Boyce Catechism - Bible 2

CATECHISM of James P. Boyce - THE BIBLE
2. By what other name is it known?
The Scriptures

There are no words like them. These Scriptures are one of a kind because...

1. The author is God. The Scriptures are holy. They are written by God through the agency of man. (2 Timothy 3:15–16)

2. The words are living and active. They have an impact on the heart and mind of those that are filled with the Holy Spirit or that are being convicted by the Holy Spirit. (Hebrews 4:12)

3. God has a purpose for these words. When they are preached they do not return without impact. These words accomplish something significant in the lives of people. (Isaiah 55:11)

I thank God today that I am able to look into the Scriptures and be impacted by them. These are not the thoughts of mere man. These are the determined words of God. Each word, phrase and sentence has an eternal purpose. God in His grace enables me by His Spirit to apprehend something of His purpose for my life and His will through them. Thank you, Father.

James Petigru Boyce (1827–1888) was a Baptist theologian, pastor, and seminary professor. Boyce was educated at Brown University under Francis Wayland, whose evangelical sermons contributed to Boyce’s conversion, and at Princeton Theological Seminary under Charles Hodge. Boyce became a pastor, then a university professor, and finally the founder and first president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he taught theology from 1859 until his death in 1888. Throughout his ministry Boyce insisted on the importance of theological education for all ministers. In a preface, he described his Abstract of Systematic Theology, published the year before his death, as follows: "This volume is published the rather as a practical text book, for the study of the system of doctrine taught in the Word of God, than as a contribution to theological science."