The Holy Scriptures

A church’s doctrine of Scripture shapes every other doctrine it teaches. If the Bible is merely a respected religious book, it may advise us. If it is truly the Word of God, it must govern us.

The confession below states a historic Christian belief: God has spoken through the Holy Scriptures, and what He has spoken is true, authoritative, and sufficient for faith and conduct. The Bible is not treated as a human invention that contains occasional religious insight. It is received as the written Word of God, given through human authors by the work of the Holy Spirit.

Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures The Bible, the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, is truly inspired by God, without error in its original writings, and is the supreme and final authority of faith and conduct. We understand inspiration as the work of God the Holy Spirit upon each writer of the Holy Scriptures, so that the communication of sacred truth came from God without preventing the real participation of the human intellect, personality, vocabulary, and historical setting of the human authors.

Scripture is received as the written Word of God.

The following points explain what this doctrine affirms and why it matters.

1. The Bible is the written Word of God

The doctrine begins with a simple conviction: the Bible is God’s Word written. The Scriptures are not only records of human religious experience. They are not merely ancient reflections about God. They are the words through which God reveals Himself, His will, His works, His promises, and His salvation.

This belief does not deny that human authors wrote the books of Scripture. Moses, David, Isaiah, Luke, Paul, Peter, John, and others truly wrote. They used their own languages, styles, memories, research, and personalities. Still, the final result is not merely human speech about God. It is God’s speech through human writers.

This is why Christians read Scripture with reverence. The Bible is not approached as one opinion among many. It is received as the Lord’s own testimony.

A helpful way to state this is:

• God is the ultimate author of Scripture.

• Human writers are real authors, not passive instruments.

• The Holy Spirit guided the writing so that the message communicated God’s truth.

  
  

This balance protects both truths. Scripture is fully divine in origin and truly human in expression.

2. The Bible includes the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments

This doctrinal statement identifies the Bible as the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament prepares for Christ through creation, covenant, law, history, wisdom, poetry, prophecy, and promise. The New Testament reveals Christ’s coming, His life, death, resurrection, ascension, the spread of the gospel, apostolic teaching, and the hope of His return.

Together, the Testaments form one unified Scripture. The Old Testament is not discarded by the New. The New Testament is not detached from the Old. They belong together because God’s saving purpose unfolds through both.

The Old Testament points forward to Christ. The New Testament announces that Christ has come and explains the meaning of His person and work. Both are necessary for understanding God’s redemptive plan.

This also means the church cannot choose only the portions of Scripture that seem easier, more familiar, or more comfortable. All Scripture belongs to God’s people.

3. Scripture is verbally inspired by God

To say that Scripture is verbally inspired means that inspiration extends to the words of Scripture, not only to general ideas or broad themes. God did not merely give religious impressions and leave the writers to communicate them however they wished. The words themselves matter because God chose to reveal truth through words.

This does not mean every sentence in Scripture sounds the same. It does not erase the differences between poetry, law, prophecy, gospel narrative, letter, and apocalyptic vision. It does not make Paul sound like David or Luke sound like Isaiah.

Instead, verbal inspiration means the Spirit’s work reached the actual written communication. The human authors wrote genuinely, yet God superintended the writing so that what they wrote was what He intended to give His people.

This gives confidence to preaching, teaching, translation, study, and memorization. Words matter because God used words to make Himself known.

God gave His truth through real human language.

4. Scripture is inerrant in the original writings

The doctrine also affirms that Scripture is without error in its original writings. This is often called inerrancy. It means that because God is truthful and cannot lie, the Scriptures He inspired are true in all they affirm.

The phrase “in the original writings” matters. Christians recognize that copies and translations have been made across centuries. God’s providence has preserved His Word with remarkable faithfulness, and faithful translations give the church real access to Scripture. At the same time, the technical claim of inerrancy refers to the original text as given through the inspired authors.

Inerrancy does not require wooden readings, forced harmonizations, or ignoring literary forms. Poetry uses imagery. Proverbs often state general wisdom. Narratives may summarize events. The Bible uses ordinary human language, including figures of speech, rounded numbers, and selective emphasis.

A faithful doctrine of inerrancy reads each passage according to its genre, context, and purpose. It does not impose modern expectations on ancient texts. It receives what Scripture actually says as true.

This matters because the trustworthiness of Scripture rests on the character of God. If God has spoken, His Word is reliable.

5. Scripture is the supreme and final authority for faith and conduct

If Scripture is God’s written Word, then it must stand above every human authority. Creeds, councils, teachers, traditions, experiences, and personal judgments may serve the church, but they must all be tested by Scripture.

This doctrinal statement calls the Bible the supreme and final authority of faith and conduct.

Faith refers to what we believe. Scripture defines the truth about God, creation, sin, salvation, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the church, the future, and eternal life.

Conduct refers to how we live. Scripture instructs believers in worship, holiness, love, justice, mercy, family life, church order, work, speech, and witness.

This does not mean that the Bible answers every practical question with the same level of detail. It does mean that Scripture gives the final standard by which all beliefs, decisions, and moral claims must be judged.

When Scripture speaks clearly, the church must listen. When human opinion conflicts with Scripture, Scripture must prevail.

6. Inspiration includes the work of the Holy Spirit

The doctrine of inspiration is not vague religious language. It describes the work of God the Holy Spirit upon the writers of Scripture.

Second Peter gives a clear foundation:

“For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” 2 Peter 1:21

This verse teaches both divine source and human instrument. Prophecy did not originate in human will. The prophets were human, yet they spoke from God. They were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

The image is not of writers losing consciousness or becoming mechanical tools. They remained human authors. Yet the Spirit guided them so that their message came from God.

This protects Scripture from two errors. One error treats the Bible as only divine, as if human context and authorship do not matter. The other treats it as only human, as if divine authority is absent. Biblical inspiration includes both.

The Holy Spirit carried human authors as they spoke from God.

7. Scripture is able to make people wise for salvation

The authority of Scripture is not cold or abstract. God gave His Word to reveal salvation through Christ.

Paul writes to Timothy:

“And how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” 2 Timothy 3:15

Scripture leads people to salvation because it points to Christ. The Bible exposes sin, reveals God’s holiness, announces grace, and shows that salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ.

This means the Bible is not only a source of doctrine. It is the instrument God uses to bring sinners to the knowledge of the Savior. The Old Testament prepares the way for Christ. The New Testament proclaims Him openly. Together, they bear witness to the one Redeemer.

A church that believes in the inspiration of Scripture should also be a church that proclaims the gospel from Scripture. The goal is not merely to defend the Bible as a book. The goal is to hear and obey the God who speaks through it.

8. Scripture equips the people of God for every good work

Paul continues:

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17

The phrase “God-breathed” gives one of the clearest descriptions of inspiration. Scripture comes from God. Because of that, it is useful and sufficient for the spiritual formation of God’s people.

Paul names four uses.

Teaching gives truth.

Rebuking exposes error and sin.

Correcting restores what is wrong.

Training in righteousness forms godly character and conduct.

The result is maturity. The servant of God becomes thoroughly equipped for every good work. Scripture does not leave God’s people without direction. It instructs the mind, searches the heart, corrects the path, and shapes the life.

This is why Scripture must remain central in preaching, discipleship, worship, counseling, and personal devotion.

9. Scripture must be received as God’s Word, not merely human opinion

The Thessalonian church gives an example of the right response to God’s Word:

“And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.” 1 Thessalonians 2:13

Paul thanked God because they received the message properly. They did not treat it as a merely human word. They accepted it as the Word of God.

This remains the right posture toward Scripture. The Bible should be read with humility, faith, repentance, and obedience. The question is not only, “What does this text mean?” It is also, “How must I submit to the God who speaks here?”

The Word of God is also active in believers. Scripture does not merely inform. It works. It convicts, comforts, strengthens, teaches, and sanctifies by the power of the Spirit.

10. A clear doctrinal statement protects the church

A doctrine of Scripture is not an optional detail. It tells a church where authority rests.

Without a clear confession, the church can drift toward personal preference, cultural pressure, or popular opinion. With a clear confession, the church publicly declares that God’s Word stands above every age, every teacher, and every tradition.

The statement can be summarized this way:

• The Bible contains sixty-six books in the Old and New Testaments.

• These Scriptures are truly inspired by God.

• Inspiration extends to the words of Scripture.

• The original writings are without error.

• The Holy Spirit guided the human authors without erasing their real participation.

• Scripture is the supreme and final authority for what Christians believe and how they live.

• Scripture leads people to salvation through faith in Christ.

• Scripture equips God’s people for good works.

  
  

This is the heart of the verbal inerrant inspiration of Scripture in the Old and New Testaments. It is a confession of confidence, not in human ability, but in the God who has spoken.

A doctrine of Scripture calls the church to hear and obey God.

A final confession of faith

We believe that the Holy Scriptures, consisting of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, are the inspired Word of God. They are without error in their original writings and stand as the supreme and final authority in all matters of faith and conduct.

We believe that the Holy Spirit moved upon the human authors of Scripture in such a way that they wrote God’s truth faithfully, while still using their own minds, language, personalities, and historical settings.

Because Scripture is God-breathed, it is true, trustworthy, sufficient, and living. It makes people wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. It teaches, rebukes, corrects, and trains in righteousness. It equips the people of God for every good work.

The proper response to Scripture is reverent trust, careful study, faithful proclamation, and obedient living. God has spoken, and His people are called to hear His Word.