08 August 2009

The Bible and History

The notion has to be avoided that the historical character of the Bible must somehow be overcome before we have the truth for today. It is no more the case that the Bible is true in spite of or apart from its historical qualification than it is the case that the death of Christ is efficacious in spite of its historicity. In fact, to remove the negatives and disjunctives from the preceding sentence will disclose the integral tie between truth and history from a biblical point of view: the Bible is true in view of its historical qualification, just as the death of Christ is efficacious in view of its historicity.

--Richard Gaffin, synthesizing Geerhardus Vos' treatment of the shortcomings of some systematic theology in Gaffin's introduction to Vos' Redemptive History and Biblical Interpretation: The Shorter Writings of Geerhardus Vos (edited by Gaffin; P&R, 1980), xx-xxi; quoted in Mike Williams, 'Systematic Theology as a Biblical Discipline,' in All for Jesus, 176

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