[Doctrina foederum, sive systema theologica didacticae et elencticae (Amstelodami , 1691)]

Johannes Braunius (1628–1708), a venerable divine of the Dutch Reformed tradition, was born at Kaiserslautern in the year of our Lord 1628, and was trained in sacred learning at the illustrious University of Leiden, where he sat under the eminent Johannes Coccejus. Nurtured in the federal and covenantal theology of the Reformation, Braunius gave himself to the laborious study of the Hebrew tongue and the Levitical institutions of the Old Testament, wherein he discerned types and shadows of gospel mysteries. He ministered as a faithful pastor and was later appointed to the chair of theology at the University of Groningen in 1681, a post he held unto his death nearly three decades thereafter. His life was adorned not only with erudition, but with devotion, uniting the careful exposition of Scripture with reverence for the covenant mercies of God. Among his chief works stands Vestitus Sacerdotum Hebraeorum, a deep and learned commentary upon the vestments and ordinances of the Aaronic priesthood, drawn from the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth chapters of Exodus and the sixteenth of Leviticus, showing forth the typological beauty of the ceremonial law as fulfilled in Christ. Likewise, his Doctrina Foedorum offered a comprehensive system of didactic and elenctic theology, built upon the foundation of federal theology, expounding the covenant of works and grace with scholastic clarity. In all his writings, Braunius exhibited that rare balance of penetrating intellect and humble piety, ever seeking the edification of the church and the glory of the Redeemer, whose garments of righteousness he found prefigured in those of the ancient priesthood. He fell asleep in the Lord in the year 1708, full of days and full of faith.

Johannes Braunius (1628–1708), a venerable divine of the Dutch Reformed tradition, was born at Kaiserslautern in the year of our Lord 1628, and was trained in sacred learning at the illustrious University of Leiden, where he sat under the eminent Johannes Coccejus. Nurtured in the federal and covenantal theology of the Reformation, Braunius gave himself to the laborious study of the Hebrew tongue and the Levitical institutions of the Old Testament, wherein he discerned types and shadows of gospel mysteries. He ministered as a faithful pastor and was later appointed to the chair of theology at the University of Groningen in 1681, a post he held unto his death nearly three decades thereafter. His life was adorned not only with erudition, but with devotion, uniting the careful exposition of Scripture with reverence for the covenant mercies of God. Among his chief works stands Vestitus Sacerdotum Hebraeorum, a deep and learned commentary upon the vestments and ordinances of the Aaronic priesthood, drawn from the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth chapters of Exodus and the sixteenth of Leviticus, showing forth the typological beauty of the ceremonial law as fulfilled in Christ. Likewise, his Doctrina Foedorum offered a comprehensive system of didactic and elenctic theology, built upon the foundation of federal theology, expounding the covenant of works and grace with scholastic clarity. In all his writings, Braunius exhibited that rare balance of penetrating intellect and humble piety, ever seeking the edification of the church and the glory of the Redeemer, whose garments of righteousness he found prefigured in those of the ancient priesthood. He fell asleep in the Lord in the year 1708, full of days and full of faith.

Table of Contents:

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Chapter II: Of the Holy Scripture: Its Necessity, Divinity, & Authority

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I. The Word of God as the Principle of Theology

The only and most true principle of theology and of the revealed religion that saveth is the Word of God. Unto Adam in the state of integrity, God straightway manifested His will; and after the fall, where the covenant of grace was to be established (Genesis 1 and 2). Therefore, God is distinguished from idols and false gods, who have mouths and speak not, whereas the true God speaketh (Psalm 115; Psalm 147; Romans 3:2). The devil, verily, through kakozelia (malice), hath feigned that Lycurgus held converse with Apollo; Minos with Jove; Numa Pompilius with the nymph Egeria; Mohammed with Gabriel; but all these things are too gross to be believed.

II. The Unwritten and Written Word of God

The Word of God is either agraphon (unwritten) or engraphon (written). The former took its beginning in Paradise and endured unto the times of Moses, polymeros kai polytropos (in many parts and in many ways, Hebrews 1:1). Sometimes by a living voice, as God spake unto Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and others; sometimes through visions, as He manifested Himself unto Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and others; oft through dreams and the appearances of angels; and at length through the prophets. All this time, until Moses, the Church could easily be governed without the written word:

  1. For few were the faithful in the Church of the patriarchs under the promise.
  2. For the patriarchs, by reason of their long life, could purely preserve the Word of God.
  3. And for they had frequent revelations, so that they could easily have been corrected if they had erred.

We therefore reject whatsoever the Jews, Mohammedans, and others say of the books of Adam, Seth, Enoch, Abraham, and such like, since not even a whisper of them is found in the Word of God.

III. The Written Word of God

When in the times of Moses the people of God had established a just form of commonwealth, and the Church was no longer restrained unto certain families but was become national, God willed that His Word should be committed unto writings; and thus it became engraphon(written):

  1. Lest by sloth and forgetfulness the Word of God should perish, which easily cometh to pass because of man’s weakness, as was seen afore the flood.
  2. Lest through idolatry, unto which the Israelites were prone, they should corrupt themselves (Deuteronomy 31:20, 22).

IV. The Necessity of the Written Word

Though therefore God could have preserved the Church without the written word, as He preserved it until the times of Moses, nevertheless there was need of the written word. And since after Moses He would not otherwise govern nor preserve His Church but by the written word, we affirm against the Papists that the written word, by the hypothesis of the divine will, is absolutely necessary unto salvation: not only for the being thereof, but also for the well-being; not only for novices, but also for them that are mature:

  1. For God this day showeth no other way unto salvation.
  2. For Scripture is the foundation of our faith (Ephesians 2:20).
  3. For Christ sendeth us unto the Scripture of the Old Testament (John 5:39; Luke 16:29), and John 20:31 saith, “These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, that ye might have life through His name.” See also 2 Timothy 3:16.

We therefore reject the Libertines, who spurn the literal and grammatical sense as a letter that killeth and as unprofitable unto the Church of the New Testament, that they may the more easily urge the dreams of their own brain and their private spirit.

V. The Word of God in the Old and New Testaments

The Word of God is contained in those books which we call the Holy Scripture of the Old and New Testaments, and it is the theopneuston(God-breathed) word, and so divine:

  1. For since God cannot rightly be worshipped according to the good pleasure of men, it followeth that He Himself hath revealed His will. It must therefore be said that He hath revealed Himself in the Holy Scripture, or else another book must be shown which is more divine, the which hitherto none hath dared to do.
  2. Before the whole people, God made manifest His Word unto Moses (Exodus 33:11; Deuteronomy 34:11-12), so that Moses could easily have been reproved if he had sinned.
  3. Never have these books been convicted of falsehood; therefore, they are to be held as divine.
  4. Neither have the very enemies of the Christian religion dared to obtrude another book for the Word of God; therefore, the Holy Scripture alone is the Word of God.

The Alcoran of Mohammed is too grossly confuted with lies to be had for the Word of God. But what is said of the books of Moses is to be understood of all the other books of the Old and New Testaments: for all the rest contain nothing which agreeth not exactly with the writings of Moses, and which was not in some manner indicated through Moses. Therefore, by the very fact that these books were given by God, it followeth that they are divine.