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2024 Conference Theme - Of the Holy Scriptures

Jim Butler · 2024-02-26 · 600 words · 4 min

Confessing the Faith - 2024

So, Mike, what's the theme for 
this year, 2024, for the Confessing the Faith conference? Well, as 
Pastor Butler said, we're going to have Dr. Renahan and Dr. Barcelos, 
and we're going to follow our Confession of Faith, the Second 
London Baptist Confession, which was written in 1677, but adopted 
in 1689. And thankfully, we'll start with 
the doctrine of Holy Scripture, Chapter 1, looking at the authority 
of Scripture, looking at what is Scripture, what actually makes 
up the books of the Bible, what actually is the canon, and also 
looking at how we interpret Scripture. Chapter 1 is very important for 
the rest of the Confession, but also for our faith, knowing how 
we ought to read Scripture and view it. So, I'm looking forward 
to hearing the speakers. Okay, and how is this still relevant 
today after 400 years? Well, I mean, the Scriptures 
are the Word of God, and they are God-breathed. And so, just 
understanding how we view them in their authority. Certainly 
today, people do not view Scripture as authoritative. And so, it's 
good to be reminded of that, but also to recognize historically 
that our forefathers recognized that as well. And there is a 
rich tradition that highlights the importance of Holy Scripture 
for the life of the believer, and it helps us understand all 
things that pertain to life and godliness. I think chapter 1, 
paragraph 1, talks about the importance of, as we deal with 
the temptations of the devil, as we deal with the allurements 
of the world, and even as we deal with our own flesh, Scripture 
reminds us of who our Christ is, and who our God is, and where 
we can look in times of concern in times of distress, but even 
to how to interpret scripture, I think is important, and certainly, 
is it paragraph 8? Yeah, paragraph 8 of chapter 
1 highlights, you know, scripture interprets scripture. And so, 
I think that'll be helpful for people who need to be reminded 
of that, but also for people who haven't heard that before 
and need some guidance as far as interpretation goes. As well, 
Dr. Renahan, his forte is historical 
theology. So, one of the things that we're 
also interested in is him setting our confession of faith in its 
historical context and showing that the concerns that the church 
faced at that time are the similar concerns that we face at our 
time. And as a confessional church, I think it's good for us as pastors 
especially to realize that our heritage is rich and that it 
is solid and that these men had a concern preach the gospel, 
to glorify God, to see sinners saved, to see saints sanctified, 
all the same sorts of things that we face today. So, I think 
it's going to be very interesting, very wonderful to have Dr. Renahan 
do that, put it in its context, and then Dr. Barcelos will deal 
a bit more with what Mike was speaking about in terms of interpretation, 
applying the principles that we find in Chapter 1 in terms 
of hermeneutics or approach to interpreting Scripture. And then, 
how different is the chapter 1 in our London Confession from 
the Westminster Confession? No differences. No words? No. 
I mean, there might be an odd thing here or there. Yeah, for 
the most part, you know, for the most part, it aligns with 
the Westminster, but the Baptist do in paragraph 1 highlight that 
first sentence, highlight the sufficiency of Scripture. I can't 
remember the historical reasons, but there is a change there.