The Canonical Sufficiency of Scripture (Belgic Confession 7a)
Rev. Angus Stewart
Belgic Confession 7: The Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures to Be the Only Rule of Faith
We believe that those Holy Scriptures fully contain the will of God, and that whatsoever man ought to believe unto salvation is sufficiently taught therein. For, since the whole manner of worship which God requires of us is written in them at large, it is unlawful for any one, though an apostle, to teach otherwise than we are now taught in the Holy Scriptures; nay, though it were an angel from heaven, as the apostle Paul saith. For, since it is forbidden to add unto or take away any thing from the Word of God, it doth thereby evidently appear that the doctrine thereof is most perfect and complete in all respects.
Neither do we consider of equal value any writing of men, however holy these men may have been, with those divine Scriptures, nor ought we to consider custom, or the great multitude, or antiquity, or succession of times and persons, or councils, decrees, or statutes, as of equal value with the truth of God, for the truth is above all; for all men are of themselves liars and more vain than vanity itself. Therefore we reject with all our hearts whatsoever doth not agree with this infallible rule, which the apostles have taught us, saying, Try the spirits whether they are of God. Likewise, if there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house.
Belgic Confession 7 on Scripture's Canonical Sufficiency
The first paragraph of Belgic Confession 7 underscores the sufficiency of the canon of the 66 Old Testament and New Testament books in many ways.
First, consider its adjectives or adjectival phrases: “the whole manner of worship which God requires of us is written in them” and “the doctrine thereof is most perfect and complete in all respects.”
Second, there are its adverbs or adverbial phrases: “[the] Holy Scriptures fully contain the will of God” and “whatsoever man ought to believe unto salvation is sufficiently taught therein” and the whole manner of worship which God requires of us is written in them at large.”
Thus, third, “it is forbidden to add unto” the Word of God. It is unlawful and wicked for any man or angel to do so, even an “apostle” or “an angel from heaven” or the alleged angels, Raphael and Moroni, never mind a demon!
Attacks on Scripture's Canonical Sufficiency
How do different groups add, in various ways, to the 66 inspired books of Holy Scripture, thus denying its canonical sufficiency?
Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy add the Apocrypha to the Word of God. As we saw in our consideration of Belgic Confession 6, Eastern Orthodoxy has even more apocryphal books than Rome. There are also their views of tradition, with Romanism, for example, having more idolatrous traditions on Mary and the Pope. Of these two, the Apocrypha and tradition, it may well be that it is by their tradition that Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy undermine and attack Scripture's sufficiency even more than by their holding to the Apocrypha.
In the days of the early church, there were some (often bizarre) religious groups, such as the Gnostics, who held to the Old Testament pseudepigrapha and/or the New Testament pseudepigrapha. In our own day, the modernist Jesus Seminar in the US, reckons that especially the Gospel of Thomas frequently gives authentic sayings of Jesus not found in Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. The truth is that the 66 books of the Bible, without the pseudepigrapha, are the Word of God.
What about the cults? All of them claim to adhere to the Bible, but do they? The Mormons add The Book of Mormon, The Pearl of Great Price and The Doctrine and Covenants. Christian Science looks to Mary Baker Eddy's Science and Health, With Key to the Scriptures. Seventh-Day Adventism has the writings of Ellen White. Though it denies it adds to the Bible, it claims that White was “inspired” and had the “gift of prophecy.” Thus, Seventh-Day Adventism claims to be the church with “the testimony of Jesus Christ” spoken of in Revelation 12:17. The Jehovah's Witnesses do not add another book to the Bible. Instead, they have their own (corrupt) translation of the Bible in the New World Translation. Over against all the cults, including the four major ones just mentioned, the orthodox position is that the 66 books alone are Scripture, without the addition of cultic texts or cultic “translations.”
Liberalism denies the sufficiency of Scripture in many ways. The big bang and evolutionism establish the way God made the earth and man and the age of the earth, not the Word of God (e.g., Gen. 1-11; Heb. 11:3). Feminism determines that women should be in church office as deacons, elders and ministers, as well as bishops and moderators, contrary to Scripture (I Cor. 14:34-38; I Tim. 2:9-15). Scripture plus Charles Darwin or Scripture plus Simone de Beauvoir! Likewise, the Bible must yield to philosophy, psychology, sodomy, modern culture, etc., for it is not up-to-date in today's world. God's Word and wisdom must submit to man's words and follies!
Pentecostalism and Charismaticism also deny the sufficiency of Scripture. They hold to direct revelation in the form of “words of knowledge” and on-going prophecy. Some of them even speak of contemporary prophets (!), apostles (!!), super-prophets (!!!) and super-apostles (!!!!), with their “thus saith the Lord.” A softer form of Pentecostalism or Charismaticism is being smuggled into the church in the form of erroneous notions regarding guidance. God supposedly leads people by “feelings” or people will say that “the Lord told me” to do such and such.
Especially of late, religious syncretists or pluralists are claiming that the various texts of the world's religious are all Scripture. The 66 books of the Christian Bible, Judaism's Tanakh (i.e., the Old Testament), Islam's Koran, Hinduism's Bhagavad Gita, etc., as well as writings from animists, e.g., in Africa and Polynesia, are being lumped together and included in books allegedly containing the world's Scriptures. All are said to reveal something about the rich and unfathomable divine! But God's Word is Genesis to Revelation, without any of the writings of the pagan religions and over against all such idolatrous books.
Explanation of Scripture's Canonical Sufficiency
Now let us draw together various elements from the preceding and explain what the canonical sufficiency of Scripture means.
First, there is no need for any other “inspired” books in addition to the 66 books of the biblical canon, for they are the rich, full and complete Scriptures. The Apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, The Book of Mormon and other cultic books, and the religious texts of the pagans are not the Word of God.
Second, God does not speak to us or anyone today by direct revelation in dreams or visions, etc. The time for such things passed with the death of the first-century extraordinary office-bearers, the apostles and the prophets, who, under the crucified and risen Christ, laid the “foundation” of the New Testament church (Eph. 2:20) – a foundation that no man can add to or relay!
Third, Scripture is its own blessed interpreter. It is not to be explained according to the tradition of the false churches or a supposedly infallible pope. Nor is the Word of God to be interpreted by the cultic writings of Mary Baker Eddy or the fads of modern culture, such as evolutionism or feminism.
Fourth, the sufficiency of Scripture also means that no canonical books of the past have perished and no canonical books will be found in the future. The Old Testament, indeed, refers to “the book of the wars of the LORD” (Num. 21:14), “the book of Jasher” (Josh. 10:13; II Sam. 1:18) and other books (e.g., I Kings 11:41; I Chron. 29:29; II Chron. 9:29; 12:15). The New Testament, for example, speaks of a letter Paul wrote to the church of Corinth prior to the canonical epistle of I Corinthians (I Cor. 5:9), but none of these writings ever were, or were intended to be, parts of the canonical Scriptures.
In short, the Holy Scripture is the 66 books listed in Belgic Confession 4 and not the Apocrypha (Belgic Confession 6), for, in the infinite wisdom of the Triune God, it is perfectly complete and so does not need the addition of other books or on-going revelation. Belgic Confession 7 cites Revelation 22:18, which reads in full, “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.” Our Reformed confession here teaches that this verse forbids adding not only to the book of Revelation (the last book of the Bible), but also to all or any of the books of divine revelation (the preceding 65 books of the Bible).
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
- List some of the books that the devil has brought forth to “supplement” and/or replace the 66 books of the Bible?
- Could a Charismatic honestly claim to hold to Belgic Confession 7? If not, why not?
- Is it possible that a 67th book of the Bible could be discovered by archaeologists (or anyone else) in the Middle East (or anywhere else)?