OK. Here is a short summary of John Webster’s essay, “Revelation, Sanctification and Inspiration,” from his book Holy Scripture. In this essay, Webster identifies a key problem with how Scripture has been handled and understood within recent history (say the past 200 years or so). He believes that the idea of what Scripture is has been isolated from the Doctrine of God. In consequence, Scripture has been subjected to unnecessary qualifications to prove that it is indeed a text given to the church by God. The central issue, as he states it, is how to prove or even talk about how a human document can contain divine wisdom and self-disclosure with surety and integrity. What is at stake is how we live with Scripture as a trustworthy and authoritative text within the community of God.
The solution to this problem, according to Webster, is to locate our thinking about Scripture within a dynamic trinitarian doctrine of God. He does this through the interrelating of three concepts: 1) revelation, 2) sanctification and 3) inspiration. The most important of all of these concepts, if there is to be a kind of prioritizing, is sanctification because it is through the agency of the Holy Spirit that God has consistently communicated himself to humanity. This self-communication of God includes both the writing of the words of Scripture as well as the interpretation of those words within the community of God. Thus, what is most important for Webster to set out in his doctrine of Scripture is not the veracity or the reliability of the words themselves (such as the concept of ‘inerrancy’) but, instead, the very presence of God with us.As you read through this article (I did warn you that it was difficult) focus on the definitions of the three main terms: 1) revelation, 2) sanctification and 3) inspiration. Sanctification is the most important of the terms. You may not understand the entire article. If you only come out with his definition of the sanctification of scripture, then you will be in good standing.
Peace,
Chelle