Biblical traditions
For an evangelical, biblical theology, the question of the origin and the development of the biblical traditions, is not crucial unless it is used to undermine the authority of the real text of the Bible or the concept of a basic doctrinal unity of Scripture. A hypothetical reconstruction of a possible ‘original’ text may be useful as far as it may help us understand the given text. But it can never replace the biblical text as the only source of faith and conduct. Hans Kvalbein, “Jesus and the Poor: Two Texts and a Tentative Conclusion,” Themelios 12, no. 3 (1987): 83–84. Although the unanimous consent of the Fathers is in the main an ecclesiastical fiction, yet there was at least one doctrine in which they were united, namely, that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. It was far from them to claim for their own writings the inspiration which they attributed to Scripture. Philip E. Hughes, “The Inspiration of the Bible,” in Basics of the Faith: An Evangelical Introductio...