Chapter 1
Philosophical Assumptions
Authority and sufficiency of Scripture The Waverley Model’s stance on the authority and sufficiency of Scripture is given great significance in its approach to counselling, and so is worth exploring in detail. With reference to 2 Peter 1:20, an appeal is made by extension to all Scripture having its origin in God to ascertain the supremacy of Scripture as the ultimate test of truth against which all non-biblical ideas must be judged. Although a monochrome view of Scripture’s function as authoritative truth (as will be shown) needs to be guarded against, the divine origin of Scripture is a key issue that affects if and how Scripture is used in counselling. This also applies to conceptions of salvation. The relative clarity of Scripture is ultimately a position of faith warranted by a belief in God as a clear communicator of His Word in conjunction with the purpose for which it was given. While debating various perspectives on inerrancy, Hurding helpfully expresses that ‘God is able to mediate the Bible’s essential reliability to us today in spite of the presence of various textual errors.’4 Marshall asserts that both sides of the debate believe ‘in the entire trustworthiness of Scripture for its God-given purpose’.5 The Waverley Model’s approach is challenged by those who have an awareness that the different genres in Scripture require a varied interpretive stance. Schnabel offers a model where the assertive prophetic paradigm is but one of four types. The prophetic is deemed to require obedience, implying an authoritative directedness. Other genres, for example wisdom literature, require observance. Hopeful trust, for example, in God’s promises 17
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