George H. Warnock — Bibliology
b2 — Evening and Morning
Scripture as Foundation and Compass
In chapter 1 Warnock articulates a twofold balance: holding to the Word as a firm foundation while pressing onward in building the temple of God:
“There is a perfect balance here that we must maintain to keep us on the solid rock of the Word on the one hand, and to enable us to build up the temple of the Lord to perfection on the other.”
(George H. Warnock, Evening and Morning, ch. 1, “Unfolding Revelation”)
Interpretation: Warnock employs the metaphor of the “solid rock of the Word” as the foundation for the Christian walk — progressive revelation must never come at the expense of the scriptural foundation.
He then issues a sharp warning against abandoning Scripture:
“When men begin to lay aside the Scriptures on the assumption that they have gone beyond what is written in the Word, they are destroying the very foundation upon which solid Christian character is built, and are throwing away the compass that alone can direct them to the haven of rest which they imagine they have already entered.”
(George H. Warnock, Evening and Morning, ch. 1, “Unfolding Revelation”)
Interpretation: Scripture functions for Warnock as compass and foundation for Christian formation. Surrendering Scripture under the pretense of having “moved beyond the letter” is in his view self-deception that leads to ruin.
Scripture versus Theology
Warnock draws a fundamental distinction between “theology” as human knowledge-about-God and true knowledge of God through Scripture:
“That is why ‘theology’ as such has really no place in Christian progress nor in Divine revelation. By ‘theology’ we mean the ‘science about God.’ God never was interested in telling us about Himself. Nor was Jesus ever concerned in telling the disciples about the Father. He came rather to REVEAL THE FATHER and MAKE HIM KNOWN. Not facts about Him, but to MAKE HIM KNOWN.”
(George H. Warnock, Evening and Morning, ch. 1, “Unfolding Revelation”)
Interpretation: Warnock rejects theology as a rational science about God as an adequate means of knowing God. This aligns with his pneumatological-hermeneutical position from b1: the Spirit, not the theological system, unlocks Scripture.
Nature as Manifestation of the Word
Warnock argues that nature is a manifestation of the Word of God, and that this “pre-Bible” revelation was sufficient to establish humanity’s inexcusability:
“After all, we must expect this to be so, for Nature is but a manifestation of the Word of God. There was a time when men had no Word but the Word of Nature, and it was such a clear revelation of the mind and character of God that the apostle was able to say, ‘The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse’ (Rom. 1:20).”
(George H. Warnock, Evening and Morning, ch. 1, “Unfolding Revelation”)
Interpretation: Warnock connects general and special revelation: nature is itself a manifestation of the Word (Logos), not merely a pointer toward God. Rom. 1:20 serves as the biblical basis.
Typological Hermeneutics: OT as Type for the Church
Warnock repeats his typological hermeneutical principle from The Feast of Tabernacles in Evening and Morning as well:
“For in all God’s dealings with natural Israel, they have become ‘ensamples’ or ‘types,’ and ‘they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come’ (1Cor. 10:11).”
(George H. Warnock, Evening and Morning, ch. 2, “Another Generation Cometh”)
Interpretation: Consistent with b1, Warnock affirms that the OT functions typologically for the New Testament church. 1Cor. 10:11 is again the key hermeneutical text.
He also invokes Deut. 8:3 as a guide for spiritual life:
“That he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.”
(George H. Warnock, Evening and Morning, ch. 2, “Another Generation Cometh”, quoting Deut. 8:3)
Interpretation: The manna in the wilderness functions typologically: it pointed the Israelites to the inadequacy of merely physical food and directed them to the Word of God as the true source of life.
Accuracy of Scripture
In his discussion of the genealogies in Matthew, Warnock takes the reliability of Scripture as his starting point:
“How we appreciate the accuracy of Holy Scriptures and we must honor the honesty of the translators, who might very easily have changed the figure to read 41 generations to make it conform to reason. But the original said ‘42 generations’ and that is how they translated it, regardless of the seeming discrepancy.”
(George H. Warnock, Evening and Morning, ch. 2, “Another Generation Cometh”)
Interpretation: Warnock affirms the accuracy of Holy Scripture even when the text appears at first glance to contain a discrepancy. The reliability of the original text is for him a given; the apparent contradiction is treated as carrying deeper meaning, not as an error.
The Word as Living Seed: Isa. 55:10-11
Warnock cites Isa. 55:10-11 as a key passage for his view of the active, effectual Word of God:
“For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
(George H. Warnock, Evening and Morning, ch. 5, “The River of God”, quoting Isa. 55:10-11)
Interpretation: Warnock understands the Word of God as dynamic and effectual: it never returns empty but accomplishes God’s intention. This coheres with his broader thesis on progressive revelation — the Word works as living seed in God’s ongoing redemptive action.
New Covenant: Scripture Written on the Heart, Not on Parchment
Warnock explicitly distinguishes between the New Testament as a written document and the New Covenant written on the tablets of the heart:
“This administration of the New Covenant is not completed by writing it upon tables of stone, nor in writing it upon the parchments of the New Testament. It is only the New Covenant as He writes it upon the ‘fleshly tables of the heart.’ For this is the New Covenant, the indelible inscription of the mind and will and heart of God upon the mind and will and heart of His people. ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord: I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them…’ (Heb. 10:16).”
(George H. Warnock, Evening and Morning, ch. 5, “The River of God”)
Interpretation: Warnock places the written NT document on a lower level than the living inscription of the Word upon the heart by the Holy Spirit. This is a characteristic Latter Rain emphasis: internalized revelation transcends the external text — though he does not reject the external Scripture (cf. his “solid rock of the Word” passages).
Living Truth versus Dogmatic Definition
Warnock rejects the defining of doctrine by church councils as a sign of the loss of the Spirit:
“Sound doctrine does not submit itself to definition, because sound doctrine (Lit. ‘healthful teaching’) is that flowing forth of living Truth, and simply cannot be defined. What about the Apostles’ Creed? I have never studied it, nor am I really too interested in it, because the apostles were dead and buried when church leaders got together and made the Apostles’ Creed. The apostles were not even at the council.”
(George H. Warnock, Evening and Morning, ch. 5, “The River of God”)
Interpretation: Warnock holds that sound teaching is living and fluid and cannot be fixed in confessional definitions. His rejection of the Apostles’ Creed as non-apostolic marks his distance from classical confessionalism. [TENSION: this stands in a certain tension with his emphasis on the “solid rock of the Word” in ch. 1 — Scripture as foundation is fixed, but theological systems are by definition temporary and inadequate.]