Reformation Month / Study / Scripture / Sufficiency
Sufficiency
Scripture contains everything God intends to give his church as the written rule for faith and obedience.
Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable… that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
¶ What does it mean?
The Bible does not tell us every fact we might wish to know. It tells us what God wants his people to believe and how he wants them to live. We are not waiting for a missing book to finish the faith.
¶ Where do we see it in Scripture?
- Deuteronomy 29:29The secret things belong to Yahweh. The things that are revealed belong to us and to our children.
- Psalm 19:7The law of Yahweh is perfect, restoring the soul.
- Revelation 22:18–19The canon is not a draft. We do not add to the words God has given.
¶ Historical context
Sufficiency guarded the church from treating new revelations, secret knowledge, or layers of extra rules as necessary for a complete Christian life. The Word God gave is enough for the purpose he gave it.
¶ What this does not mean
Sufficiency is not a claim that we need no teachers, no church, and no common sense. God uses all of those. It means none of them may add a second written rule that binds the conscience as Scripture does.
¶ Why it matters
Study what is there. Do not hunt for a hidden code behind the text. The ordinary sense of Scripture, read in the church and obeyed in ordinary life, is the gift.