The Doctrine of the Word of God

John M. Frame, The Doctrine of the Word of God (P&R, 2011), 684 pages.

Can anything new be said about the doctrine of Revelation and Scripture? We’ve had Augustine, Calvin, Westminster, and now a century of continued discussion since the watershed moment of Warfield, and we wonder with each new book on the subject what it could possibly have to offer. Truthfully, not a lot has been added since Warfield in terms of substance. But it is of the nature of divine revelation that it is inexhaustible and ever affords fresh insights into “old” truth. And in this volume well-known Reformed theologian John Frame provides the fruit of more than forty years of faithful and insightful reflection on this most basic doctrine.

Frame’s fourth and (likely) final volume of his Lordship series was published last year with the endorsements and high praise of many, including the enthusiastic foreword by J.I. Packer. Finally reading it myself, I was not at all disappointed.

Substantively Frame is of course thoroughly orthodox in his theological outlook. But he does offer a fresh approach and some new thinking. His “personal-word model” is effective — as God spoke to Abraham and to Noah, so he speaks to us today via his written Word. His emphasis on God’s Word as an expression of his authority and Lordship, while not entirely new, is refreshingly stated and sustained — God’s Word carries with it an obligation on our part to respond with trust, obedience, and all that is becoming to our Creator-creature, Redeemer-redeemed relationship. His tracing of God’s Word from God’s mouth to our hearts, through all its varied media, is likewise a very helpful dimension of the work. Keep Reading...