Encyclopedia of sacred theology - pagina 577

Chap.

§

§ 86.

II]

TESTIMONIUM SPIRITUS SANCTI

Testimonium Spiritus Sanctis or The

86.

553

Witness of the

Holy Spirit point of view held by our Reformers

The faith

is

Spirit

;

is

(1) that true

Holy

a gift of God, the fruit of an operation of the

and (2) that true

faith, as the

Heidelberg Catechism

teaches, first of all consists of this, " that I hold for truth all

has revealed to us in His Word." This agrees enwith what was said at the close of the former section. Not merely historical, but true faith is unthinkable in the sinner, except he embrace " the Christ and all His benefits."' This, however, by no means exhausts the meaning of what is that

God

tirely

understood by the " witness of the Holy Spirit," or the testimoniuni Spiritus Sancti. This goes far deeper. Although iti is entirely logical, that he who believes on Christ as God mani-j fest in the flesh,

cannot simultaneously reject the positive and! by that Christ concerning the Scripturesj

definite witness borne

Old Covenant, this proof for graphic inspiration is, and always remains, a proof obtained by inference, and not by one's own apprehension. The two grounds for faith in graphic inspiration must be carefully distinguished, for, though the faith that rests upon the testimony of Christ is more absolute in character, the " witness of the Holy Spirit," though it matures more slowly, is clearer and more in keeping with the freedom of the child of God. It is with this as it was with of the

the people of Sychar,

who

first

believed because of the

sa}^-

ings of the woman, and later believed on the ground of their own sight. The link between these two is the authority of Although the Reformers the Church (auctoritas ecclesiae). rightly contested the auctoritas imperii, as they called

the imperial authority, which

Rome

it,

viz.

attributes to the utter-

ance of the ecclesiastical institutions, they never denied the authority of dignity (auctoritas dignitatis') of the Church as an organism, nor of the Church as an institution. From the ethical side

it

has been

made

to appear, in recent times, that

our faith in the Scripture floats

on the faith of

fers

the believers,

and this rewhich originally too much element was to an important

in distinction from the authority of the Church,

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen