✦ Scripture · Authority

Rationally-Demonstrated

Scripture's authority must be established by external rational proofs alone — the early-modern rationalist tendency the Confession resists.

This is a contested or rejected alternative.

The Westminster baseline on Authority is Self-Authenticating-With-Internal-Witness. Personas and schools listed below hold this alternative position instead — either because they argued for it at the Assembly (like the Erastians on polity) or because they represent a receiving tradition that departed from the Standards on this point.

Other positions on Authority

Self-Authenticating-With-Internal-Witness WCF Scripture's authority is grounded in God its author and is sealed to the believer's heart by the inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness *with and by* the Word (WCF I.4–5). Church-Bestowed Scripture's authority depends on the church's reception and definition — the Tridentine and high-mediaeval position. Immediate-Spirit-Only Scripture's authority is subordinate to the immediate witness of the Spirit in the believer apart from the written Word — the radical-spiritualist position.

Cite this position

Study Reformed, “Rationally-Demonstrated” (Position), Westminster Standards Atlas, version 79a5f9880ac1, https://studyreformed.com/atlas/cite/position/scripture/authority/rationalist/.

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Ontology version 79a5f9880ac1 — the state of the Atlas you are reading, so a citation stays checkable when the ontology is revised.