through various human authors by the inspiration and sovereign agency of the Holy Spirit. He also revealed himself through specific words, that we might come to a fuller knowledge of his character and will, learning what is necessary for salvation and life. He has revealed himself through creation and providence in ways plain to all people, leaving no one without a testimony of himself. He both creates and governs through his words and has graciously revealed himself to humanity in order to commune with us. Our eternal, transcendent, all-glorious God, who forever exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is by his very nature a communicative being. The Gospel and the Application of Salvation by the Holy Spiritġ0.
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