We have shown that the knowledge of God derived from nature is insufficient unto salvation. If man were ever to be brought to salvation, it was necessary for God to reveal a way whereby he could become a partaker of it. Although in retrospect we are able to deduce this truth, nature does not reveal it. It does disclose, however, that God is able to reveal something that is salvific in nature. This has encouraged some to claim to be the recipients of divine revelations and has caused people to believe such pretended revelations.
God, in His unfathomable goodness, being desirous to have a people of His own on earth whom He would lead unto salvation, has revealed to them a way of salvation, beginning with the first gospel declaration to Adam. The Seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent (Gen 3:15). In addition to this, God repeatedly gave to His prophets more comprehensive and clearer revelations believed these revelations unto salvation. which they in turn proclaimed to the people who then
The Word of God Prior to Moses
Whether these revelations had been recorded prior to the time of Moses and had been forwarded to the church of that time in written form, we can neither affirm nor deny. Similarly, it is not known to us whether Moses, upon divine command and having been led by the Holy Spirit into all truth, had recorded those matters which transpired from the beginning of time to his time by means of holy and divinely inspired writings, or whether he received them himself by virtue of immediate revelation via the inerrant transmissions of men guided by the Holy Spirit. Since the fathers in the sacred lineage lived for the duration of several hundred years, such transmission could transpire more readily. Abraham, who faithfully made the way of salvation known to his seed, was able to learn third-handedly all that had transpired before him. Abraham was informed by Shem, with whom he lived contemporaneously, Shem from Methuselah, and Methuselah from Adam.
We know one thing with certainty, however: The church of that time was neither deprived of the Word of God nor of divine revelations. Moses conveys this to us in his first book, and the fact that the elect of that time were brought to salvation makes this a necessary prerequisite. The Word of God of that time is generally referred to as the unwritten Word, as it neither appears to have been recorded, nor to have been transmitted to us in written form. We are limited in our knowledge concerning this by what Moses conveys to us. Only Jude speaks of the prophecy of Enoch in verses 14-15, which is rendered credible by his account. However, to adorn the Holy Scriptures with an unwritten Word which would reveal things not recorded in the Bible—as Roman Catholicism does in order to make their traditions credible—would be an act which would invoke the curses pronounced upon those who would add something to the written Word.
The Names Assigned to God’s Word
We generally denominate the written Word of God as the Bible, the word “Bible” itself being a Greek transliteration. In our language this word means “book,” which corresponds with the fact that the Bible is the Book of all books. Such it is called in Isa 34:16, “seek ye out of the Book of the Lord”; in Mark 12:26, “the book of Moses”; in Luke 4:17, “the book of the prophet Esaias”; in Acts 1:20, “the book of Psalms”; in Rev 22:19, “the book of this prophecy”; in Ps 40:7, “in the volume of the book,” so called because at that time one did not make use of pages, but rather of a long strip of parchment which would be rolled up and tied together with a string.
The written Word is also called the Holy Scriptures in 2 Tim 3:15-16. In Acts 8:32 it is referred to as Scripture. Since the art of printing had not yet been invented, everything had to be written by pen. Therefore, few possessed the entire Bible, the cost of a Bible at that time being thousands of dollars. Some only possessed a book of one of the prophets, one of the gospels, or one of the apostolic letters. In addition to this, many were not able to read. It was a wonderful mercy of God, upon which one cannot meditate without thanksgiving, that the art of printing was invented and brought into production a short time prior to the Reformation. As a result now even a poor person, can now own a Bible for a small price. Consequently, you will scarcely be able to find anyone of the Reformed faith who does not possess a Bible or at least a New Testament.
The Holy Scriptures are also denominated as the Word of God. In Rom 3:2 it is stated, “Unto them were committed the oracles of God.”1 God, in condescension to man, has revealed the way of truth in a manner consistent with humanity by speaking to holy men of God, who, moved by the Holy Ghost (2 Pet 1:21), have spoken these things to the church, thus transmitting the words of God to her. “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son” (Heb 1:1-2).