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An Aside to the Formal Sufficiency Series – Partim-Partim Sufficiency?
Pastor King brought to my attention the writings of my favorite Reformed theologian, the real Francis Turretin, on the topic of formal sufficiency. Well, the topic that comes the closest to that particular issue, since – of course – Turretin does not use the phrase “formal sufficiency.” Turretin poses the sixteenth question of the second…
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Formal Sufficiency of Scripture: The Testimony of Scripture (Guest Series)
Formal Sufficiency of ScriptureStated and Examined from Scripture and the Fathers, with scholarly confirmation regarding the Fathers’ views. In the introduction (link), we began with some of the testimony of Scripture regarding its own sufficiency. In this section, although our Roman challenger has not requested it, we will discuss what the Bible has to say…
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Formal Sufficiency of Scripture: Introduction (Guest Series)
Formal Sufficiency of ScriptureStated and Examined from Scripture and the Fathers, with scholarly confirmation regarding the Fathers’ views. The Scriptures are the Word of God. Their purpose, among other things, is to bring people who read them to a saving knowledge of God – to bring them to faith in God and repentance from sin.…
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List of Things Necessary to Salvation
One objection that is occasionally addressed to the Reformed doctrine of the perspicuity of Scripture, and also sometimes to the doctrine of the sufficiency, formal and material, of Scripture, is a request that we provide an exhaustive list of the doctrines that are necessary to salvation. After all, we claim that all the things that…
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Thomas Aquinas, William Webster, and Scripture against Bellisario
Over in the comment box of the Beggars All Reformation blog, Bellisario has attempted to take on William Webster (source). Pastor Webster is not there to defend himself, instead Bellisario is responding to a blogger named Rhology. Bellisario writes: “Scared of Webster! Are you serious?” Of course Rhology’s serious that it seems that folks are…
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Athanasius against Scripture’s Formal Sufficiency?
Sean Patrick of the Roman Catholic Called to Communion blog recently alleged that the following quotation from Athanasius demonstrates that Athanasius did not hold to the formal sufficiency of Scripture (I provide Sean’s words as well with his quotation embedded): I invite you to read this letter as a good example in context. Note how…
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Athanasian Denial of Scripture’s Formal Sufficiency?
Sean Patrick of the Called to Communion blog has been providing some responses in the comment box in an earlier post (SP was primarily using the nick “Blogahon”). SP has suggested that the following quotation from Athanasius negates the idea that Athanasius held to the formal sufficiency of Scripture. SP provides the quotation in this…
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Sufficient Standard vs. Sufficient Mechanism
The Scriptures are a sufficient standard to remove error from the church, but they are not the mechanism by which error is removed from the church. That’s true whether one’s ecclesiology is papal, patriarchal, (some other form of) episcopal, presbyterian, or congregational. I realize that those today with some of those ecclesiologies don’t use the…
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Aquinas and the Formal Sufficiency of Scripture
I’ve previously noted Aquinas’ apparent [FN1] view of the primacy of Scripture (link) as well as other comments from Aquinas on themes generally related to Sola Scriptura (link). The following quotation, however, comes close to expressing not only the material sufficiency of Scripture, but also the formal sufficiency of Scripture. Thus in Holy Writ no…