The Necessity of Scripture

TMSJ 15/2 (Fall 2004) 151-164 THE NECESSITY OF SCRIPTURE William D. Barrick Professor of Old Testament Scripture is necessary because God willed to provide it and because mankind’s condition required it. The image of God in man requires communication between God and human beings. God’s incomprehensibility is another reason for the necessity of Scripture. Natural revelation’s insufficiency to teach the nature of God makes Scripture indispensable. The complexity of divine truth would have eventually required a written revelation even for Adam had he remained in his unfallen state. The fall of man made comprehension of divine truth in an oral form impossible, because corrupt mankind is always prone to distort what is oral. God’s special revelation had to be in written form. The work of God also makes written Scripture a necessity, since Scripture is the means that God has chosen to do His work in human lives. Without Scripture much would be left undone. There can be no question that Scripture is necessary. * * * * * Introduction Lord Byron (1788-1824), the great British Romantic poet, presented his publisher John Murray with a handsomely bound Bible containing a flattering inscription. Understandably, Murray was favorably impressed and placed it on a table where his guests would see it. Eventually a visitor admired the book enough to pick it up and thumb through it. While doing so, he noted an alteration of the text at John 18:40. In the sentence “Now Barabbas was a robber,” Lord Byron had deleted “robber” and substituted the word “publisher.” Byron’s purpose in giving the Bible had finally come to light. Obviously, Murray no longer displayed Byron’s gift on his table.1 Why did Byron give Murray that Bible? It would appear that he desired to make a statement, but did not want to do so too openly or directly. God’s gift of Scripture to mankind also makes a statement, but it is made openly and directly. Purpose (making a statement) and necessity, however, are two different concepts. Was it necessary that Byron give the Bible to Murray? Was it 1Clifton Fadiman, ed., The Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1985) 91-92. 151 152 The Master’s Seminary Journal necessary that he reveal his low opinion of his publisher in this fashion? Byron did not act under any necessity. He could have chosen a variety of means at his disposal to fulfill his purpose in letting Murray and others know how he felt. This study asks the same questions about Scripture: Why did God provide Scripture? Was it a matter of necessity? In order to pursue this latter question theologically one must establish the meaning of necessity. What does the theologian mean by the necessity of Scripture? What does Scripture itself say about necessity? Necessity Defined By dictionary definition, necessity is that which is dictated by constraining circumstances.2 Jude wrote, “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity [<V(60] to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).3 Jude claims to have been compelled to write his epistle. z!<V(60 refers to some necessity imposed either by circumstances, law, or duty.4 Jude’s sense of compulsion related to the inscripturation of divine revelation. From Jude’s perspective, the compulsion to write resulted either from what he observed in the lives of the recipients of his letter or from the Spirit of God impelling him to write. Jude wrote his epistle in order that it might meet a need in the lives of a group of believers. Meeting the need for instruction in godly living is but one purpose for written revelation. In what way might such a purpose be related to the necessity of Scripture? How does the necessity of Scripture compare, for example, to the necessity of gospel preaching concerning Christ5 or the necessity of Christ’s death and resurrection?6 In the biblical view, such necessity “no longer expresses the 2William Morris, ed., The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1979) 877. 3Unless otherwise stated, all Scripture passages are cited from the New American Standard Bible (La Habra, Calif.: Lockman Foundation, 1977). 4“Both in the OT and Josephus <V(60 has the meaning of constraint” (Walter Grundmann, “<"(6V.T,” in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. by Gerhard Kittel, trans. and ed. by Geoffrey W. Bromiley [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964] 1:345). “It expresses a situation of need” or even “a divine constraint which [Paul] cannot escape” (ibid., 1:346). William F. Arndt and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957), 52, define <V(60 as “necessity, compulsion of any kind, outer or inner, brought about by the nature of things, a divine dispensation, some hoped-for advantage, custom, duty, etc.” See also, Robert Morgenthaler, “Necessity, Must, Obligation: <V(60,” in The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, 3 vols., ed. by Colin Brown, 2:663-64 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976). 5See Acts 13:46, “And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, ‘It was necessary [<"(6"Ã@H] that the word of God should be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.’” The term <"(6"Ã@H has the same range of meaning as <V(60 (see n. 4, above). 6See Luke 24:26, “‘Was it not necessary [*,Ã] for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?’” ),Ã “expresses the ‘character of necessity or compulsion’ in an event. In most cases the word bears a weakened sense derived from everyday processes. It thus denotes that which in a given moment seems to be necessary or inevitable to a man or group of men” (Walter Grundmann, “*,Ã,” TDNT 2:21). According to Arndt and Gingrich, *,Ã means “it is necessary, one must or has to, denoting The Necessity of Scripture 153 neutral necessity of fate. Instead, it indicates the will of God declared in the message.”7 Normally the word “necessary,” when applied to some event, indicates that anything opposed to it is not successful in altering or preventing its occurrence. An event (like the giving of Scripture) is said to be necessary when it comes to pass notwithstanding any possible opposition to it. That which is necessary is something that cannot be frustrated regardless of any attempt or desire to the contrary. In the natural realm, for example, the sun will set no matter what anyone does or prays. It is a natural necessity rather than a moral necessity.8 According to Samuel Storms, [M]oral necessity refers to the cause/effect relationship within the will itself, whereas natural necessity refers to the cause/effect relationship external and prior to the will. Thus when it is said that a man lied because of a moral necessity to lie, he is to blame, for the cause of such an action was wholly his, being within the will itself. If he should lie because of a natural necessity, i.e., if the cause which issues in lying be external to and compelling upon the will, his action is then not wholly his and he is thus excused from blame.9 In the realm of theology, the topic of necessity is best approached with care lest we limit God’s power and/or wisdom by means of some constraint we might lay upon Him. The necessity of Scripture falls within the category of moral necessity rather than natural necessity. God sovereignly willed the inscripturation of His Word. This means that God was not and is not under any obligation or any compulsion outside Himself to provide revelation (general or special) so that mankind might know Him or experience His saving grace. In other words, “God owes sinners nothing.”10 Why, then, did God choose to provide Scripture? When it comes to the necessity of Scripture, the necessity is due more to mankind’s condition than to some form of constraint on God.11 The Creator willingly chose to address human beings, who possessed no power to compel Him to communicate with them. Necessity Involving the Image of God in Mankind The necessity of Scripture, as a topic of theological discussion, has received compulsion of any kind. of divine destiny or unavoidable fate . of the compulsion of duty . of the compulsion of law or custom . of an inner necessity, growing out of a given situation . of the compulsion caused by the necessity of attaining a certain result . of the compulsion of what is fitting” (*,Ã in Greek-English Lexicon, 171). See also, Erich Tiedtke and Hans-Georg Link, “Necessity, Must, Obligation: *,Ã,” NIDNTT 2:664-66. 7Grundmann, “*,Ã,” TDNT 2:22. 8I am indebted to C. Samuel Storms, “Jonathan Edwards on the Freedom of the Will,” Trinity Journal 3/2 (Fall 1982):143, for the concepts expressed in this paragraph. 9Ibid., 145 [emphasis in the original]. 10James I. Packer, “The Necessity of the Revealed Word,” in The Bible—The Living Word of Revelation, ed. by Merrill C. Tenney (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1968) 38. 11Ibid. 154 The Master’s Seminary Journal little attention in the last century even though, according to J. I. Packer, a “pervasive conviction of the necessity of Scripture lies at the heart of evangelicalism.”12 It is surprising that so few theologies discuss the topic.13 Those few who mention it tend to speak of the necessity of revelation rather than the necessity of Scripture.

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