Tradition must give way to the clear statements of the Scripture

  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 Introduc...

  Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we  must be saved. Acts 4:12 The way of salvation is this, that man, through the word of God which is living and powerful, (Heb. 4:12.Jer. 23:29) is awakened out of his sinful sleep; (Ac.2:37,Is.55:10,11;Lk.16:29-31), recognizes his sins and his guilt and heartily repents (2 Co.7:10,Lk.18:13,Ps.51:6,Ac.17:30,Lk.7:37-48). In the feeling of his danger he has recourse to Christ Jn.6:37,Mt.11:28 as his only Deliverer and Saviour Ac.4:12,Jn.14:6,Jn.3:36, and receives through faith in him the forgiveness of his sins Ro.3:24,25,28;Ac.26:17,18. and the witness in his heart that he is a child of God and heir of eternal life. (Rom. 8:16, 17; Gal. 4:6; 1 Jno. 5:10, 11; (Eph. 1:13, 14; 4:30; 2 Cor. 1:21, 22.)  This great change in the heart and in the knowledge of the sinner is exclusively the work of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:11, 1 Cor. 12:3; Jno. 6:45.), who according to the gracious ...

  For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is God’s saving power for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith, as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.” Rom. 1:16–17. “The one who is righteous will live by faith.” Ro 1:16–17. If the supplementary words in the antecedent arise out of the spaces in the citation, then Paul is offering the following paraphrase of his text from Habakkuk:  ‘The one who is righteous (that is, with a righteousness of God, revealed in the gospel) by faith (since this righteousness is received by faith and is intended for faith) will live.’  Later in his letter, Paul himself will use just such a format to paraphrase a passage from Deuteronomy:   The righteousness of faith speaks thus: Do not say in your heart, Who will ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down), or, Who will descend into the abyss? (that is, to br...