The Sufficiency and Clarity of the Scriptures (WCF 1.6-7)

Teaching Note

The Word of God is the most important thing in the Christian life. It is the means that God uses to reveal Himself and to shepherd His people. The bible doesn’t work mechanically or magically. Just having a copy doesn’t save you, they are words that must be read, preached, prayed through and understood; but the beauty of the Word is that it CAN be understood. Everything necessary for salvation can be understood through diligent use of ordinary means by reading and hearing the Word read and preached. In doing so, the believer can safely come to conclusions on everything they need to know to repent, believe the gospel, and walk in faith.

Scripture Verse

“…and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:15–17)

WCF Text

Westminster Confession of Faith 1.6-7 6. The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations 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. 7. All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all: yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed for salvation, are so clearly propounded, and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them.

Teaching Content

The Sufficiency of Scripture: The Word of God contains everything that we need for this life and the life to come. Everything that a man or woman must know about God and himself to repent, believe, and walk in Christ is either made explicit in the Word or can be figured out based on the clear things the Word does say. There are no hidden mysteries to be revealed or magic power needed to understand.

Perspicuity of Scripture: The Scriptures are clear and plain. They show who God is, what He has done for us in Christ, the necessity of salvation by grace through faith in Christ, and the manner of life that must result from true faith. Anyone with ears to hear will find these facts laid out plainly and clearly, without secret codes or impossibly complex formula. It is a Word with infinite depth for a lifetime of study and yet the basics can be known by simply reading with faith.

The Work of the Holy Spirit: Without the Work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts we will not only not recognize the scriptures as the Word of God, we also won’t be able to understand them. What is plain in scripture will be useless to us, not because it is not plain, but because we see it as foolishness without the work of the Spirit. When God gives you new life, He gives you the eyes of faith to be able to see the Word for what it is, and increasingly to understand and obey it.

Sanctified Wisdom: The Word tells us everything we need to know, but many things in this life have been left to sanctified wisdom. For example we are commanded to worship the Lord on Sunday, but we aren’t told what time the service should be. In light of that the elders of the church are called to use their knowledge of the Word, their God given wisdom, and their understanding of their flock to determine things like service times. In doing so they are not able to make authoritative declarations and must give much grace to other sessions who made different decisions.

Discussion Questions

The Utility of the Bible (WCF 1.8-10)

Teaching Note

In order for the bible to be profitable, it must be understood. To that end God has both preserved the scriptures in the original Greek and Hebrew while also causing it to be translated into the common languages of His people so that they can rightly understand the Word. Because the Word is the only authoritative rule for faith and practice in the church, it alone is to be our final source of appeal. Though all the world should disagree with the scriptures, we should stand on the Word, come what may. This also means that we are to interpret scripture in the light of scripture, letting it’s assertions and assumptions rule our thinking and how we understand it’s meaning.

Scripture Verse

“Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning, but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me.” (1 Corinthians 14:6–11)

Teaching Content

• Inerrancy, Preservation and Transmission: When we say the scriptures are without error, we mean specifically that in the original document in the original language they are without error. So the greek manuscript of Revelation is without error, while the ESV, NIV, NASB translations of Revelation are good, helpful, trustworthy as a human work they cannot be completely without error. So God preserved those original language manuscripts for the church causing each of the 66 books of the Scriptures to be saved, copied, and passed down without error. It was a complicated historical process, where individual manuscripts introduced minor errors and corruption, but for each error introduced in one manuscript it was not in another, allowing the church to have sufficient documentation to know for certain what the scriptures say in the original languages.
• Translation: The Lord came to seek and to save the lost. It was never His intention to keep the Word of salvation behind locked doors, accessible only to scholars, but rather to see it in the hands and written on the hearts of young and old, rich and poor from every tongue tribe and nation. As such we can and should translate the scriptures into the languages that people actually know and speak so that they can hear the gospel and follow Christ.
• Rule of Faith: The Word of God is a cohesive whole. All parts agree with each other because all come forth from the mouth of God. So if Paul tells us that we are not justified by works of the law but James tells us that faith without works is dead, it is incumbent upon us to seek to understand in the context of both truths. Even if something should remain mysterious to us, that is a weakness in us and not int he truth of the Word.
• Sola Scriptura: We have not been left to fend for ourselves with only ourselves and the bible. God has graciously given us the record of church history and continued shepherding under the elders of the church, but all of their actions and decisions are right or wrong only on the basis of the Word of God. It is ultimately the Word that is the authority in the church and it is that authority that we must appeal to in times of controversy and strife.

Discussion Questions