📖 Biblical Definition
The branch of systematic theology specifically concerned with the doctrine of Scripture: its origin (inspiration: the verbal-plenary inspiration of every word by the Holy Spirit moving holy men of God to write), its nature (revelation, inerrancy, infallibility), its authority (sola Scriptura: Scripture alone as the supreme rule of faith and practice), its sufficiency (Scripture contains all that is needed for salvation and godly living), its perspicuity (Scripture's central things are clear), its canonicity (the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments), and its proper interpretation (the analogy of faith, the historical-grammatical method, plain-sense reading). Distinguished from biblical theology (which traces themes diachronically through Scripture) and from systematic theology generally (which uses Scripture to construct doctrinal categories synchronically). The confessional Reformed locus classicus on bibliology is the Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 1 ("Of the Holy Scripture") — possibly the single greatest summary of biblical bibliology ever written.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Branch of systematic theology specifically concerned with the doctrine of Scripture: inspiration, inerrancy, authority, sufficiency, perspicuity, canonicity, interpretation.
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BIBLIOLOGY, n. (Greek biblion + -logia) The branch of systematic theology specifically concerned with the doctrine of Scripture. Covers: inspiration (verbal-plenary; 2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pet 1:21), revelation (general and special), inerrancy (Scripture is without error in all that it affirms), infallibility (Scripture cannot fail in its purpose), authority (sola Scriptura: Scripture alone the supreme rule of faith and practice), sufficiency (Scripture contains all that is needed for salvation and godly living), perspicuity (Scripture's central things are clear to the ordinary reader), canonicity (the closed canon of 66 books), and proper interpretation (the analogy of faith, historical-grammatical method, plain-sense reading). The Westminster Confession ch. 1 is the classical Reformed summary.
📖 Key Scripture
2 Timothy 3:16-17 — "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."
2 Peter 1:20-21 — "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."
Psalm 19:7-11 — "The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple."
Matthew 5:18 — "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."
John 17:17 — "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern liberal Protestant bibliology denies inerrancy, dilutes authority, opens the canon, and treats Scripture as a human religious document; confessional Reformed bibliology maintains the historic doctrine.
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The most consequential modern corruption of bibliology is the abandonment of inerrancy. Liberal Protestantism's nineteenth-century embrace of higher-critical method — reading Scripture as a human document subject to the same scholarly evaluation as any other ancient text — led directly to the denial of inerrancy, the relativization of biblical authority, and the eventual abandonment of biblical doctrines wherever modern sensibility found them objectionable. The 1978 Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy was the evangelical-academic response, codifying the historic confessional position.
The contemporary concern is the soft erosion of inerrancy in significant portions of the evangelical academy. Bibliology is the foundational locus that controls everything downstream. Where bibliology is solid, the rest of theology is at least possible; where bibliology is compromised, every downstream doctrine is at risk. The Westminster Confession's chapter 1 remains the standard. Confessional Reformed Christians should hold to it without compromise and refuse to allow it to be diluted by trendy reformulations that promise the same substance with different language.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Greek biblion + -logia; doctrine of Scripture; Westminster Confession ch. 1 the classical Reformed summary.
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['Greek', 'G975', 'biblion', 'book, scroll']
['Greek', 'G3056', 'logos', 'study, word']
['Greek', 'G1124', 'graphe', 'scripture, that which is written']
Usage
"Branch of systematic theology specifically on the doctrine of Scripture."
"Covers inspiration, inerrancy, authority, sufficiency, perspicuity, canonicity, interpretation."
"Westminster Confession ch. 1 is the classical Reformed summary."