The Necessity of Scripture

The world has about eight billion people distributed over its surface in remote villages and massive congested cities. Estimates vary but it is believed there are about four thousand recognized religions in the world with Christianity first with 2.5 billion adherents, Islam comes in second with 1.9, and Hinduism in third with 1.1. The existence of an abundance of religions in all parts of the world raises the question, why? What is it about people that causes them to adopt religious views keeping in mind that included in the table of world religions on Britannica Online are agnostics in fourth position and atheists in eighth? Why do individuals find it necessary to affirm or deny the existence of God, creation, an after life, heaven, hell, truth, and many other aspects of religion? An answer is provided in the first paragraph of the summary of essential doctrine compiled in the Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 1, “Of the Holy Scripture.”

Although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men unexcusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of his will, which is necessary unto salvation. Therefore it pleased the Lord, at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal himself, and to declare that his will unto his church; and afterwards, for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing: which maketh the Holy Scripture to be most necessary; those former ways of God's revealing his will unto his people being now ceased. (PCA edition)

The “light of nature” in the Westminster Standards refers to one’s innate ability to reason and function as a person made in the image of God, it could also be called natural reason. Without the light of nature, natural reason, one simply could not function in the world. But the light of nature was affected by the fall, therefore it is corrupted by sin, but God in his grace has provided individuals with what John Calvin called the “sense of the divine,” sensus divinitatis, which incorporates knowledge of his existence and creative work, awareness that worship is due him, and a limited but essential factor for an ordered world is a general understanding of right and wrong. Whether one is a genius or faces intellectual challenges, the sensus divinitatis is present but its effectiveness is mitigated by opposition from cultural, political, familial, educational, philosophical, and religious factors. For example, a child raised by dedicated atheists is likely influenced vigorously to suppress the sense of God’s existence, while another child raised in a generically theistic home has a better-defined sense of God and his attributes. However, key to these first few words of the Westminster Confession is that the light of nature testifies to God’s existence.

Confirming the existence of God manifest in the sense of deity are “the works of creation and providence.” The works of creation are the acts of God completed in six literal days with man fashioned male and female in God’s image on the sixth day. Creation is finished, but the end of creation is not the end of God’s involvement with his universe. The Westminster Shorter Catechism, 11, defines providence as the way “God governs all His creatures, and all their actions.” The timing of the seasons, the tides, and the rain falling on the just and the unjust illustrate God’s providential care not only for man but also for the fauna and flora from the tiny shrew to the mightiest elephant, from the forget-me-not flower to the magnificent magnolia blossom. When the gospel is preached listeners are not intellectual blank slates but instead inscribed on their minds is the light of nature along with their perception of the finished creation and God’s governance through providence. The magnificence of creation combined with the sustentation and direction of God’s copious, yet intimate providence provide resounding testimony to the living God, but as Paul teaches in Romans 1:18 “by their unrighteousness [men] suppress the truth.”

False religions misinterpret the sensus with a variety of views such as veneration of ancestors; worshiping features of creation such as volcanoes, the sun or trees; or they revere deities each of which is thought to have a specific power for their lives such as one god brings healing while another gives prosperity. The Greeks and Romans showed their misinterpretation of the sensus with pantheons of gods made in the image of man. These gods exhibited the character of fallen humanity including uncontrolled passions, tyrannical selfishness, and gross abuse of their power, what is more is they were gods to be feared, not loved as God is to be loved with fearful love like a child for parents. When Paul taught before the Areopagus in Acts 17:24ff, he appealed to the inscription, “to the unknown god,” then went on to describe God after saying “What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.” The Greeks had misinterpreted the sensus divinitatis evidence through natural reason and worshipped a pantheon, but in Paul’s sermon he makes the case for the unknown, true God. His words delivered on that occasion died out in the air never to be heard again, but through inspiration those words were committed wholly unto writing: which maketh the Holy Scripture to be most necessary. What did Paul say in verse 24? He turned to the fundamentals of the sensus, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man.” God is the unknown god; he created all that exists; he is Lord of heaven and earth governing through providence; and he needs no temple because he is not made in man’s image but instead is a spirit to be “worshipped in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). Notice in verse 49 how the Apostle pulled truth from the Greeks’ by quoting both Epimenides and Aratus then affirming that what they said through natural reason was in fact true. The words of the two pagans captured truth, were used by Paul, and then committed wholly unto writing by Luke.

Paragraph one of the Confession goes on to show there is hope, because the inadequacies of the light of nature interpreting the sensus, creation, and providence are overcome through his grace expressed in the revealed Word. In the Pentateuch, the meek man Moses prophesied boldly delivering instruction to the people of Israel. The Law was inscribed on tablets of stone for a permanent record of God’s will for man having been committed wholly unto writing. The distressing days of the Judges provide a record of repeated unfaithfulness by Israel, yet God was faithful to bring redeemers, called judges, to deliver his idolatrous people from oppressors. Then on the one hand, David is the man after God’s own heart, but on the other, he abused his power by committing adultery with the wife of Uriah the Hittite resulting in a child, then he covered it up by killing her husband through conspiracy with his military chief of staff. The Psalms testify to the mercy, greatness, and faithfulness of God with much of the content addressing Scripture, especially the 119th. The prophetic books are a record of the Jews chasing after other gods and falling into grave sins, but once again, the Lord was faithful and his faithfulness extended beyond the immediate crises, beyond the 400 silent years, to the village of Bethlehem where Christ the Savior was born to deliver his people from their sins. Throughout the history of redemption, the necessary times, teachings, and travails of the Jews combined with the life and ministry of Jesus yielded the expansive ministry of the apostolic church to Britain and India. In these times and events, it pleased the Lord…to declare that his will unto his church; and afterwards, for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing. God’s religion is revealed in the Word and to know him and his salvation one must discern it from the completed canon. This is why the ministry of the Word has been historically and will continue to be essential for the right understanding of God’s existence and the gospel of grace through Christ.

Barry Waugh  PhD, WTS is the editor of Presbyterians of the Past. He has written for various periodicals, such as the Westminster Theological Journal and The Confessional Presbyterian. He has also contributed to Gary L. W. Johnson’s, B. B. Warfield: Essays on His Life and Thought, 2007, and edited Letters from the Front: J. Gresham Machen’s Correspondence from World War I, 2012.

Notes—Population statistics are from Britannica Online, “Populations of World Religions in 2020,” accessed April 8, 2025; https://www.britannica.com/topic/List-of-religious-populations. The author has addressed human reason previously in, “Reason Within the Limits of Revelation Alone: John Calvin’s Understanding of Human Reason,” Westminster Theological Journal 72:2 (Spring 2018), 1-21. In The Confessional Presbyterian 13, 2017, is the article, “John Calvin on the Fall and the Imago Dei,” 67-80. Articles read for this post include Clayton Hutchins, "'The Light of Nature' in the Westminster Standards," on Ad Fontes, a publication of The Davenant Institute available at, https://adfontesjournal.com. Paul Helm, "John Calvin, the Sensus Divinitatis, and the Noetic Effects of Sin," International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 43, No. 2 (April 1998), 87-107. And, Iain McGee, “Reconsidering the Sensus Divinitatis in the Light of the Semen Religionis: John Calvin and Non-Christian Religion,” European Journal of Theology, 31:2, 215-239, was found online through Open Access, University of Bristol. Finally, Owen Anderson, “The Light of Nature and the Knowledge of God: Stephen Charnock on Natural Theology,” Credo Magazine 14:2 (2023).