Defining Biblicism, From the Bible
- A Writer for Christ
- Sep 3
- 3 min read
Image Credit: Media from Wix
When arguing against the doctrine that the Bible is Christianity's only rule for faith and practice, Roman Catholic apologists sometimes assert that the doctrine is self-refuting since, according to them, the Bible itself doesn't teach the doctrine. So, this article will be an attempt on my part to refute this assertion. The doctrine that the Bible is the only Authority for Christian doctrine and Christian living is often called "Sola Scriptura" (though there's at least one other, milder, form of Sola Scriptura that asserts that the Bible isn't the only rule for faith and practice, but that it's the only infallible rule of faith and practice), but it can also be referred to as "Biblicism." And, to refute the aforementioned argument against Biblicism, I will, in this post, use a textualist hermeneutic (i.e., a method of interpretation that simply lets the text of Scripture, in the context of the entirety of the text of the 66 Books of the Old and New Testaments that Protestants recognize as the Books of the Bible, speak for itself) to exegete 2 Timothy 3:15-17, a classic text used to prove Sola Scriptura, to provide a purely Biblical definition of Biblicism. And, to anticipate the potential objection that using the Bible to prove Biblicism is circular reasoning, I'll briefly respond here that we all have axiomatic beliefs that function as our intellectual authorities. It's literally impossible for us to intellectually function without such a priori beliefs. Now, without further ado, let's dive into 2 Timothy 3:15-17!
Verse 15 says: "[this is Paul speaking to Timothy] and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." So far, we see that Biblicism includes the belief that the Holy Scriptures, which are the "set-apart writings" that are the Biblical Books, are able to make the one who knows them wise concerning the salvation that is through faith that is in Christ. We may also word it like this: the Scriptures are able to give us wisdom for how to be saved through faith/belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 16 says: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:". Here, we see even more features of Biblicism, as Biblically defined. First, we have the belief that ALL Scripture is inspired by God (literally, "God-breathed", in the Greek [1]). Second, we have the belief that all Scripture is profitable for instruction, conviction, correction, and training in righteousness [2]. Finally, verse 17 says: "that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." Here, we have the belief that Scripture's profitability for all the aforementioned forms of teaching is so that the man of God may be complete [3], fully equipped [4] for every good work.
So, adding up all the facts we have learned here, we can see that Biblicism, Biblically defined, is the belief that the Sacred Writings that are the Biblical Books are able to make those who know them wise to be saved through belief in Jesus Christ, that those Biblical Books are God-breathed, and that all those Writings are profitable for teaching, reproving, correcting, and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be complete and thoroughly equipped for all good works. And, in case anyone wants to argue that the phrase "man of God" limits the applicability of 2 Timothy 3:15-17 to formal teachers in the church, consider that Timothy, who is addressed both here in 2 Timothy and in 1 Timothy, is directly called "man of God" by Paul in 1 Timothy 6:11 and called on by Paul to be an example to believers in general in 1 Timothy 4:12! So, Timothy, a man of God for whom Scripture is sufficient to equip him for both salvation and Christian living, is to be a model for all Christians. So, we see that Scripture's sufficiency is applicable to anyone who is a believer in Jesus Christ!
This is Biblicism, as the Bible itself defines it and proves it!
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