For Scripture is so holy and perfect, abundantly containing whatsoever is necessary for salvation, that nothing can be added to it, and it is also so perfectly and prudently composed that nothing can be taken away from it.
Girolamo Zanchi, Confession of the Christian Religion, §I.ix
Now Zanchi continues with his description of the character of Scripture. In §I.i-viii, he’s told us what we as members of the church confess about the clarity, authority and preservation (or integrity) of God’s written word. Now, in a tightly packed sentence, he emphasizes a few more of Scripture’s “properties” (as they’re called): its holiness, necessity, and perfection.
Most of these properties were not hotly debated in the late sixteenth century, so they didn’t require much more than a simple statement. But because of the debate with Rome, the property of authority called for a much more detailed articulation (§I.v-x). Similarly, perspecuity will also receive some elaboration (§I.xiii).
Peter van Mastricht, writing downstream of Zanchi by a century, offers a slightly longer but still concise description of the properties of Scripture in the prolegomena to his Theoretical-Practical Theology (§1.1.2; pp. 126-30).
Mastricht organizes the properties into slightly different categories (authority, truth, integrity, sanctity, perspecuity, perfection, necessity, and efficacy) and describes them in greater detail. But I don’t see dramatic differences between what he and Zanchi are trying to communicate about the word of God.
The basic points that Zanchi wants to draw out here is 1) Scripture gives us everything that we need to know for our salvation and 2) Scripture works as an integrated whole. It’s all of a piece and perfectly wrought, so we don’t need anything more and anything less wouldn’t do.
Thus, we submit to the teaching of the holy Scriptures, just as all the devout ought, holding to what the Apostle said: “All Scripture inspired of God is useful for teaching” and so forth (2 Tim. 3:16).
Girolamo Zanchi, Confession of the Christian Religion, §I.x
Given what has been confessed about the nature and character of Scripture, the obvious next thesis is, of course, that “we must submit” to what it says. This can’t be a controversial conclusion for anyone who has acknowledged what preceded. But, to reorient our minds in the light of Scripture itself, Zanchi rightly turns us toward 2 Timothy 3:16 where we are reminded that every word of God-inspired Scripture is “useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
If the Scriptures are holy and God-breathed, then we must soften our hearts and bend our knees. That doesn’t meant that submission is easy or that we always know exactly what submission looks like. But, as noted in a previous post, the posture of God’s people before him (and, so, before his word) should default to humility. The fear of the Lord—not slavish, cringing fear, but awe-ful reverence before the one who stands in authority over us—is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 9:10).
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