Theological Term of the Week: Sufficiency of Scripture

sufficiency of Scripture

The truth that the words of scripture contain everything we need to know from God in order to be saved and to be perfectly obedient to him.

• From scripture:

… [F]rom childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:15 ESV).

• From The London Baptist Confession of Faith, Chapter 1, Section 6:

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, to which nothing is to be added at any time, either by new revelation of the Spirit, or by the traditions of men.

• From Systematic Theology by Robert Letham, page 202:

Beyond the sense of Scripture found in its explicit statements and by deduction, nothing is to be added. Scripture is the complete and utterly sufficient revelation of God for the salvation of his church (2 Tim. 3:16-17). There are two main potential sources for claiming additions to Scripture. First, mysticism proposes new revelations from the Holy Spirit. To suppose that such are needed is to regard Scripture as less than sufficient to disclose God’s glory and to unfold our salvation, faith, and life. Second, traditionalism is another threat, chiefly in the Church of Rome with its body of dogmatic accretions, reinforced by its stress on the supremacy of churchly authority. Instead, we are to look to Scripture as our only rule of faith and life (Isa. 8:19-20).

In no way does this eliminate the need for the Holy Spirit. We need his illumination in order to understand the Bible in a saving manner. Rationalism is as damaging as mysticism. The Spirit, who authored Scripture, enables us to recognize that it is the Word of God and helps us to interpret it correctly.

Nor should we reject tradition as such. However, the bottom line is that there is no truth required by God to be believed for salvation of duty required of us to perform other than what is found in Scripture.

Learn more:

1. Got Questions: What is the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture?
2. Simply Put: The Sufficiency of Scripture
3. Blue Letter Bible: What Is the Sufficiency of Scripture?
4. Matthew Barrett: The Sufficiency of Scripture
5. Carl Trueman: The Sufficiency of Scripture
6. Dave Jenkins: Sufficient for You

Related terms:

• authority of scripture
• inerrancy of scripture
• infallibility of scripture
• inspiration of scripture
• perspicuity of scripture
• sola scriptura

Filed under Scripture

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Clicking on the Theological Terms button above the header will take you to an alphabetical list of all the theological terms.

Sunday's Hymn: O Come, O Come Emmanuel

O come, O come, Em­ma­nu­el,
And ran­som cap­tive Is­ra­el,
That mourns in lone­ly ex­ile here
Until the Son of God ap­pear.

Refrain

Rejoice! Re­joice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Is­ra­el.

O come, Thou Wis­dom from on high,
Who or­der­est all things migh­ti­ly;
To us the path of know­ledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.

O come, Thou Rod of Jes­se, free
Thine own from Sa­tan’s tyr­an­ny;
From depths of hell Thy peo­ple save,
And give them vic­to­ry ov­er the grave.

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spir­its by Thine ad­vent here;
Disperse the gloo­my clouds of night,
And death’s dark sha­dows put to flight.

O come, Thou Key of Da­vid, come,
And op­en wide our hea­ven­ly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to mi­se­ry.

O come, O come, great Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Si­nai’s height
In an­cient times once gave the law
In cloud and ma­jes­ty and awe.

O come, Thou Root of Jes­se’s tree,
An en­sign of Thy peo­ple be;
Before Thee rul­ers si­lent fall;
All peo­ples on Thy mer­cy call.

O come, De­sire of na­tions, bind
In one the hearts of all man­kind;
Bid Thou our sad di­vi­sions cease,
And be Thy­self our king of Peace.

—Author unknown, translated from Latin by John M. Neale

Theological Term of the Week: Special Revelation

special revelation

God’s self-disclosure through direct, supernatural revelation.

• From scripture:

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son…. (Hebrews 1:1-2a ESV).

… [F]rom childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:15 ESV).

• From The Westminster Confession of Faith:

CHAPTER 1 Of the Holy Scripture

1. Although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence, do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of His will, which is necessary unto salvation; therefore it pleased the Lord, at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal Himself, and to declare that His will unto His church; and afterwards for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which maketh the holy Scripture to be most necessary; those former ways of God’s revealing His will unto His people being now ceased.

• From Systematic Theology by Robert Letham, page 62:

The central purpose of special revelation is gracious: to bring salvation. Unfolding progressively over wide epochs, it is rooted in human history and historical events. Above all, revelation centers in Jesus Christ, the eternal Son (John 14:10-9; Col. 1:15-20; Heb. 1:1-14). 

Learn more:

1. Got Questions: What is general revelation and special revelation?
2. Blue Letter Bible: What Is Special Revelation?
3. Simply Put: Special Revelation
4. Keith Mathison: General and Special Revelation
5. Louis Berkhof: Revelation

Related terms:

• authority of scripture
• general revelation
• inerrancy of scripture
• inspiration of scripture

Filed under Scripture

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured as a Theological Term of the Week? Email your suggestion using the contact button in the navigation bar above. 

Clicking on the Theological Terms button above the header will take you to an alphabetical list of all the theological terms.