Doctrine of Scripture

Order of Service

• Sunday School Lesson — Doctrine of Scripture
• Closing Prayer

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Sermon Title: Gleaning Rightly from Scripture — By Good and Necessary Consequence

Scripture: Matthew 22:29-33

I. Review of the Series on the Doctrine of Scripture

A. Why we have Scripture: God's revelation adapted to fallen creatures B. How we have Scripture: inspiration — God ordained the lives and backgrounds of the human authors C. What Scripture is: the CANS acronym (borrowed and modified from Kevin DeYoung)

1. Clarity
2. Authority
3. Necessity
4. Sufficiency — Scripture is sufficient for knowing God's will and his saving work

II. The Westminster Confession of Faith on How We Glean from Scripture

A. The key statement from WCF 1.6: "The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture" B. Two categories for gleaning from Scripture:

1. Things expressly set down in Scripture
2. Things deduced by good and necessary consequence C. The doctrine of the Trinity as the prime example — the word "Trinity" does not appear in Scripture, yet it is a foundational doctrine requiring deduction from multiple passages

III. Things Expressly Set Down in Scripture

A. Examples identified from discussion:

1. God as Creator — Genesis 1:1
2. The Ten Commandments
3. Justification and sanctification
4. Christ as the only way — John 14:6
5. Election
6. The resurrection of Christ
7. Marriage as between one man and one woman — Genesis 2
8. Heaven and hell
9. Salvation by grace — Ephesians 2
10. God as Judge

IV. Things Deduced by Good and Necessary Consequence

A. Definition (drawn from Ryan McGraw, By Good and Necessary Consequence): doctrines and precepts truly contained in and intended by the Divine author of Scripture, not found on the surface of the text, but legitimately inferred from one or more passages

1. Such inferences must be good — legitimately drawn from the text
2. Such inferences must be necessary — demanded by Scripture, not imposed or arbitrary B. Scripture must be its own interpreter — the analogy of Scripture
3. WCF 1.9: "The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself"
4. Harder passages are interpreted by clearer passages C. Examples of doctrines requiring good and necessary consequence:
5. The full equality of the Son with the Father in essence and substance
6. The Trinity as a whole

V. Biblical Warrant: Jesus and the Sadducees — Matthew 22:23-33

A. The Sadducees denied the resurrection and presented a scenario to trap Jesus B. Jesus rebukes them: "You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God" (Matthew 22:29) C. Jesus argues for the resurrection from Exodus 3 — God's words to Moses at the burning bush: "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob"

1. The present tense "I am" implies the living existence of the patriarchs — an argument by good and necessary consequence
2. A more direct resurrection text existed — Isaiah 26:19 — yet Jesus chose the less obvious passage to demonstrate this method of reasoning D. The crowd was astonished; the Sadducees were silenced (Matthew 22:33-34)

VI. Further Examples of Good and Necessary Consequence in Scripture

A. Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount extends the Ten Commandments beyond bare literal readings

1. "You shall not murder" extended to anger and hatred toward a brother
2. "You shall not commit adultery" extended to the thought life B. The dangers of rigid over-literalism — illustrated by the Pharisees and Sabbath controversies C. The Westminster divines worked from conceptual frameworks rather than isolated proof texts, following the tradition of interpretation through church history

VII. Guardrails and Cautions

A. Good and necessary consequence is not a license for arbitrary theological conclusions B. We must stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before — using sanctified reason within the boundaries of Scripture as a whole C. Humility is required: dependence on the Holy Spirit, accountability to the broader church community, and submission to the Word