Project Description

2013/09

Is the Bible Enough?

‘Enough’ is a word of sufficiency.  When the child at the table states, ‘I’ve had enough’, he means he’s had sufficient. So the question, ‘Is the Bible enough?’, is an inquiry about sufficiency.  Yet sufficiency is always to a definite end.  A car may be sufficient to take you to Belfast, but it’s not enough to take you to the moon!

Scripture is ‘God-breathed.’  Its divine origin guarantees its sufficiency.  It is unthinkable that God would produce something that would not be able to accomplish its purpose!  The Bible is sufficient to do what it does because it is what it is.

But what is the Bible’s purpose?  God gives us the Bible that we would know Him, and know what He requires of us. In so doing, the Bible shows us the way of salvation.  The Psalmist announced, “the law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.” (Psalm19:7) The Bible is totally sufficient to lead us in the way of salvation.  It is not given to be a history or science textbook.  When it speaks of history or science it does so perfectly, but that is not its primary purpose.  It is given to show us our sin and to show us the Saviour; thus it is “…able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 3:15)  The Scriptures are the written word whose subject is the incarnate Word (Luke 24:27, 44). They are sufficient to lead us to faith in Christ as our Saviour.

The Scriptures are also enough to make us more like Christ.  The man of God knows that the Bible is all that the believer needs to be guided in the way of holiness.  The Scriptures are “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16), ensuring that the man of God is “perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” (2 Timothy 3:17)

Don’t miss the practical significance of the Bible’s sufficiency.  We must determine that what we believe about God and salvation is always and only found in the Word of God – and that the Word guides our conduct, not peer-pressure, man-made traditions or new revelations. To seek or follow another guide for faith and practice is to suggest that God’s revelation isn’t enough. But it is!

Dr Stephen Pollock