George Whitefield on Authority of Scripture

Scripture alone is the final, only infallible authority

THE POSITION

Scripture is inspired, written as its authors were moved by the Holy Ghost, and is "the grand charter of our salvation," which every fallen person is obliged to search. The argument he actually presses is not Scripture against tradition but Scripture against the Spirit apart from Scripture: Christ, who had the Spirit without measure, still made the written word his "constant rule and guide," so those who say the Spirit alone and not the Spirit by the Word is our rule stand refuted. A Scripture that even the Spirit's leadings answer to leans toward the first stance, but he never sets it against church tradition or office in anything read, which is the question this locus asks.

22 OTHERS HOLD THIS

ABOUT THIS FIGURE

Anglican priest and field preacher of the Evangelical Revival and the First Great Awakening, who crossed the Atlantic seven times and died on his last American tour. Wesley's Oxford companion and, from his 1740 letter answering Free Grace, his public opponent on election — the Calvinist half of the Methodist split, set here beside Wesley and Edwards. This entry rests on that letter and eleven of the sermons printed in the standard selected editions.