Scripture for Life: The Sufficiency of Scripture

To say that Scripture is sufficient doesn't say it's exhaustive. Scripture doesn't tell us how to drive a car. Scripture doesn't tell us how to use our cell phone. What we have to remind ourselves, what we have to come back to, is that Scripture alone is the living and abiding and true Word, and it is sufficient.

You and I want to live the Christian life well, and there are many questions and decisions that we face every day. As we navigate the complexities of life, are we to seek a voice from heaven to guide us, to stabilize us, or is the Bible sufficient? I'm glad you're with us on Renewing Your Mind for this week-long study on Scripture. Stephen Nichols helped us yesterday with seven ways to read the Bible. Today he will explain what we mean when we say that the Word of God is sufficient for life and godliness.

Getting this right has real implications for day-to-day living, so here's Dr. Nichols to help us. The sufficiency of Scripture is really where the proverbial rubber meets the road when it comes to our view of Scripture. It's one thing to affirm that the Bible is God's Word. It's one thing to say Scripture is true.

We might even be willing to write our signature at the bottom of the Chicago statement on inerrancy, but where we see that belief in the authority of Scripture working itself out is in this discussion of the sufficiency of Scripture. As we ended last time, and we sort of ran through that list of how to interpret the Bible, we ended with saying we read the Bible obediently, that we need to pay attention to our life. In fact, if you want to reduce the interpretation of Scripture down to two words for your method, it would just simply be this, pay attention.

Pay attention to the context, pay attention to what the triune God is teaching you, and pay attention to your life. But the idea of paying attention to our life and what Scripture says as that mirror of God's Word reflects back on us, as God's Word works in us and on us, that has a basic assumption. And that assumption is that Scripture alone is our sufficient guide for life.

Well, that assumption hasn't always been a shared assumption. We've been talking about this as we sort of trek through the history of ideas in modernity, and here we have in modernity the world of science, the world of human rationality. That's where we find out about life, that's where we understand how to live, not in these fables of, you know, people living inside a whale for a couple of days, or a great fish, I guess we should say. Maybe it was a grouper, who knows what fish this was.

There are some big groupers out there. People walking on water, virgins giving birth, people coming alive from the dead. These are all things that we need to do. These are all things that just don't measure up in our scientific world. So, in modernity, and from a perspective of modernity, it's not a shared assumption that an ancient book would be a sufficient guide for life. And then if we transition out of modernity to post-modernity, well, now we have another set of assumptions. One of the marks of post-modernity is suspicion of something that has all of the answers. In fact, one of the early post-modern thinkers defined post-modernism. This is the French-Canadian Jean-Francois Lyotard, and Lyotard defined post-modernism as incredulity, that's just a fancy word for suspicion, incredulous, incredulity towards meta-narratives, towards a package, a system of ideas that says how the world works. Post-modernity is suspicious. It's also suspicious not only because it sees modernity as never quite arriving at the truth, it's also suspicious because it doesn't want to leave any voices out.

It's very pluralist, post-modernity. And in that pluralist context, it's better to hear from a host of voices rather than simply saying one voice has all the answers. So whether we live in a modern context and live with sort of a modernity, modernism worldview, or with a post-modern worldview, we're both coming at this challenge of seeing the sufficiency of of seeing the sufficiency of Scripture.

Now, as believers who hold to inerrancy, we affirm these doctrines. We say we are distinct from our culture. We don't share the same commitments with modernity when it comes to the autonomy of human rationality, or we don't share the same commitments of modernity to science. We appreciate science and we see the legitimacy of science, but we don't see science as an idol. We don't hold to scientism, that idea that science will solve all our problems. And we certainly don't hold to these post-modern ideas that truth comes from a plurality of voices, and that we're better off weaving them into some grand tapestry than putting all our bets on one voice.

So as Christians we say, well, we've already made a distinction here. We've differentiated ourselves from these cultural pressures, but they can seep in. They can subtly influence us.

They can subtly undermine. We would never admit it. We would never say, I don't think Scripture is sufficient when it comes to this area of my life.

We would never say that, but sometimes we live that way. Now, obviously, to say that Scripture is sufficient doesn't say it's exhaustive. Scripture doesn't tell us how to drive a car. Scripture doesn't tell us how to use our cell phone.

I don't know how to use my cell phone, because Scripture doesn't tell me, so I don't know how to use mine. But there are these things that are part of it, but that's not what I'm talking about. You know what I'm talking about.

Let me you know what I'm talking about. Let's just take the example of our families and raising our kids. This is a challenge, raising kids. It seems like it's harder these days than it used to be.

I don't know. Maybe that's just because I'm a parent now, but raising kids isn't an easy business. And there are a ton, literally a ton of voices out there that want to tell you how you should be raising your kids. And it's a real temptation, isn't it, to say, you know, after all, this is an ancient book. It is sort of pre the psychologies of the 20th, 21st century.

It's sort of reflective of an ancient understanding of human psychology, and here we are in the 21st century, and or do we say, this book is going to govern how I raise my family. Those are the areas of our lives where our culture can subtly seep in and undermine Scripture in our lives. What we have to remind ourselves, what we have to come back to is that Scripture alone is the living and abiding and true Word, and it is sufficient. There's a fascinating discussion of this in 2 Peter chapter 1. Now, we looked at 2 Peter chapter 1 earlier. We looked at the end of 2 Peter chapter 1, but I want to go to earlier in the chapter at verse 3.

And here we find Peter telling us that his, God's, divine power, this is 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 3, God's divine power has granted to us all things. Now, let's write that down. All things.

Ta panta. All things. It doesn't really leave a lot out, does it, to say all things. All things that pertain to godliness. I skipped over some words.

See, those of you that are reading, you're smart to read. All things to life and godliness. That's the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture. And it's a question of conviction, and then it's a question of application.

Do I believe that, and do I live like that? Now, as Peter goes on, he explains, all things to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us precious and very great promises. There's Peter's description of Scripture. He calls it these precious, and, you know, Peter likes this word precious, but he uses it sparingly.

He uses it when he talks about the blood of Christ, and he uses it when he talks about the promises of God. These precious promises. Promises. This is what God has given to us. These precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature. The stakes could not be higher here.

The end result here could not be higher. There's one place, Peter says, there's one place that we need to go. Remember, this is what he said to Jesus back in John chapter 6.

Where are we going to go? You have the words of eternal life. That is the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture. Well, Peter also deals with this over in 1 Peter chapter 1. So, we looked at 2 Peter chapter 1. I want to go look at 1 Peter chapter 1 with you for just a moment. Here in 1 Peter chapter 1, and we're also going to be taken to Isaiah in this text, Peter says to us, having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth. See, Peter was listening when Jesus gave that high priestly prayer in John 17, when He said, sanctify them through Thy Word. Thy Word is truth.

Peter was listening to that. For a sincere, brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart. Now, that's the main verb of these verses. From verse 22 to 25, the main verb is...now, see, here's context, and these are the kinds of questions we have to ask as we interpret what is the point.

The main verb is love one another, and everything else around these verses supports that. Now, look at this description, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, right? Who doesn't want that kind of a love and a relationship with their spouse and a relationship with their family, in their church, in this thing we call the body of Christ? Who doesn't want to see the earnest, sincere? You know, even if we're earnest, even if we get things right nine times out of ten, our motives aren't always the best, are they? Sometimes we're motivated by selfish reasons, and it looks like we're motivated by altruistic reasons. That's not what Peter says here, a pure, sincere heart. Who wouldn't want this?

Now, how does this happen? That's the key. That's the main verb. We're supposed to do it. I don't think anybody would say, ah, I don't want that. I could do without that kind of life. I think we all want that.

How do we do it? Well, since. It's a given. You've been born again, so this is possible.

This isn't some utopian thing that nobody can...it's possible. And you've been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and abiding Word of God. Nothing else meets up to that criteria. Certainly, there have books that have survived. We call them classics, and some people even see those classics as crucial to their life, and they get guidance from those books. But the fact that this book is living and abiding sets it in a totally unique category. It's an imperishable seed. To support this, Peter goes back to Isaiah, and so he quotes from one of these beautiful chapters of the Old Testament, Isaiah chapter 40. He says, All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of the grass. The grass withers, the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever. It's a contrast. The contrast is between what is visible and what is temporal and what is invisible and what is eternal.

And we get so caught up in the temporal. Here's those other voices that seem so attractive. Here are those other voices that seem so appealing, and we're tempted to go off and listen to them, aren't we? They're pretty. They look nice. They're shiny. They attract our attention.

It's pretty like the grass, but eventually, like the flower, but eventually those things fade. There's one thing that lasts. And then he says in verse 25, now the quote ends, and then he says, And this word is the good news that was preached to you. Well, here's another way we can frame the sufficiency of Scripture. The sufficiency of Scripture tells us that Scripture alone is the good news. It is the good news. Now, it seems like Peter ended quoting from Isaiah.

The quote is only verse 24 and 25a, and then in 25b, Peter makes his own comment, and this word is the good news that was preached to you. He still has Isaiah 40 on his mind, though. Go back to Isaiah chapter 40.

I want you to see this. This comes at a wonderful time in the book of Isaiah. If you've read through Isaiah, you know that the first 39 chapters are a little bleak. There's not a whole lot of joy and hope and comfort in those first 39 chapters. It's sort of cycles of judgment, and if there's a nation somewhere in the Old Testament times, it's going to be judged, and that's essentially what Isaiah is saying. But then we come to chapter 40, and it starts off, and now you'll all be hearing Handel's Messiah ringing in your head. Comfort, comfort, my people, says your God.

And so we actually call chapters 40 to 66 of Isaiah the book of comfort because of these words. The tone dramatically changes, and this is what Peter picks up on. He actually gets it in verse 6. A voice says, cry, and I said, what shall I cry?

And here's the answer. All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows on it.

Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever. Now, Peter leaves out some of those phrases, but essentially he quotes that chunk of text from Isaiah chapter 40.

But listen how Isaiah 40 continues. Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news. Lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news.

Lift it up. Fear not. Say to the cities of Judah, behold your God. Behold, the Lord God comes with might.

His arm rules for him. Behold, his reward is with him, his recompense before him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms.

He will carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young. When Isaiah says, herald of good news, Peter says the same thing when he says, this is the Word of God that is the good news that was preached, heralded to you. And how does this work with Isaiah's audience? Well, you know what chapter 40 is about. Chapter 40 is anticipating an audience that will be in exile in Babylon. And it's also anticipating for Israel's sin of breaking covenant.

But it also anticipates that exile will have an end point. In fact, if you read the book of Daniel, you see that Daniel is reading the prophet Isaiah and he figures it out. God's going to deliver us.

And how? And not only how are we going to get out of Babylon, but here's the question. How do we get back to Israel? You know what's between Babylon and Israel?

Desert is what's between Babylon and Israel. Do you know how hard it is to move an entire people group, old, young, infirm, through desert? How are we going to do this?

My right arm is sufficient. And if you can't make the journey, I'll scoop you up like a little lamb, carry you in my bosom, and return you to the Promised Land. Is that good news? You're captive.

You're in exile. God will deliver you, and He's going to personally deliver you. That's good news. That's the sufficiency of the gospel. Now, let's come back to 1 Peter, because I do think that Peter had in mind more than just the quote back in 1 Peter chapter 1, when he says, And this word is the good news that was preached to you. I think he had in mind how Isaiah 40 continues. I think he had in mind that the task, if you will, is preaching the good news.

Now, let's pause here for a moment. Here's one of these instances where our culture can subtly influence us. We can say, Oh, I believe in the sufficiency of Scripture. It's absolutely necessary. It's what people need. But, you know, we can also look around, and we can say, Well, people live in nice houses. They've done great things. We're a rather humanitarian culture, aren't we? We share from our largesse with the needy of the world. We've achieved great things.

Look at the buildings we've built. We have it all together. We're buttoned up, and we forget that this is the good news that people desperately need. They desperately need to hear this. We believe in the sufficiency of Scripture. When we say, in reverent humility, I'm going to submit to God's Word, I'm going to read it, I'm going to seek to apply it in my life, and by the guidance and help of the Holy Spirit, I will seek to live it out in my life. We also believe in the sufficiency of Scripture when we take this task of preaching it with the utmost urgency. People need this. It alone is the good news.

Not who's ever political party's going to win the election, not that the banking system is making a turnaround and the economy's on an upswing. That's not the good news people need, although it doesn't hurt, some of those things. The good news is get yourself up to a high mountain and say, behold your God. And yes, He will judge, but He also comes to lift you up as a lamb and carry you. Do we believe that the gospel is the good news? That's the sufficiency of Scripture. Well, Revelation, where would we be without it? We'd be lost in darkness, but we haven't. And our simple response is gratitude and submission and obedience to God's Word as God's Word is at work within us. We don't have it all together.

We're not buttoned up, are we? It is God who saves us, and that is good news to proclaim to a lost and dying world. This is Renewing Your Mind. And when we realize what God has given to us in His revealed Word, a sufficient Word, it points us to the Bible, to study it, to know it, to memorize it. That's why series like Stephen Nichols' Why We Trust the Bible are such a helpful aid to us. They remind us not to seek the voice of the world or a fresh voice from heaven, instead to treasure the sufficient Word of the living God in its entirety from Genesis to Revelation. Request Dr. Nichols' series today with your gift of any amount at renewingyourmind.org. In addition to the digital download of the series and study guide, we'll also give you digital access to R.C. Sproul's 12-part series, Knowing Scripture, and its study guide as well.

So request yours today at renewingyourmind.org, or give us a call at 800-435-4343. Have you ever heard someone in a Bible study begin their remarks by saying, to me, this verse means? Well, that's not how God intended us to understand the meaning of specific texts. So tomorrow R.C. Sproul will explain how we are meant to interpret the Bible here on Renewing Your Mind. you