FrontLine: The Authority and Sufficiency of the Bible

March/April 2021 | VOLUME 31 | NUMBER 2

In this issue the theme before us is the sufficiency of Scripture. Does the Bible really contain everything necessary for believers to navigate the challenges inherent in being human? People have wrestled through this issue since Christianity began. The New Testament contains the history of those who advocated adding or blending additional beliefs and practices outside the prescribed message of the Apostles as inscribed in the inspired Word of God (circumcision is one such example—cf. Acts 15; Gal. 2).

The last 170 years or so have evidenced many more examples of those who, by their expressed words or by their actions, questioned the Bible’s sufficiency. Often these attacks against the Scriptures’ sufficiency stemmed from people outside of or who have left the faith. Charles Darwin’s religious progression (or departure) from Christianity bears this out. His 1859 book Origin of Species gave the Western world a nonsupernatural explanation of the origin of the world, life, and the cosmos. It directly countered the Bible’s explanation of God’s direct act of creation. In essence, Darwin’s view stated that the Scriptures are inadequate to provide humanity with an understanding of who we are, how we got here, and where we are going. Evolution, according to Darwin, provided the answers that were lacking in the Bible.

What is particularly distressing is the influence Darwin’s worldview has had on those who identify as Christian. Professed believers sought (largely unsuccessfully—both to evolutionists and to biblical inerrantists) to adopt evolution to fit Christianity or Christianity to fit evolution. This example, among others, still permeates Christianity today, even among some (or many?) who identify as evangelical.

This issue’s authors directly, boldly, and clearly proclaim the Scriptures’ sufficiency— also why that sufficiency is so vital. How can a Bible that lacks essential and necessary knowledge and wisdom for our lives help us make sense of the world we live in? Further, and how can it be trusted to provide us an understanding of the depth of our sin and our need of a Savior?

Dr. Jim Berg writes both to those who are in fulltime ministry, and to “disciplers” everywhere (“Are We Sufficiently Ministering the Sufficient Word?”). He reveals a great need for Christians to apply fearlessly 2 Timothy 3:16–17 to every aspect of sin imaginable. Several of these applications will make many uncomfortable, but they will test our own belief in the sufficiency of Scripture.

Both the articles of Pastor Brent Niedergall (“Does Sufficiency Rule Out Creeds?”) and Dr. Jeff Straub (“The Sufficiency of Scripture—A Historical Perspective”) take a historical look at this doctrine. Though confessions and creeds are not authoritative, they do demonstrate that sufficiency is not a recent construction. However, it is one that is perpetually in need of defense against many attacks today. Sometimes they can come from very surprising sources inside Christianity.

From another (or different) historical perspective, the sufficiency of Scripture can also conflict with those who did much to highlight its importance. That seems like a contradiction, but historical theology is often messier than many realize. Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, and John Calvin are heroes from the Reformation. They (along with Martin Bucer) are the focus of an article that I contributed. People were not always consistent in applying Scripture’s sufficiency in every situation.

The sufficiency of Scripture conflicts with current culture. Pastor Cameron Pollock provides several helpful applications. Primarily, he focuses our attention on what the sufficiency of the Bible says to us today in relation to our culture. We are to follow the Savior in living out the crucial role as expressed in the Great Commission, Matthew 28:18–20.

Wally Morris provides a delightful and thought provoking examination of Psalm 19. He contrasts the limitations of natural revelation with the perfection of special revelation in establishing the essential nature of the Bible’s sufficiency. His stirring application is one we all should hold dear.

Don Johnson examines various failures within Christianity to maintain consistently the sufficiency of Scripture. His biblically based critique along with his three examples exposes the fact that challenges to sufficiency are much more common and dangerous than many Christians realize.

The sufficiency of the Bible encompasses more than can be explored in this issue. However, what is here should help serious believers think cautiously and discern carefully the importance of this fragile doctrine.

— Ken Rathbun

FEATURES

Are We Sufficiently Ministering the Sufficient Word?
Jim Berg

Has God given us everything we need to help people with the challenges of living?

Does Sufficiency Rule Out Creeds?
Brent Niedergall

Research has shown that nearly a third of American evangelicals queried denied the deity of Christ.

The Sufficiency of Scripture: A Historical Perspective
Jeff Straub

Baptists emerged out of the post-Reformation English religious world to become champions of the Bible as the “all-sufficient rule of faith and practice.”

Sufficiency and the Reformers’ Defense of Infant Baptism
Ken Rathbun

Baptists see the Reformers’ defense of infant baptism as a concession to a historical practice over the Word of God.

In the World, Of the Word: “Doing Church” in Modern Culture
Cameron Pollock

How does a church remain tethered to the Word of God while also relating to the culture that surrounds it?

Is Nature Enough?
Wally Morris

Is what God created all a person needs in order to know Him?

Subtle Attacks on the Sufficiency of Scripture
Don Johnson

Contemporary Christians often rely on authorities outside the Bible, with consequences in faith or practice that cause concern.

DEPARTMENTS

Mail Bag & News from All Over

On the Home Front

Regional Reports

At a Glance: Sovereign Counsel: A Gospel-Adorned Response to Civil Government (Part 2)
Robert Vincent

With the Word to the World: In and of the Word
Jim Tillotson

You Never Told Me
Ruth Bumgardner

Deployed Yet Connected
Tony Pelc

Wickedness Proceedeth from the Wicked
Jerry Sivnksty

(Originally published in FrontLine • March/April 2021. Click here to subscribe to the magazine.)