Is the Sufficiency of Scripture Essential?

When we talk about the sufficiency of Scripture, what we’re discussing is whether the truths in the Bible are enough to save and sanctify God’s people in every generation in every culture. Does God’s truth as revealed in the Bible really provide enough guidance to help every Christian faithfully live out his/her Christian life to the glory of God?

This question is especially important today as many have embraced modern therapy culture. Going to a therapist, someone who is deemed by secular society as qualified to provide mental and emotional care to deal with life’s problems, is common. Some Christians immersed in therapy culture believe that Christian counseling should be a hybrid, an integration of secular psychology with the Bible. I would argue that this attempt at integration is a serious problem. Why?

Secular therapists do not believe what God’s Word says about man, his/her relationship with God, sin, change, emotions, the family, sexuality, grief, or any other topic. Their methods for dealing with questions, problems, and changing behavior come from outside of the Scriptures. Their reference points include secular psychology’s observations and their interpretations, resulting in theories used to guide therapy. Whatever theories presently en vogue and personally held by that particular therapist guides his/her counseling.

Are believers somehow lacking in their ability to follow Christ and help others to do the same without help from secular psychology and its wisdom? No, because of the sufficiency of Scripture.

Sufficiency of Scripture Defined

The Bible teaches God’s people that God’s revelation in its pages is indeed enough. In it Christ’s person and power are explained. All who repent and believe the Gospel have the capacity, by God’s grace, to live godly lives for His glory. All they need is God’s truth in the Scriptures (Consider the book of Ephesians as an example).

Consider these two succinct definitions of the sufficiency of Scripture:

Wayne Grudem: “The sufficiency of Scripture means that Scripture contains all the words of God we need for salvation, for trusting him perfectly, and for obeying him perfectly.” (Systematic Theology, p.152).

John MacArthur: “Between the Scriptures and the indwelling Holy Spirit, the believer needs no additional revelation to be informed on how to live the Christian life.” (Biblical Doctrine, p.171).

One key passage that teaches the “enoughness” of the Bible is 2 Peter 1:3-4:

“His divine power has granted to us all things (everything we need) that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that it in the world because of sinful desire.“

Sufficiency of Scripture Established

Some try to dismiss the use of 2 Peter 1:3-4 as a text that describes the sufficiency of the Bible to meet every spiritual need of His people. They argue that the passage does not name the Bible or Scripture as all that Christians need, but that it points to God Himself. Therefore, the argument goes, to use these verses in direct application to the use of the Bible in Christian counseling is illegitimate. This, then, opens the door for them to the use of secular psychology and its solutions in Christian counseling.

What does Peter does say here? He does indeed say that God’s divine power has granted to us everything needed for Christian living and godliness. Yes, God Himself is the answer, not simply words on a page. But this passage says that God has already given to His people everything they could possibly require to live out their Christian faith to please Him in all circumstances. How has He provided this power?

Peter goes on to say that it is through knowing God that we obtain this power from God to live in a godly way (v.3). Where, then, is this knowledge of God found? In God’s Word, His revelation of Himself, the Bible.

Again, Peter wrote that this knowledge of God that gives the power for life and godliness comes through His precious and very great promises. By knowing God and His ways through these precious promises found in the Bible, believers can become like Him and escape from sin (v.4). We can know God and receive the power to live a godly life by understanding His promises and believing them.

Peter’s argument here is that all that is necessary to enable godly Christian living comes from God Himself as we know and embrace His promises that we find in His Word. The entire passage is an extended exhortation to live a godly life, a fruitful and profitable life, in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ as found through God’s revealed truth (v.5-8).

Limitations of Secular Psychology and Therapy

2 Peter 1:3-4 establishes the sufficiency of Scripture quite clearly. God’s divine power works to make us holy through His living Word (promises understood and believed). Secular psychology and therapy methods are not inspired by God. Instead, they are written by weak and sinful men limited in understanding about the true nature of humanity and all spiritual realities dealing with the heart and mind. Their conclusions and methods derived from them are unworthy of our trust. Because of this inherent weakness they share, their theories are not authoritative and are forever changing. None of us are better than them (Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 3:10, 23), so this is not a personal attack on secular therapists for their limitations.

Secular therapists do not possess that spiritual wisdom that is required to understand God, His ways, and how to make us like Christ in this world (1 Corinthians 2:6-16). We must have God’s perfect revelation as our guide for life (Psalm 19:7-14; 119). No matter how well-intentioned, secular therapists cannot meet the true needs of those they counsel. Frequently, their counsel will be in direct conflict with God’s perfect counsel. The world has many arguments and lofty opinions which oppose the knowledge of God, whether they are aware of it or no (2 Corinthians 10:5).  

Implications if Secular Theories Were Needed

What are the implications of believing that Christians do not have everything that he/she needs to honor and serve Him from the Bible and that secular psychology’s theories and methods are necessary to do so? Believing this would mean that until modern therapy culture arrived, all Christians were inherently incapable of being all God intended them to be, because the theories of psychology were not invented and developed yet.

Further, it implies that all Christians alive today who do not have access to these extra-biblical sources are not equally capable by grace to obtain victory over sin, change, overcome sinful habits, obtain peace, etc., like those who do. It implies that Christians in most of the world throughout the centuries were not given everything they needed by God to follow Christ faithfully because they didn’t have secular psychology’s ever-changing wisdom!

Gratitude for God’s All-Sufficient Word

Praise the Lord that He has faithfully given us all that we need to live abundant spiritual lives in Jesus Christ through the truths He has already revealed in the Bible!

Again, 2 Peter 1:3-4 states, “His divine power has granted to us all things (everything we need) that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that it in the world because of sinful desire.“

If you would like to study this topic in depth, consider reading Heath Lambert’s thorough treatment in A Theology of Biblical Counseling: The Doctrinal Foundations of Biblical Counseling and John MacArthur’s Our Sufficiency in Christ.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash cropped and with added text