No matter how glorious, beautiful, coherent, cohesive, and perfect the Bible may be, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts.

Thus far the necessity of Scripture is defined in the Westminster Confession of Faith 1:1, and the content of Scripture is described in 1:2 & 3 as the sixty-six books of the canon. All people know God through revelation of himself in creation and conscience, however their understanding of God as they read Scripture is blurred until the Holy Spirit focuses their perceptions by illumining their understanding to embrace the gospel, then they grow in sanctification through both reading and hearing its teaching from faithful instructors. The next two paragraphs of the first chapter provide teaching regarding the authority and authenticity of Scripture.

The Authority of Scripture

4. The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed, and obeyed, depends not upon the testimony of any man, or church; but wholly upon God (who is truth itself) the author thereof: and therefore, it is to be received, because it is the Word of God.

Paragraph four provides in just one sentence both an apology and doctrinal affirmation regarding the authority of Scripture. Notice the Ramist antithetical bifurcation as the issue is expressed negatively by saying Scripture’s authority depends not upon any man, or church, then it is said positively that the authority depends but wholly upon God. The apologetic response is directed primarily at the teaching of Roman Catholicism regarding the authority of the pope and the leadership of the Catholic Church. At the time of the Westminster Assembly the popes were number 236, Urban VIII (1623-1644), then 237, Innocent X (1644-1655). Most recently in the news was the inauguration of number 268, Pope Leo XIV (2025). All the popes in linear succession are said to have received their authority from the Apostle Peter as it was delivered to him by Christ in Matthew 16:18. However, the Assembly turns readers of the Confession from the authority of man to the authority of God; Scripture needs no witness or proof of any man, or church as to its authority and authenticity. The Lord has providentially delivered the Word through political chaos, storms, floods, earthquakes, consuming fires, wars, technological deficiencies, plagues, and the disobedience of his wandering people—the Bible needs no confirmation of its authority since its authority is because it is the Word of God.

The Authenticity of Scripture

5. We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the church to a high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scripture. And the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole (which is, to give all glory to God), the full discovery it makes of the only way of man’s salvation, the many other incomparable excellencies, and the entire perfection thereof, are arguments whereby it doth abundantly evidence itself to be the Word of God: yet notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts.

Several points are made in paragraph five that evidence the authenticity of the Bible as the word of God. These points are not proofs, but rather evidence that one would expect the word of God to manifest. The church should teach a high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scripture. Over the centuries there have been individuals who questioned the authenticity of Scripture by raising the question uttered by Satan, “Yea, hath God said” (Genesis 3:1). The rise of Socinianism (Unitarianism) in the seventeenth century showed little esteem for the clear teaching of Scripture on the Trinity. In the later years of the nineteenth century higher criticism did not esteem the Bible calling into question the authorship of its individual books while denying their divine origin.

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