The sufficiency of Scripture

A word that equips

Paul tells Timothy that the Scriptures "are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:15), and that they were given "so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:17). The psalmist sings of the same completeness.

The Law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is trustworthy, making wise the simple.

Psalm 19:7

So Scripture warns more than once against adding to or taking from God's word (Deuteronomy 4:2). "Do not add to His words," says Proverbs (Proverbs 30:6), and Matthew Henry comments: "There is not the least ground to suspect anything wanting in the word of God" Matthew Henry. Paul declares that even an angel from heaven who preached another gospel would be under a curse (Galatians 1:8).

Sufficiency does not mean that Scripture tells us everything. John says that if all Jesus did were written down, "not even the world itself would have space for the books" (John 21:25). The Bible is not a textbook of mathematics or medicine; it is sufficient for what God means to make known for salvation, faith and life. Nor does it mean that we can do without preaching, teachers or study. We need the Spirit's illumination to understand it, and the church's teaching to help us read it.

The church's confession

In the fifth century Vincent of Lérins wrote that the canon of Scripture is sufficient of itself, though because people interpret it so differently it should be read with the common understanding of the church Vincent of Lérins, Commonitory. The churches of the Reformation put this conviction at the heart of sola scriptura (see the five solas). The Westminster Confession (1646) says:

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.

Westminster Confession 1.6

‘Good and necessary consequence’ shows that sufficiency is not limited to what one verse states word for word: the word Trinity is not in the Bible, but what Scripture teaches leads there. The same section allows that some circumstances of worship and church government are ordered "by the light of nature and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word". The Belgic Confession, Article 7, likewise confesses that whatever we must believe for salvation is sufficiently taught in Scripture.

Where the traditions differ

The Catholic Church teaches that the church does not draw its certainty about everything revealed from Scripture alone, and that Scripture and Sacred Tradition are to be received with equal devotion and reverence Dei Verbum. Some Catholic theologians explain that all saving truth is in some way contained in Scripture, rightly read within Tradition. The Orthodox receive Scripture as the highest witness within Holy Tradition.

Evangelicals confess sufficiency together but apply it differently. In worship, many Reformed and Presbyterian Christians hold the regulative principle, admitting only what Scripture commands, while Lutherans, Anglicans and many others hold that what Scripture does not forbid and what accords with the gospel may be used. On guidance, some fear that accepting new prophecy would undermine sufficiency, while others hold that such gifts add nothing to Scripture but serve under it and are tested by it. See also the lesson Scripture alone and How does God speak?