Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wzw2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-13T04:42:23.071Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - Reading in the economy of grace

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

John Webster
Affiliation:
University of Aberdeen
Get access

Summary

There is a certain intellectual dignity and stateliness to the theological concepts which we have been exploring so far. But their appeal is also spiritual. Revelation, sanctification, inspiration, canon cannot be fittingly handled as just so much dogmatic apparatus; understanding them is inseparable from their Christian deployment. We may, therefore, begin with a statement from one of the old Lutheran divines on the ‘use’ of the article on Scripture:

This article is to be used in the following manner: We are to recognize and accept without reservation the holy Scripture … as the Word of Almighty God, and we are to regard and cherish it as the most precious of treasures … We are devoutly to give audience to God speaking in the Word, we are to reflect upon His Word day and night and we are to explore it with true piety and utmost devotion … We are to turn neither to the right nor to the left from Scripture, nor are we to suffer ourselves to be moved to the slightest degree by the solicitation of others or the desires of our own flesh, lest in some way we introduce something in doctrine or life which is contrary to better knowledge or against our conscience … We are to gain comfort from them alone in every necessity of body and soul, and through patient consolation of the Scriptures have a sure hope of life and remain steadfast to the end of life.

Type
Chapter
Information
Holy Scripture
A Dogmatic Sketch
, pp. 68 - 106
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×