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It is obvious from 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that the Apostles viewed the Scriptures as sufficient for faith and practice.

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be PERFECT, THROUGHLY FURNISHED unto ALL good works" (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

The term "perfect" here is not used in the sense of sinless perfection, but in the sense of completion and sufficiency. THE QUESTION WHICH FOLLOWS IS HOW DO WE KNOW THAT THE BIBLE, WITH ITS 66 BOOKS, CONTAINS THE COMPLETE SCRIPTURES WHICH ARE ABLE TO MAKE THE MAN OF GOD PERFECT?

FIRST, THE APOSTLES WERE PROMISED INSPIRATION FOR THE COMPLETION OF SCRIPTURE. The Lord Jesus Christ promised the Apostles that the Holy Spirit would lead them into all truth and that He would shew them all the things they needed to know.

"I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you" (John 16:12-15).

In fulfillment of Christ's promise the New Testament revelation was completed by the Apostles under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The apostolic writings which formed the New Testament Scriptures were accepted as Scripture by the first century churches. The Apostle Peter, speaking to the Christians about Paul's writings, referred to them as Scripture and placed them on par with the Old Testament prophets. "And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also THE OTHER SCRIPTURES, unto their own destruction" (2 Peter 3:15,16). The Apostles knew that the Lord had promised them inspiration (John 16:12-15), and they knew that they were receiving revelation. Consider, for example, Paul's statement to the churches in Galatia:

"But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ" (Galatians 1:11,12). Consider the words of Paul to the church at Thessalonia:

"For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when YE RECEIVED THE WORD OF GOD WHICH YE HEARD OF US, YE RECEIVED IT NOT AS THE WORD OF MEN, BUT AS IT IS IN TRUTH, THE WORD OF GOD, which effectually worketh also in you that believe" (1 Thessalonians 2:13).

The Thessalonian believers knew that Paul had given them the WORD OF GOD!

Consider, also, the words of Peter to the Christians in the first century churches:

"This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour" (2 Peter 3:12).

Peter reminded the Christians that the commandments of the Apostles are on par with the Old Testament prophets. Obviously this was something which the Apostles were careful to teach to all of the churches. They could not have been put in remembrance of something which they had not already been taught. The Christians of the first century were a close-knit community. It is ridiculous to think that they did not know these things, that they did not recognize that the Apostles were writing Scripture and that they did not receive the New Testament epistles as such. It was left for the modernists of the 19th and 20th centuries to deny these things and to claim that the forming of the New Testament canon was an almost haphazard thing which did not occur until centuries after the Apostles.

SECOND, WE KNOW THE BIBLE CONTAINS THE COMPLETE WORD OF GOD BECAUSE WE ARE TOLD THE FAITH WAS ONCE DELIVERED TO THE SAINTS.

"Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for THE FAITH WHICH WAS ONCE DELIVERED UNTO THE SAINTS" (Jude 3).

"The faith" refers to the body of New Testament truth delivered by the Apostles through Holy Spirit inspiration. The term "once delivered" tells us that this body of truth was given during one particular period of time and was completed. It refers to the New Testament Scriptures. This verse refutes the idea that the Christian faith has been progressively given through the Roman Catholic Church.

THIRD, A SEAL WAS PLACED ON THE FINAL CHAPTER OF THE FINAL BOOK OF THE BIBLE, SIGNIFYING ITS COMPLETION AND WARNING EVERY MAN NOT TO ADD TO OR SUBTRACT FROM IT.

"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: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book" (Rev. 22:18,19).

Those who claim to have a new revelation or a tradition equal to the Bible fall under the judgment described in this passage. The book of Revelation completes the Holy Scriptures.

FOURTH, THE COMPLETED CANON OF SCRIPTURE WAS RECOGNIZED IN THE SECOND CENTURY. Christian leaders in the second century recognized the completed canon of the New Testament and accepted the apostolic writings as Holy Scripture on equal authority with the Old Testament. Irenaeus (125-192), for example, in his writings which still exist, made 1,800 quotations from the New Testament books and used them "in such a way as to imply that they had for some time been considered as of unquestioned authority" (Herbert Miller, General Biblical Introduction, p. 140). Irenaeus accepted the four Gospels, and four only, as Scripture. Clement of Alexandria (150-217) quotes from and acknowledges the four Gospels and most other New Testament books, calling them "divine Scriptures." Tertullian (150-220) made 7,200 citations from the New Testament books and accepted them as Scripture. The Latin Itala translation which was made in the second century "contained all the books that now make up the New Testament" (John Hentz, History of the Lutheran Version, p. 59). A list of New Testament Scriptures dating to the latter half of the second century was discovered in the Ambrosian Library in Milan, Italy, in 1740. This second-century list contained all of the books of the New Testament canon (Ibid., p. 60).

Thus the completed Greek New Testament Scriptures were being circulated and accepted by God's people under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Many of the modernistic textual scholars who write today about these early centuries deny, or totally overlook, the working of the Holy Spirit in the inspiration and canonicity of the New Testament. The Apostles were not left to their own devices to transcribe the record of Christ, nor were the early Christians left to their own devices to recognize which writings were Scripture. The words of the New Testament are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ through Holy Spirit inspiration, and the Lord's sheep know the voice of their Good Shepherd and can discern His voice from false shepherds (John 10:4,5,27).

FIFTH, THE PASSAGES WHICH URGE CHRISTIANS TO FOLLOW TRADITION REFER TO THE INSPIRED TRADITION GIVEN BY THE APOSTLES, NOT THE UNINSPIRED TRADITIONS OF MEN WHO HAVE FOLLOWED AFTER THEM. Tradition is used in two ways in the New Testament. First it refers to apostolic doctrine given by inspiration (2 Thess. 2:15; 3:6). The churches are bound to obey this tradition as it is recorded in the New Testament Scriptures. Second, tradition refers to uninspired teachings which religious teachers attempt to add to the Word of God and by which they attempt to bind the lives of men (Matt. 15:1-6; Mk. 7:9-13; Col. 2:8). In this sense, tradition is soundly condemned.

"But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Matthew 15:9). "Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye" (Mark 7:13).

"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ" (Colossians 2:8).

We can praise the Lord that He HAS given us a completed revelation and that we are not dependent upon extra-biblical prophecies, visions, voices, tongues, or traditions. In the Bible we have everything the churches need for faith and practice.
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