The Scriptures, present tense

David Pitman on Why I Preach from the Received Text

Why I Preach from the Received Text, by Pastor David A. Pitman

I appreciated David Pitman’s emphasis on how Baptist Confessions present Scripture in the present tense.

“In every paragraph in the 1689 Confession the Bible is presented in the present tense. The Scriptures ‘are.’ They ‘are contained’ in the 66 books named. The Confession speaks of a Bible given. received, and preserved. I find this in the First London as well (‘the holy Scriptures; in which is plainly recorded.’)

“The New Hampshire Confession echoes this: ‘We believe that the Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired, and is a perfect treasure of heavenly instruction; that it has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth without any mixture of error for its matter, that it reveals the principles by which God will judge us; and therefore is, and shall remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions should be tried.’” (Emphasis added)

While on the one hand we read and know the confessions use the present tense, perhaps we do not often think about it. The Scriptures “are,” not just “were.”

In our church confession (Our Statement of Faith: Those Things Most Surely Believed Among Us) we use the present tense: “2. The Bible is inspired by God. Psalm 119:160; Proverbs 30:5; 2 Timothy 3:16-17.”