Confronting Our Culture: The Sufficiency of Scripture
Notes
Transcript
The Sufficiency of Scripture
The Sufficiency of Scripture
“Everything that we see, hear, read, and experience (concerning life and faith), that claims to be truth, should be tested by the authority of God's Word. This statement/action should be so engrained in our DNA that it should be as natural as breathing. Without this we should not declare and cannot justify that we live by a Christian worldview."
Review
Review
2 weeks ago:
A Christian Worldview
A Christian Worldview
begins with the conviction that God Himself has spoken in Scripture. As Christians we are committed to the Bible as the . . .
Inerrant & Authoritative Word of God
we believe it is Reliable & True from cover to cover every jot & tittle
Matthew 5:18
I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
“For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
Scripture is the standard by which we must test all other truth claims
unless the axiom
the Bible should shape what we believe from start to finish
it should govern how we behave
it should frame our entire perspective on life
1. Is the Bible sufficient to provide us with a complete worldview?
1. Is the Bible sufficient to provide us with a complete worldview?
There are many Christians these days that seem to imagine that the bible is neither modern enough nor sophisticated enough to equip people to live in the twenty-first century. Church growth experts say that we need to look beyond the Word of God for principles from the modern business world. Psychologists say that the Bible is too simplistic to help people with complex emotional and psychological issues. In every direction we turn in the evangelical movement the Scriptures are bine set aside in favor of novel philosophies, scientific theories, experimental behavioral and counseling techniques, political correctness, and other similar fads of modern opinion. There are so many band wagons you can’t keep count.
Today, if we look at the trend in the church, one might think that the opinion polls rather than Scripture determine truth for Christians. One Christian pollster recently issued a series of shrill warnings in the form of a book and a series of press releases, saying that the church would soon cease to exist completely if church leaders do not heed modern opinion polls and change the very nature of the church in order to get in step with the times.
This point of view is completely contrary to the what the Word of God says in Matthew 16:18.
Matthew 16:18
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
Obviously, many who call themselves evangelicals operate with something other than a biblical worldview.
2. What do we mean when we say scripture is sufficient?
2. What do we mean when we say scripture is sufficient?
We mean that the Bible is an adequate guide for all matters of faith and conduct. Scripture gives us everything we need.
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
The Westminster Confession of Faith of A.D. 1647 states:
“The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men.”
What concerns me and many others is that the church, by and large, simply does not believe that anymore. The average Christian seems to assume that something more than Scripture is needed to help us cope in a modern world. Christian bookstores are full of books offering advice drawn from sources other than the Bible on almost every conceivable subject - parenting, Christian manhood and womanhood, success and self-esteem, relationships, church growth, church leadership, ministry, philosophy, and so on.
There are many self-appointed experts who claim to have discovered some deep truth not revealed in Scripture that have now become familiar fixtures on the landscape of evangelicalism.
The SUFFICIENCY OF SCRIPTURE is under attack AND the effect on the collective worldview of the evangelical movement has been disastrous. We see this in the fact that so many pastors and church leaders now doubt that Scripture is a sufficient diet for the saints. There are those that want to supplement biblical teaching with entertainment and ideas drawn from secular sources.
Those who aren’t convinced the bible is a sufficient revelation of truth will be continually looking elsewhere for more “revelation” and new mystical experiences. In doing so, they open the door wide to the worst kinds of demonic deception.
During the past quarter century we have witnessed the abandonment of belief in Scripture’s sufficiency in another category, marriage and family. Christians once believed that if they studied the Word of God and obeyed its principles, they would have a God-honoring family life and a fulfilling marriage that would please the Lord. But now there is a proliferation of new techniques and a plethora of concepts, gimmicks, and opinions apart from the Word being offered as the real keys in dealing with family problems. All of that suggests that christians no longer believe the bible is a sufficient source of instruction concerning these matters.
The author of an article explains why he abandoned his confidence that the Bible is sufficient. He said he had read data from a poll indicating that the divorce rate among “born-again Christians” is as high as or higher than the divorce rate among non-Christian couples. He said those survey results made him conclude that the Bible simply does not have all the answers when it comes to keeping Christian marriages together. This man, who is a Professor of New Testament in a leading evangelical seminary, decided that the biblical guidelines on marriage are simply too superficial to work in the modern world. In short, he said he had abandoned his confidence in biblical sufficiency because of data from an opinion poll.
But generations of Christians can testify that the Bible’s teaching about marriage is sufficient, if obeyed, to keep truly Christ-centered marriages healthy and vibrant. We certainly should not be willing to accept uncritically the data of any poll purporting to prove that the marriages of born-again people are more likely to fail than the marriages of unbelievers.
In the first place, no pollster could ever accurately determine who is “born again” and who is not. The poll categorized people as “born again” if they claimed any kind of belief in Christ, even if other survey questions revealed they did not understand the essentials of the gospel. Furthermore, the poll did not distinguish whether the divorce occurred before or after the person’s conversion, thereby invalidating the point.
In the second place no marriage ever fails unless one or both of the partners is disobedience to the clear biblical teaching about how to live with one’s partner in love and understanding (1 Peter 3:1-7). The failure of supposedly Christian marriages today is not proof of the insufficiency of Scripture; it is proof of the weakness and biblical illiteracy of those who say they believe Scripture is the Word of God.
3. Does scripture claim to be sufficient?
3. Does scripture claim to be sufficient?
Is there a biblical response to this sinful abandonment of the sufficiency of Scripture? Of course there is. Many passages in the bible teach that the Scriptures are a perfectly sufficient revelation of “all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3).
But before we get into that . . . How did Jesus Handle Satan?
Did He use some complicated exorcism formula to bind him or banish him to the abyss? No; He simply addressed the devil on three occasions with the words “it is written” and thus refuted the enemy’s evil tactics by citing the words of scripture. So even Christ exercised the power of God through the Word of God, and that is what thwarted Satan’s temptation.
The power of God is not found in some mystical, extra-biblical source of knowledge, the use of signs and wonders and ecstatic utterances, the insights of secular psychology and philosophy or clever insights into peoples felt needs. But rather the power of God resides only in the inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word of God. When believers read, study, obey, and apply Scripture, they will realize it has sufficient power to deal with any situation in life.
How did Jesus Handle Satan?
How did Jesus Handle Satan?
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
Jesus also said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Luke 11:28). By that he meant that all spiritual sufficiency is bound up in hearing and obeying the Word of God. Normally we equate “blessed” with an emotional tingle or a momentary sense of excitement. But here Jesus used the term to speak of a blissful state of life — a life accompanied by peace and joy, meaning and value, hope and fulfillment — a life that is fundamentally happy and content. Obedience to God’s sufficient Word opens the door to that kind of life. Again, Scripture is the answer to all of life’s challenges.
He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”
In Luke 16 Jesus relates the parable of Lazarus (the beggar full of sores) and the rich man. Lazarus died and went to Abraham’s bosom, the place of blessing. The rich man died and went to the place of torment. From his position of suffering, the rich man pleaded with Abraham:
“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ “ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ”
The rich man’s perspective is the same view of many today who always seem to demand some kind of supernatural affirmation of spiritual truth. They imagine that the straightforward statements of Scripture and the power of the Gospel alone are not sufficient. But the Lord, through the words of the parable, argued otherwise and said that even though He Himself would rise from the dead, miracles are not necessary for the Gospel to do its work in changing lives. Why? Because the Word of god through the inspiration and illumination of the Holy Spirit is powerful enough — it is all-sufficient in what it teaches about redemption and sanctification.
Here are a few verses . . .
2 Peter 1:3
2 Peter 1:3
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
“all things that pertain to life and godliness”
2 Corinthians 9:8
2 Corinthians 9:8
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
2 Cor 9:8 is filled with superlatives regarding the all-sufficient resources God provides: “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work”.
That is an amazingly comprehensive statement. For anyone to claim that human philosophy must augment the simple truth of Scripture, or that Scripture cannot deal with certain societal issues and individual problems, is to contradict Paul’s divinely inspired testimony in that verse.
In John 17:17 . . .
John 17:17
John 17:17
Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
When Jesus prayed to the Father for believers’ sanctification, He said “Sanctify them . . .”. Sanctify means “set apart from sin, to be holy and separated to God.” Sanctification encompasses the whole concept of spiritual maturity. Jesus was teaching that every aspect of the believer’s holiness is the work of the Word of God (not the Word of God plus something else).
To suggest that the Word of God alone is insufficient is to espouse the very opinion that lies at the heart of virtually every cult that pretends to be Christian. The one thing nearly all of them have in common is the belief that people need the bible plus something else — the writings of some “enlightened” prophet or seer, the edicts of church tradition, or the conclusions of science and secular philosophy. So, to deny the sufficiency of Scripture is to espouse an age-old heresy. But Scripture consistently teaches that the complete holiness of the believer is the work of the all-sufficient Word of God (John 17:17)
In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul describe how God instructed him and the believers at Corinth . . .
1 Corinthians 2:13-16
1 Corinthians 2:13-16
This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment: “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
we speak words not taught “by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual” Through the Holy Spirit, God dispenses His wisdom to believers. His Word is to comprehensive, so effective, and so complete that verse 15 says
the spiritual men (believers) can make judgments (or appraise and evaluate) “all things.” Christians who know Scripture can have such a comprehensive ability to discern things because, according to verse 16
we have “the mind of Christ.”
The mind of Christ is the consummate mind of God - omniscient, supreme, and without any insufficiency. All the church needs to understand any problem, meet any need, or unravel any issue is the mind of God. And the mind of God is revealed to us in Scripture in a way that is adequate for all our spiritual needs.
In Mark 11:24 . . .
Mark 12:24
Mark 12:24
Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?
All their errors - like every spiritual error in any context - stemmed from the lack of knowledge and understanding of the Word of God. Notice also that Jesus equated knowing the Scriptures with experiencing “the power of God.” Some modern evangelicals seem to think that if the church wants real power we cannot merely proclaim the bible. That is the view of many charismatics, who insist that signs and wonders are a necessary supplement to merely proclaiming the truth of God’s Word. Others, including some of the most influential pundits of the church growth movement, likewise insist that unless biblical preaching is supplemented with other programs, the church can never successfully save the lost. They err severely, not knowing that the gospel message itself “is the power of God for salvation” (Rom 1:16)
Romans 1:16
Romans 1:16
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
Another significant verse is Hebrews 4:12-13
Hebrew 4:12-13
Hebrew 4:12-13
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
It declares the inherent sufficiency of Scripture. The writer is essentially saying Scripture is unique and there is no spiritual weapon for the believer that is superior to it. The Word of god penetrates the inner being and nature of a person. How? because it is living and powerful, sharper than any other spiritual tool and able to go deeper and cut cleaner and truer than any other resource to which someone might turn. When utilized effectively and properly, Scripture reveals the deepest thoughts and intentions of the human heart, so that “all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (v. 13). Thus the bible can do what psychoanalysis can never do. It is sufficient to penetrate and lay bare the deepest part of a person’s soul.
James 1:25
James 1:25
But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.
the expression “the perfect law of liberty” is synonymous with the complete — and sufficient — Word of God. Again, bliss, satisfaction, fulfillment, and everything else that pertains to life and conduct for a believer are bound up in obedience to the Word of God.
The apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2:2 . . .
1 Peter 2:2
1 Peter 2:2
Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,
Spiritual growth and maturity, the sanctifying process of moving toward Christlikeness, it tied to the believer’s desire for “pure spiritual milk” — the Word of God. Of course, newborns do not want anything besides milk and cannot even digest other foods. Peter is saying that as a baby strongly desires milk for nourishment and growth, believers with the same singular desire and devotion should long for the Word of god. The Word provides all the resources they need for spiritual maturity (2 Peter 1:3).
Even more direct and comprehensive statements on the power of sufficiency of Scripture are those given by Paul in his farewell message to the Ephesians elders in Acts 20:20,27.32
Acts 20:20,27,32
Acts 20:20,27,32
how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house,
declaring to you anything that was profitable
“For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.
declaring to you the whole purpose/counsel of God
“And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
I comment you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
Paul did not view any portion of God’s revelation as unimportant or insufficient to spiritual growth. Not did he view any of it as incapable of dealing with life’s problems.
I’m going to conclude, but I’ve only covered some of the passages in the NT, but the OT is equally clear about the sufficiency of Scripture in passages like . . .
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
For the director of music. A psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Psalm 119 and more.
I close with the reading of 2 Timothy 3:14-17
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
That is the starting point for a true Christian worldview — and it is the point to which Christians must inevitably return in order to evaluate and discern every competing opinion and philosophy. Scripture is true. It is reliable. And above all, it is sufficient to guide us in every aspect of developing a world-view that honors god.