A few weeks ago in our Bible Institute hour I had the opportunity to teach on one of the key attributes of Scripture, it’s sufficiency. This lesson came as part of a larger class on the doctrine of Scripture, and I was eager to look more closely at this important and sometimes misunderstood characteristic of God’s Word.
Let’s begin by defining sufficiency. I’ll give you a shorter and more concise definition and a longer and more comprehensive one. First, from Kevin Deyoung’s book, Taking God at His Word:
"The Scriptures contain everything we need for knowledge of salvation and godly living. We don't need any new revelation from heaven." - Kevin Deyoung
When Protestants teach that God’s Word is sufficient, we aren’t saying that the Bible provides all the answers for every possible question in life. This should be obvious, but often must be stated. Scriptural sufficiency is both limited and comprehensive. It’s limited in that it speaks to two areas: salvation and godly living. It’s comprehensive in that it provides all we need for both eternal life and how to live before God in holiness now. Deyoung’s concise definition captures these two core points that are necessary to rightly explain sufficiency.
Second, for a longer definition, let’s turn to the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith. Here’s what it says:
The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down or necessarily contained in the Holy Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelation of the Spirit, or traditions of men. Nevertheless, we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the Word, and that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, and government of the church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be observed.
Let’s take this piece by piece:
“The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man's salvation, faith and life…”
You can see the same parameters of sufficiency as we found in Deyoung’s definition. The sufficiency of Scripture is complete and limited toward what it aims at. It's comprehensive but also doesn't promise us all the knowledge in the universe.
“is either expressly set down or necessarily contained in the Holy Scripture”
Certain Scriptural doctrines are stated directly in the pages of the Bible. Others require us to logically piece together statements given to organize and state the teaching of Scripture. The doctrine of the Trinity would be an example of a doctrine “necessarily” contained in Scripture. There’s no single passage in the Bible that fully unfolds that God is one essence and three persons. Yet, this teaching is clearly biblical because it is necessarily contained in the Bible.
The word “necessarily” is doing a lot of work in this statement from the Confession. We are human and can err when piecing together what is necessarily contained in Scripture. And yet, the Confession argues that when done correctly, the logical deductions made from what is taught in the Bible are included in the meaning of the Bible. John Frame explains the phrase “necessarily contained” like this,
"Implication does not add anything new; it merely rearranges information contained in the premises. It takes what is implicit in the premises and states it explicitly. Thus, when we learn logical implications of sentences, we are learning more and more of what those sentences mean. The conclusion represents part of the meaning of the premises…Thus we need not fear any violation of sola scriptura as long as we use logic responsibly. Logic sets forth the meaning of Scripture." - John Frame
Let’s continue through the Confession’s statement on sufficiency:
“unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelation of the Spirit, or traditions of men.”
This phrase from the Confession confirms that no new revelation from God can be added to the complete Word of God that we have in the Bible. It specifically mentions two areas where men have often added to God’s revelation. First, if you’ve ever heard someone claim to have a “word from God” or direct knowledge of God’s will in a particular area, they have violated the sufficiency of Scripture. Second, by mentioning the “traditions of men”, the confession is taking not so subtle aim at the Roman Catholic Church. The Catholic Church teaches that the traditions and teachings of the Church, even if they aren’t taught in Scripture, should be equal in weight to the Bible.
Finally, the Confession ends its definition of sufficiency with these words:
and that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, and government of the church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be observed.
Here, once again, we see the comprehensive and yet limited nature of Scriptural sufficiency. It does not negate Scriptural sufficiency to look outside of the Bible for guidance on certain issues. Some elements of how we govern the church and how we live socially with others must be informed by general revelation and Christian wisdom. The Bible does not intend to give us specific guidance on what sort of church building to meet in, whether or not to join the HOA in our neighborhood, or the best method of losing weight.
However, though we won’t have specific instructions regarding most things we do, every decision must be submitted to the overall story of the Bible and the general principles of the Word. Since everything can be done for the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31), every thought, word, and deed must be submitted to God through obedience to His Word.
