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The Sufficiency and Reliability of Scripture

Holding that the Bible is all that God wants it to be in accordance with His precise purpose, Berkouwer insists that it is unnecessary to posit a perfection that extends beyond the confines of the specific purpose of Scripture.

He speaks of the sufficiency of Scripture in terms of “sufficiency for the Christian life” (Holy Scripture, p. 302).

Interpreting Scripture’s reliability in terms of its purpose, he writes, “Scripture itself shows us clearly that a yardstick of reliability may not be applied which is not in agreement with its purpose” (p. 264, emphasis mine).
The reliability of the God-given Scriptures is to be understood in connection with their God-given purpose.
Our confession of faith in the reliability of Scripture is rooted in the prior confession of faith in the reliability of God.
Concerning the reliability of Scripture, Berkouwer writes, “To this reliability of the biblical witness corresponds an unlimited trust that in our interaction with Scripture by faith we shall not be put to shame but confirmed” (p. 266, emphasis mine). With this understanding of the reliability of Scripture, Berkouwer emphasizes that faith is an act of the whole man as he places his unlimited trust in the God of Scripture who meets him in the words of Scripture.

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