Sometimes I have to work an early morning shift. My Dad owns two rural mail contracts and anytime one of the men we employ is sick or takes holidays I am the replacement for them. One of my friends recently took leave and so for the past two weeks I have been working an early morning shift. The change in routine knocks you for six and your body takes about two weeks to adjust to the new schedule. Now that I am fully adjusted to the early morning shift it is time for me to get back into the normal routine.
WCF 1.6
The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith, and life is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men. Nevertheless we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the Word: and that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, and government of the Church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be observed.
If you have a tough decision to make, imagine if you were friends with the world's wisest man. You could come to him freely and ask any question of him and the answer that he gave to you would be best course of action for you to take. How much more then, if you had access to the mind and counsel of God. Imagine if the Creator of the universe had given us a book containing his counsel. Imagine if this counsel was readily available and was sufficient for all our needs, had an answer to every problem, and was right every time. Wouldn't that be great!
God, the Creator of the universe, the Elector of my soul, the unopposed Sovereign who no man can thwart, has in his great providence given to us, me, you, a collection of writings. These writings do indeed contain his whole counsel and right now at this point in history we have unprecedented access to a copy of his Word. Every man in the whole world could have a copy of his book and the Bible has been put into many of the world's languages. If a man could not find a translation of the Bible in his language, he could still begin to learn another language or find a man who could speak both a Biblically translated language and his own.
The proof text given for the first sentence of WCF 1.6 is 2 Timothy 3:15-17, "15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."
The first thing to note from this passage is that the holy scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation. Who is God? Who is man? Should man be afraid of God? What hope does man have to reconcile himself with God? The answers to these questions all lie within the pages of God's Word.
All scripture yields profit when it is searched for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. Why? That a godly man might be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
PERFECT, a. [L. perfectus, perficio, to complete; per and facio, to do or make through, to carry to the end.]
1. Finished; complete; consummate; not defective; having all that is requisite to its nature and kind; as a perfect statue; a perfect likeness; a perfect work; a perfect system.
As full, as perfect in a hair as heart.
2. Fully informed; completely skilled; as men perfect in the use of arms; perfect in discipline.
3. Complete in moral excellencies.
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect. Matt.5.
4. Manifesting perfection.
My strength is made perfect in weakness. 2 Cor.12.
THROUGHLY, adv. thru'ly. Completely; fully; wholly.
FURNISHED, a. Supplied; garnished; fitted with necessaries.
(All definitions taken from Noah Webster's 1828 dictionary.)
Verse 17 could thus read:
That the man of God may be complete in moral excellencies, completely fitted with necessities unto all good works.
The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith, and life is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture:
For example, a part of God's counsel that is expressly set down in scripture is the fifth commandment which is to honour your father and your mother. It is easy to see from this commandment that you are required to give your parents honour.
But some things are not expressly set down and by knowing principle #1 you can arrive at principle #2. 1 Timothy 5:1-2 says, "Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; the younger men as brethren; the elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity."
We can thus say, if we are to honour our fathers as expressly set down in the fifth commandment, and we are to treat an elder man as a father, then we must also honour an elder man like we would honour our father. The same logic applies to any express command about our relationship to older women, younger men, and younger women.
There are two disclaimers at the end of this section. The first is that the Spirit of God is necessary for the saving understanding of such things revealed in the Word. The second is that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God and government of the Church that are common to human actions and societies.
An example of the second point is that although God has given us counsel of how he wishes to be worshiped, he did not say that people must meet together at a certain time or exactly how much scripture he would like us to read or exactly how long the prayer should be or in what order or style the Bible is to be preached through. These things are left up to the discretion of the minster and his congregation. However, little discretionary decisions are NEVER to go against any other principles contained in the whole counsel of God.
Do you want to know how you should live? Read the whole counsel of God.
WCF 1.6
The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith, and life is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men. Nevertheless we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the Word: and that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, and government of the Church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be observed.
If you have a tough decision to make, imagine if you were friends with the world's wisest man. You could come to him freely and ask any question of him and the answer that he gave to you would be best course of action for you to take. How much more then, if you had access to the mind and counsel of God. Imagine if the Creator of the universe had given us a book containing his counsel. Imagine if this counsel was readily available and was sufficient for all our needs, had an answer to every problem, and was right every time. Wouldn't that be great!
God, the Creator of the universe, the Elector of my soul, the unopposed Sovereign who no man can thwart, has in his great providence given to us, me, you, a collection of writings. These writings do indeed contain his whole counsel and right now at this point in history we have unprecedented access to a copy of his Word. Every man in the whole world could have a copy of his book and the Bible has been put into many of the world's languages. If a man could not find a translation of the Bible in his language, he could still begin to learn another language or find a man who could speak both a Biblically translated language and his own.
The proof text given for the first sentence of WCF 1.6 is 2 Timothy 3:15-17, "15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."
The first thing to note from this passage is that the holy scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation. Who is God? Who is man? Should man be afraid of God? What hope does man have to reconcile himself with God? The answers to these questions all lie within the pages of God's Word.
All scripture yields profit when it is searched for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. Why? That a godly man might be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
PERFECT, a. [L. perfectus, perficio, to complete; per and facio, to do or make through, to carry to the end.]
1. Finished; complete; consummate; not defective; having all that is requisite to its nature and kind; as a perfect statue; a perfect likeness; a perfect work; a perfect system.
As full, as perfect in a hair as heart.
2. Fully informed; completely skilled; as men perfect in the use of arms; perfect in discipline.
3. Complete in moral excellencies.
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect. Matt.5.
4. Manifesting perfection.
My strength is made perfect in weakness. 2 Cor.12.
THROUGHLY, adv. thru'ly. Completely; fully; wholly.
FURNISHED, a. Supplied; garnished; fitted with necessaries.
(All definitions taken from Noah Webster's 1828 dictionary.)
Verse 17 could thus read:
That the man of God may be complete in moral excellencies, completely fitted with necessities unto all good works.
The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith, and life is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture:
For example, a part of God's counsel that is expressly set down in scripture is the fifth commandment which is to honour your father and your mother. It is easy to see from this commandment that you are required to give your parents honour.
But some things are not expressly set down and by knowing principle #1 you can arrive at principle #2. 1 Timothy 5:1-2 says, "Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; the younger men as brethren; the elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity."
We can thus say, if we are to honour our fathers as expressly set down in the fifth commandment, and we are to treat an elder man as a father, then we must also honour an elder man like we would honour our father. The same logic applies to any express command about our relationship to older women, younger men, and younger women.
There are two disclaimers at the end of this section. The first is that the Spirit of God is necessary for the saving understanding of such things revealed in the Word. The second is that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God and government of the Church that are common to human actions and societies.
An example of the second point is that although God has given us counsel of how he wishes to be worshiped, he did not say that people must meet together at a certain time or exactly how much scripture he would like us to read or exactly how long the prayer should be or in what order or style the Bible is to be preached through. These things are left up to the discretion of the minster and his congregation. However, little discretionary decisions are NEVER to go against any other principles contained in the whole counsel of God.
Do you want to know how you should live? Read the whole counsel of God.
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