Jesus Christ has ALL authority (Matt. 28:18), and that authority resides in His Word (John 12:48), which was given by the Holy Spirit to inspired penmen, who wrote those words in inspired documents. Those inspired, written documents (66 of them in total) are called “Scripture,” and we can have confidence that when we pick our Bibles that is exactly what we are reading—the inspired, all-authoritative Word of God! Let’s note one more thing about Scripture, and then, in the concluding article next week, we will consider our responsibility to His authoritative Word.
We learn in 2 Timothy 3:16 that “All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God.” All of it! Then, in the next verse, we are informed that God gave us “all Scripture” so “that” (the Greek word here denotes the purpose ) “the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (3:17). Without “all Scripture,” man is NOT complete and is NOT thoroughly equipped. But, having “all Scripture” makes man “complete.” If we are “complete” (with the inspired 66 books), what’s missing? What additional revelation is needed or could be given? The answer is that we are missing nothing and no additional revelation will be given, lest this verse itself be proven a lie.
Peter teaches us this same truth: “…through the knowledge of Him” which we have revealed to us by the Holy Spirit in our inspired Bibles (2 Pet. 1:20-21), God “has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (1:3). Did you see how much we have? All! We have all that we need for “life and godliness”? So, how much is missing? How much will be or could be added later? The answer to both questions is “Nothing!” “ALL” Scripture is given to us by God, we have “ALL” that God said we would need. If I need something more or something outside of the 66 books of the Bible, then both of these verses are proven false.
Then, to top it ALL off, the Lord reveals to us that “the faith…was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). “The faith” is the “the gospel” (Gal. 1:11+23)—the universal, “one” body of truth (Eph. 4:5), given to mankind in God’s inspired Word. The adverb “once for all” means “pertaining to a single occurrence and decisively unique, of what is of perpetual validity, not requiring repetition.” The same word is used for the sacrifice of Christ for our sins—“once for all” (Heb. 9:28; 1 Pet. 3:18). Just as Christ’s sacrifice has perpetual validity, not requiring repetition or amendment, the same is true of Scripture. There is NOTHING more to be delivered; it is final!
These three keys passages all emphasize the word “ALL.” The ALL-inspired, ALL-sufficient, for ALL-time delivered Word is in our Bibles! What a thought! Let’s finish next week.