#Bavinck2022 Chapter Seven: The Holy Scriptures

This chapter is about twenty pages, and I think that makes it the longest chapter yet. Dr. Mattson did say that the book gets better the further we get into it, and as I read this chapter I thought it was one of the best chapters to date.

The last several chapters have been devoted to the topic of revelation, so it is fitting for Bavinck to begin the chapter with this statement: “Our knowledge of revelation, both the general and the special, comes to us from the Holy Scriptures.” (79) As profound as it is, that statement begs the question: What are the Holy Scriptures? And the follow-up: How did we receive the Scriptures? The rest of the chapter is devoted to answering these two questions.

Rather than trying to give a summary of the chapter, in what follows I will try to preview the main issues that you should keep an eye on as you read.

The first such issue is that there is a point of view that states that Scripture is not strictly speaking “the Word of God,” but that the Word of God is contained in Scripture. In this case, Scripture could be truth with a mixture of error, the true part being the Word of God and the untrue part being the work of man. One of the problems with this way of thinking is that it does not see Scripture as self-attesting. Instead, it is required for man to stand above Scripture and determine what parts of Scripture are God’s Word and what parts are not. 

Another issue in this chapter worth highlighting is the relationship between God and the human author in the writing of Scripture. The term used for this in systematic theology in inspiration, the books of the Bible are inspired writings. God is the speaker of his word, but the prophets are the means or agents who give expression to it. This is not to say that the prophets and apostles who wrote Scripture were purely passive participants who received the words they were supposed to write via dictation from heaven. Rather, as Bavinck puts it, “their own activity is not suppressed by the moving of the Spirit but is lifted up, energized, and purged.” (86)

Finally, I appreciated how Bavinck recognized how Scripture did not come down from heaven neatly packaged all at the same time. Rather, it developed over time and continues to stand the test of time. Bavinck covers the different genres in the Old and New Testaments, like the law of Moses, the Psalms, the prophets, wisdom literature, the historical books of the New Testament (the Gospels and Acts) and what Bavinck describes as “doctrinal books” (the epistles) and finally the prophetic book of Revelation. You could read through the sections devoted to each genre pretty easily and learn a thing or two along the way!