[Glossary] How Can We Obtain a Knowledge of God?

1. (Clark 1965, 24-25): "Section x is the culmination of Chapter I. At the beginning of this chapter the question was asked, How can we obtain a knowledge of God? In the history of theology three main answers have been given. The first is an individual's personal hunches. This is dignified by calling it the Spirit speaking in one's own mind. Do not confuse this with the illumination that the Spirit gives us when we study the Scripture. In this case the Spirit enables us to understand what is written. But what the Confession refers to as 'private spirits' is the view that the Spirit supplies to some men information not contained in and often contradictory to the Bible. Examples are Swedenborg, Anne Hutchinson, and Mary Baker Eddy."

"The second attempt to locate the source of information about God is the Romish theory that the Councils are infallible. Since 1870 the Romanists make the claim that the Pope is infallible. We shall see, in examining the doctrines of the Confession, that the Pope frequently contradicts the Bible; and he explicitly acknowledges and claims to add to it."

"The third answer is that of the Protestant Reformation and the Bible itself. 'The supreme Judge by which all controversies of religion are to be determined ... can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.' "

We can obtain a knowledge of God from the Bible.


Reference:

Clark, Gordon H. 1965. What Do Presbyterians Believe? The Westminster Confession: Yesterday and Today. Phillipsburg, New Jersey: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company.

End.