One Verse is Enough

Articles

Derek Long
12/01/19 - Understanding The Bible

One Verse is Enough By Derek Long
Perhaps you have been involved in a Bible discussion and someone says, “You only have one verse,” or, “You are resting a lot on one verse.” Is it proper to develop a doctrine on the basis of just one verse or do you need a multiplicity of verses before a Bible doctrine is established? In some discussions a person might say something like, “You can prove anything by using just one verse. You need to consider the totality of Scripture.” How should we view such statements?
One verse is a sufficient basis to build a Bible doctrine upon. Jesus said, “the Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35). Therefore, what is said in one verse is enough to establish the truthfulness of a Bible teaching. It does not take a long list of passages to prove a Bible teaching is correct. Proverbs 30:5 says, “Every word of God is pure.” Every passage is pure and teaches the truth. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 claims, “All Scripture is inspired of God.” In other words, every passage of Scripture contains God’s words. God’s words must be true because it is impossible for God to lie (Numbers 23:19; Hebrews 6:18; Titus 1:2). Most Bible doctrines are not limited to just being taught in one place but even if they are it does not make the Bible doctrine less important, etc. Some places where we may have only one verse to establish what we are to do:
• When to partake of the Lord’s Supper is something we rely on basically one verse to teach us. Acts 20:7 records for us an example of the early Christians at Troas gathering on the first day of the week to break bread. They came together on the first day of the week to partake of the Lord’s Supper and Paul participated in such with them making this an approved apostolic example. No authority exists for serving the Lord’s Supper on any other day of the week. Therefore, the reason we should observe the Lord’s Supper on the first day of the week is based upon one verse - Acts 20:7.
• The day on which saints are to lay by and store as they have prospered is taught in 1 Corinthians 16:1-2. I cannot think of very many other passages you could go to in order to find the answer as to when saints should give to support the work of the church. 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 specifies the first day of the week and since no authority exists elsewhere for saints to give on some other day. It is necessary for us to follow the instruction give in one passages like 1 Corinthians 16:1-2.
When studying any particular Bible passage or group of Bible passages, it is important to remember truth does not contradict truth. 1 Corinthians 14:33 says, “For God is not the author of confusion.” God did not write a book which teaches contradictory things or else He would be the author of confusion. Confusion exists in the religious world around us when men twist the Scriptures to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:16). The way to avoid twisting Scripture would be to “grow
in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). It would involve having an honest heart which loves the truth. It requires diligence to rightly divide the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).
One danger we need to avoid is reaching a conclusion about one passage which contradicts a clear statement made in another passage of Scripture. A person who says something like a person is saved by faith alone after reading a passage like Romans 5:1 is clearly mistaken because James 2:24 says a person is not saved by faith only. The Bible does not teach two contradictory positions. All the Bible harmonizes with itself. If we think we have encountered some sort of contradiction our understanding of one or both of the passages is incorrect. Truth is not determined by lining up passages we think teach one position and others we think teach another position and then seeing which one has more verses to support it. Rather, truth must harmonize what is said in every passage of Scripture. A failure to harmonize Scripture will undermine the arguments for the inerrancy of the Scripture.
Hope these thoughts will help us as we attempt to study the Bible and teach it to others!