Fleeing Biblicism: Away From Self, Unto Christ (Part 2)

by on May 21, 2025 | Comment

Submitting Ourselves to Scripture

Depending upon what purpose the biblicist has as they approach the text of Scripture, they could either wind up feeling victorious when their enemies are defeated (whether persons or ideologies), or they could end up feeling anxious and confused when their same interpretive method leads (if they would be consistent) to things like open theism. But there is a better way to this tension—the hermeneutic of submission to what the Scripture has to say for itself (Luke 24:44; Acts 2:14–41; n.b. the entirety of Heb).

Join the People of God in the Local Church

Let us not waste our life starting from scratch on such a grand endeavor, and especially, let us not attempt to go at it alone.1 May we utilize the resources of those who have gone before us these hundreds and thousands of years, following the interpretive method of Scripture itself, seeing that Scripture does interpret itself, and understanding how it does this.2 Rather than merely copying the method of those who have gone before us, let us gather and join with them and those who are still among us.

Do not neglect to gather with the saints, as God so clearly tells us in his own Word (Heb 10:25). The Word of God is always to the people of God (Gen 17:1–14; Acts 2:39), always addressing real local churches in its (Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:2; 2 Cor 1:1; Gal 1:2; Eph 1:1; Phil 1:1; Col 1:2; 1 Thess 1:1; 2 Thess 1:1). Even when New Testament Epistles were addressed to individuals, they still necessarily included the benefit of visible local churches (cf. 1 Tim 1:2 and 2 Tim 1:2 are addressed to Timothy, yet the entirety of each letter was and is intended for the good of the whole church). And what do we see at the end, but the consummation of the universal church as the one complete people of God in the new creation (Rev 21–22). God wants you with his people, not simply on your terms, but upon his terms—with church membership, attendance to the means of grace, and under the oversight of a local session (Acts 2:42; Acts 6:1–7; 1 Tim 5:17–25; 2 Tim 4:1–5; Heb 13:17; 1 Pet 5:1–11).

Isolationism, individualism, consumerism, and any other –ism that might tempt you to stay away from the church is itself a false interpretive method. In fact, it is a false system of belief not found anywhere in the Bible. Biblicism is therefore anti-scriptural and completely opposed to God. Instead of the aggressive and arrogant individualist satisfied with “just me and my Bible,” the Bible is actually the gift of God’s very Word to his people gathered in the local church to humbly and gratefully receive his Word as the essential means of his grace as they worship him each Lord’s Day.

Enjoy Clear Interpretations of Scripture in the Reformed Confessions

More specifically, let us go to the Reformed confessions and catechisms.3 They are not Scripture, but are faithful interpretive guardrails of the full system of doctrine—the complete, coherent, and consistent summary of truth that the Scripture gives to us. They are public documents that continue to withstand the test of time, birthed out of the history of our Lord purifying his bride, as he has continued to wash her in his Word and restore the purity of his gospel.

These are not merely the works of individual genius. As much as we Reformed and Presbyterian brothers and sisters appreciate and lean upon the works of those like John Calvin, we do not confess his Institutes. Instead, in my own denomination, the OPC, for example, we continue to utilize the confession and catechisms crafted by the many men at the Westminster Assembly of the mid seventeenth century. Because they are not Scripture, they have been slightly modified, and rightfully so. Yet, because they remain a faithful summary of God’s Word, we continue to uphold and utilize the vast majority of their original content.

Even when an individual(s) is credited with writing a confession, like Guido de Brès for the Belgic Confession, or Zacharias Ursinus and Caspar Olevianus for the Heidelberg Catechism, it is still the case that these documents were thoroughly reviewed and confirmed by many other men, including broader judicatories and assemblies. it remains the case in federations like the URCNA that they do not merely receive these as quaint or ornamental historic documents. Rather, they collectively and authoritatively hold themselves to the summary of God’s Word received and confirmed therein.

We do not need to reinvent the wheel. The canon of Scripture is closed, but we can still gratefully receive what God has given to his church through the work of his saints over these many years in helping the church to rightly confess and understand the truth of his Word. Truly, by his grace and out of love for his church, Christ has gifted his church with a plethora of ordained servants sent to shepherd his sheep so that the elect would be found from all over the world and nourished unto everlasting life in the world to come (Acts 15:1–35; Rom 10:14–15; Eph 4:7–16; 1 Pet 5:1–5). Let us rejoice that we today still benefit from the good care of those undershepherds who have gone before us, seeing them as an expression of loving care from our Chief Shepherd. So then, let us study the Scripture. But let us do so as Scripture exemplifies and commands, as members of his church, all the while enjoying the safety and clarity that our confessions and catechisms bring us as products of God’s ongoing love to ensure our protection and growth by the Spirit’s power and in the grace of Jesus Christ.

Laborers and Heavy Laden, Receive and Rest in Christ, Including His Gifts to His Church

There is sometimes an unspoken assumption or expectation among some Christians, maybe even especially so in the Reformed communities, that they need to be a pastor or a teacher (even a theologian with a PhD) to be confident in understanding Scripture. This simply is not true. Not all are called to be pastors and teachers, and that is completely ok. In fact, this is God’s very design and gift to ensure that his church grows in the exact way he wants (Eph 4:11ff). What an ugly body it would be if the church were simply a conglomerate of ears, fingers, or noses.

Remember your callings in life and be at peace in those vocations, knowing that God has given some to be homemakers, others to be business owners, others to be skilled tradesmen, and still others to be passionate artists, not to mention countless other God-glorifying vocations. Whether you have five mouths to feed, brains to instruct, and hearts to shape, or five hundred staff and personnel to manage and care for, or whether you have five thousand different tasks to complete for the good of those who will enjoy your skill, or whether you have a limitless amount of mediums to express yourself and to help others express themselves, it will be quite enough for most of us to gather just once on the Lord’s Day to worship the triune God.

Do not be worried though, for as our Lord says, when he ascended, he gave gifts to his church by way of ministers of his Word (Eph 4:8–14)—those who would have ample time to devote their entire week to studying the Bible, in its original languages, according to the best manuscripts we have available, engaging the highest levels of scholarship, prayerfully meditating upon the unity of Scripture, promising to keep themselves within the bounds of the Reformed confessions and catechisms, held accountable by ecclesiastical authority, striving to never fear men and only fear God, and who would have a heart of patience and kindness in their teaching, seeing to it that the sheep of the Chief Shepherd would indeed find their greatest joy, in life and in death, in none other than Jesus Christ (2 Tim 4:1–8). It is not lazy to trust your pastor, and it is not implicit faith either. So long as your ultimate trust is in Jesus Christ, you ought also to trust in the gifts he gives to you, that he will preserve you, and that he will do so through those very promised means.

Therefore, let us remember the very particular gift that the Lord has given to his church, to ensure that his Word would be studied and proclaimed, in the text that is read and preached, in the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and in prayers guided by and responsive to God’s Word. Indeed, let us remember to honor, trust, and enjoy those particular servants of Christ’s gospel, the ministers of the Word (Rom 10:5–17; Eph 4:8–14; 1 Tim 5:17; 2 Tim 4:1–5; Heb 13:17).

Conclusion

I suppose, in the end, the worst part about biblicism is how self-centered it ends up being. The better way is to submit yourself to God’s Word, fully and completely, by his grace and for his glory. To that end, seek membership in a confessionally Reformed church, trust and enjoy the means of grace that Christ has promised to give to his church, and trust also in the way he has chosen to give them and bless them. All in all, do not trust in yourself; trust in Christ.

Notes

  1. Such a grand endeavor would not be a waste of one’s life if the journey had not already been accomplished by other saints of the past.
  2. WCF 1; n.b. 1.9
  3. I am thinking especially of the Westminster Standards as modified and received into the Orthodox Presbyterian Church along with the Three Forms of Unity as translated and received into the United Reformed Churches of North America. To enjoy a thoroughly convincing case for Reformed confessionalism, see R. Scott Clark, Recovering the Reformed Confession: Our Theology, Piety, and Practice (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2008).

©Bryce Souve. All Rights Reserved.

Part One

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  • Bryce Souve
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    Rev. Bryce Souve was born and raised in Southern California. He married his high school sweetheart and they have five children. He received his Master of Divinity from Westminster Seminary California and has served as pastor to Bethel Reformed OPC in Fredericksburg, VA since 2024.

    More by Bryce Souve ›

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