The Authority and

Sufficiency of the Bible

Rev. Rodney A. Gray

 A sermon on II Timothy 3:16

Prepared for the

Kindred Minds Bible Conference

August 15-17, 2005

First Baptist Church

Wellsburg, New York
 The Authority and Sufficiency of the Bible

(II Timothy 3:16)

Christians believe that the Bible alone is the word of God. Because of that, we say that Scripture is our only
authority for faith and practice. We appeal to nothing else – not to tradition, popular consensus, church councils,
priests, pastors, emotions, or experience – not even to the accumulated wisdom and knowledge that men claim
to have discovered apart from Scripture. We believe that the word of God gives us our guidance for how to live.
It tells us everything we need to know about God and ourselves. It tells us what is wrong and how to put it right.
It teaches us how to work, how to be good citizens, how to marry and raise children, and how to be good
stewards of the resources God has given us. We do not claim that the Bible tells us everything, but we do say
that it tells us what we need to know about everything. Indeed, no other writing can make the amazing claim
that Paul makes for the holy Scriptures in the preceding verse. They “are able to make you wise for salvation
through faith in Christ Jesus.” What is “salvation?” It is the grand total of all that God does to recover a lost
world and bring about a new creation.

There was a time when a lack of commitment to the authority and sufficiency of the word of God would have
cast serious doubt on the claim to being a Christian. That is no longer the case today, when many are claiming
that maximum Christianity often equals minimal biblical authority. Christianity is now a religion for the
moment, and whatever happens in the moment is the authority for the moment. The very word “authority,” far
from suggesting positive ideas such as confidence, assurance, trustworthiness, and dependability, now rates
negatively in the minds of many. To speak of the Bible as authoritative in any traditional sense suggests
something foreboding, threatening, confining, and restricting. Many contemporary Christians are looking for
minimal commitment and responsibility when it comes to their participation in whatever calls itself a church.
The last thing they want to hear about is “authority.” If the church has become a playground, the Bible has
become a plaything. If the church has become a social club, the Bible has become the identification tag that gets
you in. The question is no longer, Do you believe the Bible, but Which Bible do you believe? There is such an
array of specialty Bibles available today that it is to be feared that the Bible alone is no longer thought to be
complete and sufficient in itself. But here we have the Bible’s view of itself stated in a way that has never been
refuted, and that can never be improved upon. What does it tell us?

The Bible is revealed.

If we are to understand and agree that the Bible is the only authority for what we believe and how we behave,
and that it is a sufficient authority, we must begin with the Bible as revelation. In this text, the apostle Paul
makes much of what he calls “scripture.” “All scripture is given by inspiration of God.” Scripture is what is
written. But in order for it to be written, it had first to be spoken or communicated in some way. Or, if it was
given by inspiration of God, it must have originated with God even before it was written. This is revelation, and
it is no use saying anything else about the Bible unless we understand that we are talking about a divinely
revealed book. Specifically, it is necessary to talk about revelation first because inspiration presupposes
revelation. God has given a revelation of himself and his purpose and then committed that revelation to writing.
Indeed, God spoke his “ten words” to Moses and then wrote them on the stone tablets with his own finger
(Exodus 31:18). If there is no revealed book, there is no inspired book. In Exodus 24:4 it says that Moses wrote
down everything the Lord had said. According to the prophet Jeremiah the Lord said to him, “Write in a book
all the words I have spoken to you” (Jeremiah 30:2). These and other similar statements illustrate that the Bible
is the inspired word of God only because first it is the revealed word of God. The Bible was written because
God had spoken.

All this means that when it comes to the Bible what matters first is revelation. Lacking this firm conviction, no
amount of education or sophistication will enable us to understand it. The Bible is not primarily concerned with
information or communication, but with revelation from God. Revelation is God making known to us what we
could not otherwise know. The Bible exists not because men have studied God and recorded their findings in a
book, but because God has made himself known. In revelation, God has spoken; he is the self-revealed God. In
revelation, God was active, not passive. Revelation is not a game of hide and seek in which men search for God
and eventually find him. Nor is revelation an encounter between God and man that is valid only if man gets it.
Revelation is God speaking to man. While it is true that God has revealed himself in and through the creation,
including man himself, we could not know that apart from the fact that God has told us in the Bible (Psalm
19:1-6; Romans 1:18-32). In fact, sin has so marred our humanity that we cannot understand ourselves, the
world in which we live, and least of all God, without biblical revelation. So the Bible is special revelation in
that it is directed to us in our fallen condition and reveals God’s remedy for sin. Noah had no problem seeing
and admiring the rainbow. Modern scientists can explain how rainbows are formed. But only special revelation
from God can explain what they mean.

God has made it possible for us to know him because he has revealed himself. Were it not for God’s revelation
of himself, he could not be known. Moses said,

“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever,
that we may follow all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29).

In other words, there are things that God has revealed, and things he has not revealed. The revealed things can
be known because God has revealed them, and they could not be known any other way. The prophets all bore
witness to this when they prefaced their remarks with, “This is what the Lord says.” They spoke because God
had spoken to them. Some form of this expression occurs more than thirty eight hundred times in the Old
Testament. God did not say everything all at once, nor did he say everything to one person. “In the past God
spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways” (Hebrews 1:1). But if God
had said nothing, the prophets would have had nothing to say and the function of a prophet would have been
rendered null and void. God said to Moses, “I will teach you what to say” (Exodus 4:12). Numbers 23:5 states
clearly that “The Lord put a message/word in Balaam’s mouth.” The woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that
you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth” (I Kings 17:24). Isaiah said,
“The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue” (Isaiah 50:4). When God commissioned Jeremiah to
be a prophet to the nations he said, “I have put my words in your mouth” (Jeremiah 1:4-9). He said to Ezekiel,
“But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord
says’” (Ezekiel 3:27).

Sometimes God revealed himself in a theophany, a manifestation of himself in some visible form, such as when
he appeared to Moses in the burning bush (Exodus 3). Sometimes he revealed himself through other miraculous
events that could only be explained by the presence and power of God, such as when the fire consumed Elijah’s
sacrifice - altar, wood, stones, water, and all (I Kings 18). Sometimes God used visions or dreams, as with Jacob
at Bethel (Genesis 28). But none of these methods of revelation could stand on its own. God had to say
something about it in order for it to be understood. The great visions of Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zechariah, for
example, would be meaningless and useless but for the fact that God has also given us verbal, propositional
revelation. Daniel’s ability to explain Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was not due to superior wisdom on his part, but
because God revealed both the dream and the meaning of it to him (Daniel 2). It is worth pointing out that the
Bible is a book of words, not pictures. While a picture may be worth a thousand words to the mind of many,
when it comes to the revelation of God in the Bible, one word is worth a thousand pictures.

Paul, the apostle of Jesus Christ, was aware that the message he preached was a divinely revealed message. He
knew that without it, he would have nothing to say. He said that the wisdom and power of the gospel was from
“God [who] has revealed it to us by his Spirit” (I Corinthians 2:8-10). He assured the Galatians that the gospel
he preached was the gospel he received “by revelation from Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:11,12). It was the same
revealed gospel he preached to the Ephesians – “the mystery,” he said, “made known to me by revelation, as I
have already written briefly” (Ephesians 3:2-5). He assured the Thessalonian Christians that he thanked God for
them continually “because,” he said,
“when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it
actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe” (I Thessalonians 2:13).

Weak and distorted views of revelation are the cause of endless mistakes in the beliefs and behavior of many
who say they are committed to the Bible as the word of God. False notions about the nature of revelation
abound among people who are otherwise sincere in their desire to understand the word of God. Revelation is
not intuition. It is not a “hunch.” Revelation is not an impression. Revelation is not insight. Revelation is not
illumination. All of these are entirely subjective because they describe something that takes place in the mind of
man. It is all too common for people to think that revelation is a journey of discovery that leads them to an ever-
developing understanding of God. But revelation happens from God’s end, not ours. Revelation is an act of
God. But it is an act of God that results in a product. That product is the Bible, God’s revealed word. It is not
sufficient to say that the Bible records instances when God gave revelation. Nor is it accurate to say that the
Bible can serve as a channel of revelation. If the Bible is a revealed book, we do not say that the word of God is
in the Bible, but that the Bible is the word of God. The Bible itself is the revelation of God. For this reason the
Bible is not subject to addition, subtraction, or correction. The Bible, because it is the revealed word of God, is
what gives us a correct, accurate, truthful, authoritative, and sufficient view of God, the world, ourselves, and
everything else.

The Bible is inspired.

The apostle Paul wrote, “All Scripture is God-breathed, or given by inspiration of God.” This means that the
writings, called “scripture,” have their source in God. They came from God. Inspiration, then, refers primarily
to the writings. The writings are given by inspiration of God. It is essential that we not confuse inspiration as it
is used here with more superficial notions of inspiration as it is commonly understood. Inspiration does not refer
to a characteristic, a state of mind, or an experience of the human writers that enabled them to write as they did.
Rather, it refers to the action of God the Holy Spirit to secure through human authors a Scripture or written
word of which God is the author. Inspiration does not mean that God wrote the Bible through the
instrumentality of men. Inspiration means that the Bible has both a divine author and human authors, and that
the divine author saw to it that the human authors expressed his thoughts when they wrote. This is why Ezra
could read “the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel” (Nehemiah 8:1), and it
is why the law of Moses is repeatedly call the law of the Lord in Psalm 119.

Furthermore, the words of Scripture and the words of God amount to the same thing. On the one hand it is
assumed that when Scripture speaks, God speaks. In Acts 4:24,25, when the believers quoted the words of
Scripture in Psalm 2:1,2, they said that God spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of his servant, David.
But on the other hand inspiration also means that when God speaks, Scripture speaks. In Galatians 3:8 Paul
referred to God’s word of promise to Abraham recorded in Genesis 12:1-3. Even though it was the Lord who
spoke, Paul said that the Scripture spoke. This is why he could say that the greatest advantage of the Jews was
that they had been entrusted with the very oracles of God (Romans 3:2). It means that God gave them his own
sayings, words, or speech. This same word is used in Acts 7:38; Hebrews 5:12; and I Peter 4:11. The apostle
Peter explained that “men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (II Peter 1:21). What
they wrote came from God, and they were supernaturally guided when they wrote it down. The Lord Jesus
equated the word of God with Scripture in John 10:34,35 and declared, “the Scripture cannot be broken.”
Inspiration means that the Bible is a supernatural book. The Holy Spirit saw to it that human writers expressed
divine thoughts.

It is important to remember that, while all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, all Scripture is not
necessarily given by revelation of God. Many things contained in Scripture can be known apart from revelation,
whether by personal observation, general knowledge, or historical records. Special revelation from God was not
necessary for Jeremiah to know that the Babylonians were sacking Jerusalem. But the meaning of it could not
be known apart from the revelation of God. The same goes for, say, the crossing of the Red Sea or the life of
Joseph. But the significance and interpretation of these events is anyone’s guess unless God has interpreted
them for us. Indeed, those who participated in or witnessed the death of Jesus on Golgotha needed no special
revelation to inform them of an event that they saw with their own eyes. But special revelation from God
informs us that “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,” and thus tells us what it means. The gospel
is not merely about Jesus of Nazareth, what people thought about him, and what happened to him. The gospel is
about what God has done in Jesus Christ, and what God says about what he has done in Christ.

As for inspiration, it applies to the totality of Scripture, and to every word of it. The Lord Jesus began with
Moses and the all the Prophets and “explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself”
(Luke 24:27). He said that the Scriptures testify about him (John 5:39). Scores of times the New Testament
appeals to the Old Testament scriptures, or to what is “written.” It almost seems that “It is written” in the New
Testament answers to “Thus saith the Lord” in the Old Testament. It is worth noting that the Epistle to the
Hebrews does not use references to “scripture” or “what is written.” Instead it refers to what God says and then
quotes Scripture. This is why the Bible is the written word of God. It gives us an infallible, inerrant record of
God’s revealed word. Nothing else can compare with it, compete with it, contradict it, or complete it.

Sadly, many who say they are Bible-believing Christians have no convictions about the true nature of the word
of God. They may say that the Bible is inspired because it inspires them. But they do not believe that in the
Bible God’s revelation is fully, permanently, and reliably committed to writing. For that reason they are easily
impressed with those who at least imply, if not claim, that they are channels of revelation and that their words
are given by inspiration of God. The wisdom of the world rushes in wherever defective views of the inspiration
of Scripture open the door. Many have been willing to accept the falsehood that new things have come to light
that can supplement or complete the picture the Bible simply cannot provide. They say they believe the Bible,
but in practice they show that they do not trust the Bible. They may smile and pat you on the head if you still
hold to these quaint, old fashioned ideas about the Bible, but pity you because you have not seen the full light of
day. We may judge the Jehovah’s Witness for his “fresh” interpretation of the Bible, and the Mormon for his
additional revelation, but we expose ourselves to the same judgment when we ignore revelation and inspiration.

The Bible is authoritative.

The authority of the Bible is rooted in revelation and inspiration. “Your word, O Lord, is eternal; it stands firm
in the heavens” (Psalm 119:89). For those who believe in the revelation and inspiration of the Bible, the
authority of the Bible is self-evident. No one has to tell you that a book that comes from God comes with
absolute authority. You recognize in it your manual for life and living and readily say, “Your word is a lamp to
my feet and a light for my path” (Psalm 119:105). If the Bible is the word of God, it is the authoritative word of
God. It is not one authority among many, but the only one. Its account of the beginning of the universe is the
only true one. Its perspective on the nature of reality is the only trustworthy one. Its explanation of the history of
mankind is the only reliable one. Its revelation of the origin and nature of man, the human condition and how to
improve it is the only valid one. Its guidelines about goodness, truth, happiness, values, ethics, and morals are
the only safe ones. And the Bible’s answer to man’s most fundamental problem is the only one that has ever
worked, and it works every time it is tried.

The Bible does not mention its own authority, because it does not need to. It is the revelation of God, given by
inspiration of God, and therein lies its authority. Instead, the apostle Paul refers to its profitability. “All Scripture
is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine” (KJV). The NIV’s “useful” is a weak substitute for
“profitable.” Many things that are useful are not profitable. Jesus challenged the idea of gaining the whole
world, not as to its usefulness, but its profitability. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole
world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36, KJV). Contrasting the flesh and the Spirit, he said that the flesh
profits nothing (John 6:63). The question is not whether the flesh is useful, but profitable. The apostle Paul
spoke of the greatest self-sacrifice as profiting nothing without love (I Corinthians 13:3). This is not quite the
same as to say that it was not useful. Likewise in Galatians 5:2 he warned the Galatians that if they submitted
to circumcision Christ would profit them nothing. And the message that was preached to those who came out of
Egypt did not profit them because they did not really believe it (Hebrews 4:2). To say that it had no value to
them is not quite the same thing. Certainly it is better to have heard the gospel than not to have heard it. But it is
profitable only when people believe it.

So what is the profitability of Scripture? Profitability is what guarantees success. In other words, without the
thing that is profitable, you cannot expect success in what you are trying to accomplish. Gaining the world is
not profitable because it does not lead to ultimate success and security. Self-sacrifice is not profitable because
by itself it does not demonstrate godly love. Hearing the gospel is not profitable when it is not believed.
Whatever is profitable is appropriate or suitable to accomplish what is required. Scripture is profitable for
doctrine. The apostle Paul expressed great concern over doctrine when he wrote to Timothy and Titus. He urged
the necessity of “sound doctrine” against that which is opposed to it (I Timothy 1:10; II Timothy 4:3; Titus 1:9;
2:1). He spoke of “good doctrine” (I Timothy 4:6), “doctrine that is according to godliness” (I Timothy 6:3),
“my doctrine” (II Timothy 10), and “the doctrine of God” (Titus 2:10). What is the source and standard of
doctrine? It is Scripture, and Scripture alone. All Scripture is profitable for doctrine. This means that doctrine
can never be a witch’s brew of opinions from multiple sources. It cannot be a hybrid of the wisdom of God and
the wisdom of the world. Doctrine is dictated and defined by Scripture. A doctrine of the Bible is the sum total
of what the Bible teaches on a given subject, assembled and stated in an organized, logical system. This is what
we mean when we speak of the doctrines of grace, or the doctrine of the Trinity, or the doctrine of Christ, or the
doctrine of angels. All Scripture is profitable for doctrine.

It is a popular opinion today that the Bible paints with such a broad brush when it comes to doctrine that it is
improper to try to speak with excessive precision about doctrinal matters. To do so is both divisive and
unloving. All Christians believe in God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, sin and salvation, and it should be sufficient to
affirm these things without presuming to press the details. Especially is this true when if comes to the doctrine
of the church. Many do not believe that there is a Scripture doctrine of the church. Since they do not believe that
Scripture is profitable for the doctrine of the church, they consider themselves at liberty to construct one of their
own. Popular notions of the identity, nature, purpose, and function of the church are cobbled together from a
variety of sources, with some condiments of biblical language thrown in for good measure. If such “churches”
retain any distinctive doctrinal characteristics they work hard to keep them under the radar so as not to offend.
We are seeing an ever-growing trend toward allowing whatever passes for “church” to stand as the authority
over Scripture, rather than the Scripture as the authority over the church.

For example, the so-called "Emerging Church" movement seeks to befriend the postmodern world. It presumes
to offer a new way of “doing” church and “being” the church. Its promoters are claiming spectacular success.
But is it profitable? Does it reflect a biblical doctrine of the church? One way of putting the modern scene in
perspective is simply to compare something like Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Church with John Owen’s
The True Nature of a Gospel Church and its Government, written over three hundred years ago. Or compare any
one of dozens of church growth and seeker sensitive manuals with something like John Leadley Dagg’s Treatise
on Church Order, written nearly one hundred fifty years ago. The contrasts are glaring because of the evident
shift from the conviction that Scripture is profitable for the doctrine of the church to the notion that if the church
has no friends it is doing something wrong. We have to wonder whether the goal is to be faithful to Scripture, or
to be friendly to the world. If Scripture is the revelation of God, given by inspiration of God, it is profitable for
doctrine. Therein lies its authority.

The Bible is sufficient.

“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.”

When we think about the sufficiency of Scripture, we may think of Timothy as the embodiment of what that
means. Timothy had been brought up on the Bible from his infancy. His mother and grandmother, armed only
with the Holy Scriptures, had produced this man about whom Paul reported, “I have no one else like him”
(Philippians 2:20). How did they do it? All they had was the Old Testament Bible. But they knew that what they
had was revealed, inspired, and authoritative. Therefore, it had to be sufficient. They had no problem
understanding that the Scriptures could and should be practically applied. They learned how to use them to raise
Timothy for God. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is therefore profitable. It is the appropriate
means to reach the desired end for people who want to live for God. How can we devalue the sufficiency of
Scripture if we believe in revelation and inspiration? The psalmist said, “I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11). People who want to think and act biblically can do no less.

Now when we speak of the authority and sufficiency of the Bible we are not making foolish or irresponsible
claims. We are not claiming, for example, that the Bible gives us a complete record of all history, all
mathematics, all economics, or all science. Scripture makes no such claims for itself. The Bible is the special
revelation from God that he has committed to writing so that men may know God and know how to think and
act as his creatures. So while it does not tell us everything about the world, it gives us an authoritative and
sufficient view of the world – a biblical worldview. It does not tell us all there is to know about everything God
created, but it tells us that God created everything. It does not explain in detail how the creation works, but it
tells us that we cannot explain anything except in its relationship to the God who made it. The Bible does not
unfold for us all the intricacies of the cosmos, but it tells us that everything has meaning and purpose only in the
context of the sovereign purpose of God.

How may we properly describe the sufficiency of Scripture? We may state, in the first place, that the Bible was
sufficient for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is well known from references too numerous to mention that
in his person and work he fulfilled the Scriptures. We have already noted that he claimed that the Scriptures
were chiefly about him. His disciples began to understand them only when they grasped this principle.

“He told them, ‘This is what is written: the Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and
repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.’”

Where was this written? Where would you find the chapter and verse to which our Lord was referring his
disciples? The answer is that you will not find a particular Scripture text where those are written. Nevertheless,
it is written in all the Scriptures, because all the Scriptures testify of Christ and the coming of the gospel. We
also remember that when he was tempted by the devil he answered with Scripture – the revealed, inspired, and
authoritative word of God (Matthew 4:1-10). Perhaps one the most powerful testimonies to our Lord’s
commitment to the sufficiency of Scripture is found in Hebrews 10:5-10.

Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you
prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, ‘Here I am – it is
written about me in the scroll – I have come to do your will O God.’”

Here we have the explanation for why the sacrifice of Christ could accomplish what no other sacrifice could do.
It was not only a sacrifice for sin, but a complete and willing performance of the will of God. If God the Father
was “not pleased” with sacrifices and offerings, he was “well pleased” with his Son (Matthew 3:17). What
David aspired to do in the words of Psalm 40, Jesus has actually done. David said, “I desire to do your will, O
my God.” He was probably referring to what God had revealed to Moses about what should be done when Israel
asked for a king. Among other provisions he said,

“When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from
that of the priests, who are Levites. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may
learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not
consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his
descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel” (Deuteronomy 17:18-20).

But when Christ came into the world with a body prepared for him he said, “I have come to do your will, O
God.” And then the writer of Hebrews goes on to say this: “And by that will, we have been made holy through
the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” In other words, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became God
incarnate and as a man fulfilled all the will of God. He did nothing more nor less than what God requires of
every man, but which no man has ever been able to do. And it is by the sacrifice of that perfect body, the person
of the incarnate Son of God, that we are sanctified. But the question that concerns us here is, How did he know
what the will of God is? He came into the world fully prepared to do the will of God. When he came into the
world he fully accomplished the will of God. He knew what the will of God was, but how did he know? It was
not because of the omniscience of his deity, because the writer is speaking with respect to his incarnation. The
text tells us that the will of God was written in a book – “in the volume of the book it is written of me” (KJV).
The will of God that he came into the world to accomplish was written in a book. We need not be distracted
about exactly what “the volume of the book” means or does not mean. There was a book or a scroll, and it had a
“head” or a “heading.” The writer used a similar term in Hebrews 8:1 when he said, “The point (or sum, KJV)
of what we are saying is this.” Jesus knew that what was written in the book was written concerning him. And
everything that was written concerning him he understood to be the will of God for him. It was authoritative,
and it was sufficient.

In the second place, we may state that the Bible is sufficient for life and godliness.

“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” (II Peter 1:3).

“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the
encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4).

“So is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” Isaiah 55:11).

“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” (Hebrews 4:12).

God has invested the Bible with life-transforming power. It is “through the living and enduring word of God”
that men are born again (I Peter 1:23). God uses the Bible to bring men to faith, repentance, and eternal life. In
the language of our text, it can teach, rebuke, correct, and train. It can thoroughly equip a person for all of life.
All Scripture is profitable for “rebuking.” Because it is the revealed, inspired, authoritative word of God, it
points out what is wrong in our thinking and behavior. Like the faithful brother in Matthew 18:15, it tells us our
faults. But when it exposes our sins it also corrects them. All Scripture is profitable for “correcting.” Like the
wise teacher correcting an examination paper, the Scripture does not leave us in our ignorance, sin, and
unbelief. It sets us straight and puts us on the path to recovery and restoration. And then Scripture is also
profitable for “training in righteousness.” God as a Father “disciplines” us his children (Hebrews 12:5), and a
godly father raises his children in the “training” and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). So the Scriptures
are sufficient for our training, instruction, and discipline. More than that, the Bible, and the Bible alone, can
prepare a person for the life to come. It explains how the lost can be saved. It tells how enemies of God can be
reconciled to him. It reveals how men can be brought from eternal death to eternal life. John Wesley understood
this when he said,

“I am a creature of a day, passing through life as an arrow through the air. A few moments hence, I am no more
seen – I drop into eternity. I want to know one thing…the way to Heaven. God has given us a way, written in
the Good Book, the Bible. O give me that Book! At any price, give me the Book of God!”

In the third place, we may state that the Bible is sufficient for the worship, order, and ministry of a gospel
church. Certainly the Bible is a sufficient authority for us to know that a church should exist. But it is also a
sufficient authority for us to know how a church should exist. A church, for example, cannot exist unless it is
rooted and grounded in the gospel. A church cannot exist unless it is comprised of people who believe the
gospel. A church cannot exist unless it is a body of people who give evidence of having been called by God out
of the world to be separate from the world. A church cannot exist unless it is comprised of believers who have
been baptized according to the Scriptural use and definition of that term. A church cannot exist unless it is
committed to apostolic doctrine. A church cannot exist, in other words, unless it possesses the characteristics of
the churches of the New Testament. The New Testament churches found that the word of God given them
through the prophets and apostles was a sufficient guide for everything Christ wanted them to do. A gospel
church must hold to the doctrine and reflect the practice of those churches, because those churches came into
being out of a conviction that Scripture is the revealed, inspired, authoritative, sufficient word of God.

“Say, Christian, wouldst thou thrive

In knowledge of thy Lord?
Against no Scripture ever strive,
But tremble at his word.

Revere the sacred page;

To injure any part
Betrays, with blind and feeble rage,
A hard and haughty heart.

If aught there dark appear,

Bewail thy want of sight;
No imperfection can be there,
For all God’s words are right.

The Scriptures and the Lord

Bear one tremendous name;
The written and the incarnate Word
In all things are the same.”

Joseph Hart