B. B. Warfield has observed that "the church has always believed her Scriptures to be the book of God, of which God was in such a sense the author that every one of its affirmations of whatever kind is to be esteemed as the utterance of God, of infallible truth and authority."1 Although Warfield's observation has been contested,2 it is evident from the literature of the Christian Church from the time of the Apostolic Fathers onward, that the Church has always considered the Bible to be trustworthy in its affirmations about itself.3
The writings of the Apostolic Fathers treat the Scriptures in the same way that the Scriptures treat themselves. The phrases that they use to introduce quotations from the Bible indicate an implicit recognition of the Bible's absolute authority in all matters. In his first epistle to the Corinthians, for example, Clement of Rome wrote:
The ministers of the grace of God through the Holy Spirit spake concerning repentance. Yea and the Master of the universe Himself spake concerning repentance with an oath, "For, as I live, saith the Lord, I desire not the death of the sinner, so much as his repentance," and He added also a merciful judgment: "Repent ye, O house of Israel. . . ." And in another place He saith on this wise, "Wash, be ye clean. . . ."4
Throughout his epistle, Clement continually introduces the Scriptures as God's words, with such formulas as "For He saith," "God said unto him," "And again He saith," "For the Holy Ghost saith," "For it is written," "For the Scripture saith," and "as it is written." In I Clement 53, "the sacred Scriptures" are equated with "the oracles of God."
Similar formulas are used in the other writings of the Apostolic Fathers to introduce quotations from all parts of the Bible, whether from the Hebrew Scriptures or from the New Testament. In II Clement 2, "He said" is used three times to introduce Old Testament Scriptures; then the words of Jesus are given equal authority: "Again another scriptures saith, 'I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.'" In II Clement 3, we see that, where Isaiah speaks in the Scriptures, God speaks: "Now He saith also in Isaiah, 'This people honoreth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.'"
In the Epistle of Barnabas 2, it is clear that, where the prophets speak, God speaks: "For He hath made manifest to us by all the prophets . . . saying at one time, 'What to Me is the multitude of your sacrifices, saith the Lord?'" Other formulas used by Barnabas to introduce quotations from the Bible include "And He saith again unto them," "Thus then speaketh He to us," "He speaketh again therefore to them concerning these things," "But unto us He saith," "For the Scripture saith," and "The Lord saith in the prophet."
Of course, the assumption of the finality of the Scriptures in settling all matters continued throughout the history of the Church, from the time of the Apostolic Fathers onward. Irenaeus, for example, constantly quoted from the Scriptures as the final authority in his five books Against Heresies.
A helpful collection of quotations illustrating the high view of Scripture held during all periods of the history of the Church can be found in Norman L. Geisler's book, Decide For Yourself: How History Views the Bible (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1982).
1 Benjamin B. Warfield, The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible (Philadelphia: The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1948), p. 112.
2 Jack Rogers and Donald McKim, The Authority and Interpretation of the Bible: An historical Approach (New York: Harper and Row, 1979).
3 See, for example, John D. Woodbridge, Biblical Authority: A Critique of the Rogers/McKim Proposal (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, 1982).
4 I Clement 8.
