# Gospel Standard Articles



## JM (Jul 27, 2009)

For historical purposes, in pdf...with a few extra notes.
http://www.gospelstandard.org.uk/files/Articles.pdf​
Article I of the Gospel Standards,

“We believe in the divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, and receive them as a gracious revelation of the mind and will of God (Deut. 4:2, Ps. 19:7, Prov. 30:5-6, 2 Pet. 1:19-21, Rev. 22:18-19, John 5:39); and we believe that therein are revealed all the doctrines and truths which we here state. (2 Tim. 3:15-17.)”

*From “What Gospel Standard Baptists Believe” by J. H. Gosden*,

“We believe in the divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures.” The gift to sinful man of God’s Word is second only to the unspeakable gift of His only-begotten Son, and is of inestimable value. It is an act of infinite condescension for the holy, eternal God to deign to speak to His creatures, especially to sinful man, who before sin entered was invested with capacity to understand the mind and will of God concerning him. No less a miracle preserves Holy Writ intact through all the vicissitudes of time, and in spite of the hatred of Satan and the malice of men, than that by which it was originally “given by inspiration of God” (2 Tim. 3.16).

The divine origin and gracious purpose of this revelation to sinful man are not only asserted in Scripture itself, but also discovered in the mysterious method of its structure, the mode of its conveyance, and its indestructibility. For, like Himself, God’s Word “endureth for ever” (Psa. 33.11; Isa. 40.8; 1 Pet. 1.25; Psa. 102, 27; Heb. 1.12). By inspiration God gave the Holy Oracles, and by power – a perennial miracle – He preserves them intact. They are inerrant, unchangeable, unlosable. Could they err or change or be lost, their divine origin would be disproved and dependence upon them would be misplaced. In such a case there would exist no foundation upon which to build for eternity, no final court of appeal respecting truth and error, no standard of doctrine, no rule of practice, no touchstone of experience. “If this foundation be destroyed, what shall the righteous do?” For although the Book of Creation bears the seal of “eternal power and Godhead,” and man’s ignorance of God is therefore inexcusable (Rom. 1.20), yet that Book cannot be clearly read by a benighted sinner apart from the Holy Scriptures wherein the Creator declares His creation work: “God said, Let there be, and there was.” Holy Scripture is the key to the Book of Creation. To faith, that testimony is conclusive (Heb. 11.3). Science which contradicts is “science falsely so called” (1 Tim. 6.20).

By “divine inspiration” is intended that sovereign, mysterious breath of the Holy Spirit of God which, through “holy men of God,” produced the Holy Scripture, an infallible transcript in human language of the will of Jehovah, and a revelation to man (to such extent as Himself saw fitting) of His divine Being, nature and character. “Holy men of God spake as they were moved [borne along] by the Holy Ghost.” What the penmen of the Holy Ghost wrote, by His divine, direct, mysterious operation upon them, was God-breathed, was Holy Scripture. The Word of God “came to” them, and “spake by” them “at sundry times and in divers manners” (2 Tim. 3.16; 2 Pet. 1.21; Jer. 1.2,3; Ezek. 1.3; Heb. 1.1). When the Spirit of Christ in the prophets testified beforehand of His sufferings and the glory, which should follow, the prophets wrote more than they at first understood, but which was revealed to them upon their diligent search (1 Pet. 1.10, 11), a fact which manifests inspiration to belong to the writings, not to the penmen. Not all that prophets and apostles ever spoke or wrote was inspired, but what they wrote and spake under the especial controlling influence of the Holy Ghost. This is “God’s Word written.”

The Old Testament canon, comprising Genesis to Malachi, are the Scripture to which the Lord Jesus referred: “Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of Me” (John 5.39). To these He had recourse continually, especially in His conflict with Satan. “The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy” (Rev. 19.10). The Gospels, the Acts, the Epistles, the Apocalypse, composing the New Testament canon, are equally inspired Scriptures (2 Pet. 3.16), completing and explaining the Old Testament. Perilous in the extreme is any addition to or subtraction from the words of the one Book – the whole Bible (Prov. 30.6; Rev. 22.19).

“And we receive them as a gracious revelation of the mind and will of God.” The doctrine of inspiration is an article of faith. We believe we have in our English Authorized Version to all intents and purposes virtually the inspired Word of God, derived to us through the faithful translation of manuscripts which themselves were copied from the original autographs. By affirming our conviction of the “gracious revelation of the mind and will of God,” we acknowledge that nothing of God can be savingly known by sinful men except through an act of His good pleasure; which we believe divine inspiration of Holy Scripture to be. “Who by searching can find out God?” (Job 11.7). And since life eternal is in the knowledge of “the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent” (John 17.3), apart from revelation all men had remained in the ignorance and death into which sin plunged them. Therefore the doctrine of divine inspiration is a “doctrine according of godliness” (1 Tim. 6.3), which rightly held leads to a humble, trembling, reverential submission to the Holy Scriptures as God’s authoritative Word, and ultimately to salvation through faith in Christ, of whom they testify (2 Tim. 3.15). This faith, the gift of God, being “mixed with” the Word in the heart, is the “power of Christ’s resurrection” exerted by the Spirit in the soul (Eph. 1.19, 20.2.8; Col. 2.12; Heb. 4.2). To partake of Christ by faith is the very life of soul, and this is by the words, which He speaks (John 6.63).

But whilst we cordially endorse the doctrine of the divine plenary inspiration of the Holy Scripture, and firmly believe that the entire structure of Holy Writ was produced thereby, we solemnly realize that inspiration is not inherent in the inspired words. Many have in their hands and even in their memories the inspired Word, who never receive it savingly as the life-giving sanctifying and fructifying Word (John 15.1-8; 17.17; James 1:18). For this, the Holy Spirit who produced the written word of God, must by His vital power renew and enlighten the eyes of men’s understanding, and by His especial operations unfold and apply Holy Scripture to the individual soul. It then becomes the Word of God to them. This is something more then mere logical credence, good though that is in its place.

“So far he’s right, but let him know
Further than this he yet must go.”

True, faith will weigh up the internal evidence to be found I the Scriptures themselves; the believer will be delighted with every confirmation of the authenticity, accuracy and historicity of the Bible. But his faith is not founded thereon, though it may be strengthened thereby. The “demonstration of the Spirit and of power,” the “unction of the Holy One which teacheth all things, and is truth, and is on lie” (1 Cor. 2.4, 5; 1 John 2.20, 21), give a certainty of knowledge by which faith is fed. This will be better than, though not contrary to, logical deduction. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God”, herein the “wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err” (Rom. 10.17; Isa. 35.8). Thus the Bible is heartily received “as gracious revelation of the mind and will of God.”

“And we believe that therein are revealed all the doctrines and truths which we here state.” This is no claim by the framers of our Articles of Faith for their infallibility or universality, but rather a humble submission to the test of the infallible Word of God.


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