The Second Helvetic ConfessionThe Second Helvetic ConfessionCanonical Scripture. We believe and confess the canonical Scriptures of the holy prophets and apostles of both Testaments to be the true Word of God, and to have sufficient authority of themselves, not of men. For God himself spoke to the fathers, prophets, apostles, and still speaks to us through the Holy Scriptures.
And in this Holy Scripture, the universal Church of Christ has the most complete exposition of all that pertains to a saving faith, and also to the framing of a life acceptable to God; and in this respect it is expressly commanded by God that nothing either be added to or taken from the same.
Scripture Teaches Fully All Goodness. We judge,
therefore, that from these Scriptures are to be derived true wisdom and
godliness, the reformation and government of churches; as also instruction in
all duties of piety; and, to be short, the confirmation of doctrines, and the
rejection of all errors, moreover, all exhortations according to that word of
the apostle, "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for
reproof," etc. (2
Tim. 3:16-17). Again, "I am writing these instructions to you," says the
apostle to Timothy, "so that you may know how one ought to behave in the
household of God," etc. (1
Tim. 3:14-15). Scripture is the Word of God.
Again, the selfsame apostle to the Thessalonians: "When," says he, "you received
the Word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it, not as the word of men
but as what it really is, the Word of God," etc. (1
Thess. 2:13.) For the Lord himself has said in the Gospel, "It is not you
who speak, but the Spirit of my Father speaking through you"; therefore "he who
hears you hears me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me" (Matt.
10:20;
Luke 10:16;
John 13:20).
The Preaching of the Word of God Is the Word of God.
Wherefore when this Word of God is now preached in the church by preachers
lawfully called, we believe the the very Word of God is proclaimed, and received
by the faithful; and that neither any other Word of God is to be invented nor is
to be expected from heaven: and that now the Word itself which is preached is to
be regarded, not the minister that preaches; for even if he be evil and a
sinner, nevertheless the Word of God remains still true and good.
Neither do we think that therefore the outward preaching is to be thought as fruitless because the instruction in true religion depends on the inward illumination of the Spirit, or because it is written "And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor . . ., for they shall all know me" (Jer. 31:34), and "Neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth" (1 Cor. 3:7). For although "no one can come to Christ unless he be drawn by the Father" (John 6:4), and unless the Holy Spirit inwardly illumines him, yet we know that it is surely the will of God that his Word should be preached outwardly also. God could indeed, by his Holy Spirit, or by the ministry of an angel, without the ministry of St. Peter, have taught Cornelius in the Acts; but, nevertheless, he refers him to Peter, of whom the angel speaking says, "He shall tell you what you ought to do."
Inward Illumination Does Not Eliminate External Preaching. For he that illuminates inwardly by giving men the Holy Spirit, the same one, by way of commandment, said unto his disciples, "Go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to the whole creation" (Mark 16:15). And so in Philippi, Paul preached the Word outwardly to Lydia, a seller of purple goods; but the Lord inwardly opened the woman's heart (Acts 16:14). And the same Paul, after a beautiful development of his thought, in Rom. 10:17 at length comes to the conclusion, "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word of God by the preaching of Christ."
At the same time we recognize that God can illuminate whom and when he will, even without the external ministry, for that is in his power; but we speak of the usual way of instructing men, delivered unto us from God, both by commandment and examples.
Heresies. We therefore detest all the heresies of
Artemon, the Manichaeans,
the
Valentinians, of
Cerdon, and the
Marcionites,
who denied that the Scriptures proceeded from the Holy Spirit; or did not accept
some parts of them, or interpolated and corrupted them.
Apocrypha. And yet we do not conceal the fact that certain books of the Old Testament were by the ancient authors called Apocryphal, and by others Ecclesiastical; inasmuch as some would have them read in the churches, but not advanced as an authority from which the faith is to be established. As Augustine also, in his De Civitate Dei, book 18, ch. 38, remarks that "in the books of the Kings, the names and books of certain prophets are cited"; but he adds that "they are not in the canon"; and that "those books which we have suffice unto godliness."
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Page edited: 12/11/2008
