By Good and Necessary Consequence

by Ryan M. McGraw

Author Ryan M. McGraw is the pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Conway/Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He is married to Krista, and they have three sons. He is the author of The Day of Worship: Reassessing the Christian Life in Light of the Sabbath, as well as numerous articles and book reviews.

Endorsements “The Westminster Confession says that the ‘whole counsel of God…is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture’ (1.6, emphasis added). McGraw begins this work by noting the biblical foundation of the principle, especially evident in the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. He then examines the usage among the contemporaries of the authors of the Westminster Standards, and in another section deals with the most significant objections to this principle. He treats the need for ‘necessary consequence’ in four major areas of theology, and concludes with certain practical applications that impact the Christian life and church. This excellent book helps us understand the significance of ‘necessary consequence’ not only for the Confession but also for Scripture study in general, and is worthwhile for grounding the principle in the Lord Jesus Christ and the writers of the Scripture. — George W. Knight III, Adjunct Professor of New Testament, Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary

“McGraw handles this crucial matter with great skill, combining careful exegesis, wide historical scholarship, and incisive practical application. All in positions of church leadership should read, ponder, and follow his wise directions.” — Robert Letham, Senior Tutor in Systematic and Historical Theology, Wales Evangelical School of Theology

Series Description:

Explorations in Reformed Confessional Theology (editors: Daniel R. Hyde and Mark Jones)

This series provides introductory volumes on statements in the Reformed confessions that tend to trouble modern readers. Each book examines confessional issues in four ways:

exploring such things as variants, textual development, and the development of language within the documents themselves as well as within the context in which these documents were writ­ten.
historically— exploring social history and the history of ideas that shed light upon these issues.
theologically—exploring the issues of intra- and inter-confessional theology both in the days these documents were written as well as our day.
pastorally—ex­ploring the pressing pastoral needs of certain doctrines and the implications of any issues that cause difficulty in the confessions.
The series is intended for educated lay people in Reformed congregations as well as ministers who must repeatedly teach and preach the doctrines in the confessions.

Genres: Theology, Christianity

104 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Ryan M. McGraw is the pastor of First Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Sunnyvale, CA (http://firstopc.org/). He ministered previously to Grace Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Conway, SC. Pastor McGraw is a graduate Cal State Fullerton (B.A.) and of Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (MDiv and ThM). He obtained his PhD in historical theology from the University of the Free State (Jonathan Edwards Centre Africa). Ryan is Adjunct Professor of Systematic Theology at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and he is a Research Associate for the Jonathan Edwards Centre Africa. He regularly contributes articles and book reviews to numerous publications. He is married to Krista, and they have three sons. You can listen to his sermons at http://www.sermonaudio.com/source_det...

Reviews

[Josiah Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those sorts of books that you don’t realize you need someone to write until you start questioning something most all Christians take for granted. Although there are still strong disagreements on things in scripture that I would consider explicitly true, like the virgin birth or deity of Christ, many struggle to affirm (or rather pleased to deny) these doctrines based on the fact that you can’t whip open your Bible and pull out the verse where Mary says “I am and remained a virgin throughout the pregnancy and birth of Jesus Christ.” And then flip a few pages later to see Christ say “As my mother maintained, and I fully agree, she was a virgin from conception to my birth.” Yet, we can all pull many passages in our mind where Mary does say that she hasn’t known a man, and the manner which Joseph retained the marriage after thinking she had been with another man, and the angel’s reassurance, the prophecies, and so forth. We all agree that putting all the evidence together gives us a good and necessary consequence of the written word leading to our affirmation of the doctrine.

McGraw starts his work by pointing to Chapter 1.6 of the Westminster Confession of Faith where the phrase “by good and necessary consequence” is first utilized. McGraw shows how Biblical authors used this in their writings, how our historical Protestant forefathers maintained it, and how we should use it today. We all use it whether we recognize it or not, some more than others, but all to some degree. For those of us who hold to the regulative principle of worship which holds, in sum, that that which is not commanded is forbidden, still use electricity, pews, carpeting, roofs, microphones, recording devices, et al, without a hint of remorse. To some this seems like a rejection of the regulative principle, and while we could get into the whole elements vs circumstances debate, it is much more straight forward to show that we must use the idea of good and necessary consequences of scripture to justify what we do and believe.

For such a short book, this one packs in a lot of information, and it is well worth your time.

[Rick Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

And excellent and helpful little book.

[Douglas Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just wonderful.

[landrejczyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

very useful and well written

[Peter Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short book, clocking in at only 74 pages, but it does a good job of laying the ground work for the important interpretative principle that we can derive theology and practice not just from explicit statements in Scripture, but by good and necessary consequence (Westminster Confession of Faith, Article I, Chapter 6). McGraw shows that everyone uses this principle even those who deny it. He also shows how heretics are usually the ones who want to get away from this idea. They are the ones who say, "Give me a verse saying there is a Trinity!" He also does a good job of explaining that this principle is not referring to some of extras of worship (such as time of worship) and the Christian life (such as how much of the Bible we should read) as many think it is. A principle derived by good and necessary consequence is binding. It is God's Word as much as an explicit statement of Scripture is.

What I found most helpful was taking what he says and applying it to preaching. Proper use of this principle is absolutely necessary for preaching that has good application which is rooted in God's Word.

One final thought I had is what if we took what the Bible says about male and female and applied this principle to it? So many reformed folks today say, "Give me a verse that says women can't be police officers! Give me a verse that says women can't teach mixed Sunday School!" This principle, if it were applied consistently to male/female roles would make a wreck of much of the current egalitarian thinking that dominates Christianity.

[Zack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent and short treatment of the doctrine of biblical interpretation that holds that doctrinal inferences/formulations are as authoritative as explicit statements in Scripture if and only if deduced “by good and necessary consequence” (Westminster Confession of Faith 1.6). Readable in one or two sittings, this book is a must-have for anyone struggling to articulate (or understand) the church’s historical practices of formulating creeds, writing confessions, and sponsoring the labors of professional systematic theologians. I highly recommend this work!

[Will O'kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A helpful explication of a simple yet hermeneutically weighty phrase used by the divines in article 1.6 of the Westminster Confession of Faith.

A few thoughts/questions I have:
-I didn't agree with the author's slightly polemical thoughts on infant baptism.
-Though I wholeheartedly agree with the author's main point, I feel the need for additional clarifiers. What do we mean by necessary? Do we mean: "Absolutely necessary via logical deduction?" I'm not sure if Nadab and Abihu's error was a failure to understand an airtight logical deduction--it seems to me more of a failure of induction--a failure to reason from the specific to the general about the need to adhere strictly to the word of God. This would represent a failure to understand a de jure argument rather than a de facto argument. Either way, Nadab and Abihu failed to give God proper fear and honor, which means that they had more than just a lack of understanding.

It also seems that most modern readers take for granted/unconsciously practice drawing inferences from Scripture, probably because we live now as rich inheritors of the Reformation Tradition. However, the prevalence of such practice does not mean that theological unity is more likely. Again...this is an area that I felt McGraw could have been more precise. The fact that whatever flows logically from Scripture should be fully embraced does not mean that we will agree on what flows logically from Scripture. The Arians were convinced of their position, not only because they used proof texts, but also because they did not agree with the orthodox Christians who claimed that a Nicaean Christology followed logically from Scripture. Even redeemed saints don't agree on what follows logically from Scripture. This doesn't mean that we are hopelessly lost or that there are no objective logical implications that flow from Scripture; it just means we are limited in our ability to perceive what is actually there.

Ultimately, I find that the hermeneutical principle entailed in "good and necessary consequence" is helpful in that it frees us from a crippling, errant Biblicism.

I'd love to talk more about this with somebody!

[Alan Rennê · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelente livro!

O autor mostra os fundamentos bíblicos para a afirmação da Confissão de Fé de Westminster (I.6) que trata daquilo que pode ser "lógica e claramente deduzido da Escritura". De forma hábil ele mostra como Jesus e os demais escritores do Novo Testamento fizeram uso de inferências com o objetivo de aplicarem os ensinamentos das Escrituras. De acordo com o autor, o uso de inferências e deduções lógicas é algo inescapável, uma vez que doutrinas cardeais da fé cristã só são estabelecidas a partir do seu uso, como por exemplo, as doutrinas das duas naturezas de Jesus Cristo e da Trindade. Atenção especial também é dada ao modo como o uso de inferências é extremamente necessário para o estabelecimento dos atos de culto prestado a Deus.

Recomendo a leitura.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

One reviewer below commented that the supporting material was weak. I could not disagree more. I found McGraw's supporting data well referenced and well used. As I read I often take note of the footnotes and the sources in this small book are outstanding.

[Ethan McCarter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book on the subject that is often attacked from numerous voices and personas. Good and necessary consequence is done by everybody in the church, even those who deny the principle itself. The book is very short, a little over 70 pages, with much more to be said on the topic. McGraw shows the biblical warrant for the principle, historical warrant, answers objections, and defends the principle throughout the book. Any orthodox Christian adheres to this principle, whether realized or not, for without it one has no warrant for believing in the Trinity, the hypostatic union, or any kind of systematic theology proper. Highly recommend this book for anybody confused on the topic or worried about unbiblical theological conclusions deduced from this principle.

[Matthew McConnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good and necessary little book for theologians-in-training to read, or any lay person simply interested in the task of theology. McGraw argues that the inferring of theological conclusions/consequences from explicit statements of Scripture are as authoritative and binding on a believer as those explicit statements the inferences are based upon. There were a few areas that I wish had been treated at more length, but I understand this was a briefer book.

[Kyle Grindberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a helpful little book, highly recommend if you're interested in exploring this topic.

[Ken Honken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite its mere 74 pages, this little volume deserves to be required reading in every Reformed seminary's homiletics and hermeneutics class. Here's what McGraw accomplishes in a very short span.

Chapter 1, "Biblical Foundations," focuses on the presence of Westminster's hermeneutic in the ministry of Jesus Christ and his apostles. McGraw draws the reader's attention to Jesus' defeat of the Sadducees in Matthew 22 and Paul's use of Deut. 25:4 in 1 Cor. 9. In doing so, he incisively demonstrates Jesus and the apostles interpreted Scripture for their situations precisely by good and necessary consequence. McGraw writes, "We do not have the excuse of claiming that only Christ and his apostles were able to interpret Scripture in this manner, since they expected both their followers and their opponents to be able to do so as well. It is a strong indictment against the church if Christ's enemies accept His methods of biblical interpretation more readily than His followers often do." Ouch.

Chapter 2, "The Westminster Assembly," explains the Westminster Assembly's commitment to "good and necessary consequence" as an attempt to reform the medieval quadriga in the historical context of the Renaissance's commitment to ad fontes. The quadriga was too arbitrary with respect to the text, and the Renaissance emphasis on exegesis was too divorced from the life of the church. "Good and necessary consequence" was a media via designed to bridge a concern for the text to an equally important concern for the church. McGraw highlights the work of two Scottish commissioners, George Gillespie and David Dickson, to illustrate this third way. In other words, McGraw historically demonstrates the Reformed principles for moving from text to theology to sermon. And in doing so, he observes they are very principles advocated by the Lord Jesus Christ. Not bad for a short chapter in a short book.

Chapter 3, "Its Importance," executes a kind of analogia fidei argument for good and necessary consequence by drawing the reader's attention to the Trinity, the Chalcedonian definition of Jesus' person, worship, and the sacraments. McGraw unveils the purity of these doctrines by pointing out their dependence upon good and necessary consequence. Sadly, those who affirm the veracity of the Trinity and Christ's two natures often inconsistently deny the legitimacy of that hermeneutic.

Chapter 4, "Objections," addresses the three most common objections to using good and necessary consequence: it unjustly binds the consciences of believers, it makes faith rationalistic, and it makes preachers into priests by taking the Bible out of the hands of ordinary people. In my opinion, McGraw best answers these objections when he observes how close evangelicals (such as Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., and even the Reformed community's Moises Silva) come to heresies such as Arianism, Socinianism, and the variations of anti-trinitarianism when making these objections. For me, other examples such as the development of Darby's Exclusive Brethren and the Jehovah's Witnesses come to mind. In any case (my point, not McGraw's), one of the enduring connections between American evangelicalism and the reemergence of ancient heresies it nurtures seems to be a shared hermeneutic.

Chapter 5, "Practical Conclusios," drives home the value of good and necessary consequence for preaching and theology. This method must be used for applying the word of God to his people and for defining unchangeable truth about God. There is no other method. In fact, anyone who speaks to God's people on his behalf or who posits truths about God is unavoidably using good and necessary consequence.

In addition to the inherent richness of this little work, the bibliography should be mentioned as a particular strength. In particular, the dependence upon Muller is clear throughout the book, making Baker Publishing Group's delay in printing his "Post Reformation Reformed Dogmatics" all the more egregious.

Any book review, of course, is obliged to offer something in the way of criticism, and in that respect, mine are minor and few.

In pp. 9-11, McGraw addresses the unstated premise in Jesus' argument from Matthew 22, namely that Jesus' proof for the resurrection of the body makes recourse to the immortality of the soul without explicitly demonstrating the connection between the two. McGraw addresses this by alleging a fundamental distinction between Greek and Jewish views of the body, and then proving the Jewish view of the body from other portions of Scripture. Unfortunately, this distinction between Jewish and Greek views of the world is overly simplistic, as demonstrated by scholars such as James Barr in his "Semantics of Biblical Language." Ironically, the Sadducees themselves were Jewish, and yet they denied the value of the body. So McGraw's distinction here doesn't really explain the Sadduccean disregard for the body. A much better line of argument would begin with what McGraw notes on p.9, fn. 9: the Sadducees likely used the historical priority of the Pentateuch to play the Manichean (anachronistically, of course) in dismissing the rest of the Old Testament and its insistence upon the resurrection. In other words, for the Sadducees, because the Pentateuch does not expressly affirm the immortality of the soul, non-Pentateuchal claims regarding a general resurrection cannot be true (since bodies need souls to live). Therefore, only the Pentateuch is authoritative; the rest of the Old Testament is not. Jesus humiliates this understanding by demonstrating through good and necessary consequence from the Pentateuch that the soul is immortal. If the soul is immortal, a general resurrection is possible. And thereby, Sadducean claims against the rest of the Old Testament are moot.

Another quibble I have with the book is the use of two Scottish non-voting commissioners in Chapter 2. McGraw goes to great lengths to identify the Assembly as an English body, and yet he does so in order to highlight the international character of its "Presbyterian" or Reformed theology. Why then pick two Scots attending the Assembly to illustrate the point? Why not an Englishman and a Scot or an American, especially since the latter two nations took up arms against the crown at one point? Why not an American and a Dutchman (also coming into conflict with England later)? At any rate, the choice of two Scots seemed more a matter of convenience than a decided attempt to demonstrate the international character of Westminster's doctrine. But again, this is minor, for McGraw's point would surely have been sustained even with better examples.

I only paid $5.00 for this book, due to the generosity of the Presbyterian church we attend. But after reading it, I would pay $50.00. Tolle lege!

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic work on a biblical principle that should be better understood. The author goes through how the principle of good and necessary consequence is required by scripture, demonstrated by Christ, and applied by all creeds and confessions. He goes through how we can use the principle to derive the doctrines of the hypostatic union, trinity, and paedobaptism. This is a very quick read and is primarily focused on arguing for this hermeneutical principle not necessarily all the doctrines derived from it. Highly Recommend and I look forward to reading more from Ryan McGraw.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

McGraw lays out one of the foundational principles to all of systematic theology. The sense of the Scripture bears the authority of Scripture. Excellent little booklet to give to anyone questioning Reformed theology.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Are only explicit scripture proofs valid?? Nay, i affirm against the anabaptists, socinians, and antitrinitarians.

[Simon O'Mahony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding! McGraw achieves both clarity and depth in this little book.

[Sean McGowan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful little book on an important, but often neglected subject. Recommended.

[Nathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was written by one of my seminary classmates. Ryan McGraw was one of the brightest students in my class, and it is therefore no surprise that he’s published a couple of books already, while I’m still learning the basics in the ministry!

This book is a quick read, only 74 pages, with very little print on each page. McGraw likes really long footnotes in which he tells you to read other books and how cool they are. He is a well-read theologian, and his writing is easy to read. In fact, I found it so easy to read that I could skim-read and still get his point in good detail. This is a book for beginners, and would encourage someone who finds reading hard.

This is essentially an introduction to a narrow Biblical hermeneutics. The book has two places that really shine, and the rest of it is a theology of a very narrow interpretive minimalism, which I think hurts what he was trying to accomplish in the book.

First, the good parts:
• He has an excellent section on infant baptism. He shows the folly of rejecting the doctrine on the basis of his thesis of good and necessary consequence. The argument he uses is one that is devastating to the credo-baptist position.
• At the end of the book he has a section where he interacts with objections to the idea of good and necessary consequence. These are all great little vignettes that could be expanded into articles. The best one was where he deals with those who say the principle takes the Bible out of the hands of the people and places it only in the hands of experts. His arguments are very incisive and helpful.

The rest of the book isn’t really worth reading. First, his writing style is strange. On the one hand it is super easy to read, but on the other hand it lacks creativity. It isn’t fun to read.

There is another big problem with the book:
• McGraw has a little section on the quadriga. This is a four-fold approach to interpreting the Bible that was big in the medieval church. McGraw claims the quadriga is bad and ought to be rejected, especially the allegorical interpretation. Then he talks about “orthodox” hermeneutics as if there is some objective standard of what’s right and wrong in approaching the text. This baffles me. Every Biblical interpreter uses the quadriga without realizing it. To McGraw’s credit he does acknowledge the quadriga was not entirely jettisoned, but he writes negatively about it. But let’s think about this. Think of sermons you’ve heard. The pastor gives the historical context (that’s the literal sense), he shows how the text is related to Jesus and does Biblical Theology (that’s the allegorical sense), he applies it (that’s tropological), then he talks about what the text means cosmically and eschatologically (that’s the analogical sense). That’s the quadriga! This does not deny WCF 1.6. There is one “sense”, but to reduce it to the tropological is a tacit denial of the trinity.

The book is the start of a conversation on whether we should be interpretive maximalists or minimalists. McGraw is an interpretive minimalist, but his idea of good and necessary consequence lends itself to interpretive maximalism. I wish he’d go there and let his imagination run within the bounds of our doctrinal standards. The Bible can open up so much more, and God’s kingdom becomes so much more beautiful if we don’t reduce the possibilities to what we can reason “logically”. The Bible wasn’t written by Spock, let’s not straight-jacket it to be like that.

[Adam T. Calvert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a short read on the phrase in the Westminster Confession of faith: "The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture..." (italics mine, 2.6).

The teaching this book is debating against is that view that a doctrine has to be established by chapter and verse and not logical inference (although as McGraw shows, things like the doctrine of the Trinity are necessarily proved by inference rather than one chapter and verse).

This book is really pretty perfect at doing what it sets out to do. McGraw starts by showing the Biblical foundation for the hermeneutic rule of "good and necessary consequence": how even Jesus Himself and other Bible authors used the principle of "good and necessary consequence" when understanding or explaining Scripture. He then goes on to shed light on the context surrounding the Westminster assembly when this statement was put into the confession. After that he shows some theological importance of this principle and answers common objections to the principle. He then ends the book with some practical considerations.

Short. Readable. Terrific. And a must for hermeneutics.

[Argin Gerigorian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good starter book on interpretation, and why the Westminster Confession speaks about necessary deductions that must be made from the text of Scripture.

Exegesis by itself is not a reformed method of hermeneutics. The textual, historical and systemtic-theological vantage points must be taken into consideration together. "Exposition is the foundation for theology, but exposition is also helped and informed by theology" (pg. 26)

Here are some examples where we find the use of the good and necessary consequence clause.

1. Genesis 1:1
2. Matthew 22-29-32
3. Luke 24:25-27
4. 1 Corinthians 9:9-10
5. Matthew 2:23
6. John 7:38
7. Ephesians 5:14
8. James 4:5
9. Acts 9:22, 18:28

[Paul Wichert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent little book (85 small pages) that discusses the interpretive concept in WCF 1.6 that, "The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture." This is of course a very misunderstood hermeneutical concept and McGraw discusses the foundations, implications, and applications of it. In short, he shows that Jesus and the apostles used this method and that without it theology is impossible. There is a lot of wisdom packed into this small book, well worth reading.

[Vaughn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear and accessible, this is a thorough summary of a critical principle of biblical interpretation. Excellent.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Main premise - excellent. Some supporting material - weak.

[Kyle LaPorte · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an important book on interpreting and reading Scripture. It's short but dense with good info.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book.

[Nathan Foy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book on important issue - how should Christians put guardrails on their biblical interpretation? I've referenced this one again and again.

[Trent Still · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice little read. Good introduction to an important hermeneutical principle. Not exhaustive but definitely worth a look if you're new to the subject or need a refresher.

[Becky Pliego · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good. A perfectly short introduction to the importance of studying the Westminster Confession of Faith.

[Jeremiah Horner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful mix of theory and application. McGraw left me hungry for more.