Chapter 1

Of the Holy Scriptures

Paras
1 I. Its necessity (or indispensability)
A. The sphere of its indispensability: "all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience"
B. The basis for its indispensability
1. Because of the insufficiency of general revelation

What general revelation does do

What general revelation cannot do

2. Because of the inscripturation of special revelation
The background to inscripturation: redemptive revelation

The description of inscripturation (a) Its period; (b) its purposes; (c) its extent

The impact of inscripturation
2-3 II. Its identity
2 A. Defined positively or inclusively - "all the books of the Old and New Testament"
3 B. Defined negatively or exclusively - not the Apocrypha
4-5 III. Its authority
4 A. In itself (or the fact of its divine authority)
5
B. With us (or the authentication of its divine authority)
1. The nature of the evidence

The external evidence of the testimony of the church

The internal evidence of the excellencies of Scripture

2. The efficacy of the evidence ("from the inward work of the Holy Spirit...")
6 IV. Its sufficiency
A. The statement of its sufficiency
1. The scope of its sufficiency
2. The mode of its sufficiency
3. The implications of its sufficiency
B. The qualifications of its sufficiency
1. As to the illumination of the Spirit
2. As to sanctified common sense
7 V. Its clarity
A. Its qualification
B. Its articulation
8 VI. Its availability
A. The fact of its availability: its preservation
B. The necessity of its availability: its translation
1. The need for its translation
2. The warrant for its translation
3. The extent of its translation
4. Th purposes of its translation
9-10 VII. Its finality
9 A. For scriptural interpretation in particular
10 B. For religious questions in general

From: Samuel E. Waldron, A Modern Exposition of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, (Evangelical Press, 1989), p28-29. Used by permission.