15 August
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On
In Doctrine of Scripture: Creed and Confessions

WERE THE KING JAMES TRANSLATORS KJV ONLY?   Rowland S Ward This is the title of an article on the web by a Dr Robert Joyner[1]. Let me use his title, and borrow liberally from his outline in summarising an answer. There is a group today that is called the King James Only or the AV Only. This is because they insist that the King James Version (also called the Authorised Version) is the preserved Word of God and the only Bible for the English speaking people. They usually attack all other versions and delight in pointing out the errors in them. I want toRead More →

03 July
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In Book Reviews, Doctrine of Scripture: Creed and Confessions

BOOK REVIEW: The Divine Spiration of Scripture [in the USA, The Divine Authenticity of Scripture] by A.T.B.McGowan (Apollos, 2007 £14.99 ; IVP, 2008 US$22   Rowland S. Ward The blurb to the soon to be released USA printing of this book by the Principal of Highland Theological College [HTC] in Dingwall, Scotland, reads in part: Evangelicals have taken extraordinary care in formulating and articulating a high view of Scripture. And yet the doctrine is not without its inadequacies and its internal critics–both past and present. Reviewing the evangelical discussion and formulations over the past century and more, particularly in the Reformed tradition in North America,Read More →

19 June
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In Doctrine of Scripture: Creed and Confessions

The Old Testament Text In 1947 some papyrus scrolls were found near the NW shore of the Dead Sea. Eventually more scrolls were recovered. They had been in the library of a small Jewish religious group which had its centre there from about 150BC to AD68. There were copies of all or parts of every Old Testament book except Esther. These manuscripts were 1000 years older than the oldest Hebrew text previously known! Yet they required no changes to what we previously believed about the Old Testament teachings: all is confirmed by these older manuscripts. So for the Old Testament we have ancient texts fromRead More →

30 March
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In Book Reviews, Doctrine of Scripture: Creed and Confessions

SPECIAL BOOK REVIEW Inspiration & Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament by Peter Enns (Grand Rapids: Baker 2005) pbk. 197pp $19.95 ISBN 0801027306   Reviewed by Rowland S. Ward in The Presbyterian Banner, May 2006   This book is by the Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Hermeneutics at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. [Enns has left the Seminary as of mid 2008.] He was also editor of the Westminster Theological Journal 2000-05. My initial knowledge of it came through a somewhat abrasively hostile review in New Horizons (the Orthodox Presbyterian Church magazine) last year, which I am surprised was published inRead More →

22 February
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In Doctrine of Scripture: Creed and Confessions

“Assertion of Liberty of Conscience by the Independents in the Westminster Assembly of Divines, 1644” painted by John Rogers Herbert, RA ca. 1844. This is a well-known picture just republished [December 2007] by permission of the Palace of Westminster Collection in a high quality full-colour format measuring 24” x 36” by Rev Andrew Moody of . It comes complete with the key identifying the 67 persons pictured. A colour reproduction made in 1993 for the 350th anniversary of the commencement of the Assembly is of lesser quality. The story of the picture is little known and is as follows. A Congregational minister, Rev Dr JamesRead More →

12 December
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In Doctrine of Scripture: Creed and Confessions

Q. If God inspired the Bible in the first place why are there differences in the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts, and why do the common translations differ among themselves? THE SHORT ANSWER God has inspired his word so that every word as originally given was as he intended. God has marvellously preserved the original manuscripts in an abundance of copies far more numerous than for other ancient writings. The more manuscripts we have the more we are satisfied that we have the original text in doctrinal purity and very near the exact wording of the autographs. Most copyist’s errors do not even show up inRead More →

10 December
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On
In Doctrine of Scripture: Creed and Confessions

We have considered Subscription to a Creed and the Authority of Holy Scripture. Now the question of changing a Confession, and the issues of liberty of opinion and taking exceptions are addressed more specifically. While the Church can never pronounce on everything in Scripture, she can never consent to add to or contradict Scripture through her Confession. If she discovers that such has occurred she is bound to change, as the framers of the Scots Confession of 1560 (replaced by Westminster in 1647) pointedly stated, and as was reaffirmed in 1847 by the Free Church of Scotland Assembly when it approved the Constitutional Catechism. Revision,Read More →

10 December
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In Doctrine of Scripture: Creed and Confessions

1. Creeds & subscription Confessional subscription, that is, adherence to a doctrinal statement by office-bearers of the Church, is a subject of considerable importance, particularly for a strict-subscription church like the PCEA. It is also one of some difficulty given that we do not want to deny the primacy of Scripture by seeming to place our creeds on the same level as Scripture by not allowing any dissent from them. Indeed, even the practice of catechism preaching in the manner of some in the Dutch tradition has been one we have tended to follow only in so far as we follow the catechism subjects inRead More →

10 December
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On
In Doctrine of Scripture: Creed and Confessions

What is the correct relationship between the Scriptures, the tradition of the church and authority? This is not a new question but it is an important one. The Bible only? There are many who say ‘the Bible only’ is our authority, but then we face widely competing claims as to what the Bible teaches. We have all heard of extremely individualistic and even bizarre interpretations of Scripture. So the answer of the church has been to appeal to the Bible rightly and rationally interpreted. As Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck (1854-1921) put it: ‘For the Holy Scripture was not given to the church by God toRead More →