The external form.
The external form.
§ 306. The external form55 includes the idiom of the Hebrew language, in which the Old Testament was written, and of the Greek language, in which the New Testaments was written, as well as the property of speech and style that the Holy Spirit uses in Scripture—in fact, a uniqueness of speech and style having simplicity and majesty joined together by a truly divine miracle. The kind of speech that Scripture uses is simple, with no air of human or feigned eloquence, yet it is solemn and especially powerful in striking the minds of men. 1 Cor. 2:1: “When I came to you, I did not come to you in loftiness of speech or of wisdom (that is, human wisdom), proclaiming to you the testimony of God (that is, the Gospel).” Verse 4: “My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom,” in ornamentations and rhetorical figures of speech, but “in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,” that is, in spiritual words that powerfully and effectually move hearts. The apostle removes human eloquence from himself, but not divine eloquence, and he rebukes those who, speaking so as to gratify, were affecting a men-pleasing style in their speeches, who were stroking the people with flattering words and decorative statements and were offering, instead of an oration full of holiness and divine virtue, an oration combed, curled, and sprinkled with poppy and sesame seeds and covered with honeyed drops of words, as Seneca says, and who meanwhile were neglecting the kernel of doctrine.
§ 307. For both simplicity and majesty to be joined together in the style of Scripture is truly miraculous and matchless. From the union of these arise the uniqueness and singularity of its style. The style of Scripture is called simple not because it is crude and rustic nor because it lacks every ornament of elegance nor because it lacks all figures and tropes but because it is frank, not at all feigned nor deceitful, and because it describes great and lofty matters in words suitable for the comprehension of the readers. Therefore the character of the language that the Holy Spirit uses in Scripture is simple because it does not consist of an affected kind of speaking nor of oratorical color nor of exquisitely ornate verbiage but of words that are easy to understand, clear, and commonly known.
Yet this same style is filled with majesty because it teaches us so clearly about the highest mysteries of faith and about divine revelations placed beyond the grasp of the human mind. To say it in a word, the style of Scripture is the sort that no one attains in other books that result from the efforts of human activity. The majesty of its style includes: (1) Its vividness, by which matters are described in them through a living sketch and are, as it were, set before the eyes to be seen. (2) Fullness or 
,56 which explains the matters it speaks of as fully as one could want, namely, by an enumeration of parts and species, by explanation of causes, notation of circumstances, subjoining of antitheses, etc. (3) Brevity or 
, by which “it embraces many ideas in a few words,” as Chrysostom says (homily 24 on Genesis 6), and not only equals but also surpasses the number of words with the number of things [res]. (4) Coherence or 
[“conjunction”], by which it connects all its parts tightly, as with a perpetual chain, so that no gap, no anacoluthon, occurs. (5) Modesty and chastity, or 
, with which it abstains from every uncleanness and turpitude and explains matters otherwise obscene with modest and “married” words, so to speak. (6) Efficacy or 
[“power”] and 
[“forcefulness”], because the language is constituted in such a way that it stirs the mind of the reader with its own force. Chrysostom, homily 46 on Matthew 23: “Although all the divine words may be simple and clumsy, they are alive because they have within their meanings the truth of God, like blood enclosed in veins, thus they give life to those who hear them. But all secular words, since they do not have in themselves the power of God, are dead, though they may be well-composed and ingenious. Because they do not have in their veins the power of God, they consequently do not save their hearers.”
Regarding this majesty and singularity of divine language, we have the testimony not only of those oft-repeated forms of speaking—”I, the Lord,” “I say to you,” “thus says the Lord,” “the mouth of the Lord has spoken,” “the Word of the Lord happened,” etc.—but also of the divine effect in the minds of the hearers. Jer. 23:29: “Is not My Word like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rocks to pieces?” Matt. 7:28—29: “The crowds were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one who had authority.” Luke 24:32: “Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked with us on the road?” John 6:63: “The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life” (that is, because they proceeded from the Holy Spirit and have flowed from the font of life, because they contain within themselves spiritual and divine power, because they produce spiritual effects and give life to man; for these three must be connected, and in these, the next always follows from the one before. Some explain “they are Spirit” in this way: that is, they ought to be understood spiritually, not about a Capernaitic eating but a spiritual eating; and “they are life,” that is, they should be understood not about the transitory life but about eternal life. This explanation is indeed true, but it is incomplete.). Acts 2:37: “Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart.” Now, the very same words that the prophets, Christ, and the apostles preached orally were later put into Scripture by the prophets, evangelists, and apostles through God’s will. Therefore it produces the same effects.
§ 308. The reasons why God wanted Holy Scripture to be in a simple and clear kind of language, far removed from the flatterings of human eloquence, appear easily: (1) The simple Word of truth. The unadorned truth loves an unadorned kind of language. But now heavenly truth is set forth to us in Scripture.
(2) The mysteries that are proposed to us in Scripture are placed beyond the grasp of human wisdom, “beyond the mind, beyond word, beyond the grasp of natural creation,” as Justin says (
, p. 304). “That which is related to our instruction is higher than earthly comprehension,” says Tatian (Orat. contra gent.). But if an obscure and complex kind of speaking had been used in setting forth those mysteries, they would have been far removed from human understanding.
(3) The Scriptures were written not only for the use of the learned but also of the unlearned. Therefore because they were written for all people, they ought to have been written down in the kind of speaking that is clear to all people. Consequently, Isaiah was commanded to write 
, “in the style of man” (Isa. 8:1).
(4) If they had been written in the extravagant words of human wisdom, their force and efficacy in converting people would be attributed to flattering and decorative words rather than to divine power (1 Cor. 1:17; 4:20).
(5) Those who disdain the simplicity of Scripture are excluded by God’s just judgment from an understanding of the divine mysteries. In Confess., bk. 3, c. 5, Augustine admits that while he was still a Manichaean, Scripture seemed unworthy to be compared with Tullian eloquence. He says, “My pride kept running away from its style, and my keenness was not penetrating its depths.” Later, however, when he left Manichaeanism to become a Christian, he began to feel much differently. Confess., bk. 6, c. 5: “The authority of Scripture seemed to me all the more venerable and worthy of holy faith, in that, while it was visible for all to read it, it reserved the dignity of its secret within its profound significance, stooping to all in the great plainness of its language and lowliness of its style yet exercising the thoughts of such as are not light of heart; that it might receive all into its common bosom and through narrow passages transfer a few toward You (O God), yet many more than if it did not stand out upon such a height of authority and did not draw multitudes to the lap of its holy humility.” (Cf. the treatise of Flacius, De stilo sacrar. literar., in the second part of his Clavis.)
§ 309. From this form of Scripture, both internal and external, it is manifestly apparent that the theorem of the Papists is false: that “Scripture can be considered divine on the basis of no other source than from unwritten tradition,” as Bellarmine argues (De v. D., bk. 4, c. 4), and that “Scripture can be believed solely because of the authority of the Church,” as Stapleton speaks (Relect. princ. doctrin., controv. 4, p. 495). You see, tradition and the authority of the Church do not confer upon Scripture its form. Rather, Scripture has this in itself before and beyond the testimony of the Church, and by this form it demonstrates its majesty and dignity to all. As its internal form at times shows itself through some certain and specific properties and effects, so also the divine authority and majesty of Scripture reveals itself to the minds of men through some certain criteria. Regarding this subject, we have said as much as is sufficient in c. 3, on the authority of Scripture.
52 That which constitutes an entire thing and is called “formational and of nature.” When joined with matter, it makes a “being.”
53 That through which something is accomplished or made and on which the result depends.
54 An adequate cause is something from which alone the effect proceeds; it establishes the being of the effect perfectly.
55 Any accident or attribute with respect to the subject, which inheres in it. For example, whiteness is an external form, or an accident, of snow.
56 Literally, “diminution.” The word usually means a hyperbole in which one makes an understatement, which is not what Gerhard is explaining here.