Some of my beliefs about Scripture

Scripture or the Word of God guides me through life because it communicates to me on how to relate to God, who is aware of me and my life in all respects, and if I can learn on how to relate to God, then I can be guided through life. I can trust the holy Scriptures because of what they're doing. To say that the Bible does all of this does not entail that it gives me all the information about me, God or even my life but only what it does give is true, places me in the right relation to God and is uniquely reliable to guide me through life because of the God who is the ultimate author of it.

Scripture is sufficient for what it's designed to do and communicate. What it's not designed to do and communicate should not be included in one's conception of sufficiency. Is a physics textbook a sufficient source of knowledge about the universe? Sure. Is a biology textbook a sufficient source of knowledge about the earth and animals? Yes even though biology in its own domain doesn't settle the question of human uniqueness or explain whether we are justified in using some of our intuitions to synthesize and harmonize what we observe in the physical world and animal kingdom. Any textbook is sufficient provided what it's meant to do or what it's designed to communicate.

Scripture is designed to communicate to mankind about the nature and character of the God of the universe who created him, loves him, seeks to redeem him - who through the active exercise of his volition sinned and abandoned the proper use of his will and his right relation to God - through Christ who was sacrificed for the sins of all, was resurrected from the dead, ascended to heaven and who sent His Spirit to dwell in the hearts of all people who would believe and receive Jesus; and it's designed to communicate to Christians on how to live the Christian life, enhance their relational proximity to God and others, redeem the world and its domains with Christ as co-laborers, and reveal the relevant virtues that enhance my relational proximity to God and others and how they fit in the broader divine providential plan.

Scripture doesn't reveal everything here in its entirety, doesn't explain the various nuances of these things mentioned or taught in it, doesn't always seek to justify certain underlying assumptions that undergird its communicated truths, and doesn't teach that other knowledge is forbidden, useless, inferior, unreliable, unnecessary or to be viewed with suspicion.

Other knowledge is most likely necessary because the knowledge that scripture does provide is sufficient but incomplete in all of the relevant domains that it covers, not to mention domains that it does not cover. Physics is sufficient for knowledge about the universe but in its own right it doesn't or can't answer the question of whether the universe is intelligible or is governed by a rational and holistic principle of order. Physics reveals limited truths about the universe and is sufficient for what it reveals. But it doesn't reveal in entirety. Philosophy relies on other sources of knowledge to make sense of reality. Metaphysics is sufficient for Metaphysics, maybe for epistemology and ethics but that's another point, but not for political structures.

Scripture is sufficient for what it communicates and what it communicates is unique because of the proper place it puts man and God in the story of the human experience as brought out more fully in the life, teachings, death and resurrection of Christ. Just because I believe that Scripture isn't sufficient to guide the abortion debate is only to say that either (1) it communicates little or nothing about the unborn or (2) what it does communicate is either (a) inconclusive or (b) limited to another context and cannot be stretched beyond its context to the abortion debate.

Because Scripture provides an incomplete though sufficient account of God and humanity, I must deepen my knowledge about the world and humanity as revealed in Scripture through other areas of inquiry. Each of these areas are sufficient for their own domains but are incomplete for a comprehensive account of reality and all its corollaries. Scripture tells me that I know God is real but doesn't offer a theory of knowledge that is adequate to account for what I know. Scripture is sufficient for my knowledge of God but is insufficient for deciding which theories of knowledge are exactly the correct ones. Why? It's not designed to communicate on which theory of knowledge to choose. Scripture is sufficient for my knowledge of virtues (natural and theological) but is insufficient for explaining their relationship with each other, how they enhance my flourishing, which account of human personhood they best fit with and how to deal with internal and external problems of moral dilemmas in the context of virtues.

Scripture is sufficient for my knowledge of right and wrong in general and specific aspects but is insufficient for telling me how to precisely settle moral dilemmas when I'm conflicted with different moral obligations or whether and when I should choose between utilitarianism, deontology, virtue theory and natural law ethics. Scripture affirms truths that can be described in any of those theories but doesn't give a theory on which one is best since all the ethical teachings can be placed in any of those theories. Once again, what the Word of God communicates is reliable, true, trustworthy, sufficient and worthy of guiding me because of the Author behind it even though its sufficiency is tied to what it's communicated.