SCRIPTURE IS MORE THAN SUFFICIENT

By Akin Ojumu

Scripture is a gift from God. Inspired and authored by the Holy Spirit through the agency of men, it’s the only inerrant, infallible, sufficient, and final authority for the Church. God’s written Word is His primary revelation. 

Hebrews 1:1-2

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”

The Bible is the means by which God speaks to us today. Every time you are reading the Bible, what you are reading are the very Words of God. So, if you want to hear God speak to you, read the Bible. If you want to hear God speak to you audibly, read the Bible out loud. 

2 Timothy 3:16-17

“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 Peter 1:3-4

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. Through these He has given us His precious and magnificent promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, now that you have escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”

Guidance and directions for the decisions we make in life are all written in the Bible. But because of lack of faith and confidence in the authority, sufficiency, and power of the Word of God, people rely on esoteric means such as dreams, visions, impressions, omens, putting out the fleece, and the “still small voice” to decide who to marry, where to live, which Church to worship, what to wear, what to buy, what to say, what job to take, what business to do, what tomorrow holds, what to have for dinner, how many pieces of bushmeat to put in the egusi soup, etc., etc., etc.

A heart saturated with the knowledge of the Word of God, is a heart filled with wisdom to make the right decisions at any time and concerning any situation. If the Word of God is full in your heart, it will guide you in the way you should go.

Psalm 37:31

“The Law of his God is in his heart; his steps do not falter.”

Psalm 119:11

“I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

Psalm 119:105

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

Colossians 3:16-17

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

While the Bible does not give specific instructions related to the nitty gritty personal situations and decisions we face, it does provide all the wisdom we need to be able to make right judgments in those situations and decisions (Source: Got Questions).

When it comes to the sufficiency of Scripture, you cannot stand on the fence. It’s either you believe Scripture is sufficient or you don’t. You cannot say you believe in the sufficiency of Scriptures and also believe that God speaks to you all the time through other methods outside of Scriptures. These are two mutually exclusive viewpoints that cannot cohabit in the same heart at the same time. 

While they won’t acknowledge it, and may even deny it’s the case, many resort to biblically unorthodox means of hearing God’s voice because they have pretty much lost confidence in the authority, the sufficiency, and the power of the written Word of God. This loss of confidence in the authority, sufficiency and power of Scriptures is the direct result of the fact that when it comes to studying the Bible, far too many Christians merely scratch the surface. Significantly few Believers take the time to plumb the depths of the Holy Book to discover the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God in its pages. 

As a result of lack of depth in the knowledge of Scripture, the life of the average Christian is marked by superficiality of worship and frivolity of devotion. It is this biblical shallowness that makes them seek after the voice of God outside of the written Word of God. 

Pastor John MacArthur provides an excellent description of this phenomenon:

“They are looking for something beyond Scripture. Scripture is not enough. Scripture is not sufficient. They want more. “Something more,” used to be kind of a phrase you’d hear them use. What God has said in His Word isn’t enough. And part of that is fed by the fact that people sitting in these charismatic environments are never really taught the Word of God. You know, it’s a superficial approach. If you turn on charismatic television and listen to these people, they don’t ever give an exposition of Scripture. They don’t ever get down into Scripture. So, people don’t know the richness that’s there. They don’t know the range of truth. They don’t know the penetrating joys of understanding the revelation of Scripture. They have nothing but a superficial understanding of Scripture. Once over lightly, not really exposited with any depth and power. And so, they don’t know how to feast on the Word of God. And so, their shallowness is a product of the inept way Scripture has been brought before them. And so, in looking for something more, they look beyond the Scripture rather than into the Scripture.”

Advocates of hearing the voice of God outside the Scripture often premise their warped idea on the importance of two-way communication in human relationships. They would have us believe that we cannot have a vibrant and solid relationship with God if there is no back-and-forth communication between us and God. In their minds, there can’t be a genuine fellowship with God if we do all the talking and God does all the listening. 

Pastor Jim Osman gives, what I think, is a perfect rebuttal of such unbiblical perspective:

“If God never speaks to you, it’s just a one-way communication and that’s not a genuine friendship and that’s not genuine fellowship. And of course, that tells you something about their view of Scripture. It’s as if God giving us sixty-six books of divine revelation is not Him speaking and he is silent from Heaven and never has any communication with us. He does speak to us, in and through his Word. When I read Scripture and I understand the meaning of Scripture, I am hearing the voice of God, I’m hearing God communicate to me through this Book and not through a meaning that is alien or foreign to its original author or its original context or its original recipients. But when I understand the meaning of Scripture as God intended that meaning of Scripture to be to that original audience, by the original author, I’m hearing the voice of God giving me truth, divine truth, divine revelation in the pages of his Word.”

What people who claim to hear the voice of God outside of Scripture don’t seem to appreciate is the sheer audacity, preposterousness, and danger of their claims. They do not understand that whenever God speaks, His Word is divine, canonical, authoritative, and, therefore, equal to Scripture.

A man who purports to receive a direct Word from God is a man claiming to have received a divine, canonical, and authoritative revelation that must be added to Scripture. Such a word must, therefore, be inerrant, authoritative, true, holy, and perfect. But we know that most times what these people claim to hear is anything but inerrant. And as someone puts it, “they are almost always a jumbled mess of confusion, inconsistencies, and outright contradictions of the Word of God. Far too often, “God told me…” is in reality, “I think…and I think God would agree with me…therefore, I am going to tell you that God told me…”

Beloved, here’s what you must understand. Your fascination with hearing the voice of God outside of the pages of Scriptures is nothing more than unbelief seeking proof. The craving you have for extrabiblical Word from God is cynicism masquerading as piety and it is skepticism camouflaged as spirituality. The written Word of God is active and alive. It is the Living Word. Stick with it with all diligence, and you’d never take a wrong step.