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Herman Bavinck – What is the Testimony of the Holy Spirit?

5 Oct

By it [the testimony of the Holy Spirit to the Word of God] alone the entire church originates and exists. The entire application of salvation is a work of the Holy Spirit; and the witness to Scripture is but one of many of his activities in the community of believers. The testimony of the Holy Spirit is not a source of new revelations but establishes believers in relation to the truth of God, which is completely contained in Scripture. It is he who makes faith a sure knowledge that excludes all doubt. It finds its analogy, finally, in the testimony our conscience offers to the law of God and in the assurance we have concerning God’s existence.

~Herman Bavinck~




Reformed Dogmatics Vol. 1: Prolegomena (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Baker Academic; 2003) p. 584.

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Herman Bavinck – How Do We Know Scripture is From God?

3 Oct

That Scripture is the word of God, says Calvin, was not established by the church but was certain prior to the church’s decision, for the church is built on the foundation of apostles and prophets. Scripture brings with it its own authority; it is self-based and self-attested as trustworthy (αύτοπιστος). Just as light is distinguished from darkness, white from black, sweet from bitter, so Scripture is recognized by its own truth. But Scripture acquires certainty as God’s own Word with us by the testimony of the Holy Spirit. Though proofs and reasonings are of great value, this testimony surpasses them by far; it is more excellent than all reason. Just as God can only witness concerning himself in his Word, so his Word does not find belief in the hearts of human beings before it is sealed by the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit who spoke through the mouths of the prophets must work in our hearts to persuade us that they faithfully proclaimed what had been commanded by God. The Holy Spirit, accordingly, is the “seal” and “guarantee” for confirming the faith of the godly. If we have that testimony within us, we do not rest in any human judgment but observe without any doubt as if we were gazing upon God himself in it–that Scripture came from the mouth of God through the ministry of human beings. We subject our judgment to it “as to a thing far beyond any guesswork!”

~Herman Bavinck~




Reformed Dogmatics Vol. 1: Prolegomena (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Baker Academic; 2003) p. 583.

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John Calvin – The Spectacles of Scripture

28 Sep

Now in describing the world as a mirror in which to behold God, I would not be understood to assert either that our eyes are sufficiently clear-sighted to discern what the fabric of heaven and earth represents, or that the knowledge we thereby derive suffices for salvation. As a matter of fact, because the Lord invites us to himself by means of created things but with no effect except thereby to render us inexcusable, he has added (as was necessary) a new remedy, or at any rate mitigated the coarseness of our disposition by means of other assistance. For with Scripture as our guide and teacher, not only does he make plain those things that would otherwise escape our notice, he virtually forces us to behold them, as if he had assisted our dull sight with eyeglasses.

~John Calvin~







Genesis 1-11: The Reformation Commentary on Scripture (Downers Grove, IL; IVP Academic; 2012) p. 13.

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Herman Bavinck – Belief Doesn’t Prove Anything

24 Sep

Believing itself is no proof for the truth of that which is believed. There is a huge difference between subjective certainty and objective truth. In the case of faith or belief, everything depends on the grounds on which it rests.

~Herman Bavinck~




Reformed Dogmatics Vol. 1: Prolegomena (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Baker Academic; 2003) p. 578.

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John Calvin – Calvin’s Weapon

20 Sep

Calvin had no weapon but the Bible…. Calvin preached from the Bible every day, and under the power of that preaching the city began to be transformed. As the people of Geneva acquired knowledge of God’s Word and were changed by it, the city became, as John Knox called it later, a New Jerusalem from which the gospel spread to the rest of Europe, England, and the New World’

~James Montgomery Boice~







The Expository Genius of John Calvin (Lake Mary, FL; Reformation Trust Publishing; 2007) p. 1.

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Herman Bavinck – Faith is Bound to Scripture

5 Sep

In the case of saving faith (fides salvifica), things are different. It most certainly has as its object the grace of God in Christ. But of that grace of God we would not have the slightest knowledge if it had not come to us through the witness of others, if it had not been assured to us in Holy Scripture. Between the person of Christ and our faith, therefore, stands the witness of the apostles. The word of God is a means of grace. Faith, to be sure, considers Scripture only under the aspect of its being the word of God (1 Thess. 2:13). For religious faith can rest only in a divine witness (John 3:33; Rom. 10:14f.; 1 John 5:9-11). Still faith is bound to Scripture. It has as its object the grace of God as it is attested in Scripture; or as Calvin puts it, its object is Christ “clothed with his gospel.” Faith, consequently, reaches out in a single act to the person of Christ as well as to Scripture. It embraces Christ as Savior and Scripture as the word of God.

~Herman Bavinck~




Reformed Dogmatics Vol. 1: Prolegomena (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Baker Academic; 2003) p. 569.

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Herman Bavinck – No Power Comparable

2 Sep

Faith is concentrated on the historic realities of redemption and results in trust that these historic acts are God’s saving acts for us. It is the same Spirit that inspired the apostolic witness that now seals the truth of that witness in believers’ hearts. Christians submit to Scripture because they believe it is a divine word, a word from God…. The authority of Scripture, accepted in Spirit-inspired faith, is a powerful self-asserted authority. We believe it because God said it, and God’s speaking is the final ground of our faith. There is no power in the world comparable to that of Scripture.

~Herman Bavinck~




Reformed Dogmatics Vol. 1: Prolegomena (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Baker Academic; 2003) p. 563.

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Herman Bavinck – Scripture Founded the Church

31 Aug

While the church as the community of believers is the context within which the Spirit’s testimony is confirmed, Scripture’s authority is not granted by the church’s decision. The opposite is true: Scripture founded the church. Through the gracious work of the Holy Spirit, Scripture is self-authenticating.

~Herman Bavinck~




Reformed Dogmatics Vol. 1: Prolegomena (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Baker Academic; 2003) p. 562.

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John Calvin – The Witness of the Holy Spirit

24 Aug

For even if it [Scripture] wins reverence for itself by its own majesty, it seriously affects us only when it is sealed upon our hearts through the Spirit. Therefore, illumined by his power, we believe neither by our own nor by anyone else’s judgment that Scripture is from God. But above human judgment we affirm with utter certainty (just as if we were gazing upon the majesty of God himself) that it has flowed to us from the very mouth of God by the ministry of men.

~John Calvin~


The Institutes of the Christian Religion (Louisville, KY; Westminster John Knox Press; 1974) 1.7.5.

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Charles Spurgeon – Use, Then, Thy Freedom

8 Aug

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You are free to all that is in the Bible. Here is a never- failing treasure filled with boundless stores of grace. It is the bank of heaven: you may draw from it as much as you please without let or hindrance. Bring nothing with you, except faith. Bring as much faith as you can get, and you are welcome to all that is in the Bible. There is not a promise, not a word in it, that is not yours. In the depths of tribulation let it comfort you. Mid waves of distress let it cheer you. When sorrows surround thee, let it be thy helper. This is thy father’s love- token: let it never be shut up and covered with dust. Thou art free to it– use, then, thy freedom.

~Charles Spurgeon~




Spurgeon’s Sermons (Spokane, Washington; Olive Tree Bible Software; 2010) eBook. Vol. 1, Sermon No. 9; Titled: Spiritual Liberty; Delivered on Sabbath Morning, February 18, 1855.

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