B.B. Warfield (58)
The glory of the incarnation is that it presents to our adoring gaze not a humanized God or a deified man, but a true God-man.
And here we have already exposed the reason why no Christian Church can take up the position recommended to it on the strength of a declaration attributed to Abraham Lincoln. This declaration is to the effect that a simple requirement of love to God and our neighbor constitutes a sufficient foundation for a church, and the churches would profit by making the profession of such love, or of the wish or purpose to cherish such love, their sole qualification for membership. The moment a church took up such a position, however, it would cease to be a Christian Church: the core of Christianity is its provision for salvation from sin.
A glass window stands before us. We raise our eyes and see the glass; we note its quality, and observe its defects; we speculate on its composition. Or we look straight through it on the great prospect of land and sea and sky beyond. So there are two ways of looking at the world. We may see the world and absorb ourselves in the wonder of nature. That is the scientific way. Or we may look right through the world and see God behind it . That is the religious way.Selected Shorter Writings - I
For the Reformation is nothing other than Augustianianism come to its rights: the turning away from all that is human to rest on God alone for salvation.
"concursive operation."... It has been common to speak of the Spirit's action in this form of revelation, therefore, as an assistance, a superintendence, a direction, a control, the meaning being that the effect aimed at --the discovery and enunciation of Divine truth --is attained through the action of the human powers --historical research, logical reasoning, ethical thought, religious aspiration --acting not by themselves, however, but under the prevailing assistance, superintendence, direction, control of the Divine Spirit.Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, Ch 1
If we are to hold to nothing that is questioned, we shall hold to nothing at all: we shall be as beasts which are beyond good and evil.
A beginning was made already in the eighth century of translating the Bible into the vernacular languages, and by the end of the Middle Ages it was accessible to Frenchmen and Germans, Englishmen and Bohemians, Spaniards and Italians and Poles in their own tongues.The Bible the Book of Mankind
It was no accident that the Christian Bible was a Greek Bible. Greek was at the time the lingua franca of the civilized world, and the universal gospel naturally clothed itself in this world-tongue.The Bible the Book of Mankind
Where the Spirit is, there is the church; outside the body of the saints there is no salvation.
[General and Special Revelation] The one is addressed generally to all intelligent creatures, and is therefore accessible to all men; the other is addressed to a special class of sinners, to whom God would make known His salvation. The one has in view to meet and supply the natural need of creatures for knowledge of their God; the other to rescue broken and deformed sinners from their sin and its consequencesRevelation and Inspiration p.6
It is its conviction that there is nothing in us or done by us, at any stage of our earthly development, because of which we are acceptable to God. We must always be accepted for Christ's sake, or we cannot ever be accepted at all. This is not true of us only 'when we believe.' It is just as true after we have believed. It will continue to be true as long as we live. Our need of Christ does not cease with our believing; nor does the nature of our relation to Him or to God through Him ever alter, no matter what our attainments in Christian graces or our achievements in Christian behavior may be. It is always on His blood and righteousness alone that we can rest.Miserable-Sinner Christianity in the Hands of the Rationalists, chapter III in Perfectionism, Part One, vol. 7 of The Works of Benjamin B. Warfield (New York: Oxford University Press, repr., 2000), 113-114
What it says of Scripture is, not that it is "breathed into by God" or is the product of the Divine "inbreathing" into its human authors, but that it is breathed out by God, "God breathed," the product of the creative breath of God. In a word, what is declared by this fundamental passage is simply that the Scriptures are a Divine product, without any indication of how God has operated in producing them.Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, Section 2
The effort to explain away the Bible's witness to its plenary inspiration reminds one of a man standing safely in his laboratory and elaborately expounding -possibly by the aid of diagrams and mathematical formulae -how every stone in an avalanche has a defined pathway and may easily be dodged by one of some presence of mind. We may fancy such an elaborate trifler's triumph as he would analyze the avalanche into its constituent stones, and demonstrate of stone after stone that its pathway is definite, limited, and may easily be avoided. But avalanches unfortunately, do not come upon us, stone by stone, one at a time, courteously leaving us opportunity to withdraw from the pathway of each turn: but all at once, in a roaring mass of destruction. Just so we may explain away a text or two which teach plenary inspirationInspiration and Authority of the Bible, Section 2
plenary inspiration of the Bible, i.e. the doctrine that the Bible is inspired not in part but fully, in all its elements alike, -things discoverable by reason as well as mysteries, matters of history and science as well as of faith and practice, words as well as thoughts.Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, Section 2
Before all else, Protestantism is, in its very essence, an appeal from all other authority to the divine authority of Holy Scripture.Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, Section 2
The whole nomenclature of prophecy presupposed, indeed, its vision-form. Prophecy is distinctively a word, and what is delivered by the prophets is proclaimed as the "word of Jehovah."Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, Ch 1
One of the most grievous of the effects of sin is the deformation of the image of God reflected in the human mind, and there can be no recovering from sin which does not bring with it the correction of this deformation and the reflection in the soul of man of the whole glory of the Lord God Almighty.Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, Chapter 1
Revelation thus appears, however, not as the mere reflection of the redeeming acts of God in the minds of men, but as a factor in the redeeming work of GodThe Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, Chapter 1
Without general revelation, special revelation would lack that basis in the fundamental knowledge of God as the mighty and wise, righteous and good, maker and ruler of all things, apart from which the further revelation of this great God's interventions in the world for the salvation of sinners could not be either intelligible, credible or operative.The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, Chapter 1
the religion of the Bible presents itself as distinctively a revealed religion. Or rather, to speak more exactly, it announces itself as the revealed religion, as the only revealed religion; and sets itself as such over against all other religions, which are represented as all products, in a sense in which it is not, of the art and device of man.The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, Chapter 1
The difficulties we feel with regard to Predestination are not derived from the Word. The Word is full of it, because it is full of God, and when we say God and mean God - God in all that God is - we have said Predestination.Selected Shorter Writings - I
The English word "God" is derived from a root meaning to call, and indicates simply the object of worship, one whom men call upon or invoke. The Greek word which it translates in the pages of the New Testament, however, describes this objection of worship as Spirit; and the Old Testament Hebrew word, which this word in turn represents, conveys, as its primary meaning, the idea of power. On Christian lips, therefore, the word "God" designates fundamentally the almighty Spirit who is worshiped and whose aid is invoked by men.
Men cheerfully abandon the whole substance of Christianity, but will hardly be persuaded to surrender the name. Thus, Rudolf Eucken asks, "Can we still be Christians?" and answers with emphasis, Of course we can; providing only that by Christianity we do not mean - Christianity.
It is because man is conscious of his dependance that he is a religious being. And it is because he is conscious of his obligation that he is a moral being.
Religion is not only the natural, but the necessary, product of man's sense of dependence, which always abides as the innermost essence of the whole crowd of emotions which we speak of as religious, the lowest and also the highest.
Agnosticism is a philologically objectionable and philosophically unnecessary but very convenient term, invented toward the end of the nineteenth century (1869) as a designation of the skeptical habit of mind then quite prevalent.
According to the Scriptures, therefore, special revelation is a historic process, an organic system, a continuous divine activity directed to destroying the power of sin, to the building up of the kingdom of God, to the restoration of the Cosmos, to the summing up of all things in Christ.
It is true that the Bible lay at the very foundation of the entire social structure of the Middle Ages.
New Quotes
God's breath is the irresistible outflow of His power. When Paul declares, then, that "every scripture," or "all scripture" is the product of the Divine breath, "is God-breathed," he asserts with as much energy as he could employ that Scripture is the product of a specifically Divine operation.Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, Section 2
"The law," on the other hand, means in this New Testament use, just the whole body of the authoritative instruction which God has given men.Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, Ch 1
This church-doctrine of inspiration differs from the theories that would fain supplant it, in that it is not the invention nor the property of an individual, but the settled faith of the universal church of God;Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, Ch 2
it is true, that there never were any Dark Ages. We rejoice that it is possible to paint them darker than they were. It is very largely a matter of point of slight.The Bible the Book of Mankind
by its demand that the Bible should be read by all ranks and classes and sexes and ages, introduced the principle of universal education into the world and advanced far toward making it a realized fact.The Bible the Book of Mankind
Other books may belong to a people, an age, a stage of human development; this book belongs to all peoples, all ages and all stages of growth, whether of the individual or of the race - unifying them all and wielding them into one vitalized and vitalizing whole. The Bible is, by way of eminence, the book of humanity.
So far is it from being of no concern to theology, therefore, that it would be truer to say that the whole doctrinal structure of the Bible account of redemption is founded on its assumption that the race of man is one organic whole, and may be dealt with as such. It is because all are one in Adam that in the matter of sin there is no difference, but all have fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:22 f.), and as well that in the new man there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman; but Christ is all and in all (Col. 3:11). The unity of the old man in Adam is the postulate of the unity of the new man in Christ.Warfield, Benjamin B. The Works of Benjamin B. Warfield: Studies in Theology. Vol. 9
The assertion of the unity of the human race is imbedded in the very structure of the Biblical narrative. The Biblical account of the origin of man (Gen. 1:26–28) is an account of his origination in a single pair, who constituted humanity in its germ, and from whose fruitfulness and multiplication all the earth has been replenished. Therefore the first man was called Adam, Man, and the first woman, Eve, "because she was the mother of all living" (Gen. 3:20); and all men are currently spoken of as the "sons of Adam" or "Man" (Deut. 32:8; Ps. 11:4; 1 Sam. 26:19; 1 Kings 8:39; Ps. 145:12; etc.). The absolute restriction of the human race within the descendants of this single pair is emphasized by the history of the Flood in which all flesh is destroyed, and the race given a new beginning in its second father, Noah, by whose descendants again "the whole earth was overspread" (Gen. 9:19), as is illustrated in detail by the table of nations recorded in Genesis 10
If we want to enjoy those earthly goods which God has placed in this world for the benefit and use of His children, the best way to secure their enjoyment is obviously not to seek to do it individually but socially. It is a social axiom that everything that betters the condition of society as a whole increases our enjoyment of our material goods. A savage acquires a pot of gold. How shall he enjoy it? His fellow savages covet it; and who shall secure it to him? He is liable to be waylaid at night for it. Every bush hides an enemy; the poisoned arrow may fly upon him from any tree; his sleep is driven from him as he seeks to protect his life. Hidden by friendly darkness he may bury his treasure under some great tree in the tangled forest; and anxiously guard its neighbourhood lest he may have been watched and still be bereft of it. In such conditions there is no enjoyment of the treasure for him; he can enjoy only the protection of it. But, now, he is a wise savage and instead of giving his energies to protecting his treasure, he gives it to civilizing his people. Out of the savage tribe rise the rudiments of a state; the
majesty of law emerges—protecting under its powerful aegis the
person and property of its citizens. What a change! No need of hiding
the treasure now. He can wear it displayed upon his person. He now
can enjoy at least its possession. But a higher stage is still possible;
the community may be not only civilized but Christianized; Christian
principles take the place of external laws; love the place of forceFaith and Life
How many men do actually think that it is unreasonable to serve God at the expense of their business activity? To give Him their first and most energetic service? How many think it would be unreasonable in God to put His service before their provision for themselves and family? How many of us who have been able to "risk" ourselves, do not think that we can "risk" our families in God's keeping? How subtle the temptations! But, here our Lord brushes them all away in the calm words, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Is this not a rebuke to our practical atheism?Faith and Life
We feel His presence and activity in some things but not in others; we seek His blessing in some matters but not in others; we look for His guidance in some affairs but not in others; we can trust Him in some crises and with some of
our hopes but not in or with others. This too is a practical atheism.Faith and Life
How many men who would not think of saying even in their hearts, There is no God, deny Him practically by ordering their lives as if He were not? And even among those who yield, in their lives, a practical as well as a formal
acknowledgment of God, many yet manage, practically, to deny in their lives that this God, acknowledged and served, is the Lord of all the earth. How prone we are to limit and circumscribe the sphere in which we practically allow for God!Faith and Life
It is only when the world
shall come to know the Lord and obey Him, that the peace of God
can settle down upon it. We may cry, "Peace, peace," and there be no
peace. But he who cries, "Righteousness, righteousness," will find
that he has brought peace to the earth in precisely the measure in
which he has brought righteousness.Faith and Life
He works best for the world's peace who works for the world's righteousness.Faith and Life
The marvel of marvels is not that God, in His infinite love, has not elected all this guilty race to be saved, but that He has elected any.
A firm faith in the universal providence of God is the solution of all earthly troubles.
We have but one Saviour; and that one Saviour is Jesus Christ our Lord. Nothing that we are and nothing that we can do enters in the slightest measure into the ground of our acceptance with God. Jesus did it all.
A firm faith in the universal providence of God is the solution of all earthly problems. It is almost equally true that a clear and full apprehension of the universal providence of God is the solution of most theological problems.
Generalizing the matter, we may say that the words of Scripture are conceived by our Lord and the New Testament writers as the words of their human authors when speaking "in the Holy Spirit", that is to say, by His initiative and under His controlling direction.
What if the word of God that comes to His people is framed by God into the word of God it is, precisely by means of the qualities of the men formed by Him for the purpose, through which it is given?
The thing for us to do is to pray without ceasing; once having come into the presence of God, never to leave it; to abide in His presence and to live, steadily, unbrokenly, continuously, in the midst of whatever distractions or trials, with and in Him. God grant such a life to every one of us!
Christ himself deliberately staked his whole claim to the credit of men upon his resurrection. When asked for a sign, he pointed to this sign as his single and sufficient credential.
Grace is free sovereign favor to the ill-deserving.
Everywhere the Apostolic Church was marked out as itself a gift from God, by showing forth the possession of the Spirit in appropriate works of the Spirit-miracles of healing and miracles of power, miracles of knowledge whether in the form of prophecy or of the discerning of spirits, miracles of speech, whether the gift of tongues or of their interpretation. The Apostolic Church was characteristically a miracle-working churchCounterfeit Miracles, p.5
He who begins by seeking God within himself may end by confusing himself with God.
The Old Testament may be likened to a chamber richly furnished but dimly lighted; the introduction of light brings into it nothing which was not in it before; but it brings out into clearer view much of what is in it but was only dimly or even not at all perceived before. Thus the Old Testament revelation of God is not corrected by the fuller revelation which follows it, but is only perfected, extended and enlarged.Biblical Doctrines (New York: Oxford University Press, 1929), 141- 142.
The Bible is the Word of God in such a way that when the Bible speaks, God speaks.
is that extraordinary, supernatural influence (or, passively, the result of it,) exerted by the Holy Ghost
on the writers of our Sacred Books, by which their words were rendered also the words of God, and
therefore, perfectly infallible.Inspiration and Criticism (in Revelation and Inspiration) (1927, 396)
Sometimes we hear it said that ten minutes on your knees will give you a truer, deeper, more operative knowledge of God than ten hours over your books. What is the appropriate response, than ten hours over your books, on your knees? Why should you turn from God when you turn to your books, or feel that you must from your books in order to turn to God?The Religious Life of Theological Students
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