The Logos and the Authority of Scripture: A Proposal Motivated by Irenaeus’ Trinitarian Account of Revelation

This article suggests an alternative approach to the modern emphasis on the Spirit as the ground of the authority of Scripture – a view largely absent in the church of the first four centuries – on the basis of the thoroughly trinitarian account of the process of divine revelation articulated by Irenaeus. In his account, the Logos , as the Revealer of the Father, is the primary agent of all the Father’s revelatory actions. In this way the Logos , working in cooperation with the Spirit, provides the basis for the revelatory authority of Scripture.