Ward, Timothy. Words of Life: Scripture as the Living and Active Word of God.
Timothy Ward accomplished his goal of setting forth a contemporary restatement of the orthodox view of Scripture in his book, "Words of Life: Scripture as the Living and Active Word of God." He is to be commended for demonstrating a high view of Scripture that acknowledges the relationship between God’s actions and Words. In a day in which many people, including many Christians, question the authority and reliability of the Scriptures, Ward’s volume is a welcomed voice. He presents a compelling argument from Scripture and the Reformed tradition for the conviction that the Bible is a trustworthy, clear, and life-changing revelation from God as well as an encounter with God. Ward is also to be commended for showing the relationship of the Scriptures with the Trinity.
Ward states his theological bias when he admits that his work relies heavily on reformed theologians, especially John Calvin, Francis Turretin, B. B. Warfield, and Herman Bavinck. It is at this point that Ward’s work shows certain weaknesses. Ward is correct in arguing for the doctrine of sola scriptura as the Reformed position. The Reformers saw the Scriptures as the only infallible authority for beliefs and practices. They viewed Church tradition as being subject to Scripture serving as an aid to faithfully interpreting God’s Word. Ward is correct in claiming that the Reformers rejected Church tradition as a second infallible source of divine revelation on par with Scripture. Ward seems to go too far, however, when he accuses most modern American evangelicals of deforming sola scriptura into solo scriptura by exalting the “individual’s interpretation of Scripture over that of the corporate interpretations of past generations of Christians” (p. 148). He believes that the impact of the Enlightenment and America’s strong identification with the individual’s democratic rights has led some American evangelicals into this supposed error. He traces protestant sectarianism and a failure to exercise church discipline back to solo scriptura. Ward seems inconsistent when he accuses American evangelicals of doing the exact thing the Reformers did when they rejected traditions they deemed incompatible with Scripture. Ward may call it by a different name, but he is wrong in his claim that these evangelicals do not hold to the reformed doctrine of sola scriptura simply because they do not conform to the Anglican Church in all points of theology and practice. With his accusation he seems to be contradicting the clarity of Scripture which he defined as being sufficiently clear enough, “for us to base our saving knowledge of him and of ourselves, and our beliefs and our actions, on the content of Scripture alone, without ultimately validating our understanding of these things or our confidence in them by appeal to any individual or institution” (p. 127).
Another weakness of Ward’s argument concerns the doctrine of infant baptism. He states that, “Scripture contains no clear command on whether or not baptism is to be applied to the infants of believers” (p. 123). This seems to be another bias on Ward’s part. As an Anglican, he points to Scripture and to his church’s tradition for support of infant baptism. His rationale seems to be that since Scripture does not explicitly command it nor forbid it, and since his church has sanctioned it, it must be biblical. Many Protestants, however, would say that the Scriptures are abundantly clear concerning believer’s baptism. Merely that God did not explicitly forbid something is not a validation of a practice that goes against the plain exegesis and sense of the biblical revelation. Perhaps the rejection of infant baptism by many Protestants is one reason Ward accuses them of adhering to solo scriptura.
"Words of Life" is a worthy contribution to the discussion of the doctrine of Scripture. Ward has done a masterful job of presenting the orthodox view of Scripture in a contemporary way. Readers will gain great insights into the triune God who has acted and revealed Himself in such a redemptive and loving way. Ward is to be commended for showing that when one encounters the Word of God with a desire to learn and obey, he actually encounters God in a unique way. This experience can have a tremendous impact on our churches and our individual lives. Christendom will be immensely blessed if Ward’s book receives a wide and thoughtful reading.
