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Originally Posted by armourbearer  Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnOwen007 Dear Matthew, thanks for your comments, but I do struggle with the above point. Without a confession, Scripture is an "unintelligible mystery"? Did you really mean to say that, or was it just a rush of blood? It contradicts both Scripture itself and the classic reformation teaching of the clarity of Scripture (say outlined by Luther in the Bondage of the Will and then codified so well by the Protestant Orthodox systems). | Marty, It is because of the clarity of Scripture that the church is able and mandated to confess what it teaches and renounce the hidden things of dishonesty. Your declaration of the "clarity of Scripture" is itself a confession. By that statement you have declared what you believe Scripture teaches concerning itself. Not only so, but you proceeded to examine my statements in the light of your confession on the clarity of Scripture, thereby evincing that you hold your confession to be normative in a secondary sense. |
Dear Matthew, thanks for the thoughts, but you haven't answered my question. Your reply is simply showing the need for systematic theology--I entirely agree, we can't live without it; I use exactly the same reasoning on my students.
However, I questioned you about the clarity of Scripture itself. You claimed Scripture was an "unintelligible mystery" without confessions. Do you really believe this? It is a contradiction of the classic reformation teaching on the clarity of Scripture.
Every blessing my brother.