✦ Scripture · Interpretation

Critical-Reason

Scripture is interpreted under the rule of autonomous human reason — the rationalist tendency.

This is a contested or rejected alternative.

The Westminster baseline on Interpretation is Scripture-Interprets-Scripture. 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 Interpretation

Scripture-Interprets-Scripture WCF The infallible rule of interpretation is Scripture itself: when there is a question about the true sense of any passage, it must be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly (WCF I.9). Church-Magisterium Authoritative interpretation belongs to the church's teaching office — the Roman position rejected by WCF I.10. Private-Spirit Each believer's immediate Spirit-illumination decides the meaning of Scripture without ecclesial regulation — the radical position.

Cite this position

Study Reformed, “Critical-Reason” (Position), Westminster Standards Atlas, version 79a5f9880ac1, https://studyreformed.com/atlas/cite/position/scripture/interpretation/critical_reason/.

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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.