II. Adequacy

How adequate are these standards in meeting our needs? How sufficient and reliable are they as religious guides?

A. The Bible Is a Perfect Standard of Authority.

It completely satisfies everything we need is a standard of religious guidance.

It is complete.

If the Bible did not answer some question that was essential for us to answer to be saved, then we might need some other guide. But the Bible contains all the information we need to please God and be saved.

John 16:13; [14:26] - The Holy Spirit guided apostles to all truth. They wrote in the Scriptures what they received from the Spirit.

2 Timothy 3:16,17 - The Scriptures furnish us perfectly or completely to all good works. They answer every essential religious question.

2 Peter 1:3 - God has granted all things that pertain to life and godliness.

Any information which is not provided in the Bible is information which is not essential to our salvation (Deut. 29:29).

[Acts 20:20,27; Jude 3]

It is understandable.

If the Bible was written in such a way that men could not understand it, then we might need some other standard. But the Bible can be understood by every honest person of normal intelligence, sufficient to receive salvation.

Mark 7:14 - Jesus instructed the multitudes of common people. He said every one of them should understand what He spoke.

2 Timothy 3:15,16 - The Scriptures are able to make men wise to salvation, and are profitable for doctrine, reproof, and instruction in righteousness. But they can so profit us only if we can understand.

1 Corinthians 14:33 - God is not the author of confusion. But if, as some claim, the Bible cannot be understood, then God would be the author of confusion. Since He is not the author of confusion, the Bible must be understandable.

[Eph. 3:3-5; Isaiah 55:11; John 8:31,32; Proverbs 2:1-9]
It is eternal (indestructible).

If the Bible has been so corrupted since it was written that it no longer contains the truth, then we would need a new standard. But the Word of God is eternal.

2 Peter 1:12-15 - The Scriptures were written so people would have the message of inspired men even after those men were dead. It was intended for future generations.

1 Peter 1:22-25 - The word lives and abides forever. It is not like plants that spring up and then die.

2 John 2 - The truth will be with us forever.

John 12:48 - Jesus' words will be present even at the Judgment as the standard by which our destinies will be determined.

Psalm 119:152,160; Isaiah 40:8; 30:8 - These same promises were made regarding the Old Testament. The promises were fulfilled so completely that the message was preserved hundreds of years till Jesus' lifetime. It was so perfect then that He and His apostles repeatedly cited Scripture as Divine authority without ever once implying anything was missing or inaccurate.

These same promises have now been made regarding the entire written word, so we can be sure that God, by His power has likewise kept this promise. The record written by the inspired men will always exist and be available to guide honest people.

[Jude 3; Matthew 24:35; Psalm 12:6,7]

It is infallible (inerrant).

If there was any possibility of mistakes being in the Bible, we might need another guide. But there is no mistake because it is the word of God.

John 17:17 - God's word is truth.

Psalm 33:4 - God's word is right. You and I may be wrong, but God's word is never wrong.

God cannot lie or make mistakes. Since the Bible is the word of God, it must be right in everything it teaches.

James 1:25 - The Gospel is "the perfect law of liberty." We need no guide but the Bible.

[Psalm 119:160,142,128; 19:8; 147:4,5; Romans 3:4; Titus 1:2; Heb. 6:18; Job 33:16; Num. 23:19]

B. Other Standards Are Imperfect.

The very fact these standards are human in origin proves they are imperfect. What does man ever do perfectly? Further, by comparing them to the Bible, we see they are different.

Whenever men take something that is perfect and then change it, they make it imperfect.

There are three possible ways for a man-made standard to be different from the Bible.

1) It may contain more than the Bible. It may teach us to practice something which is not authorized in the Bible. This would be "adding to" God's word.

2) It may contain less than the Bible. It may release men from practicing something which God's word teaches us to practice. This is "taking from" God's word.

3) It may substitute for what the Bible says. This is both taking away what God says and then replacing it by adding something else God did not say.

What does God think about guides that are different from His word?

Galatians 1:8,9 - If anyone, even an angel, preaches a gospel different from what inspired men taught, He is accursed of God.

2 John 9 - Whoever fails to abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. But following human standards - whether by failing to practice what Jesus teaches, or by practicing things He never authorized - is a failure to abide in the teachings of Jesus.

Revelation 22:18,19 - Whoever adds to Jesus' words, God will add to him the plagues in the book. Whoever takes from God's words, his part will be removed from the holy city.

Again, the basic error of human standards is that they show a lack of respect for the teachings of Jesus. All human standards are written on the presumption that weak, imperfect human beings can write a better standard than what was written by the all-wise, infallible God. This is why God refuses to allow His people to follow any other standard but the Bible. When we truly respect the teachings of Jesus, then we will not seek any other religious standards of authority.

[Col. 3:17; Acts 3:22,23; Matthew 28:20; 4:4-7; 15:1-14; 7:2l-27; 1 Corinthians 4:6; Lev. 10:1-3; 2 Timothy 3:16,17.]