Search in ARCHIVES

Is the Bible enough?

Theme: Doctrine
‘All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.’     2 Tim 3:16-17
Early last year a member of my congregation brought me a book and asked me to evaluate it for him. He said that his managing director regarded it as a sort of ‘new age’ revelation that he should read in addition to the Bible. The book was ‘A Course in Miracles’ by?. I did what he requested, and produced a very critical appreciation of its content.
I mention this book as only one of many examples of works some people claim equal the Bible. I am sure you have come across other examples; the Bible plus the writings of so and so. Is the Bible enough for us? Do we need another source of truth, or is the Bible sufficient to thoroughly equip us for faith and life? 

It goes back to my two questions in an earlier posting: is the Bible inspired and is it authoritative? If it is, then it must also be sufficient, unless God has given us some other writings to supplement it. Islam teaches that the Bible was an early revelation, but that the Koran is both additional and superior revelation. Cult leaders usually make the same claim concerning their literary works. One large branch of the church actually includes additional sections, which they call the Apocrypha, in their version of the Bible.

This is a complex issue and I deal with it in some detail in my book ‘Truth is the Word’ (See Books tab in this blog). The first question we need to ask concerning the Bible is, ‘Is it inspired and authoritative?’ The next question has to be, ‘Is it all we need for faith and life?’ If the answer to these questions is ‘yes’,  we still have to learn how to interpret it, but we will not go chasing after some additional source of revelational truth such as ‘A Course in Miracles’ by?
In my next posting I will explore this topic a little further but right now, may I suggest you give some thought to what you believe concerning the sufficiency of the Bible?
Picture of Christopher Peppler

Christopher Peppler

SHARE TO

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
WhatsApp
Email
Print

1 thought on “Is the Bible enough?”

  1. Just finished “Girl with a dragon tattoo”, left underwhelmed by it after all the hoopla, but did make me think of the Apocrypha again. Interesting stuff, I look forward to hearing more about it from you.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

follow me on

Recent posts

Weekly Highlights
Loading

About Me

My name is Christopher Peppler and I was born in Cape Town, South Africa in 1947. While working in the financial sector I achieved a number of business qualifications from the Institute of Bankers, Damelin Management School, and The University of the Witwatersrand Business School. After over 20 years as a banker, I followed God’s calling and joined the ministry full time. After becoming a pastor of what is now a quite considerable church, I  earned an undergraduate theological qualification from the Baptist Theological College of Southern Africa and post-graduate degrees from two United States institutions. I was also awarded the Doctor of Theology in Systematic Theology from the University of Zululand in 2000.

Four years before that I established the South African Theological Seminary (SATS), which today is represented in over 70 countries and has more than 2 500 active students enrolled with it. I presently play an role supervising Masters and Doctoral students.

I am a passionate champion of the Christocentric or Christ-centred Principle, an approach to biblical interpretation and theological construction that emphasises the centrality of Jesus

I have been happily married to Patricia since the age of 20, have two children, Lance and Karen, a daughter-in-law Tracey, and granddaughters Jessica and Kirsten. I have now retired from both church and seminary leadership and devote my time to writing, discipling, and the classical guitar.

If you would like to read my testimony to Jesus then click HERE.