What Truths Do We Need from Outside the Bible?

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.580 | - A very busy college student who happens to find time

00:00:07.600 | to listen to the podcast named William

00:00:09.600 | also found time to write us this question.

00:00:11.520 | Pastor John, I'm an undergraduate student studying

00:00:14.360 | English, philosophy, ancient Greek, and Latin.

00:00:17.940 | I hope to attend seminary and use my education

00:00:20.120 | to help others see the glory of Christ,

00:00:22.140 | but my Reformed roots are always pushing me

00:00:25.200 | to wanna do it by the book.

00:00:28.160 | Although God's word is sufficient and inerrant,

00:00:30.760 | it does not encompass all knowledge.

00:00:33.560 | For example, we do not throw out the law of gravity

00:00:36.880 | just because Jesus never explained

00:00:38.320 | why apples fall from trees.

00:00:40.480 | So how do you navigate what to keep and what to get rid of?

00:00:43.600 | Say, if Aristotle makes some points about epistemology

00:00:46.840 | that the Bible doesn't explicitly affirm,

00:00:49.440 | but also doesn't deny, is it okay for me to say it is true?

00:00:54.040 | Pastor John, what would you say to William?

00:00:57.440 | - The doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture,

00:01:01.800 | which he's alluding to in part,

00:01:04.480 | is not designed to discourage us

00:01:08.460 | from gaining knowledge from the natural world.

00:01:11.560 | That doesn't, knowledge that doesn't come through the Bible,

00:01:16.560 | it's just coming from observation.

00:01:19.440 | It's not designed to discourage us

00:01:21.240 | from getting that kind of knowledge.

00:01:22.760 | Rather, the doctrine is designed to protect us

00:01:27.760 | from seeking or receiving more supernatural knowledge,

00:01:34.200 | more supernatural revelation.

00:01:39.440 | In other words, God's word to us in Scripture

00:01:43.420 | does not need to be supplemented by more words of God

00:01:47.200 | from anyone claiming to be God.

00:01:49.400 | The point is that the Scriptures are sufficient revelation

00:01:54.360 | from God to accomplish what the revelation

00:01:58.040 | was designed to do and does not need to be supplemented

00:02:02.040 | by any more revelation.

00:02:04.720 | So Jude, in his book near the end of the New Testament,

00:02:09.720 | says, "I found it necessary to write appealing to you

00:02:13.520 | "to contend for the faith that was once for all

00:02:17.700 | "delivered to the saints."

00:02:19.040 | There is a finality about God's revelatory word

00:02:24.040 | through Jesus Christ and his apostles.

00:02:27.680 | There is a once for all deposit of truth.

00:02:32.100 | There's a completed whole counsel of God.

00:02:36.400 | There's a faith once for all delivered.

00:02:39.720 | And the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture

00:02:42.240 | is meant to safeguard the completeness of that revelation.

00:02:47.720 | It never was designed to prevent or discourage

00:02:51.280 | the use of our minds and our eyes and ears and hands

00:02:55.000 | to investigate God's world and discover how it works

00:02:58.640 | so that we can put it to best use for the good of mankind.

00:03:02.640 | In fact, the Bible itself explicitly commands us

00:03:07.640 | to learn from other sources besides the Bible.

00:03:12.080 | And the book of Proverbs is probably the best known

00:03:15.600 | for this, like this simple statement, Proverbs 6, 6,

00:03:20.520 | "Go to the ant, O sluggard, consider her ways,

00:03:24.680 | "consider her ways and be wise."

00:03:26.880 | In other words, get out there, find an anthill,

00:03:28.800 | and watch those critters and learn something

00:03:31.960 | about diligence in the summer, so you don't starve

00:03:35.080 | in the winter.

00:03:36.000 | This is just a simple illustration of how the ant

00:03:39.680 | is an aspect of God's general revelation,

00:03:44.120 | not special or supernatural revelation.

00:03:47.020 | By natural or general revelation,

00:03:49.400 | God shows us things we need to know to use the world

00:03:53.520 | the way he intended for it to be used.

00:03:56.360 | When God said in Genesis 1:28, "Be fruitful, Adam and Eve,

00:04:01.360 | "be fruitful and fill the earth,"

00:04:05.280 | multiply, fill the earth, "and subdue it, have dominion,"

00:04:09.600 | he knew that Adam and Eve would need to figure out

00:04:13.480 | the specifics of sexual intercourse.

00:04:15.720 | Are you gonna multiply?

00:04:17.680 | Well, and he knew that in order to subdue

00:04:22.680 | and have dominion over nature,

00:04:25.560 | they would need to observe the natural world,

00:04:28.040 | draw inferences from it, formulate plans,

00:04:31.960 | how to make the best use of it for the good of mankind.

00:04:36.960 | Most of that knowledge will come from outside the Bible.

00:04:41.160 | Jesus, in fact, talks about people getting

00:04:43.160 | that knowledge.

00:04:44.000 | If you're a sailor and you see that it's red

00:04:46.240 | in the morning, sailors warning.

00:04:47.920 | If you see it's red at the night, sailors delight.

00:04:50.900 | He told the Pharisees, "Look, you can judge the world well.

00:04:55.900 | "Why don't you judge the spiritual world

00:04:58.980 | "as well as you do the external world?"

00:05:01.620 | So William's question then becomes, rightly,

00:05:06.620 | when you read Aristotle or any philosopher or historian

00:05:11.820 | or mathematician or scientist or novelist

00:05:14.560 | or theologian or politician, how, he says,

00:05:17.760 | do you navigate what to keep and what to get rid of?

00:05:22.760 | And I think the best way I could answer that,

00:05:27.440 | even though it's a very complicated issue

00:05:31.200 | if you come at it from every angle,

00:05:32.960 | I think you can boil it down to a principle.

00:05:36.260 | And the best way for me to get at that principle

00:05:38.480 | would be to quote the affirmation of faith

00:05:42.160 | that we produced at Bethlehem Baptist Church

00:05:45.560 | over the years that I was there

00:05:46.880 | and then Bethlehem College and Seminary

00:05:49.540 | is based on this affirmation of faith.

00:05:51.320 | The church still is based on it.

00:05:53.080 | Desiring God is based on it.

00:05:56.520 | And here are the first two paragraphs, they're short,

00:06:01.080 | of that affirmation of faith.

00:06:02.440 | And the second one addresses William's question directly.

00:06:06.840 | It goes like this.

00:06:07.760 | We believe that the Bible,

00:06:09.680 | consisting of the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments,

00:06:13.400 | is the infallible word of God,

00:06:15.600 | verbally inspired by God and without error

00:06:18.040 | in the original manuscripts.

00:06:19.840 | Paragraph two.

00:06:21.200 | We believe that God's intentions revealed in the Bible

00:06:26.200 | are the supreme and final authority

00:06:28.640 | in testing all claims about what is true and what is right

00:06:35.520 | in matters not addressed by the Bible.

00:06:39.480 | What is true and right is assessed by criteria

00:06:44.480 | consistent with the teachings of Scripture.

00:06:49.160 | Let me say that last sentence again, 'cause that's it.

00:06:52.520 | In matters not addressed by the Bible,

00:06:55.800 | what is true and right,

00:06:58.080 | so you get the epistemological issues of truth

00:07:00.560 | and you get the ethical issues of what's right and wrong,

00:07:04.500 | those issues are assessed,

00:07:07.920 | whether it's from Aristotle or whoever,

00:07:09.760 | assessed by criteria consistent

00:07:14.440 | with the teachings of Scripture.

00:07:17.240 | So the practical effect of such a principle

00:07:22.240 | is to say to William, as he studies English, philosophy,

00:07:27.800 | ancient Greek, Latin, very busy guy,

00:07:32.040 | saturate your mind, this is for all of us now,

00:07:35.060 | he asked, saturate your mind with the wide and deep truth

00:07:40.060 | and wisdom of Scripture so that you are equipped

00:07:44.860 | at every level of encounter with knowledge

00:07:49.060 | to discern how the principles of Scripture

00:07:52.260 | and the truth of Scripture guide you

00:07:54.940 | in assessing what you are seeing.

00:07:57.980 | Keep yourself in a community of believers

00:08:02.400 | where other minds also, besides your own,

00:08:05.600 | provide guidance and ballast so that you're not alone

00:08:09.800 | in this process of assessment.

00:08:12.480 | - So good.

00:08:13.920 | There is such a huge opportunity for Christians

00:08:16.920 | to do education with a conscious theology.

00:08:19.480 | Thank you, Pastor John.

00:08:20.320 | And thank you, William, for taking time

00:08:22.080 | to send in your question and for wrestling with this topic.

00:08:25.340 | Well, the weekend is here and we're gonna break,

00:08:27.040 | but feel free to take some time to find out more

00:08:29.080 | about this podcast or to find our most recent episodes

00:08:31.540 | or even our most popular episodes

00:08:34.300 | by going to our online home at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.

00:08:39.300 | Look for the little button that says Popular.

00:08:41.920 | You'll find the most played episodes of all time.

00:08:45.420 | And please be praying for Pastor John

00:08:47.100 | and for the staff at Desiring God

00:08:48.620 | and for the staff of Bethlehem College and Seminary.

00:08:51.420 | We are putting the finishing touches up

00:08:53.080 | on the 2016 Pastors Conference,

00:08:56.020 | which begins Monday here in Minneapolis downtown

00:08:58.740 | at the Convention Center.

00:09:00.740 | As many of you know, conferences require a lot of prep

00:09:03.980 | and a lot of labor and a lot of last minute details

00:09:07.660 | and of course an army of volunteers to pull off.

00:09:10.180 | And so we do covet your prayers for us.

00:09:13.260 | And I'll have details on the conference next time.

00:09:15.780 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.

00:09:17.460 | Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast

00:09:19.480 | with John Piper.

00:09:20.320 | We'll see you on Monday.

00:09:21.380 | (upbeat music)

00:09:23.960 | (upbeat music)

00:09:26.540 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

What Truths Do We Need from Outside the Bible?

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