I. What is being confessed in this article?⤒🔗

This article confesses that the books mentioned in the previous article are beyond all contradiction, and why this is the case.

1. In the first place it is emphatically stated of “all these books” that we “receive,” in other words, ‘accept’ precisely this set of books – not one more or one less – as very special (“holy”) and of having decisive significance for our faith, and that we believe without any doubt everything that is contained in them.
2. Then it is confessed why we do this: It is not so much because the church also thinks so, but especially because the Holy Spirit convinces us that they are from God.
   This is also reflected in their content. Even those who are blind can still perceive that everything foretold in them are indeed being fulfilled.

II. What the books of the Bible mean for our faith←⤒🔗

1. The Bible is indispensable to our faith. Three verbs are actually used to make it clear that the Bible truly means everything for our faith: it regulates our faith, we base our faith on it, and we confirm our faith by it. In other words: the Bible is the standard, the foundation, and the nourishment for our faith. We’ll elaborate some more on each function
2.  a. The Bible provides direction for our faith. It is our guideline (norm, canon). It alone decides what we may or may not believe, even if we consider it foolish: “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom” (1 Corinthians 1:25).
   As soon as the Bible does not make a clear statement about a matter, our belief in that matter drops to the level of an opinion.
   b. We base our faith on the Bible. For that reason it does not depend on reasoning or evidence. There is always something to say against these latter grounds, if not today, then tomorrow. Our faith would then rest on an unreliable foundation, but the Word of the Lord endures forever (1 Peter 1:24-25; Isaiah 40:6-8).
   c. The more we become familiar with the Bible, the stronger our faith will become. Peter calls the Bible “pure spiritual milk” by which we grow up in our salvation (1 Peter 2:2).

III. How we receive these books of the Bible←⤒🔗

1. How we arrive at precisely this series of Bible books is said at the beginning of this article: “We receive all these books... as… canonical.” It is not the church that judges and selects. The Bible is not its choice. That is not even possible, for it does not itself have the standard to determine what conditions a holy book should meet. Therefore the church receives these books as from God’s hand.
2. How God has preserved and collected these books over the centuries is no longer entirely clear. Out of a lengthy history the Old Testament emerges first as a firm unit, which is called, for example, “the scripture” (John 2:22), or ”the Scriptures” (John 5:39).
   So it was with the New Testament. In the first centuries there was still some uncertainty. After all, the NT did not fall from heaven all ready-made. So Paul wrote his letters to various churches. Some of these epistles were lost. Others were preserved and copied. But this was not left to chance. God himself made sure that the number of books determined by him would remain in circulation. And these were so distinguished by their divine character that the church recognized and acknowledged them without much difficulty as holy and canonical books. So it is not the church that would have elevated certain books to the status of Bible books. It has done nothing more than to receive the already existing Bible books as such.
   The church has not so much come to the Bible; rather,  the Bible has come to the church.

IV. The meaning of the church for the acceptance of the books of the Bible←⤒🔗

1. According to Roman Catholics, the church plays a decisive role in the acceptance of the Bible. It decides which books are divine. It is even claimed that the church is infallible in this. In doing so, however, the church has placed itself as a judge above God’s word. Similarly, it is clear why the Roman Catholic Church has included unreliable apocryphal books in its Bible and teaches things about Mary that are not found anywhere in Scripture. The Roman Catholic church has determined that they too are canonical.
2. It would be precarious, however, if we were to accept the Bible, which is so heavily attacked, as the Word of God on the authority of fallible church leaders of days gone by. At any time a question of doubt could arise: Were these people perhaps mistaken when they declared certain books to be divine? In the meantime, we have seen under point III how things went.
3. This article does not ignore the church. For we accept the books of the Bible “not so much because the church receives and approves them...” “Not so much” - yet it still counts. It is a great comfort to us that many previous generations have accepted and experienced Scripture as the Word of God. Imagine if the Bible would have been accepted as the Word of God only around the year 1900! In a certain sense one might say that we owe our faith to the church. Because we hear the gospel proclaimed from it. For how could we believe without ever hearing it (Romans 10:14)?
   Yet, when it comes down to it, we do not believe in the Bible because the church says so, but because we hear God speaking in it. We can think here of what the Samaritans from the nearby town said to the well-known Samaritan woman: “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard [him] for ourselves...” (John 4:42).

V. The significance of the Holy Spirit for the acceptance of the books of the Bible←⤒🔗

1. We believe in the books of the Bible “especially because the Holy Spirit witnesses in our hearts that they are from God." That does not mean that the Spirit whispers deep in our hearts that our Bible books really come from God. The testimony of the Spirit referred to here is nothing mysterious in its content. We have it in black and white in the Bible. But the Spirit ensures that what is written in the Bible on paper enters into our heart with power and it moves us there and brings us to faith.
2. This is done as follows. The power of the Spirit always accompanies the Bible. Anyone therefore who comes into contact with Scripture, therefore, enters the force field or arena of the Spirit. He influences us so strongly there that we have to believe. He convicts us as we work with the Bible that it really is God’s Word.
   For that reason we should not walk cautiously around God's Word in a defensive or hesitant manner, but step in and dive into it. Then we experience that this word is “a power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” – even if this faith is still weak (Romans 1:16-17).
3. We arrive at a reassuring conclusion. Fortunately our belief does not depend on our own judgment or anyone else’s, or on evidence and reasoning. Our certainty is a direct fruit of the witness and conviction worked by the Holy Spirit.

VI. The significance of the books of the Bible themselves for our acceptance of them←⤒🔗

In conclusion the article states that the Bible books themselves provide proof that they are from God. For everything that is foretold in them comes true and is (being) fulfilled. In the birth of Jesus, God fulfilled his promise that he had spoken to our fathers – Abraham and his descendants – as Mary says in Luke 1:55. He spoke as well by the mouth of his holy prophets of old, as Zechariah reminds us in Luke 1:70. In fact, the entire Bible is one continuous proof of God fulfilling his Word.

When the sun shines brightly in the sky, no one will deny its presence. Even those who keep their eyes tightly closed would still feel it. Even more, the Bible radiates God's majesty and faithfulness. It is not a dead book, but “living and active, sharper than a two-edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12). “It is a fire that consumes; like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces” (Jeremiah 23:29), and “through the endurance and encouragement of the Scriptures we have hope” (Romans 15:4).

Points to discuss←↰⤒🔗

1. Someone called the canon a fortunate selection on the part of the early church from an abundance of materials through which the most valuable books were chosen and preserved. What do you think of this claim? Is there an element of truth to it?
2. The Remonstrants deliberately omitted the witness of the Spirit from this article. Explain this from their teaching about “free will” and show how they are wrong.
3. Is it not a tie score when we profess that the Bible is God’s Word, while the Muslims claim the same of their Qur'an?
4. Discuss whether “I need to be tuned in” to the Bible before I can accept it. Or does it never ‘have to click’?
5.  Does literally everything in the Bible have divine authority? Does it include passages such as Genesis 3:4-5 (where Satan is speaking) and Job 4-5 (the attacks on Job by his friends)? To what extent are those texts also God’s Word?
6. Should we be worried that one day science might defeat the Scriptures? See 1 Peter 1:24-25.