There is a massive percentage of modern Christians who do not know God’s Word. With that lack of knowledge, they are feeling their way around in the midst of a cultural crisis. This reality highlights our need to recover the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture (Sola Scriptura).
“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NASB)
Here we see that Scripture is sufficient. This means all of it and for everything. It is sufficient so that the man of God may be adequate, “equipped for every good work.” In other words, the Bible is enough to guide us and direct us in absolutely everything.
A helpful commentary on this truth of the sufficiency of Scripture is found in The Westminster Confession of Faith,
“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.” (WCF 1:6)
According to William Ames, “All things necessary to salvation are contained in the Scriptures and also all those things necessary for the instruction and edification of the church.”
The majority of evangelicals in this country and others have proved their low view of the Bible’s sufficiency in recent years. When Covid came to our doorstep we began to ask questions. Should we close our churches and isolate ourselves from one another? Should we wear face masks and get vaccinated? Should we leave our loved ones to die alone in hospital beds for fear of our own health?
Where did we turn for the answer to these questions? We watched the media. We listened to the medical experts. We listened to our preferred politicians. We followed the direction of the White House, the CDC, the pharmaceutical companies, the government school system, and entertainment industry. Not one of those institutions cares at all about honoring God! Yet that is where we got our direction.
There were not many of us who searched the Scriptures to find if there might be any direction there for how to handle these things. If we had, we would have found that the Bible commands us not to forsake gathering for long periods of time. We would have seen the necessity of being together as a body as opposed to isolating ourselves from one another. We would have seen that the Bible has much to say about our faces and the use of our faces and expressions in communicating our God to one another. These are just some examples. Others can be drawn from modern evangelicals’ handling of Critical Race Theory, abortion, the biblical view of government authority, and sexual ethics.
What we should have done is what is prescribed in Isaiah 8:19-20.
“When they say to you, ‘Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,’ should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.” (Isaiah 8:19-20, NASB)
God was condemning the people for consulting the popular sources of the day. He then said, “To the law and to the testimony!” That is the source for the Christian. That is the determiner of truth. He then says that anyone who does not speak according to this word has no dawn.
In everything, both great and small, we must consult the Word. Even if it be the most powerful and trusted man in the world, if his word runs contrary to what the Bible tells us to do, we ought to consider him a liar and hold to the Truth. The Bible instructs the Christian and the church in the handling of every thing and situation, either by way of explicit command or necessary consequence of those things which it explicitly says.
For example, the Bible does not say, “Thou shalt not close your church for months or even a year during the Coronavirus pandemic.” But it does say not to forsake “assembling together.” Let it be a wake up call to God’s people to consult the Scriptures and obey the Testimony of God’s Word first and foremost.
This applies just as much in personal life as well. The Bible is sufficient for all of your life. It is sufficient to direct you in all of your decisions and steps. But you must gain a good understanding of it in order to use it in this way. You cannot do that while continuing in neglect of the Word.
May our reaction to everything we face match the words of God through Isaiah. “To the law and to the testimony!”