Spurgeon advocated a pure Biblicism for theological construction. He loved the historic confessions and the pious and helpful writings of the Reformers and Puritans as well as selected numbers from the early Fathers and even some medieval writers…but all of these edified only to the degree that they opened to the mind that which already abided in scriptural revelation. Theology is not new, nor has it been the product of tradition or development…"the epistles are older than the thirty-nine articles."…We may gain assistance through others that interpret Scripture doctrines, but no addition to the doctrines themselves… Christian doctrine, to the degree that God wants us to know, has mature development in Scripture. Neither individual theologian nor church corporate may add to, diminish, amend, or dilute by false synthesis any assertion of the biblical text. We may find a way to give clear teaching on a variety of subjects and seek to show their mature biblical development and relations, and we may surely benefit from the way Christians through the ages have formulated these biblical truths and their practical applications; any effort, however to go beyond the biblical text and its own internal development perverts the truth.
From: Living By Revealed Truth: The Life and Pastoral Theology of Charles Haddon Spurgeon - By Thomas
