Calvin's Institutes. Book I, Chapter 8

This is the post #8 of the Calvin's Institutes summary series.

Human testimonies about Scripture:

1. Quality of writings and especially their content.
2. Antiquity
3. Embarrassing details about the authors and their family lines.
4. Miracles, which must have been authentic to be written down, show God’s approval of the message.
5. Fulfilment of prophecies
6. Trustworthiness of the transmission of Scripture. God must have worked in preserving it.
7. Clarity and power of the New Testament writings and the amazing transformation that took place in their authors.
8. Church’s testimony about Scripture through the ages over against the world’s attempt to destroy it.
9. Martyrs who gave their lives for Scripture and its content.

“[Therefore] Scripture will ultimately suffice for a saving knowledge of God only when its certainty is founded upon the inward persuasion of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, these human testimonies which exists to confirm it will not be vain if, as secondary aids to our feebleness, they follow that chief and highest testimony. But those who wish to prove to unbelievers that Scripture is the Word of God are acting foolishly, for only by faith can this be known.”