As we continue our series on the Confession, we arrive upon the sufficiency of Scripture. Sufficiency, like necessity and authority, is an attribute of Scripture. The necessity of Scripture affirms that a word revelation is necessary for humanity; even Adam was not left without a word from God prior to his own fall. The authority of Scripture follows from the God-breathed character of Scripture. Because Scripture is God’s Word, it norms all other norms and ought to be accepted as the testimony of God from God. Accordingly, Scripture bears the marks of divinity in its own testimony and the things revealed; yet it is only by the work of the Spirit that fallen humanity receives God’s testimony on the authority of God himself. In between necessity and authority, the Confession defined the canon as the 66 books of the Protestant canon while also setting down a theological method for determining canon: God’s being and will. With these pieces in place, the Confession readily admits that the necessary and authoritative speech of God as received in the Protestant canon, is sufficient.
The Confession reads,
“The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down or necessarily contained in the Holy Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelation of the Spirit, or traditions of men.
Nevertheless, we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the Word, and that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, and government of the church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be observed.”
As we have exposited the Confession up to this point, we have been careful to note not merely what the Confession says about Scripture, but also what it says about its author. This statement on sufficiency is no different. It is God’s counsel that has either been “expressly set down or necessarily contained in Holy Scripture.” Further, it is God himself who placed these things in Scripture. John Gill begins his treatment on the sufficiency of Scripture with the doctrine of God as well, saying, “First, from the author of them, who is God; they are the word of God, and are ‘given by inspiration of God;’ as is asserted in them, and has been clearly shown. Now, since God is the author of them, who is a perfect Being, in whom is no darkness at all; not of ignorance, error, and imperfection; they coming from him, must be free from everything of that kind; he is a rock, and his work is perfect; as his works of creation, providence, and redemption; so this work of the Scriptures,” (Gill, Body of Divinity, 18).
Gill begins his doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture with perfect Being theology. God is perfect in himself, and his works are perfect. Specifically, Gill emphasizes that darkness finds no place in the being of God, such that his Scriptures could not proceed from a lack of knowledge, unintentional falsehood, or bear any imperfection. Thus, consider the relevance of God’s omniscience for our doctrine of sufficiency. God has no teacher and knows all things from himself, through himself, and to himself (Rom 11:36). God knows all that he needs to say for his people and has given them a sufficient word revelation with relation to where they reside in redemptive history.
Not only is God omniscient, he is also omnibenevolent. Our Lord testifies, “There is only One who is good.” God does not participate in goodness but is goodness itself and all that God does is good (Psalm 119:68). God has no desire to give creatures a deficient revelation but one that would lead them to a true knowledge of himself, sufficient for life and godliness. As creatures, we trust that our Creator knows what we need and provides sufficient instructions for all things pertaining to life and godliness. If we, being wicked and earthly fathers, seek to pass down what we know that our children may too live well, “how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good,” (Matt 7:11).
As hearers, we ought to receive Scripture from God with a disposition of humility, acknowledging that the whole counsel of God revealed to us in Scripture is all we need. John Webster says it well when he writes,
“Scripture is enough. This is because Scripture is what God desires to teach. We must not ask about the sufficiency of Scripture as if it were awaiting our judgment. The children of Adam do not know what they need to know; they are not competent to determine what gifts they must receive at the hands of God; they must simply receive what has been given, in all its apparent incompleteness and limitation. There is a necessary chastening of curiosity here; sufficiency goes along with teachableness, deference, self-distrust and the fear of the Lord. It is part of our unredeemed condition that we hate the knowledge which God offers and prefer other counsel (Prov 2.22, 29 [sic 1.22, 29]). Healing and refreshment (3.8), however, come from not being wise in our own eyes (3.5-7) and from trust in the fact that ‘the Lord gives wisdom’ (Prov 2.6). This gift entails on the creature’s part a certain concentration: ‘Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you’ (Prov 4.25). This we might call the pathos of singularity: these words – not, probably, what we would have chosen, not at first glance especially satisfying – must suffice,” (Webster, The Domain of the Word, 18).
Webster rightly grasps our fallen distaste for God’s revelation. We long to know that which God has not revealed and, in doing so, stunt true knowledge because we failed to begin in the fear of the Lord. Too often, in our fallen wisdom we sit in judgment of the revelation from the omnisapient One. Over the next several articles, we will develop the doctrine of sufficiency from the Confession with particular care to human reasoning. In doing so, may the Lord grant us humility, a willingness to hear all that God has said and trust that our omniscient, omnibenevolent, and omnisapient God set down his counsel for man in Holy Scripture.