Examining the Context in which Paul Articulates the Sufficiency of Scripture for the Work of Ministry
Welcome to The Sufficiency Journal!
The goal of this journal is straightforward: we want you to trust God’s Word alone for the work of counseling and for the well-being of your own soul.
We want you to treasure God’s priorities instead of the world’s priorities, trust God’s wisdom instead of the world’s wisdom, and take up God’s methods instead of the world’s methods.
Debates will continue, as they probably should. However, here, we will simply turn to the Bible and let Scripture speak for itself. We will let God’s Word do what only God’s Word can do.
Charles Spurgeon famously declared, “The Word of God is like a lion. You don’t have to defend a lion. All you have to do is let the lion loose, and the lion will defend itself.”
Therefore, we will demonstrate the sufficiency of Scripture for the challenges of life by applying careful biblical study to real life situations.
We trust the Bible will prove itself.
A Fundamental Principle
While future articles will present real-world case studies and practical applications of God’s Word, we must begin by establishing one fundamental principle that’s under relentless attack, namely the sufficiency of Scripture for suffering.
Many within and without the biblical counseling movement argue Scripture is not sufficient for suffering, especially great and repeated suffering, commonly referred to as “trauma.”
However, the Bible tells a different story.
While we could turn to many places in Scripture to make our case, let’s consider the context of 2 Timothy 3:16-17, where Paul articulates the sufficiency of Scripture for the work of ministry.
The Last Days
Paul begins Chapter 3 by ensuring that Timothy is under no illusions concerning the days in which he lives. He corrects any thinking that may suggest there will be ease and comfort now that Christ has risen and the Holy Spirit has been given.
He writes, “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty” (3:1).
The “last days” refers to Timothy’s days and our days. It refers to the church age, the days between the resurrection of Christ and the return of Christ.
These days will not be without trouble. Indeed, Paul says they are marked with difficulty, with evil and suffering, with corruption and deceit.
Here’s how he describes it in verses 2-7:
“For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.”
Paul starts with a summary statement, “For people will be lovers of self.” Then, he lists many ways in which love for self is displayed. Note, no term in this passage merely concerns the “lover of self,” as though personal evil has no impact on others. Where evil exists, suffering is explicit or implied.
For example, where there are abusers, there are the abused. Where there are slanderers, there are the slandered. Where there are the treacherous, there are the betrayed. Where there are predators “who creep into households and capture weak women,” there are prey.
Therefore, Paul says the last days will be marked by difficulty, and that difficulty consists of continual evil and suffering.
Moreover, evil and suffering will not only exist outside of the Church but within it. Hence, Paul’s statement, “having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power,” and his warning to Timothy in verse 13 that “evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
Paul is describing false teachers, hypocrites, and imposters, who will harm God’s people in pursuit of their own desires.
Paul’s Suffering
Next, in verses 10-11, Paul points to his own faithfulness, drawing attention to the persecutions and sufferings he endured, to remind Timothy of his positive example in contrast to the “lovers of self” he describes in verses 2-7. He writes:
“You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me.”
In Antioch, Paul was reviled by jealous Jews who incited persecution against him and Barnabas and drove them out of the district (Acts 13:45, 50).
In Iconium, Jews and Gentiles attempted to mistreat and kill Paul, but he escaped before they could act (Acts 14:5-6). However, they caught up to him in Lystra and persuaded the crowds to stone him, which they did. Then, they dragged him out of the city, because they thought he was dead (Acts 14:19).
All of this sounds rather traumatic.
However, Paul endured much more than this. He could have listed many other examples, but he didn’t, likely because Timothy joined him in Acts 16 and was therefore present for much of what he later endured.
However, we do have a more extensive list in 2 Corinthians 11:23-27.
Here, Paul summarizes his suffering by saying he was “frequently imprisoned, beaten, and ‘often near death'” (2 Cor 11:23). Then he shares details.
“Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one” (11:24). This was the most severe punishment allowed by Jewish law (Deut 25:1-3), and Paul endured it, not once, not twice, but five times!
Paul continues, “Three times I was beaten with rods” (11:25). Whereas the Jews flogged Paul with lashes, the Greeks beat him with rods (see Acts 16; 22). Not once, not twice, but three times.
Then, Paul refers to his near execution mentioned above, saying, “Once I was stoned” (11:25).
In verses 25b-27, he stops listing individual sufferings, probably because it would have taken up too much space in his letter! Instead, he writes:
“Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.”
In other words, Paul endured great and repeated suffering, constant danger coming at him from everywhere.
Our Suffering
After recounting his own persecutions and sufferings in verses 10-11, Paul tells Timothy that he too will suffer, along with all Christians, writing, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (12).
While not every Christian will suffer in the same way or to the same degree that Paul did, all Christians will suffer in this world full of people who are lovers of self rather than lovers of God.
Paul’s Counsel to Timothy
What counsel does Paul give Timothy in view of these hard realities? Where should he turn with his own suffering? How can he be equipped to care for the sufferers in his church?
Here’s what Paul says in the following verses:
“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (14-17).
While Paul points to his own faithful example in verses 10-11, here he points to the example of Timothy’s mother and grandmother as those who taught him the sacred writings (see 2 Tim 1:5), which are sufficient to save and equip the man of God, that is, the pastor, for every good work.
Scripture is sufficient to equip him for every good work, because all Scripture is breathed out by God, and is, therefore, “profitable,” or effectual. In other words, it always accomplishes its purposes (Is 55:10-11; Heb 4:12-13).
Therefore, Scripture is not merely sufficient to equip the pastor for his work, but it is sufficient for the beneficiaries of that work, that they be made complete through teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness.
Moreover, as church members are transformed by God’s Word and equipped for the work of ministry, they will, in turn, build up one another into maturity in Christ (Eph 4:11-16).
Thus, in these last days, in which all Christians will suffer, Paul tells Timothy to turn to the Bible, for it alone is able to make the Christian complete.
Paul and The World’s Wisdom
At this point, you may be thinking to yourself, “Yes, but Paul did not know what we know today about how suffering impacts the body.”
Perhaps.
However, Paul was well-acquainted with the philosophies of his day.
In Acts 17:16-33, Paul is reasoning with Greek philosophers in the marketplace, Epicureans and Stoics to be specific (17:18), and he even quotes Greek poets as a means of sharing the gospel with them.
So, Paul was educated on these systems of thought. Therefore, it’s worthwhile to briefly consider what they taught.
Epicureanism aimed at peace by removing fear and pain. Epicurus taught that pleasure, the absence of distress, was the highest good. His path to this was simple living, friendship, and clear thinking, which freed people from the fear of death and divine wrath.
Stoicism aimed at peace by living in step with nature through virtue. Stoics trained themselves to focus on what they could control, accept what they couldn’t, and let reason guide their desires and actions. This brought freedom from destructive emotions and built inner strength.
Therefore, while Epicureanism sought peace through pleasure, understood as freedom from fear and pain, Stoicism sought peace through virtue, aligning life with reason and nature.
Trauma-Informed Care (TIC), though modern, has a similar goal. It uses strengths-based approaches, regulation tools, and safe relationships to help people cope.
Like Epicureanism, TIC works to create safety, reduce triggers, and calm fear and pain responses. Like Stoicism, it emphasizes empowerment, self-regulation, and resilience.
The difference here is that Epicureans and Stoics explained distress in terms of false beliefs, unhealthy passions, and misplaced desires, making their approach openly philosophical.
TIC, by contrast, explains distress in terms of trauma’s effects on the brain and relationships, presenting itself as medical and scientific, even though its scientific validity is questionable at best.
Therefore, much of what TIC presses upon us today is repackaged philosophy dressed up in medical and scientific language.
All this to say, ideas like those presented by TIC were present in Paul’s day. However, he never drew upon the world’s wisdom or the world’s methods to sustain himself or care for others in the midst of suffering, neither in 2 Timothy nor elsewhere in his writings.
In fact, Paul specifically warns against the world’s wisdom several verses later: “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (4:3-4).
Thus, he conducted himself and counseled others in accord with the Word of God, because it alone is sufficient to make the Christian complete as he sojourns this cursed world in these last days.
Summary
The last days, our days, consist of many and varied traumatic experiences. Paul himself suffered greatly and repeatedly, “often near death.” Moreover, all Christians will suffer.
Yet, Paul does not relegate the sufficiency of Scripture to what we consider normative discipleship, where life is relatively easy, while drawing upon the world’s wisdom and the world’s methods in more dire circumstances.
Rather, this context of evil and suffering, of “trauma,” is the precise context in which Paul articulates the sufficiency of Scripture for the work of ministry.
Scripture is sufficient for suffering.
Moving Forward
In this inaugural article of The Sufficiency Journal, I have labored to express the goal of the journal, how we will pursue that goal, and to address a fundamental principle currently under attack, not only in the biblical counseling movement but in the Church at large.
Moving forward, we will release weekly articles from a number of contributors. Each article will consist of careful Bible study applied to real life situations.
Our hope is to build your faith in God’s Word, so that you will turn to Him immediately and continually with the sins and sorrows of your own life and those entrusted to your care.
Grace to you.
