The Essentials: Part VI – The Authority of Scripture:

The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are God’s uniquely revealed and written Word, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and are the church’s first and final authority in all areas of faith and life.

The Bible speaks to us with the authority of God himself. We seek to understand, love, follow, obey, surrender, and submit to God’s Word – both Jesus Christ, the living Word of God, and the written Word of God which bear true and faithful witness to Jesus Christ.[1]

Therefore we cannot affirm any doctrine –

·         That seeks to invalidate or subvert Scriptural teaching concerning what is to be believed or how we are to live.

·         That attempts to subordinate Biblical authority to any human authority, cultural norm, or ideology – whether religious, ecclesiastical, governmental, political, economic, psychological, sociological, scientific, historical, philosophical or other – as though the church should listen primarily to another voice than the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ as expressed in Scripture;

·         That seeks or asserts a revelation from the Spirit of God which contradicts the Bible as Word of God, or that attempts to separate the Spirit from the Spirit-inspired words of Scripture, or that elevates the authority or modernity of the Spirit’s revelation above the revelation of Scripture;

·         That rejects as historical facts the witness of Scripture to the incarnation, birth, ministry, miracles, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ;

·         That seeks to follow a “Jesus Christ” apart from the Person, Work, and Will of Jesus Christ revealed in Scripture.

·         That regards Scriptures as subjectively, but not objectively, God’s written Word, or that maintains the Scriptures contain the Word of God, but are not in themselves the Word of God;

We cannot affirm any notion of a Church “reformed and reforming” that moves outside the boundaries of the authority of Christ and confession of his Lordship which are clearly revealed in the Scripture.

We cannot affirm any ecclesiology or morality that attempts to subvert the headship of Jesus Christ and the authority of Scripture.

We do affirm that God has both communicated and preserved through the ages all that is necessary for us to know to enter into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. We also affirm that this communication is contained within the Holy Scriptures and that there is no other place, knowledge, or religion to which we need to turn to show us God’s saving grace.

Pastor Craig

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[1] The Essential Tenets – An Explanation by the Presbytery of Santa Barbara p. 9