Having pondered the precise meaning of WLC Q4 in a previous lecture, we would do the same for WLC A4 in this.

Question 4. How doth it appear that the Scriptures are the Word of God?

For a refresher, recall that 1) “the Scriptures” designate the Bible alone, with its 66 OT and NT books; 2) “the Word of God” implies the divine authorship of Scripture’s content, implying both verbal and plenary inspiration; 3) the present tense verb “are” insinuates that the biblical message continues to be God’s living and objective voice to man, regardless of human faith; and, 4) “how doth it appear that” requires our understanding that the catechetical authors believed it is perfectly obvious to the unprejudiced mind, when acquainted with the relevant facts, that the Bible actually is the Word of God. In other words, Scripture is self-authenticating.

The remaining questions are, How is this obvious? What are the internal evidences of Scripture’s identity as the Word of God? And how is it that only some people come to embrace the Scriptures as the Word of God, while others remain skeptics despite these plain evidences? These are the very questions answered in WLC A4, to which we now turn our attention (without its proof texts).

Answer. The Scriptures manifest themselves to be the Word of God, by their majesty and purity; by the consent of all the parts, and the scope of the whole, which is to give all glory to God; by their light and power to convince and convert sinners, to comfort and build up believers unto salvation: but the Spirit of God bearing witness by and with the Scriptures in the heart of man, is alone able fully to persuade it that they are the very word of God.

This complex sentence presents two major topics joined by a conjunction of contrast, “but.” This is similar to WLC 2A with its “plain declaration” and “saving declaration.” The topics of WLC 4A are
1) Scripture’s self-authentication and 2) the Spirit’s persuasion. Now let’s consider each of this answer’s parts and their relationships. Like WLC #2, WLC #4 is an ocean of truth with a stunning clarity and brevity, and patient meditation will help us appreciate this increasingly.

SCRIPTURE’S SELF-AUTHENTICATION

I. Reality. “The Scriptures manifest themselves to be the Word of God.” The verb “manifest” is from a Latin word meaning “caught in the act, plainly apprehensible, clear, evident.”1 It is clear, plain, and obvious, that the Scriptures are the Word of God.

What is the evidence for the Scriptures’ divine origin? The best and most convincing evidence is the Bible itself. The Bible is self-authenticating. This is not irrational as even many Christians suppose but perfectly reasonable. Consider this: what could be more convincing than God’s own testimony regarding the identity of His Word? Would not an appeal to some external evidence as more important than God’s own explicit testimony in Scripture itself be inescapably irreverent (Le., it intimates that God’s own Word is not as reliable as the archaeologist’s spade, other ancient documents, the judgment of philosophers, or the testimony of the church)?

Technology exists today by which messages from a transmitter are able to carry inherent verification of their source to a receiver as a protection against counterfeit messages, typically using some kind of encryption. Obviously this has an important application in military communications.

If we can figure out a way to make our communications self-authenticating, would not God be able to do the same with His Word? Would it be wise for God to convey a message to mankind without distinguishing His message from others? Figuratively speaking, Embedded in Scripture is God’s own signature which no one else could possibly forge. Self-authentication should not be misconstrued like this:

“The Bible is the Word of God. The Bible, being the Word of God, declares that it is the Word of God. Therefore the Bible is the Word of God.” Is this a rational argument? If this is a rational argument then what about other holy books that claim to be the inspired word of god? (e.g. Koran, Book of Mormon2)? lo This is a gross caricature of the position. Self-authentication does not mean that we believe the Bible is the Word of God simply because it claims to be the Word of God. With this test we would have to believe every false prophet, because they all claim to speak with divine authority.

Rather, self-authentication means that Scripture bears all the convincing marks of genuineness, that it actually is what it claims to be. To reject this internal evidence, either prima facie (on its first appearance), or after careful investigation, is proof positive of a wicked prejudice against truth and God Himself, comparable to the sin of Rom 1.18.

II. Means.

One internal evidence to be considered is that Scripture does claim, in many ways and instances (literally thousands, in both the OT and NT) to be God’s Word. By itself this is not convincing, but it is what we would expect from a book that really is God’s Word. There are relatively few competitive writings that make comparable claims (e.g., the Koran). These claims of the Bible grab our attention to investigate and lead us to apply a very high standard of scrutiny.

WLC A4 does not even mention this fact but passes immediately to the particular ways in which Scripture evidences its genuineness, by two kinds of traits.

A. Traits related to God’s glory.

These things are internal evidence of Scripture’s genuineness-that is, part of the substance and form of its message. I am not sure whether the phrase “which is to give all glory to God” was intended to be understood as pertaining to all four of these traits, or to the last two, or only to the last one, but it is true that all four do give all glory to God. The fact that the Bible gives all glory to God alone is, by itself, an evidence of divine authorship, because no one but God could have had a motive for writing it. Wicked men would not write a book which condemns wickedness and gives all glory to a holy, sin-hating God. Good men could not write a book on their own initiative and represent it falsely as the Word of God, for if they did that they would be deceivers, and therefore not good men. For the same reasons neither devils nor holy angels could have written it. Therefore God is the only person who could be the real Author of the Bible.3

1. Majesty.

If the awe-inspiring God is the Author of Scripture, then we would reasonably expect that His Word would be worthy of Him. Majesty is “greatness of appearance; dignity; grandeur; … the quality … of a thing … which inspires awe or reverence in the beholder; applied with peculiar propriety to God and his works.”4 It grew out of a word meaning “greater.” People familiar with the Bible and many other books testify of its incomparable nature-even some unbelievers.

Josh McDowell shows the uniqueness of the Bible in its continuity (#3 below), circulation (by far the greatest), translation (also by far the greatest), survival (through time, persecution, and criticism), teachings (prophecy, history, personalities), and influence on surrounding literature.5 He has collected some very interesting quotations, including these:

Whatever one may think of the authority of and the message presented in the book we call the Bible, there is world-wide agreement that in more ways than one it is the most remarkable volume that has
ever been produced in these some five thousand years of writing on the part of the human race.6

Pile [Eastern books], if you will, on the left side of your study table; but place your own Holy Bible on the right side-all by itself, all alone-and with a wide gap between them. For, … there is a gulf between it and the so-called sacred books of the East which severs the one from the other utterly, hopelessly, and forever … a veritable gulf which cannot be bridged over by any science of religious thought.7

2. Purity.

Likewise, the only book written by God Most Holy must exhibit an exalted purity to be credible. Purity has several different meanings, including freedom from contamination, and cleanness, or, freedom from foulness, defilement, sin.8 Applied to Scripture, purity means it is infallible and wholly free of errors. Modern terminology of the orthodox recognizes the Scriptures as “inerrant.” Of course this is only strictly applied to the autographs, but even fine translations based on the best manuscript evidence displays a purity of a different order from merely human books.9

3. Consistency.

“The consent of all the parts” is another means by which the Bible evidences its divine authorship. This is a terse way of noting the unity and harmony of the Bible. It is a thoroughly self-consistent whole. The Author cannot lie nor err. He is perfect in His thoughts and only speaks the truth. Therefore, although He used about 40 different human writers from every walk of life including kings, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, poets, statesmen, and scholars, over a span of about 1500 years in widely varying places (three continents) and circumstances (wilderness, dungeon, palace, prison, while traveling, exiled, military campaign) and different moods (heights of joy, depths of despair) in three languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek) handling difficult
and controversial subject matter upon which men have widely-varying and strongly held-opinions, yet the doctrine of Scripture is one, cohesive message.10

4. Scope.

By “the scope of the whole” we understand the subject matter encompassed from Genesis to Revelation. This point will appear the most impressive only to those who are most familiar with the content of Scripture from long hours of reading, rereading, meditating, and studying it, both with a spiritual microscope and telescope, and who can grasp most fully the “meta-narrative” (great story) which the Bible tells, namely, the glory of God in His sovereign plan of redemption and judgment.

The “Paradise Lost” of the Genesis becomes the “Paradise Regained” of Revelation. Whereas the gate to the tree of life is closed in Genesis, it is opened forevermore in Revelation.11

If anyone desires a book which shall combine grandeur of subject-with beauty of expression; the most sublime theology-with the soundest morality; the widest variety of topic-with an obvious unity of
design; the most ancient history with-poetry; the profoundest philosophy-with the plainest maxims of human conduct; touching narratives-with picturesque descriptions of character-in short, a book which shall as truly gratify the taste by the elegance of its composition, as it shall sanctify the heart by the purity of its doctrines; and thus, while it opens the glories of heaven and prepares the soul for possessing and enjoying them, shall furnish a source of never failing pleasure upon earth; I say if such a book be sought, it can be found in the Bible, and only in the Bible, and that precious volume more than answers the description John Angell James, Female Piety, “The Beautiful Picture of the Excellent Wife in the Book of Proverbs”).

There is no accounting for such a Book as this except on the grounds that it is what it claims to be, even the Word of God! The Lord who gave it vouches for its authenticity even in the substance and form of His message.

B. Traits related to man’s salvation.

This part of the answer is, “by their light and power to convince and convert sinners, to comfort and build up believers unto salvation.” This takes us beyond mere internal evidence to external which is subordinate in importance to the internal, and which is also of a spiritual nature, not physical. Typical apologetics today seems much more focused on external, physical evidences, perhaps because it would seem more convincing to those without faith in the Bible who may irrationally reject its self-authentication as circular reasoning, and who may simply dismiss the power of Scripture to convert sinners and edify believers as mere propaganda, the like which may be found in others making claims to religious truth or for any product they would like to market.

We said these salvation-related traits take us beyond mere internal evidence, but they start with internal evidence also. For Scripture itself is full of examples bearing all the marks of true historical record to its own saving and sanctifying power. Having considered these, we may then turn to comparable cases from church history, our acquaintances, and even our own personal testimony.

1. Toward sinners, to convince and convert.

The word “sinners” here is intended to be taken as people who are unconvinced, unconverted, and unbelievers with respect to the Christian faith, as the context indicates. Sometimes such people are so deeply affected by the Scriptures that they are changed, without even their intention or effort, to a radically-altered state of soul.

The word “convince” is full of meaning, especially in its archaic usage. In 1828, Noah Webster offered three senses relevant to this catechetical answer:

1. To persuade or satisfy the mind by evidence; to subdue the opposition of the mind to truth, or to what is alleged, and compel it to yield its assent; as, to convince a man of his errors; or to convince him of the truth. “For he mightily convinced the Jews–showing by the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ” (Acts 18).

2. To convict; to prove guilty; to constrain one to admit or acknowledge himself to be guilty. “If ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of [by] the law as transgressors (Jas 2). “To convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds” (Jude 15).

3. [This is the one that is not applicable. –DSM]

4. To overpower; to surmount; to vanquish.

Countless sinners, in biblical history and since, have become convinced by Scripture in these three senses persuaded, convicted, and vanquished in the spiritual sense, so that they could not resist the force of the biblical message any longer.

Consider this Puritan quotation for a further description:

That word which quickens the dead is certainly God’s word; but the word of God ordinarily preached quickens the dead; it makes the blind to see, the dumb to speak, the deaf to hear, and the lame to walk, those that never felt their sins to load them to mourn, those that never could pray to breathe out unutterable groans and sighs for their sins (Thomas Shepard, The Sincere Convert, “That There Is a God, and This God Is Most Glorious”).

The word “convert” may be more intact for modern readers. In the biblical sense it means to change one’s beliefs and ways. Webster describes the English word this way: “to change or turn from one religion to another [and] to turn from a bad life to a good one; to change the heart and moral character, from enmity to God and from vicious habits, to love of God and to a holy life.” Now this spiritual conversion, when it happens, is a thing of great wonder-even a kind of miracle, because by it sinners become just the opposite of what they once were by nature, and their new life is characterized by ardent love for God and selfless love of neighbor, the epitome of virtue, and a change worthy of God who is love. And when this happens to many people in a community (Le., in times of genuine revival), then the whole society experiences dramatic improvements. With God’s blessing attending them, the Scriptures have the power to perform these mighty works of redemption.

Johannes Vos summarizes this point well:

What fruits or results of the Bible show that it is the Word of God? Where the Bible is known and believed, wickedness and crime are curbed, human life and property are secure, education is widespread, institutions of mercy for the care of the sick, unfortunate, and insane are established, and civil liberty is honored and safeguarded. What is the condition of human society in places where the Bible is entirely or practically unknown? “The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty” (Psa 74.20).

Where the Bible is unknown or almost unknown, human life is cheap and insecure; dishonesty is almost universal; men live in bondage to superstitions and fears; moral corruption and degradation abound.12

We postpone clear biblical assertions and examples of these things for now until we come to consider the proof texts chosen by the Puritans for the support of this answer.

2. Toward believers, to comfort and edify.

Likewise, the Bible has for ages manifested its spiritual power even in those who have been soundly converted. This part of the answer singles out two especially blessed effects for consideration.
First, the Scripture has power to “comfort” believers beyond what is explicable on the basis of merely human and psychological causes. This is more than making the miserable feel better. Comfort also used to mean “to strengthen” and “to invigorate” (Webster). The Bible is food and wine for the soul, that which repeatedly restores our spiritual health and energy that we might live according to the supernatural standard of love they set forth.

The Bible comforts believers far beyond any other words that can be offered even by our best friends in this world. Again, Puritan Thomas Shepard nails the experience:

[It appears that there is a God on this ground:] from the word of God. There is a majesty stirring, and such secrets revealed in the word, that, if men will not be willfully blind, they cannot but cry out, “The voice of God, and not the voice of man.” Hence Calvin undertakes to prove the Scripture to be the word of God by reason, against all atheists under heaven. Have you not thought sometimes, during a sermon, that the minister has spoken to none but you, and that someone or other has told the minister what you have said, what you have done, what you have thought? Now, that word which tells you the thoughts of your heart can be nothing else but the word of an all-seeing God, that searches the heart (ibid.).

Second, the Bible “edifies” or builds up believers. There is a very great difference in the knowledge, wisdom, consistency, discernment, maturity, and sacrificial love among believers, and the spiritually greatest in the church have always been those who have been most thoroughly saturated with the message of the Bible. No other book-even among religious and Christian books-can make a comparable claim. These effects of the Bible are only accountable on the grounds that it is the Word of God who Himself uses it to redeem sinners and to bless His children.

THE SPIRIT’S PERSUASION

Despite all the objective, compelling internal and external evidence for the Bible, we can only come, at best, to a superficial acknowledgement of its truthfulness apart from the Holy Spirit’s gracious work in us. Yet even the Spirit uses the Scriptures as His chief means of persuasion. This supernatural conviction belongs exclusively and universally to true Christians, and it brings us beyond a kind of faith which is merely human, but is rather one of God’s richest gifts to sinners. Such are the sentiments of this latter part of WLC A4, laying out our need of the Spirit’s persuasion, His manner of persuading us, and the result in our hearts.

I. Need. Two words emphasize it.

A. “But.”

This contrasts the answer’s first and second part. Even though the Scriptures do indeed abundantly and compellingly manifest themselves to be the Word of God, that is not enough for anyone to believe the Scriptures in the highest sense.

The same authors explained more fully in the WCF 1.5:

We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church to an high and reverend esteem of 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.

Why are intelligence and education not enough to enable a person to believe with certainty that the Bible is the Word of God? Because in the sinful human heart there is strong prejudice against God and the truth of God. The Ordinary evidences are sufficient to convince a neutral, unprejudiced inquirer that the Bible is the Word of God. But the fact is that there are no neutral, unprejudiced inquirers. The whole human race has fallen into sin; the human heart has been darkened; the “natural” man is gripped by a tremendous prejudice against accepting the Bible as God’s Word. Apart from the special work of the Holy Spirit in men’s hearts, there would not be a single true Christian believer in the world. There are of course unconverted people who readily assent to the statement that the Bible is God’s word, by mere custom or tradition rather than by personal conviction. Such people are not really convinced that the Bible is God’s word; they merely have a hearsay or secondhand faith which reflects the true spiritual faith of other persons.13

B. “Alone.”

The basic sentence structure of this last clause is “the Spirit … is able.” This clearly refers to the third member of the Trinity, who is a personal Being (Le., He has all the traits essential to personality, like intellect and volition) and a divine Being (Le., He is inherently and fully God from eternity to eternity). God has an unlimited right to do with His creatures as He pleases, and He has infinite power to effect His purposes toward, in, and for them. Consequently, man’s “free will” notwithstanding, God is able to make believers out of unbelievers. The catechism here attributes that power of sovereign grace to God the Spirit in particular.

From the fact that saving sinners or hardening them in their unbelief is a distinctively divine prerogative, the justification for this word “alone” becomes more apparent. Only the Spirit can fully persuade sinners to believe the Bible in a saving way, because the Bible itself is not God.

Scripture is God’s instrument and lies useless without His active employment of it. Can David’s sling and stone kill Goliath? Yes and no, depending upon what sense we ask the question. It can when wielded by David, but not when left on the ground or even picked up by some inferior warrior. Now the Spirit is the only One competent to wield the message of Scripture in a way that slays our remaining skepticism and makes us deep and true believers. This truth has several important implications.

First, we should always come to the word with a prayerful dependence upon the Holy Spirit. Reading, studying, hearing, and meditating upon the Word is vain unless the Spirit is pleased to bless our contact with Scripture. The same Bible which melts one sinner into a state of ardent love for God and earnest resolve to repent and obey only hardens another sinner into confirmed resentment against God and determination to continue in sin. The Spirit makes the difference. Further, it is the blessing of the Spirit that accounts for the great advances some believers make in comparison with others. An important way God has appointed for our acquisition of the Spirit’s blessed influences is prayer (Luke 11.13). We must in substance, if not in the very same words, adopt the petition of the psalmist to expect blessing in our contact with the Word: “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law” (Psa 119.18).

Second, we should give glory to the Holy Spirit for our having become believers. Especially when we try to convince others that the Bible is God’s Word and they should be Christians, we are strongly tempted to feelings of pride and moral superiority. The truth is so very obvious and stunning to us that we can become frustrated with skeptics, and start to think to ourselves, “How could they be so blind and stupid?” Further, while we bear witness to our faith, we can easily give unbelievers the false impression that we are naturally and inherently superior to them. This sinful pride is evidence that the Spirit has already, in large measure, withdrawn His influence from our hearts and minds (Jas 4.6). Instead, we must cultivate the humility and meekness of those who know for sure that except by the grace of God, we would still be as we were, and this will show itself by patience with our stubborn opponents and open confessions to them that we know in ourselves that we are no better than they are (2 Tim 2.24-26). Practically speaking, this could go a long way toward influencing and winning them.

Third, we should only defend the faith from Scripture with the power of the Holy Spirit. Apologetics done well is so much more than a battle of wits. It is spiritual warfare, and without the Spirit we are powerless before the enemy. Too many Christians either shun contending for the faith altogether, or else contend in the flesh and do more harm than good. Just as we pray to benefit from Scripture, so we should also pray for the holy boldness needed to engage unbelievers, and we should pray for them, that the Spirit would mercifully save them and bless our efforts to do so.

We know that [the Spirit] can reach the parts of them, the inner workings of their minds and hearts, that we cannot reach. He can soften the hard heart, bend the stubborn will, open the closed mind, challenge the long-held prejudices, and heal the painful memories that are inaccessible to US.14

II. Manner.

When someone really believes the Bible, “the Spirit of God [is] bearing witness by and with the Scriptures in the heart of man.” This statement contains the Spirit’s action, an instrument of His action, and a sphere of His action, all parts of the way He works.

The Spirit’s action is conveyed by an intransitive verb which has a twofold sense: to bear testimony, and to give evidence.15 The way that the Spirit fully persuades a believer to receive the Bible as genuine is by speaking of the truthfulness of Scripture and powerfully brings forth the evidence already mentioned, and the effect is to produce a full persuasion of its truth.

The sphere His of action is “in the heart of man,” that is, in his soul or spirit, the innermost part of our being.

In this context heart means more than just the intellectual faculty, but also encompasses the conscience and feelings and will. The Spirit speaks to us in our deepest recesses and there He also produces the evidence. These two points of explanation would please mystics well, but note carefully… the instrument of the Spirit’s action, namely, “by and with the Scriptures.” This is where Reformed truth parts company with mysticism that at the very least downplays the significance of the Word in spirituality.

“By and with” mean nearly the same thing, but there may be a subtle distinction. “By” emphasizes instrumentality. David slew Goliath by means of a sling and stone, and so the Spirit does His work by means of the Scriptures. “With” implies the togetherness of the Word and Spirit when people are fully persuaded, as if David had carried his weapons constantly while constantly slaying giants. David must have his sling, and the sling is useless without his skillful hand. If we may say it reverently: the Scriptures are just a dead letter, as far as their effect upon us, without the attendant blessings of the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit never works in the hearts of men completely devoid of the Word. As Calvin said,

WORD AND SPIRIT BELONG INSEPARABLY TOGETHER …. the apostle calls his preaching “the ministration of the Spirit,” meaning, doubtless, that the Holy Spirit so inheres in His truth, which He expresses in Scripture, that only when its proper reverence and dignity are given to the Word does the Holy Spirit show forth His power. And what has lately been said-that the Word itself is not quite certain for us unless it be confirmed by the testimony of the Spirit-is not out of accord with these things. For by a kind of mutual bond the Lord has joined together the certainty of his Word and of His Spirit so that the perfect religion of the Word may abide in our minds when the Spirit, who causes us to contemplate God’s face, shines; and that we in turn may embrace the Spirit with no fear of being deceived when we recognize Him in His own image, namely, in the Word. So indeed it is. God did not bring forth his Word among men for the sake of a momentary display, intending at the coming of His Spirit to abolish it. Rather, He sent down the same Spirit by whose power He had dispensed the Word, to complete His work by the efficacious confirmation of the Word.16

That is a masterful explanation! We must distinguish between the Word and the Spirit, but it is demonic to separate them. They are married forever. The Spirit gave the Word, and the Word testifies to the Spirit. The Word is the outward voice of God, and the Spirit makes it live in our souls.

III. Result.

Paraphrased slightly, it is that “the heart of man [becomes] fully persuaded that the Scriptures are the Word of God.” This is something far beyond the mental assent that even the unconverted may possess. The Westminster Confession describes this experience as “full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority” of the Word. It is a certain conviction which we may not even be able to understand or convey to others, committed to the Bible even if some external evidence seems contrary.

This part of the Spirit’s ministry as His witness to divine truth … is a healing of spiritual faculties, a restoring to man of a permanent receptiveness towards divine things, a giving and sustaining of power to recognize and receive divine utterances for what they are. It is given in conjunction with the hearing or reading of such utterances, and the immediate fruit of it is an inescapable awareness of their divine origin and authority. And when this starts to happen, faith is being born. Faith begins with the according of credence to revealed truths, not as popular, or probable, human opinions, but as words uttered by the Creator, and uttered, not only to mankind in general, but to the individual soul in particular.17

The Scriptures authenticate themselves to Christian believers through the convincing work of the Holy Spirit, who enables us to recognize, and bow before, divine realities. It is he who enlightens us to receive the man Jesus as God’s incarnate Son, and our Savior; similarly, it is he who enlightens us to receive sixty-six pieces of human writing as God’s inscripturated word, given to make us “wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15). In both cases, this enlightening is not a private revelation of something that has not been made public, but the opening of minds sinfully closed so that they receive evidence to which they were previously impervious. The evidence of divinity is there before us, in the words and works of Jesus in the one case and the words and qualities of Scripture in the other.

It consists not of clues offered as a basis for discursive inference to those who are clever enough, as in a detective story, but in the unique force which, through the Spirit, the story of Jesus, and the knowledge of Scripture, always carry with them to strike everyone to whom they come. In neither case, however, do our sinful minds receive this evidence apart from the illumination of the Spirit. The church bears witness, but the Spirit produces conviction, and so, as against Rome, evangelicals insist that it is the witness of the Spirit, not that of the church, which authenticates the canon to US.18

These profound and far-reaching truths are contained, at least in seed form, in the concise, accurate answer to the fourth question in the WLC, well worth committing to memory word for word.

Notes:

1. http://www.etymonline.com
2. http://www .dartmouth.edu/ -patl/VBC_PDF /biblicaLauthority .pdf
3. commentary on the Larger Catechism, Johannes Vos (ed. G. I Williamson), p. 14.
4. Webster’s 1828 Dictionary.
5. McDowell, E..vidence that Demands a verdict, ch. 1.
6. McDowell, quoting Wilbur Smith.
7. McDowell, quoting Professor M. Montiero-williams, former Boden professor of Sanskrit, who spent 42 years studying
Eastern books.
8. Webster’s.
9. See eurltarL5.e.rnJ.QllS, V. 72, after “first.”
10. McDowell, p. 16.
11. McDowell, quoting Geisler and Nix, p. 17.
12. Ibid., p. 14.
13. Vas, ibid., p. 15.
14. Jerram Barrs, The Heart of Evangelism, p. 49.
15. Webster 1828 Dictionary.
16. Calvin, Institutes I.9.
17. Packer, quoted by Reymond, New Systematic Theology, p. 82.
18. Ibid.