God in the Dock: The Authority of Scripture

C.S. Lewis wrote, “The ancient man approached God (or even the gods) as the accused person approaches his judge. For the modern man the roles are reversed. He is the judge: God is in the dock. He is quite a kindly judge: if God should have a reasonable defense for being the god who permits war, poverty and disease, he is ready to listen to it. The trial may even end in God’s acquittal. But the important thing is that Man is on the Bench and God in the Dock.” Feminists have put God and the Christian faith in the dock. How has the church responded to the charges throughout its history?

On the issue of the authority of Scripture, feminists claim because Scripture was written by men it reflects male experience, excludes female experience and affirms male dominance. According to feminists, because of this patriarchal bias, only those portions of Scripture which affirm women’s experience can be considered authoritative. In other words the women grant authority to Scriptural texts when and if the feminists believe it affirms their experience. The women themselves are the source of authority and it is they who pronounce as authoritative those teachings from Scripture or from non-biblical writings which agree with their views and experiences. For example, in both the Inclusive Language Packet and the College Women’s Network Packet produced and distributed by the PCUSA, the following statement appears, “I have spent the past two years in search of the femininity of my God. This is an ongoing struggle that has led me through the Bible and back to study the ancient Greek goddesses and back further still to Gaia and ancient fertility goddesses. These pagan myths and histories have served as a paradigm to help me to redefine and revisualize a more complete and omnifarious Christian God.” Other sources which the feminists often deem authoritative are writings from women mystics, poets, feminist writers like Alice Walker, the Apocrypha, Gnostic texts which were declared heretical by the early church, and ancient goddess texts.

The church throughout its history has taken a very different view of the authority of Scripture. According to Scripture itself, and attested to by the creeds and confessions of the church, the church does not grant Scripture authority but witnesses to the authority that Scripture possesses. Neither the church, nor individuals assign authority to Scripture.

In the Gospel of Mark 1:22, the people are amazed at Jesus’ authority. The multitudes do not give Jesus authority. They acknowledge the authority that Jesus possesses. Jesus not only does not affirm their experience but his authority evokes amazement because Jesus contradicts the people’s experience. Just as the original witnesses responded to Jesus’ authority, so too the church acknowledges the authority Scripture possesses as it witnesses to Jesus Christ. The church does not assign authority to Scripture because the texts agree with the church’s self-understanding. Quite the opposite. The church derives its self-understanding from Scripture precisely because it is authoritative. The Book of Order states, “the mission of the Church is given form by God’s activity in the world as told in the Bible…” The church did not create Scripture. Rather, the church came into existence as women and men responded to the Word Incarnate attested to by Scripture.

Scripture possesses authority from God himself, the only true source of authority. 2 Timothy 3:16 states, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness,…” 2 Peter 1:20 tells us, “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Sprit spoke from God.” The confessions express the same understanding of the authority of Scripture. The Westminster Confession declares, “the authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God(who is truth itself)…”

In the midst of the political and ideological take over of the church by the Third Reich, the signers of the Barmen Declaration reaffirmed the church’s teaching that human beings, governments and ideologies do not determine the church’s witness. The signers declared, “We reject the false doctrine, as though the Church could and would have to acknowledge as a source of its proclamation, apart from and besides this one Word of God, still other events and powers, figures and truths, as God’s revelation.” They went on to say, “We reject the false doctrine, as though the Church were permitted to abandon the form of its message and order to its own pleasure or to changes in prevailing ideological and political convictions.”

Unlike the Old and New Testaments which are inspired by God and therefore authoritative, the Apocrypha is not inspired and carries no authority in the church. Although the feminists frequently view portions of the Apocrypha as authoritative, (especially those portions which speak of ‘wisdom’), the Westminster Confession says of the Apocryphal texts, “[they] not being of divine inspiration ..therefore are of no authority in the church.”

While the feminists claim that revelation has not ended and therefore their experiences possess the same authority as Scripture, the confessions are clear that “nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit or traditions of men” to the “Counsel of God” in Scripture.

The following excerpts contrast the positions of feminist writers with the church’s historic understanding expressed in the Westminster Confession and Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, on the authority of Scripture..

Feminist’s view of Scripture

Chung Hyun Kyung from Re-Imagining Conference, November, 1993 in Minneapolis.

“I always ask my students, ‘if you are a citizen of some nation and all these people say they are the congress men in your place but you never voted for them and one day they got together and they made a constitution and they said you have to follow everything they said in this constitution, would you follow the constitution’? All my students say, ‘hell, no.’ Yes that’s right. That’s the way the Bible is constituted, you are not there. Most of the people who decided the canon were men, so if you are not represented in that process, you have to really think about this constitution.

So this morning I want to bring out this Asian and Gnostic understanding of salvation. I’m sure as an Asian person, if Gnostic gospel is canonized as gospel, we Asians would not have much problem to receive gospel because we know what is in the light within you and what is divine spark within you.”

Aruna Gnanadason from Re-Imagining Conference, November, 1993 in Minneapolis.

“Even the Bible, that sacred book which is the primary source of Christian faith, did not escape the influence of patriarchy, it was written, translated, interpreted and taught from a particular vantage point that excluded women and all those in the margins of societies.”

Chris Smith, from Re-Imagining Conference, November, 1993, in Minneapolis

“…believing that revelation never ends and that perhaps our revelations are as normative as ancient revelations.”

Rosemary Radford Ruether, Women-Guides (Boston: Beacon Press, 1985), p. ix.

“Feminist theology cannot be done from the existing base of the Christian Bible. The Old and New Testaments have been shaped in their formation, their transmission, and finally, their canonization to sacralize patriarchy. …Thus the doing of feminist theology demands a new collection of texts to make women’s experience visible.”

Rita Brock, Journeys By Heart: A Christology of Erotic Power (New York: Crossroad, 1988), p.xiii, Brock was a speaker at Re-Imagining, 1993 and the reunion in October, 1994 as well as the Bible study leader at the Ecumenical Student Gathering co-sponsored by the PCUSA held in St. Louis, December 28- January 1, 1995 which 1800 college students attended.

“The third branch of the unholy trinity seems innocuous enough. The holy ghost is the divine presence in the church. But the interpretations of the biblical and doctrinal texts, supposedly inspired by the holy ghost, proclaim silence and subordination for women, the polluting nature of the female body, and the rightful exclusion of women from equality in the church. These words of the ghost haunt every attempt by women to gain full citizenship in the Christian community. The ghost has been used to protect the past at the expense of the liberation of real people in the present.”

Letha Dawson Scanzoni and Nancy A. Hardesty, All We’re Meant to Be: Biblical Feminism for Today (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1992), p. 9.

“However, even in considering the whole Bible, we must remember that the book was primarily written by men in patriarchal cultures; that the canon was defined by men, who left out many books now known to us to be more favorable to women; that the Scripture has been interpreted for two thousand years by male exegetes and theologians in support of male supremacy.”

Letty Russell, ordained PCUSA minister, professor at Yale, Feminist Interpretation of the Bible (Philadelphia, Westminster Press, 1985), p. 139.

“The particular interpretive key that assists me in continuing to give assent is the witness of scripture to God’s promise (for the mending of creation) on its way to fulfillment. That which denies this intention of God for the liberation of groaning creation in all its parts does not compel or evoke my assent (i.e., it is not authoritative).”

Joanna W. H. van Wijk-Bos, a speaker at Re-Imagining, November, 1993, ordained PCUSA minister and professor at Louisville Seminary, Reformed and Feminist: A Challenge to the Church (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1991), p. 63.

“If not all the news in the Bible is good news for women, we need to ask, Is it good news, women? when we look at a text. We need to learn to differentiate between the bad news and the good news, between what is conducive to newness of life and what is damaging to it. The admission that the Bible suffers from a patriarchal cast is a good beginning. Second, not only is the text patriarchal, the religion of ancient Israel and the faith that sprung from it, Judaism and Christianity, are patriarchal as well.”

Westminster Confession

From the Book of Confessions which together with the Book of Order comprise the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church(USA)

1. Although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence, do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable; yet they are not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of his will, which is necessary unto salvation; therefore it pleased the Lord, at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal himself, and to declare that his will unto his Church; and afterwards for the better preserving and propagation of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which maketh the Holy Scripture to be most necessary; those former ways of God’s revealing his will unto his people being now ceased. (6.001)

2. Under the name of Holy Scripture, or the Word of God written, are now contained all the books of the Old and New Testaments, which are these: …….All which are given by inspiration of God to be the rule of faith and life. (6.002)

3. The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the canon of the Scripture; and therefore are of no authority in the Church of God, not to be any otherwise approved, or made use of, than other human writings. (6.003)

4. The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God (who is truth itself), the author thereof; and therefore it is to be received, because it is the Word of God. (6.004)

5. We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church to an high and reverent esteem for the Holy Scripture; and the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole (which is to give all glory to God), the full discovery it makes of the only way of man’s salvation, the many other incomparable excellencies, and the entire perfection thereof, are arguments whereby it doth abundantly evidence itself to be the Word of God; yet, notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts. (6.005)

Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion

Book I, ^eChapter VI: Scripture Is Needed as Guide and Teacher for Anyone Who Would Come to God the Creator

1. God bestows the actual knowledge of himself upon us only in the Scriptures

^e(b)That brightness which is borne in upon the eyes of all men both in heaven and on earth is more than enough to withdraw all support from men’s ingratitude—just as God, to involve the human race in the same guilt, sets forth to all without exception his presence portrayed in his creatures. Despite this, it is needful that another and better help be added to direct us aright to the very Creator of the universe. ^eIt was not in vain, then, that he added the light of his Word by which to become known unto salvation; and he regarded as worthy of this privilege those whom he pleased to gather more closely and intimately to himself. For because he saw the minds of all men tossed and agitated, after he chose the Jews as his very own flock, he fenced them about that they might not sink into oblivion as others had. With good reason he holds us by the same means in the pure knowledge of himself, since otherwise even those who seem to stand firm before all others would soon melt away. Just as old or bleary-eyed men and those with weak vision, if you thrust before them a most beautiful volume, even if they recognize it to be some sort of writing, yet can scarcely construe two words, but with the aid of spectacles1 will begin to read distinctly; so Scripture, gathering up the otherwise confused knowledge of God in our minds, having dispersed our dullness, clearly shows us the true God. This, therefore, is a special gift, ^(b)where God, to instruct the church, not merely uses mute teachers but also opens his own most hallowed lips. Not only does he teach the elect to look upon a god, but also shows himself as the God upon whom they are to look. He has from the beginning maintained this plan for his church, so that besides these common proofs he also put forth his Word, which is a more direct and more certain mark whereby he is to be recognized.2

….. But here I shall discuss only how we should learn from Scripture that God, the Creator of the universe, can by sure marks be distinguished from all the throng of feigned gods. Then, in due order, that series will lead us to the redemption.3 We shall derive many testimonies from the New Testament, and other testimonies also from the Law and the Prophets, where express mention is made of Christ. Nevertheless, all things will tend to this end, that God, the Artificer of the universe, is made manifest to us in Scripture, and that what we ought to think of him is set forth there, lest we seek some uncertain deity by devious paths.

2. The Word of God as Holy Scripture

^e(b)But whether God became known to the patriarchs through oracles and visions or by the work and ministry of men, he put into their minds what they should then hand down to their posterity. At any rate, there is no doubt that firm certainty of doctrine was engraved in their hearts, so that they were convinced and understood that what they had learned proceeded from God.4 For by his Word, God rendered faith unambiguous forever, a faith that should be superior to all opinion. Finally, in order that truth might abide forever in the world with a continuing succession of teaching and survive through all ages, the same oracles he had given to the patriarchs it was his pleasure to have recorded, as it were, on public tablets. ^eWith this intent the law was published, and the prophets afterward added as its interpreters. For even though the use of the law was manifold, as will be seen more clearly in its place,5 it was especially committed to Moses and all the prophets to teach the way of reconciliation between God and men, whence also Paul calls “Christ the end of the law” [Rom. 10:4]. Yet I repeat once more: besides the specific doctrine of faith and repentance that sets forth Christ as Mediator, Scripture adorns with unmistakable marks and tokens the one true God, in that he has created and governs the universe, in order that he may not be mixed up with the throng of false gods. Therefore, however fitting it may be for man seriously to turn his eyes to contemplate God’s works, since he has been placed in this most glorious theater to be a spectator of them, it is fitting that he prick up his ears to the Word, the better to profit. And it is therefore no wonder that those who were born in darkness become more and more hardened in their insensibility; for there are very few who, to contain themselves within bounds, apply themselves teachably to God’s Word, but they rather exult in their own vanity. Now, in order that true religion may shine upon us, we ought to hold that it must take its beginning from heavenly doctrine and that no one can get even the slightest taste of right and sound doctrine unless he be a pupil of Scripture. Hence, there also emerges the beginning of true understanding when we reverently embrace what it pleases God there to witness of himself. But not only faith, perfect and in every way complete, but all right knowledge of God is born of obedience.6 ^e(b)And surely in this respect God has, by his singular providence, taken thought for mortals through all ages.

3. Without Scripture we fall into error

^bSuppose we ponder how slippery is the fall of the human mind into forgetfulness of God, how great the tendency to every kind of error, how great the lust to fashion constantly new and artificial religions. Then we may perceive how necessary was such written proof of the heavenly doctrine, that it should neither perish through forgetfulness nor vanish through error nor be corrupted by the audacity of men. It is therefore clear that God has provided the assistance of the Word for the sake of all those to whom he has been pleased to give useful instruction because he foresaw that his likeness imprinted upon the most beautiful form of the universe would be insufficiently effective. Hence, we must strive onward by this straight path if we seriously aspire to the pure contemplation of God. We must come, I say, to the Word, where God is truly and vividly described to us from his works, while these very works are appraised not by our depraved judgment but by the rule of eternal truth. If we turn aside from the Word, as I have just now said, though we may strive with strenuous haste, yet, since we have got off the track, we shall never reach the goal. For we should so reason that the splendor of the divine countenance, which even the apostle calls “unapproachable” [I Tim. 6:16], is for us like an inexplicable labyrinth unless we are conducted into it by the thread of the Word; so that it is better to limp along this path than to dash with all speed outside it.7 ^eDavid very often, therefore, teaching that we ought to banish superstitions from the earth so that pure religion may flourish, represented God as regnant [Ps. 93:1; 96:10; 97:1; 99:1; and the like]. Now he means by the word “regnant” not the power with which he is endowed, and which he exercises in governing the whole of nature, but the doctrine by which he asserts his lawful sovereignty. For errors can never be uprooted from human hearts until true knowledge of God is planted therein.

4. Scripture can communicate to us what the revelation in the creation cannot

^bAccordingly, the same prophet, after he states, “The heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament shows forth the works of his hands, the ordered succession of days and nights proclaims his majesty” [Ps. 19:1-2 p.], then proceeds to mention his Word: “The law of the Lord is spotless, converting souls; the testimony of the Lord is faithful, giving wisdom to little ones; the righteous acts of the Lord are right, rejoicing hearts; the precept of the Lord is clear, enlightening eyes” [Ps. 18:8-9, Vg.; 19:7-8, EV]. ^e(b)For although he also includes other uses of the law, he means in general that, since God in vain calls all peoples to himself by the contemplation of heaven and earth, this is the very school of God’s children. ^ePsalm 29 looks to this same end, where the prophet—speaking forth concerning God’s awesome voice which strikes the earth in thunder [v. 3], winds, rains, whirlwinds and tempests, causes mountains to tremble [v. 6], shatters the cedars [v. 5]—finally adds at the end that his praises are sung in the sanctuary because the unbelievers are deaf to all the voices of God that resound in the air [vs. 9-11]. Similarly, he thus ends another psalm where he has described the awesome waves of the sea: “Thy testimonies have been verified, the beauty and holiness of thy temple shall endure forevermore” [Ps. 93:5 p.]. ^cHence, also, arises that which Christ said to the Samaritan woman, that her people and all other peoples worshiped they knew not what; that the Jews alone offered worship to the true God [John 4:22]. For, since the human mind because of its feebleness can in no way attain to God unless it be aided and assisted by his Sacred Word, all mortals at that time—except for the Jews—because they were seeking God without the Word, had of necessity to stagger about in vanity and error.

^eChapter VII: Scripture Must Be Confirmed by the Witness of the Spirit. Thus May Its Authority8 Be Established as Certain; and It Is a Wicked Falsehood That Its Credibility Depends on the Judgment of the Church

1. Scripture has its authority from God, not from the church

^eBefore I go any farther, it is worth-while to say something about the authority of Scripture,9 not only to prepare our hearts to reverence it, but to banish all doubt. ^bWhen that which is set forth is acknowledged to be the Word of God, there is no one so deplorably insolent—unless devoid also both of common sense and of humanity itself—as to dare impugn the credibility of Him who speaks. Now daily oracles are not sent from heaven, for it pleased the Lord to hallow his truth to everlasting remembrance in the Scriptures alone [cf. John 5:39]. ^e(b)Hence the Scriptures obtain full authority among believers only when men regard them as having sprung from heaven, ^bas if there the living words of God were heard. This matter is very well worth treating more fully and weighing more carefully. But my readers will pardon me if I regard more what the plan of the present work demands than what the greatness of this matter requires.

But a most pernicious error widely prevails that Scripture has only so much weight as is conceded to it by the consent of the church. As if the eternal and inviolable truth of God depended upon the decision of men! For they mock the Holy Spirit when they ask: Who can convince us that these writings came from God? Who can assure us that Scripture has come down whole and intact even to our very day? Who can persuade us to receive one book in reverence but to exclude another, unless the church prescribe a sure rule for all these matters? What reverence is due Scripture and what books ought to be reckoned within its canon depend, they say, upon the determination of the church.10 Thus these sacrilegious men, wishing to impose an unbridled tyranny under the cover of the church, do not care with what absurdities they ensnare themselves and others, provided they can force this one idea upon the simple-minded: that the church has authority in all things. Yet, if this is so, what will happen to miserable consciences seeking firm assurance of eternal life if all promises of it consist in and depend solely upon the judgment of men? Will they cease to vacillate and tremble when they receive such an answer? Again, to what mockeries of the impious is our faith subjected, into what suspicion has it fallen among all men, if we believe that it has a precarious authority dependent solely upon the good pleasure of men!

2. The church is itself grounded upon Scripture

^bBut such wranglers are neatly refuted by just one word of the apostle. He testifies that the church is “built upon the foundation of the prophets and apostles” [Eph. 2:20]. If the teaching of the prophets and apostles is the foundation, this must have had authority before the church began to exist. Groundless, too, is their subtle objection that, although the church took its beginning here, the writings to be attributed to the prophets and apostles nevertheless remain in doubt until decided by the church. For if the Christian church was from the beginning founded upon the writings of the prophets and the preaching of the apostles, wherever this doctrine is found, the acceptance of it–without which the church itself would never have existed–must certainly have preceded the church.11 It is utterly vain, then, to pretend that the power of judging Scripture so lies with the church that its certainty depends upon churchly assent. Thus, while the church receives and gives its seal of approval to the Scripture, it does not thereby render authentic what is otherwise doubtful or controversial. But because the church recognizes Scripture to be the truth of its own God, as a pious duty it unhesitatingly venerates Scripture. As to their question–How can we be assured that this has sprung from God unless we have recourse to the decree of the church?–it is as if someone asked: Whence will we learn to distinguish light from darkness, white from black, sweet from bitter? Indeed, Scripture exhibits fully as clear evidence of its own truth12 as white and black things do of their color, or sweet and bitter things do of their taste.

5. Scripture bears its own authentication

^eLet this point therefore stand: that those whom the Holy Spirit has inwardly taught truly rest upon Scripture, and that Scripture indeed is self-authenticated;13 hence, it is not right to subject it to proof and reasoning. And the certainty it deserves with us, it attains by the testimony of the Spirit.14 ^bFor even if it wins reverence for itself by its own majesty, it seriously affects us only when it is sealed upon our hearts through the Spirit. Therefore, illumined by his power, we believe neither by our own nor by any one else’s judgment that Scripture is from God; but above human judgment we affirm with utter certainty (just as if we were gazing upon the majesty of God himself) that it has flowed to us from the very mouth of God by the ministry of men. We seek no proofs, no marks of genuineness upon which our judgment may lean; but we subject our judgment and wit to it as to a thing far beyond any guesswork! This we do, not as persons accustomed to seize upon some unknown thing, which, under closer scrutiny, displeases them, but fully conscious that we hold the unassailable truth! Nor do we do this as those miserable men who habitually bind over their minds to the thralldom of superstition; but we feel that the undoubted power of his divine majesty lives and breathes there. By this power we are drawn and inflamed, knowingly and willingly, to obey him, yet also more vitally and more effectively than by mere human willing or knowing!

^eGod, therefore, very rightly proclaims through Isaiah that the prophets together with the whole people are witnesses to him; for they, instructed by prophecies, unhesitatingly held that God has spoken without deceit or ambiguity [Isa. 43:10]. ^bSuch, then, is a conviction that requires no reasons; such, a knowledge with which the best reason agrees—in which the mind truly reposes more securely and constantly than in any reasons; such, finally, a feeling that can be born only of heavenly revelation. I speak of nothing other than what each believer experiences within himself—though my words fall far beneath a just explanation of the matter.

Notes
b – edition of 1539
c – edition of 1543
e – edition of 1559
e(b) – edition of 1539 as altered in 1559

Some Discussion Questions:

According to the feminists, when is Scripture authoritative? If the women grant authority to Scripture, who is the source of ultimate authority?

According to the church’s historic understanding, who alone has authority? How was that authority conveyed to Scripture?

If as the feminists contend, Scripture is only authoritative when it agrees with the women’s experience, can Scripture ever judge a feminist’s behavior or beliefs? If the feminist position is true, what has to happen to the teaching that human beings are fallen? Can human beings be fallen and still “see” clearly to judge Scripture? If the feminists ability to judge Scripture must deny human fallenness(original sin), what happens to Christ as the one who atoned for our sins by his death on the cross?

What implications does it have for Christian living if as the feminists contend, we are authoritative and declare as valid only those passages of Scripture which agree with us? What boundaries are placed on our beliefs or behavior? Who or what has the authority to judge us and determine our beliefs or behavior are sinful? What are the implications of this thinking for individuals? families? the church? society?

How should the church respond to women who have been hurt by people who have misinterpreted and misapplied Scripture?

This article first appeared in Theology Matters, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Mar/Apr 1995).