The Sufficiency of the Scriptures in Sanctification Part 2
by Fred T. Di Lella
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth…All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works… John 17:17; 2Timothy 3:16, 17.
And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh. That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. …Ezekiel 11:19-20; 36:25-27; Ephesians 2:10; Philippians 2:11-13
The Scriptures not only teach us about salvation, but they also instruct us about sanctification. True faith in the Lord Jesus Christ produces obedience.[1] This obedience, as the Scriptures proclaim, is conformity to God’s revealed will, the Moral Law, the Ten Commandments.
Because God is the Lord, and our God, and Redeemer, therefore, we are bound to obey all His commandments, the Ten Commandments. We are not obligated to keep His Law as a means of salvation. Rather, we obey the Ten Commandments as the way to love God (with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength) and our neighbor as ourselves.[2] It is important to realize that God also works in His people to desire to obey Him and also to obey Him. Obedience to God’s Commandments also affects assurance that we are truly His people. “By this we know that we know Him, if we keep His Commandments.” (1John 2:3)
As partakers of the New Covenant, God’s Law is written in our hearts. He causes us to desire to obey them and to walk in them.[3] So, as the Bible, the Reformers, and the Westminster Divines declared, every true Christian will love God’s Law and desire to keep it.
The Decalogue[4] (i.e., the Ten Commandments) is our canon for life; our way to please God; and the standard by which we can ascertain the genuineness of our faith.[5] It is the means by which we can know that we are living a life of faith. It is the way by which we can determine whether our works are good or evil in the sight of the Lord.[6]
As the Scriptures, and thus, the Reformers, and the Westminster Confession make clear: good works are only such as God has commanded in His Word. We cannot invent our own ways of pleasing God, as the people during the time of the judges.[7] Instead, we must constantly remember that our God is an all-sufficient, omniscient, holy God and He has given us His inerrant, infallible, absolutely true, absolutely authoritative, and absolutely sufficient Scriptures to teach us what we are to believe concerning God and what duty He requires of us.
In the 2nd Century the Romans mandated that all men must wear “bays” upon their heads to pay homage to the pagan deities. Some Christians disobeyed the order and consequently suffered severe penalties at the hands of the Roman military. Grievously, many of the professing Christians of that day were the first (and most malicious) in reproaching the Biblical stand of the Godly who would not wear the idolatrous bays. These scorners defended their own wearing of the abominable bays and their disdain for the God-revering and idolatry-hating Christians, who refused to wear them, in the following all-too-familiar words: “Where is it written in all the Word of God, that we should not wear bays upon our heads?”
In response to the anti-Scriptural attitude of the ungodly “bay bearers” and in defense of the God-fearing brethren, who would not wear the bays; Tertullian accurately articulated the Biblical view of the sufficiency of Scripture:
“Where is it written that we may do it? We must look into the Scriptures to see what we may do; and not think it enough that the Scripture doth not forbid directly this or that very particular.
Since God’s Word is absolutely true, authoritative, and sufficient, we must not look nor seek for counsel elsewhere for information about God or our obligations to Him. As 2Timothy 3:16, 17 inform us, the Scriptures make us “PERFECT, THOROUGHLY FURNISHED UNTO ALL GOOD WORKS.” How can we dare to look elsewhere? We must know the Scriptures. We must heed the Scriptures. We must trust the Scriptures. May we not be guilty of seeking counsel from other gods, as the children of Israel repeatedly did.[8]
We must also realize that Jesus Christ is our Lord and King. His kingdom is a kingdom of righteousness. He rules through His perfect and holy Word. If we desire to serve Him properly, we can only do so in accordance with His Word. Whether in our public worship of God; our relationships with our parents, wife, children, co-workers, friends, or government; all our actions, thoughts, and words must be in submission to His absolutely true, authoritative, sufficient Scriptures. We cannot devise our own way to serve God and our neighbor. God has told us how to do all these things in His Word. We must not, we dare not, look elsewhere.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil. Proverbs 3:5-7
Since the Scriptures are absolutely true, authoritative, and sufficient, all areas of life should be brought into submission to it. Whether Math, Science, Language, Social Studies, or Government, they are all to be understood in light of (and in subordination to) God’s Word\Law. No realm of daily life, church government, public worship, study, or government has any claim to autonomy.
Since the Scriptures are absolutely true, authoritative, and sufficient, we must also teach them to our children. God has commanded us to do so.[9]
Since the Scriptures are absolutely true, authoritative, and sufficient, we must proclaim the truth of Scripture to all men. We must teach them about the True and Living God, His righteous demands, and His perfect salvation. We must inform them that “God commands all men everywhere to repent.”[10]
Since the Scriptures are absolutely true, authoritative, and sufficient, we must strive, as the Apostle Paul, to be “casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”[11]
Since the Scriptures are absolutely true, authoritative, and sufficient, we must also, as the Apostles, be holding forth God’s Word to turn an upside-down world right side up.[12]
True Christian thinking, living, governing, and teaching will constantly recognize the Sovereign prerogative and directive of the Living and True God. True Christian thinking, living, governing, and teaching will daily acknowledge that God has spoken every word of the Scriptures and that they are, therefore absolutely true, authoritative, and sufficient (MAKING US PERFECT, THOROUGHLY FURNISHED UNTO EVERY GOOD WORK). “Because God is the Lord, and our God, and Redeemer, we are bound to keep all His Commandments.”
As the Word of God declares:
Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you…Ye shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. Ye shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess…This book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success….Deuteronomy 4:2; 5:32, 33; Joshua 1:8
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be PERFECT, THOROUGHLY FURNISHED UNTO ALL GOOD WORKS…2Timothy 3:16-17.
Since the Scriptures are absolutely true, authoritative, and sufficient, a christian world-life view is one that knows and acknowledges God to be the Only True God and our God (the Living and True God), and worships and glorifies Him accordingly.
Since the Scriptures are absolutely true, authoritative, and sufficient, a christian world-life view is one that knows and acknowledges that every area of life is in subjection to the Living and True God (the Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer, the God of Providence, God the Savior, and Law-giving God) and His absolutely true, authoritative, and sufficient Word.
[1] E.g., Matt.7:21-23; Luke 6:26; John 14:15-24; Eph.2:10; Titus 2:11-14; James 2:14-26; 1John 2:3; 3; 5:1-3.
[2] E.g., Matt.7:12; 22:37-40; Rom.13:8-10; 1John 2:3; 5:3; 2John 6.
[3] E.g., Jer.31:31-34; Ezek.11:19f.; 36:26f.; Phil.2:13.
[4] I.e., the Ten Commandments as the Law of Christ.
[5] E.g., Matt.7:21-23; 1John 2:3; 3:6f.; 5:3.
[6] E.g., Deut.4; 5; 6; 28; 29; 30.
[7] E.g., Judges 17:6; 21:25; Westminster Confession Chapter 16; see also Deut.4:2; 5:32, 33; 12:32.
[8] E.g., Isa.30; 31; Jerem.23:18-30.
[9] E.g., Gen.18:19; Deut.4:9, 10; 6:4-9, 20f.; 11:19; Ps.78:5, 6; Prov.22:6; Isa.38:19; Eph.6:4.
[10] E.g., Acts 17:30.
[11] I.e., 2Cor.10:5.
[12] E.g., Acts 17:6; see also Pss.46; 65; 67; Isa.2; 9:6, 7; 11; 26.
Rev. Fred Di Lella is pastor of Covenanted Reformation Church in TX which is part of The Biblical Reformed Synod of Christ the King.
