Confessing God With and Because of Scripture
If the God confessed by the Church is real, then it is not merely ill advised but an act of rebellion against that God to attempt to approach Holy Scripture in order to demonstrate that He is and has revealed himself, rather than because He is and because he has revealed himself. In other words, as Christians approaching Holy Scripture, we do not merely end with the triune God of the Christian faith; we begin with him in order to know him, and anything else.
For centuries and straight through to our day there have been attempts to assume, introduce, or defend a gap, even a chasm, between the world and witness of Holy Scripture as such, and the triune God himself as confessed by the Church. When the truly “original” world of Scripture is thought to be the ancient Near East or the first century Greco-Roman world instead of the speech of God whose work history is, then theology, understood as speech about God, is often assumed to be subsequent to and separate from what the Bible is itself really about and really doing.
But this is a fundamental rejection of how the Bible itself speaks, and in particular of biblical creed-like material we see within the Scriptures themselves. These creeds, or expressions of the “rule of Faith,” regulated the faith and life but also the Scriptural reading of the Church even before the close of the New Testament canon. That is to say, the Christian way of reading in particular the Old Testament Scriptures was not seen by the New Testament writers as merely one legitimate option among others, but as the only valid and faithful way to receive the Scriptures, and that valid way was from the start trinitarian and christological. Appreciating this phenomenon of Holy Scripture in relationship to the Church and her traditions regarding God in Christ yields a fresh insight into an often overlooked but critically important reality: the fruitful and enlivening power of Scripture as a properly theological, divinely authored and given, ecclesiastically embraced Word that is positively related to the key concerns of the Christian tradition historically and presently.
To discuss these rich topics we are pleased to welcome today to Greystone Conversations Dr. Craig Carter, recently retired Professor of Theology at Tyndale University College & Seminary in Toronto, Ontario, and author of Contemplating God with the Great Tradition, a book which prompted our conversation in this episode. Dr. Carter is also teaching a full course module for Greystone in London and online in October of this year (2021), and we would like to warmly welcome you to consider signing up for what promises to be a rich and rewarding time of theological edification. You can find out more on our classes and events page at our website, greystoneconnect.org, where you can also consider joining our supporters with your gift to keep Greystone serving the Church and the world with the advancement of confessional Reformed theology and reflection.
