and sovereign initiative. Once again: church is the eschatological reality of the new creation; it is the “creature of the Word.” And as creature, the church is simply not competent to receive the Word, let alone to authorize it. In the Word, the church hears God’s summons to obedient attention to the gospel. Where does Holy Scripture as text fit into this trinitarian and ecclesiological account of divine self-communication? Very simply: Holy Scripture is the means or instrument through which the