{"id":11890,"date":"2019-10-05T14:05:36","date_gmt":"2019-10-05T19:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=11890"},"modified":"2019-10-05T14:15:59","modified_gmt":"2019-10-05T19:15:59","slug":"is-the-bible-sufficient","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-bible-sufficient\/","title":{"rendered":"Is the Bible Sufficient?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\tby Wayne Chamberlain\n

\"\"The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy and said, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work<\/em>” (II Timothy 3:16-17). In a word, Paul is saying, “The Bible is sufficient.” It is all we need.<\/p>\n

People indicate their lack of faith in this passage when they say such things as, “Well, my church teaches…”, or, “In our last council, our church decided to allow…”, and, “We follow the Bible and our church traditions.” In dealing with the Pharisees on one occasion, Jesus addressed such attitudes when he said, “… you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men’<\/em>” (Matthew 15:6-9).<\/p>\n

Either God’s word (the Bible) can equip man with all he needs for “every good work” — or we need modern-day revelations; and, therefore, God’s word is not sufficient. If God’s word is not sufficient — then neither can it be trusted. Why<\/strong>? Because the Bible tells us that it is sufficient. Therefore, if it is in error concerning that issue — it will certainly be in error on many other issues.<\/p>\n

If one believes the Bible is sufficient, they will then believe that creeds and man-made doctrines are prohibited. Where is the justification for them? Can you find justification for creeds in Galatians 1:6-9, “… if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed<\/em>“? Can you find justification for creeds in II John verse 9, “Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God<\/em>“? What about Deuteronomy 4:1-2, “… listen to the statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe, that you may live…You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take anything from it …<\/em>“? If creeds just restate what the Bible says, why have them? If they say more or less than what the Bible says — they are condemned by God’s word (II John 9, et. al.).<\/p>\n

Yes, the Bible teaches that it is sufficient. If we believe the Bible, then we must also believe in its claim of sufficiency. If a child is obedient only when the parents’ rules are suitable to the child — the child is not obedient at all. If we believe the Bible only when it suits our purpose — we don’t really believe it at all. If that is true of us, we must realize that we are cheating ourselves out of the very thing we desire. In John chapter 6, we have a record of many disciples turning away from Jesus because of a difficult teaching He was presenting. Jesus then turned to His twelve apostles and said, “Do you also want to go away?” Peter’s answer was what ours should be, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:66-68).<\/p>\n

It is only those who believe and respect God’s word enough to abide in it, who will have a hope of heaven (Matthew 7:21-27; John 8:32).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Wayne Chamberlain The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy and said, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (II Timothy 3:16-17). In a word, Paul is saying,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[78,219],"class_list":["post-11890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-authority","tag-bible"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":42334,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/you-dont-interpret-i-timothy-41-4-correctly\/","url_meta":{"origin":11890,"position":0},"title":"You don’t interpret I Timothy 4:1-4 correctly","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 25, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I happened upon your site and didn't have time for the whole thing but I thought I may help you with a correct interpretation of a passage you quote from St. Paul at the top: \"Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20440,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-you-define-church-and-scripture\/","url_meta":{"origin":11890,"position":1},"title":"How do you define “church” and “scripture?”","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 12, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How do you respond to I Timothy 3:15 where Paul refers to the \"church of the living God\" as \"the pillar and bulwark of faith?\" As a follow up how do we define \"church?\" There seem to be literally thousands of different churches, with almost all claiming to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11888,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-convince-a-roman-catholic-that-infant-baptism-is-wrong\/","url_meta":{"origin":11890,"position":2},"title":"How do I convince a Roman Catholic that infant baptism is wrong?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 5, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: A Catholic and I debated the topic of infant baptism. He used the argument of \"household\" referring to babies as well. When I told him that households could mean teens or servants he said that he would rather follow the practice of infant baptism followed by earlier Christians 2000\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16403,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-we-need-church-creeds\/","url_meta":{"origin":11890,"position":3},"title":"Why Do We Need Church Creeds?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 3, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant Does your denomination have a creed? I suppose most denominations have an official creed outlining the things that distinguish one denomination from another. I have a box full of such books. These include the Catholic New Baltimore Catechism, the Baptist Hiscox Standard Manual for Baptist Churches,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Human-Creeds.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Human-Creeds.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Human-Creeds.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":31523,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-elephant-in-the-room\/","url_meta":{"origin":11890,"position":4},"title":"The Elephant in the Room (Tant)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant People use many devices to mitigate or cancel out plain Bible teaching. This ancient practice can be traced to the Old Testament. Seven hundred years before Christ, Isaiah was dealing with a rebellious people. God told him: \"Now go, write it on a tablet before them\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/blindfold.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3948,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-you-explain-that-the-church-is-the-pillar-and-ground-of-the-truth\/","url_meta":{"origin":11890,"position":5},"title":"How do you explain that the church is the pillar and ground of the truth?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 26, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: About the authority of the church: Do you have a response to I\u00a0Timothy 3:15\u00a0where the church of God is referred to as the pillar and ground of truth? 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