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Ephesians 2:19–21
“You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.”
No building will remain standing without a sure foundation, and the New Testament applies this principle metaphorically to the church. Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:24–27 that those who hear and do His words are like the wise man who builds his house on a rock so that it will be safe from the storm. Christians individually and the church corporately must have divine revelation as the foundation of their faith and practice, or else they will not endure. This foundation of divine revelation today consists only of “the apostles and prophets” (Eph. 2:20), whose teachings we find with certainty only in the Old and New Testaments.
Westminster Confession of Faith 1.1 explores this idea. Having recognized that God has provided special revelation over the course of redemptive history in many ways, the confession states that God was pleased, “for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing: which makes the Holy Scripture to be most necessary; those former ways of God’s revealing his will unto his people being now ceased.” Because the Lord has ceased granting public, special revelation to the church, Scripture is “most necessary” for establishing God’s people in all truth and holiness. Before the end of the Apostolic age, there were times when God’s people could receive a word from a prophet. Once our Creator spoke finally and decisively in His Son and through His Son’s Apostles, no further revelation is to be expected, at least until the return of Christ (Heb. 1:1–4). A foundation is laid only once, so Paul’s statement that the Apostles and prophets form the church’s foundation informs us that special revelation has ceased.
We have no other teachings that we can verify as coming from the prophets and Apostles besides that which is found in sacred Scripture. Thus, theological debates in the church have always centered on the interpretation of the Bible. Scripture is indispensable for formulating sound doctrine and for knowing the Lord’s will for His church. These written Apostolic and prophetic teachings are God’s gift to us, for oral traditions can be corrupted. Written documents, on the other hand, preserve the authoritative words and give them to us in a public manner so as to guard against individuals who would lead us astray by claiming private revelation.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Scripture is necessary because God is no longer giving special revelation. Thus, if we want to know the truths that the Lord wants us to believe and the things that God commands us to do, we must turn to the written Scriptures. They are the necessary source of divine special revelation and the only infallible rule of faith and practice for the church.
For further study
- Deuteronomy 12:32
- 2 Kings 22:1–23:25
- John 10:35
- Revelation 22:18–19
The bible in a year
- Genesis 33–35
- Matthew 11