What Does the Doctrine of the Sufficiency of Scripture Teach?

NATHAN W. BINGHAM: We’re joined this week by Dr. Joseph Pipa, Jr., president emeritus and and professor of systematic and applied theology at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Dr. Pipa, we always hear of the sufficiency of Scripture, but what does that doctrine actually teach?

DR. JOSEPH PIPA: Well, that’s an important question. That is one of the solas of the Reformation—sola Scriptura, the Bible alone. And what that means is that the Bible alone is to be our only rule of faith, what we believe and practice.

In Deuteronomy 4, God, through Moses, establishes this truth in verse 2: “You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God.” Now, it’s interesting that that was—well, they were going to have five books at that point, and that was it. But God said, “I will rule you by this.” But as the church grew, so throughout the Scriptures, the Old Testament, this principle is reiterated kind of at each level: there’s history books, under the wisdom books—so Proverbs 30:6 says the same thing. Christ enunciates that in His ministry: you don’t add or take away (see Mark 7:5–13; Matt. 15:1–9). And then of course, the Bible concludes in Revelation 22:18–19, “I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book”—and John, in my opinion, knew he was writing the conclusion of the Bible—“if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.”

So, from beginning to end, God has ruled His church through Scripture, and that means He has revealed to us everything that we are to believe concerning Him, the world, our relationship to Him, and how we should live. He governs us then by His law, but He also gives principles by which we approach all of life. So, we use the word a world-and-life-view. And what that means is the Bible is not a textbook on math or science or history or geography, but in the first place, anything the Bible says about any of those things is true. But more importantly, we approach all of those things on the basis of a platform of biblical truth.