We continue our survey of the Westminster Confession of Faith after a weeks hiatus. In our last instalment, we looked at WCF 1.4 & 1.5 and focussed our discussion on the authority of Scripture. Today we look at WCF 1.6 which highlights the sufficiency of Scripture, an important and somewhat neglected doctrine of late as alluded to in The Resistance series.

VI. 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.

There are a few key ideas we need to note as we look at this statement. Firstly, the framers of the Confession believe that God’s written Word is complete. It is the whole counsel of God and nothing is to be added to it. This includes adding to it now with new revelations of the Spirit or adding on the traditions of men. So for example, there are those who become concerned that you haven’t had God ‘speak’ to you and others who rely on a ‘Word from the Lord’ from spiritual people in their congregations. While these might be nice and encouraging, they are not necessary, and God’s Word provides you with everything you need to live a God-honouring life. At the other end of the spectrum, you might have some churches that believe church traditions are needed to supplement God’s Word. We must not add to Scripture and we do not need to.

Secondly, there is the idea of sufficiency that we have already flagged. God’s Word contains all things necessary for the glory of God, man’s salvation and the life of faith. What we need is either expressly written down in the Scriptures, or by Spirit-filled reasoning can be deduced. This deduction from Scripture is not without danger, and incorrect deductions can be made. However, the practice itself is not wrong. Indeed Christ himself deduced things from Scripture. When dealing with the Sadducees on their silly question about the woman who had seven husbands who died he said, “And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.” This is a clear case of deducing the resurrection from the grammar of the text.

So what are the implications of this truth of sufficiency? Firstly, God has provided us all we need to be saved and to live for God’s glory. Scripture teaches this. Peter says, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.” Obviously, salvation can only come through the Word by the Spirit. However, for those who have the Spirit, the Word provides us with everything we need to live a life pleasing to God. This is how Paul sees things when exhorting Timothy. He says, “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.”

Now we must be careful not to misinterpret what is being said here. The scriptures do not talk about every topic there is. There are some things that Scripture does not touch on and God does not intend it to touch on. It is not, for instance, an engineering textbook, nor is it a book on nuclear physics. This is not a problem. God reveals to us all we need to know to bring glory to him and please him, but he gives us the opportunity to explore his world and discover what he has not revealed in Scripture directly as dominion makers. Then there are other things that He has not revealed and we cannot discover (Deuteronomy 29:29).

Finally, the writers of the Confession point out that there are some things that we ought to use our God-given wisdom in as Spirit-filled Christians. There are principles in Scripture that we ought to take and apply, but there is room for interpretation and wisdom in applying these in practical situations. The framers of the Confession point to the worship of God and the government of the church. For instance, the timing of our weekly gathering, whether we meet in a home or at a church building or how we run our annual general meetings are all examples of things Christians can use ‘the light of nature’ and ‘Christian prudence’ to decide. They are very careful to point out however that even in these situations the general rules of the Word must be observed.