Theological Term of the Week: Sufficiency of Scripture
Friday, December 13, 2024 at 2:30AM 
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:
- Got Questions: What is the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture?
- Simply Put: The Sufficiency of Scripture
- Blue Letter Bible: What Is the Sufficiency of Scripture?
- Matthew Barrett: The Sufficiency of Scripture
- Carl Trueman: The Sufficiency of Scripture
- Dave Jenkins: Sufficient for You
Related terms:
- authority of scripture
- inerrancy of scripture
- infallibility of scripture
- inspiration of scripture
- perspicuity of scripture
- sola scriptura
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