Belgic Confession 3 – The word of God, spoken then written

Article III – The written word of God

We confess that this Word of God was not sent nor delivered by the will of man, but that men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit, as the apostle Peter says; and that afterwards God, from a special care which He has for us and our salvation, commanded His servants, the prophets and apostles, to commit His revealed word to writing; and He Himself wrote with His own finger the two tables of the law. Therefore we call such writings holy and divine Scriptures.

A few months ago, I read Louis Berkhof’s “Introduction to Systematic Theology”. I highly recommend it to you, as it lays the biblical groundwork for “doing systematics”. One part of his Intro that was especially helpful was a section where he discussed special revelation through verbal proclamation and through written script. He explained (I would quote this, but my volume is lost somewhere between Ohio and California) that God’s messengers gave inspired utterance first, and afterwards, much of what they spoke was recorded in script, making it permanent for future generations. While the speech was canonical in that it was God’s rule for His people, permanent canonicity was only achieved once it was written under God’s inspiration.

Berkhof’s basic viewpoint is expressed in this article of the Confession. Notice the temporal difference between the speaking and the writing indicated by “afterwards”. Notice also that "the revealed word” was committed to writing, which statement assumes that the word was already revealed. This viewpoint is also expressed in the Westminster Confession (1.1). Both documents, therefore, are contrary to the modern day claims to ongoing prophecy. The divine utterance was itself inspired and canonical, and it results in the formation of Scripture. The continuation of those gifts would mean that the canon of Scripture is still open, and there are various sources for our doctrine, the Scripture and God’s apostles and prophets.