Biblical Sufficiency

Does Scripture contain everything that God requires us to believe for salvation and every duty that He demands of us, or do we need other sources in addition to the Bible to have a complete accounting of what we must believe and do? According to the doctrine of biblical sufficiency, God’s Word written—the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments—features all the truths necessary for redemption and all the duties that God requires of human beings.

The doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture is essential to historic Protestant theology and sets it apart from other theologies such as Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy that posit additional sources of divinely mandated doctrines and duties. Instead of viewing the teaching tradition of the church as a help to understanding Scripture, both Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy tend to view church tradition as a medium of revelation alongside Scripture. This makes church tradition a source of faith and practice alongside Scripture instead of something that is subservient to Scripture and finally accountable to Scripture. Yet the Apostles and prophets know of no other source of doctrine and duty besides Scripture. For example, after declaring in 2 Timothy 3:16 the divine inspiration of Scripture, Paul goes on in verse 17 to say that Scripture makes us complete and equipped for every good work. That good work includes formulating doctrinal statements and outlining our moral obligations to God. Paul’s point is that what Scripture reveals is enough for such things and that there is no other source of divine revelation for the church in this present era.

Remembering the sufficiency of Scripture helps us avoid adding to what the Lord has revealed, which is a perennial temptation for the church. Professing Christians in every generation have looked to church tradition, the teachings of popes and bishops, mystical experiences, and much more as authorities and sources of theological information equivalent to or even superior to Scripture. While many things can help us better comprehend the Word of God, nothing can bind our consciences except Scripture. The Reformed theologian Robert Letham writes in his Systematic Theology, “The bottom line is that there is no truth required by God to be believed for salvation or duty required of us to perform other than what is found in Scripture.”