# “Scripture is the handmaiden of Christ” by Herman Bavinck

- Link: https://tollelege.net/2017/12/05/scripture-is-the-handmaiden-of-christ-by-herman-bavinck/
- Published: 2017-12-05T12:00:00-06:00
- Author: tollelege

“If Scripture is the account of the revelation of God in Christ, it is bound to 
arouse the same opposition as Christ himself who came into the world for judgment(
κρισις) and is ‘set for the fall and rising of many’ (Luke 2:34).

He brings separation between light and darkness and reveals the thoughts of many
hearts. Similarly Scripture is a living and active word, a ‘discerner’ of the thoughts
and intentions of the heart (Heb. 4:12).

It not only was inspired but is still ‘God-breathed’ and ‘God-breathing.’ Just as
there is much that precedes the act of inspiration (all the activity of the Holy
Spirit in nature, history, revelation, regeneration), so there is much that follows
it as well.

Inspiration is not an isolated event. The Holy Spirit does not, after the act of
inspiration, withdraw from Holy Scripture and abandon it to its fate but sustains
and animates it and in many ways brings its content to humanity, to its heart and
conscience.

By means of Scripture as the word of God, the Holy Spirit continually wars against
the thoughts and intentions of the ‘unspiritual’ person (ψυχικος ἀνθρωπος). By itself,
therefore, it need not surprise us in the least that Scripture has at all times 
encountered contradiction and opposition.

Christ bore a cross, and the servant (Scripture) is not greater than its master.
Scripture is the handmaiden of Christ. It shares in his defamation and arouses the
hostility of sinful humanity.”

–Herman Bavinck, Eds. John Bolt and John Vriend, [_Reformed Dogmatics, Volume 1: Prolegomena_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0801026326?tag=toletaupanre-20)(
Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003), 439-440.

 

More quotes from [Herman Bavinck](https://tollelege.net/category/herman-bavinck/)·
More on [Sola Scriptura](https://tollelege.net/category/sola-scriptura/)