Sola Scriptura: Finished Work, Finished Word

Some more good thoughts for you from the new title from Ligonier Ministries, The Beauty of Divine Grace: Gabriel N.E. Fluhrer.

This is also from the first chapter, “One Standard: Scripture Alone.”

At the core of everything that Paul is writing [in 2 Tim.3:16,17] is a conviction about the inseparable link between Jesus’ work and God’s Word. Why are the Scriptures sufficient to equip us for every good work? Because the New Testament makes clear what was foreshadowed in the Old Testament – namely, that the finished work of Jesus on the cross results in the finished Word of God in our Bibles. Just as we cannot add anything to Christ’s work for our salvation, we cannot add anything to God’s revelation. In fact, the Bible emphasizes this point at roughly its beginning, middle, and end (Deut.4:2; Prov.30:6; Rev.22:18). God’s revelation needs no addition because it discloses a salvation to which no addition is possible.

The Bible, therefore, is Christ’s Book. He is the center. The end result that Paul describes for Timothy in these verses is a life that resembles Christ. Christ is the preeminent “man of God,” the One who did every good work and therefore equips those in union with Him to do good works. Above all, Christ, the Word incarnate, was a man of the Book. The Author of the story is the center of the story.

…this emphasis on Christ’s complete sufficiency is another hallmark of the Reformation. Martin Luther and the other Reformers recognized that Rome’s decoupling of a completed Bible and Christ’s finished work on the cross had resulted in the wretched system that necessitated the Reformation in the first place.

Similarly, in our day we have lost sight of how these doctrines are interrelated. But if we stop and think about it, this connection between God’s Word and Christ’s work makes perfect sense. How could we add anything to what Jesus did for His people? He is God in the flesh.

Appropriately, He is the focal point of the Word, which reveals His work for sinners such as us. He tells us as much in Luke 24:27, where He teaches the disciples that every word of the Bible points to Him. So the finished Word reveals the finished work, and the two must never be separated, lest we lose the gospel altogether (pp.24-25).

I am currently reading this copy that was sent to me by the publisher. But if you are interested in reviewing for the Standard Bearer, let me know and the book is yours.