The Baptist Confession of Faith
Of The Holy Scriptures
Chapter 1 Paragraph 6
31 May 2026
So, we come to the next paragraph (Paragraph 6) regarding the Scriptures. So, I'll just read it to you. You should have it on your sheet. There should be plenty sheets for everybody. Anybody not got a sheet? Okay, I printed 40 I think, so there should be plenty.
The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down or necessarily contained in the Holy Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelation 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.
Amen. Now, you might wonder why did I read that verse from Isaiah? It's because one of the titles that's given to the Messiah, to Jesus Christ, is a wonderful counselor. A counselor is usually somebody that gives advice. But Jesus is described as wonderful counselor. And when we think of the Word of God, we have in John chapter 1, the Word being used to describe Jesus. So, we have the living word in Jesus Christ and the written word in the Bible. And here it's described as the whole counsel of God. So let me ask you a question. If you were moving to somewhere new and you were looking for a church, what would be the number one thing you should be looking for? Is it, oh they are nice people? Oh, the music's uplifting. Oh, there's good food. None of these things are bad. These things are good. But number one is, does that church preach and teach the whole counsel of God? Or is it a church that takes some bits of the Bible that are easy or some bits of the Bible that fit in with most people's modern lifestyles and that's all you get and the rest of the Bible is just shoved aside?
The whole counsel of God. The Bible is here to guide us. Now some of you I'm sure can think of some humans who have given you wise counsel, and that's good. But nothing compares with the wise counsel from God's word. And that's why we use this phrase. Now I've used it, many of you have used it, the whole counsel of God. And then we're told the whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, for God's glory.
Now this is something I'm not going to get into too deeply tonight, but God's glory is not just about God. God's glory is also about His people because we will eventually share in His glory, share in His joy. We had that passage this morning about rejoicing. So, the whole counsel of God, things necessary for His glory. The next thing it mentions is man's salvation. What leads us to salvation is the Word of God. How do we know the Gospel? Through the Word of God and the person of Jesus Christ. But we know that Jesus is God incarnate, God in human form, and so God has revealed to us His Word, His written Word and His living Word. And through that, the Gospel has the power to bring people to salvation.
And that salvation is in Jesus. We're then told the whole counsel of God concerns faith and life. The Bible can build up our faith. The Bible can guide us in our life. And it says it's either expressly set down or necessarily contained in the Holy Scripture. Why the two things? Well, some things are plainly obvious in the Bible and other things we have to understand by studying the Bible. And as we study the Bible, it's the whole counsel of God. Some people would say, oh well the Old Testament, that's one thing, the New Testament, that's another thing. Thank you, granddaughter, for your contribution there. But although the New Testament is where Jesus is fully revealed, Jesus is all the way through the Old Testament. There are types and shadows of Jesus. There are all the messianic prophecies about Jesus. And once we really get into the Old Testament, it helps us to understand the New Testament better. It's the whole counsel of God.
Now look at the next bit, onto which nothing at any time is to be added. Now think of the time when this was written, 1689. Probably the thinking was, well, look at that Roman Catholic Church there. Yes, they've got the Bible, but they've got all these traditions of men that they have added. Now you might think, what about since the Confession's been written? Well, plenty examples. Let's take the Book of Mormon. That's been added to the Bible by what is a non-Christian religion, right? Well, the Mormons may call themselves the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but they are not Christian. They are a non-Christian religion who have gone against what the Bible says.
Now, had 1689 been written in 2026, I think they would have added an extra phrase in here. So, they've got, unto which nothing at any time is to be added. I think they would have added nowadays, unto which nothing is to be taken away. Because that's the problem in too many churches. We ignore parts of the Bible. We say, oh well that was just for old times, or oh, that doesn't really fit with modern society. In other words, you have churches today that are taking the stance, we know better than God. So, we're putting this bit of the Bible aside, equally as bad as adding to it. Let me give you one little example of somebody adding to it ah in my personal experience. On two occasions, I have preached in Pentecostal churches. Now I've preached in hundreds of churches, but only twice in Pentecostal churches, two different ones. Now one of them, the first one I preached in, I was only doing the sermon. I wasn't doing the rest of it. And before I stood up to preach, this young man was invited up to the front and he said, I have a word from the Lord. And I was thinking, right, which Bible passage were we going to get? No, no, no. He personally had received a word from the Lord. Now I wasn't very old at the time, I was probably slightly younger than John William is now, and this guy was much, much younger than me, and yet he had received this word from the Lord. So, when you get people claiming to have received a new word from the Lord, or people claiming to be apostles or prophets, they are adding to God's word, and that is unacceptable according to Scripture.
Now there is a little bit of, well, there might be some circumstances where a bit of human uh involvement is okay. So, I'll quickly go through the rest of it. The inward illumination of the Spirit of God necessary for the saving understanding of such things that are revealed in the Word. I don't think there's any problem with that, that's very scriptural. And there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God and government of the church, common to human actions in societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature. Now not going to tell you what that is because that's one of the questions I've set you for tonight. Can't give you all the answers straight off. That's one to discuss.
And Christian prudence. Right, what is Christian prudence? Christian prudence is that you build up a knowledge of the scripture and how to apply it to life. Now, a word that I prefer to prudence, there's nothing wrong with prudence, is discernment. God builds up a Christian godly discernment in his people when they are faithful to studying his word and praying to him and talking about his word with others. God also provides pastors and elders to teach us. And the confession says this has to be according to the general rules of the Word which are always to be observed. So, if somebody comes out and says, oh, I think we should do this, we go back to the word and see, is it compatible with God's word or not?
Okay, we have six questions to look at. So, if we spend a bit of time doing the questions, maybe till about just after 20 past, then a short time to prayer for prayer if you've got time for that and then I will finish in prayer round about half past five so I'll lead this group.
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. What is the “whole counsel of God” and why is it so important to preach and practice through this?
2. Give examples of “adding” to Scripture. Why is this so wrong?
3. What is the role of the Holy Spirit in the effectiveness of the Word of God?
4. What is meant by “the light of nature and Christian prudence” and what role can this play? What restrictions should there be?
5. Choose two of the Bible references and discuss their significance.
6. What lessons must we apply to our own spiritual lives from this paragraph?