Guided by the Voice of God: Scripture, Part 2
By interpreting properly and following inspired Scripture—obeying its commands, trusting its promises, heeding its warnings, acting on its instructions, following its wisdom—we Christians will be sufficiently prepared to please God in whatever he requires of us.
This sufficiency of Scripture is definitely circumscribed. It is not exhaustive of all matters in life: it doesn’t detail how to get out from underwater with your mortgage and, contrary to popular belief, its numbers don’t contain a secret code for determining when Jesus is going to return.
Rather, its sufficiency is relative to its purpose: to lead non-Christians to faith in Jesus Christ so they may be saved, and to adequately equip Christ followers in the ways of godly living and the church in fruitful ministry. Within these spheres, the Bible is exactly everything that we need—nothing more, nothing less.
Don’t Add or Subtract from Scripture
Accordingly, nothing is to be added to Scripture or subtracted from it. When the Saturday morning door knockers insistently tell you that they possess more divine revelation (like the Book of Mormon) for you to follow so that you can really be saved—don’t listen to them! And your list containing legalistic rules and regulations for you to follow so that you can really be pleasing to God—get rid of it (Colossians 2:20–23)! Add nothing to Scripture.
Don’t subtract anything from Scripture either. Christianity-lite may entice us—we pick and choose among the commands to obey and the sins to avoid, the doctrines to believe and the practices to ignore—but subtracting from the Word of God is as wrong as adding to it. Indeed, because it is profitable to prepare us for every good work, Scripture—all of it—is also necessary.
The necessity of Scripture means that we cannot have what God has designed for us apart from his Word.
In Jesus’ own citation of Scripture to rebuke the devil, he underscored, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). So don’t hole up in a corner of your house chanting your Christian mantra and channeling some esoteric divine knowledge from the spiritual cloud apart from your Bible. Scripture is necessary if we expect to hear the voice of God itself.
Scripture Is a Lamp and a Light
The voice of God in Scripture is not only sufficient and necessary; God has also spoken with clarity in his Word. Appropriately, two metaphors are used for Scripture—it is a lamp and a light (2 Peter 1:19; Psalm 119:105). These imply that Scripture clearly communicates its instructions so that they may be understood and heeded by readers/hearers. The presumption of continued intelligibility characterizes all of Scripture, as the Old Testament foresees its instructions being read and received by future generations in very different socio-economic-political contexts (Deuteronomy 30:11–14; 31:9–13) and the New Testament harkens back to earlier Old Testament Scripture for the benefit of Christians (1 Corinthians 10:6, 11; Romans 4:23–24; 15:4).
Scripture is clear, so we should expect to understand it.
So, at the end of a frenetic day of work and after fixing and eating dinner, when you slouch onto the couch, what do you do when you see your Bible sitting nearby on the coffee table? Typically, you may think to yourself (there’s the voice inside your head!), I know I should pick up my Bible and read it, but you find your bone-wearied body too tired to respond. The clarity of Scripture should encourage you to reach out and begin reading it, because you can approach God’s Word with the expectation that you will indeed understand it—and be blessed by what God’s voice will say to you!
See Dr. Allison live at Mars Hill Downtown on February 4
from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm as he gives a lecture entitled, “The Bible: How We Got It and Why You Should Trust It.”
And buy Dr. Allison’s new book, Historical Theology: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine.