The church traditions that took shape during the Reformation all make clear statements on the authority of Scripture, and whether we’re self-consciously confessional or not, there are some themes that we major on in the ways that we describe our churches.

Often on their website, a church will describe themselves as ‘biblical’, or ‘Bible believing’. Often the statement of faith section of the website will use words like authoritative, infallible, inerrant. All good things.

One less-often mentioned aspect of our doctrine of Scripture is the sufficiency of Scripture. It’s a slightly overlooked element of what we believe about the Bible, and its neglect can lead to some oddness.

You can find it in the Anglican, Continental, and Westminster (including Baptist) streams of reformed churches:

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 is at any time to be added, whether by new revelation of the Spirit, or traditions of men.

Baptist Confession of Faith, 1.6 (also Westminster Confession of Faith 1.6)

God alone is Lord of the conscience, and has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are in any thing contrary to his word, or not contained in it.

Baptist Confession of Faith, 21.2

We believe that this Holy Scripture fully contains the will of God and that all that man must believe to be saved in sufficiently taught therein.

Belgic Confession, 7.1

Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.

The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion of the Church of England, Article VI.

Why is the sufficiency of Scripture important?

We believe that when it comes to things that are really necessary for the church of God to live rightly and function in a way that pleases God, he has not left us without instruction. Things that are essential, things that are necessary for the salvation of sinners and for the faithful conduct of church life, these things are made clear for us in the Bible.

To be sure, there are many things that he left to us to decide according to ‘the light of nature and Christian prudence’ — a kind of ‘Christian common sense’. There are all sorts of things which God has left us free to decide according to this Christian common sense — you’ll search the Bible in vain for divine pronouncements on how many hymns to include in Lord’s Day worship, or how often we should have gathered meetings of the church, or how old a person needs to be before they can be considered an ‘elder’.

There are also bigger issues that the Bible leaves open, for us to think through, wrestle with, and come to well-reasoned, principled positions on. You won’t find a statement in the Bible saying whether a monarchy, a republic, or a military junta is the best form of government; nor will you find clear statements in Scripture on what, exactly, we’re supposed to do about climate change.

The beauty of the sufficiency of Scripture is that if there’s anything that remains really unclear, then we can and should agree to disagree — not enforce a single view as ‘the Christian position’ or ‘the biblical approach’. For many issues, there is no single ‘Christian view’.

And as the confessions I’ve mentioned say, if God’s word doesn’t clearly say it or necessarily contain it, I don’t have to believe it. Neither you, nor the King, nor the Pope, nor anyone else, can make me believe something as an article of the faith if it isn’t in the Bible. That gives us tremendous liberty as Christians, not to have our consciences bound by traditions or by church authorities, in any way beyond what can be shown in the Bible or proved from the Bible.

And on the other hand — if something is clear in Scripture, then we must hold to it and stand by it, however inconvenient, however uncomfortable.

Because the sufficiency of Scripture also means that it actually does speak fully, exhaustively, and sufficiently on some matters — the matters that are really necessary for salvation, faith, and godliness. And where the Scripture speaks sufficiently, that’s where we do come back to those big, substantial words from our church websites: Inerrant. Infallible. Authoritative.

In those cases, on those matters where the Scripture speaks fully and sufficiently, in all its authority and infallibility, we have no liberty of conscience. We must believe what the Bible says; we must obey what the Bible commands. We must not claim that God has not spoken; we must not act like it’s merely a matter of interpretation.

‘Well, who’s to say?’

God has spoken, and who dares to silence him?

Instead, like Martin Luther, we must look at those clear teachings of Scripture and say, ‘My conscience is held captive by the Word of God. Here I stand; I can do no other.’