Think on These Things

_July
1998

By "sufficient" we mean that nothing else is required to know God’s will. Nothing! No church, no priest, no pope, no holy guru. If it is sufficient, then each one of us has an individual responsibility to dig the truth out for ourselves from the most accessible book on the face of this earth. We cannot blame our eternal fate on the fact that "we got on the wrong bus." The command to identify false teachers applies to each one of us. Jesus said: "Not every one that saith unto me Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will of my father who is in heaven." Kind of scary isn’t it?

In this short paper we intend to provide sufficient proof from the bible itself that it is sufficient, and thus all of the conclusions given in the paragraph above are true. The evidence given is from the bible itself, and critics will challenge this as not being an objective, independent authority. We agree. However, if you reject the clear teachings that will be presented, you have no other choice but to reject the entirety of the bible. For if the parts that we present are not truthful and accurate, then who among us is qualified to tell us which parts apply and which parts are blatant lies? We ask you to get your bible out and look up the references, since we do not have room here to quote the scriptures that form the basis for our conclusions. Your time and energy will be well spent and richly rewarded, and your faith will be increased greatly (Romans 10:17). Please study the context.

Finally, we call your attention to our Of Current Interest section on the next page. The anecdote is in loving memory of my beloved grandmother who died at age 97 this past May. -dbb

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Of Current Interest

The Poverty Problem. Jesus said "the poor ye have always with you" (Jn. 12: 8). Our obligations to the poor are clear (Gal. 6:10), but Jesus’ statement indicates some qualifiers. Poverty in the 1920's was exemplified by a family of Italian immigrants with seven children. The father held down a factory job before minimum wage. As the depression progressed he moved the family to a farm stating: "we may not make any money, but at least we will have something to eat." I worked for him thirty years later. He had long-since paid off the farm’s mortgage, but he still worked it every day. He never learned to read or write, but even in his 70's he could outwork anyone — anyone, that is, except his loving wife. They were dedicated to each other and to their family. "Entitlements" from the government never entered their mind. They were my grandparents.

We all know of some who seem to "make it" on nothing but hard work. God has ordained that things will not come easy in this world (Gen. 3: 17-19). But to those who accept God's terms, he has promised the necessities of this life. "I have been young, and now am old: yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread" (Ps. 37: 25). On the other hand: "If any will not work, neither let him eat" (2 Thes. 3: 10). Our welfare-enslavement system is ample proof of what happens when those who do not want to work are allowed to eat. But we must be concerned for who Paul described as "widows indeed" (1 Tim. 5: 16) — those who have no way to make it on their own. So important is our individual responsibility in this regard that it is described as the essence of true religion (James 1: 27), and the measure by which we love God (1 Jn. 3; 17; 4: 20).

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14 Evidences of Biblical Sufficiency

1. Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to guide the apostles into all the truth (Jn. 16:13), not just part of it.

2. At the end of these days (now) God has spoken to us through his Son (Hebrews 1:1).

3. The message of God’s "great salvation" has been fully revealed and confirmed by miracles (Hebrews 2:3f).

4. New revelation was proven by clearly supernatural events (e.g., Acts 2:1-11) — no one can claim such things occur today.

5. Paul stated (in the context of discussing these spiritual gifts —1 Cor. 12, 13 and 14) that when the full-grown revelation was completed, the miraculously obtained parts would be done away (1 Cor. 13:8-10).

6. James called this final revelation the "perfect law of liberty" (James 1:25).

7. "His divine power hath [past tense] granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness" (2 Peter 1:3).

8. That which is to be believed was "once for all delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3).

9. We are warned against any deviation from that which was originally delivered (Gal. 1:8f).

10. Scriptures (inspired writings) have the full capability to provide everything that we need for salvation (2 Tim. 3:16f).

11. Despite having miracles, the apostles and writers of the New Testament drew heavily upon the Old Testament to determine truth (e.g., see Acts 2:14-36).

12. Paul warns us not to go beyond the things that are written (1 Cor. 4:6), and Peter warned to speak only with the oracles of God (1 Pet. 4:11).

13. We are commanded not to add to or take away from what has been revealed (Rev. 22:18-19). That which applies to the book of Revelation applies to the entire bible in principle. Have there been any additions to it in the past 2000 years?

14. The burden of proof is on those claiming to speak for God to prove this claim consistently with "that which is written."

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Ye often hear it said ...

"That’s just your interpretation."

but in Ephesians 3:4, referring to his writings, Paul stated:

"...when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ"

If we can have the same understanding as Paul did by reading what he wrote, then where else should we look for such understanding? When we hold to the belief that the bible is not understandable, is that not an accusation against God that He either cannot or does not want to give us a statement of His will that we can understand?

It is true that many people use the bible to prove highly contradictory doctrines. Does this make the bible deficient? Please study the context of 2 Thes. 2:11-12: "And for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness." When we go to the bible with no other goal than to find out what God’s will is for us (seeking after Him — Heb. 11:6), we will learn and know the truth (Jn. 8:32). But when we go to the bible just to prove some doctrine that we hold dear, that is exactly what we will do. Only the bible has this characteristic. This is some of the hardest evidence that the bible is from God.

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