Coptic Church & Ecumenical Movement - Saint Mina Coptic ...

• In their understanding, Scripture is the ultimate standard for deciding on what is
and what is not the true Christian faith. While the tradition of the church is norma
normata, Scripture is norma normans.
• To be precise, it is not so much Scripture as such, as its content that matters. It is
the Gospel that speaks to us and wants to engage us, that again and again becomes
God’s word to us.
• In the Reformed view, the authority of Scripture is not based on any
(‘authoritative’) church decision of church process. Reformed do not dispute that
faith preceded Scripture, nor that it was the early church that (through its Council
decisions) established Scripture as the concrete collection of canonical books we
have today. They emphasize, however, that what the church did in establishing
Scripture essentially was an act of acknowledgment and obedience. It was and is
God’s Word, as we hear it from the Bible that imposed and imposes itself as
authoritative.
• In that context the Reformed also speak of scripture as being (divinely) inspired.
The view that this inspiration is to be seen as a work of verbal dictation came up
only at a later stage of the Reformed tradition. Originally and essentially to the
Reformed, the inspiration of the Scripture was not the basis of its authority.
Rather, the idea of inspiration was their way of acknowledging the authority.
• Further explaining this unique authority of Scripture, the Reformed also spoke
about the ‘properties of Scripture, such as its sufficiency, inspiration and
perspicuity.’ By this perspicuity is meant that the overall witness of the Scripture
is clear in itself and that each single text, even any difficult text, should and can be
explained in the light of this overall witness: only Scripture is its own interpreter.
• In the nineteenth century, historical-critical Bible study approached the Bible as a
purely human book. This may be an adequate approach. However, it surely
highlights an aspect that the Reformed understanding should not be forgotten.
The Bible indeed is a human book and as such it is the book in and through which
God’s Word is coming to us. The Reformed accept the historical-critical Bible
study as useful and helpful in understanding the Bible’s message.
• Karl Barth, in his Church Dogmatics, spoke about the threefold manifestation of
the Word of God: the Word as proclamation, the Word as Scripture and the Word
incarnate. These three manifestations are linked together. This may help us in
understanding Scripture, its authority and inspiration.
Despite the differences that can be seen in the views of the two sides, mentioned
above, yet the discussions showed a common understanding concerning the
following points:
• Chronologically the tradition preceded the writing of the Scripture. The church
does not have authority over the Bible; She is the servant of the Bible, which is
inspired by God.
• The Scriptures witness to the Word of God, i.e. Our Lord Jesus Christ (John 5:39).
• The church is built “on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ
Himself being the chief cornerstone.” (Ephesians 2:20).
On Monday the 13 th of January the second topic was presented by both families and
was discussed. It was ‘The function of theological reflection and the work of the
theologians’ in both traditions.
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