2 - Presuppositions
November 06, 2004 | Comments: 3SYS 501 – Hermeneutics – Lecture 2 – Presuppositions
I. The Bible is Word of God
A. Self-Authenticating – testifies to its own origin and authorship
B. God-breathed – 2 Timothy 3.16-17
C. Received because it is the Word of God – 2 Thes. 2.13
D. Written by the operation of the Spirit – 2 Peter 1.19-21
II. The Bible is the Axiom (point of beginning)
A. Foundation from which everything else must come
B. All rules of life, faith and practice deduced from it
C. Only authoritative source of Truth
III. God cannot be known by man unless He reveals Himself
A. Through the Holy Scriptures
B. Revelation essential to faith – 1 Cor. 2.10 ff.
C. Holy Spirit sent to teach us
D. Truth of Scripture may be known by the Spirit
IV. God does reveal Himself to Man
A. General Revelation
1. Created in the image of God
2. Thinks as God does
3. Innate cognition of God – Rom. 1.21
4. Confronted with a rational divine order
5. Innate Ethics – Law written in heart – Rom. 2.14-15
B. Special Revelation
1. Necessary to know God unto salvation – 1 Cor. 1.21
2. Revelation progressive in many portions – Hebrews 1.1-2
3. Over a period longer than a millennium
4. With various means, modes and methods
5. Fully and finally in Jesus Christ
6. Committed to writing in the Scripture
Comments
Ah, yes, “presuppositionalsim” presented in a purely cognitive field. John Frame’s “triperspectivalism” captured much of the essence of “presuppositionalism” as VanTil taught it and apparently what Clark missed or failed to emphasize. In his newly published essay, “Systematic Theology and Apologetics at the Westminster Seminaries,” part of “The Pattern of Sound Doctrine:Essays in honor of Robert B. Strimple,” Frame writes, “So we can look at ethics and other theological disciplines “situationally” (focusing on the nature of the created world), “normatively” (focusing on the authority of God’s revelation) or “existentially” (focusing on God’s presence with his people)...One cannot understand the situation without the light of revelation and our personal involvement. Once cannot understand revelation without understanding its history, and without being able to apply it to the world and the self. And one cannot understand himself without understanding revelation and the world, his environment….” This is not only vintage Frame; it is a fine distillation of VanTil. Frame footnotes the last sentence quoted with: “Compare Calvin’s statement that we cannot know ourselves without knowing God, and visa versa. John Calvin, Institutes…1.1.1.”
nathan on November 23, 2004 at 06:06 PM
Your notes on this second lecture do not show me the richness of Frame’s understanding of “presuppositionalism.” I am not sure that “point of beginning,” explains this particular apologetic field of “presuppositionalism.” I would think that possibilities for a beginning point would be endless, all coming under the scrutiny and then the authority of the Scriptures. However, it is possible to learn a bit of God’s truth first through the means of common grace. The assurance that it is truly God’s truth comes from discovering it within holy writ. To say otherwise, I fear, is not “presuppositional.” Nathan.
nathan on November 23, 2004 at 06:10 PM
I agree concerning how we gain absolute assurance that Scripture is God’s Truth, a la WCF I.5 “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.”
andrew on December 05, 2004 at 04:34 PM
