THE ALL-SUFFICIENT GOD
2 Corinthians 3:5

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The Christian boasts of "The All-Sufficient God". The atheist boasts of "The All-Sufficient Man". The self-righteous boasts of "The All-Sufficient Me". Many a sectarian boasts of "The All-Sufficient Church".

An example of the last was evidenced in a flyer I recently received in the mail inviting me to a series of eighteen lectures on the subject "The All-Sufficient Church".

"The All-Sufficient Church"? I was raised in the home of a faithful minister in the church of Christ. I myself have ministered in Christ's church for more than thirty years. As I now approach sixty years of age, I have heard and read thousands of messages from scores – if not hundreds – of preachers. But never do I recall ever having heard or read one on the subject "The All-Sufficient Church". And I know I have never preached such a message.

"The All-Sufficient Church"? No church of Christ in Holy Scriptures ever made such a boast! The church of Laodicea arguably approached such a boast when it said, "I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing" (Revelation 3:17a). But Christ immediately rebuked it for its vanity (vv.17b-ff).

"The All-Sufficient Church"? Well, perhaps God has indeed told us of such a church. The Book of Revelation speaks of a woman who has "glorified herself and lived luxuriously" (18:7a), who boasts, "I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow" (18:7b), who is of such sufficiency that "the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury" (18:3), and "in which all who had ships on the sea became rich by her wealth" (18:19), for she supplied them with costly "merchandise" of every earthly sort (18:12f). What is this all-sufficient church? "Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Of The Abominations Of The Earth" (17:5) - Satan's counterfeit of the church of Christ.

"The All-Sufficient Church"? Holy Scriptures nowhere speak of the church of Christ as such. To the contrary, God's Word speaks of the dependency of His church upon Christ her Head for salvation, sanctification, cleansing, preservation, glory, holiness, perfection, and protection (Ephesians 5:25ff). Nevertheless, the church sending the flyer has scheduled eighteen lectures regarding their church's all-sufficiency! (Ironically, that church is in a sect denying all-sufficiency to the church founded by Jesus Christ. They claim His church apostatized, and had to be restored in the early 1800's by Alexander Campbell and company – a claim made also at that time by Charles Taze Russell, Joseph Smith, and various other founders of cults. Now this restored church of Campbell boasts of being what the true church of Christ never claimed: "The All-Sufficient Church"!)

"The All-Sufficient Church"? Nor for me! I confess myself to be the chief of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). No church on this earth is capable of meeting my needs of salvation, redemption, justification, sanctification, glorification, and every other spiritual need of such sinners as I am. Any church claiming to be "the all-sufficient church" for any such need is, as Jehovah said of Lebanon of old in all its wooded glory, "not sufficient to burn, nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering" (Isaiah 40:16). I find none but Jehovah able to suffice for my needs. I therefore gladly number myself among those who confess "our sufficiency is from God" (2 Corinthians 3:5)

"The All-Sufficient Church"? They who make such a boast are welcome to it! But as for me, I boast in ...

That which is sufficient is "enough" – "marked by quantity, scope, power, or quality to meet with the demands, wants, or needs of a situation or of a proposed use or end". That which is truly all-sufficient is "absolutely and completely and eternally and perfectly enough to meet any and all demands, wants, or needs of a situation or of a proposed use or end; in no way ever lacking sufficiency".

To say some one or thing is sufficient is one thing. But to say it is all-sufficient is infinitely more. For example, Paul the apostle speaks for all gospel preachers when he acknowledges that God has "made us sufficient as ministers" (2 Corinthians 3:6). That is, God has suited His ministers for the ministry to which He has called them. Indeed, God will accomplish the work to which He calls His ministers through no other agent. But Paul does not speak of such a minister as "The All-Sufficient Minister".

Likewise Paul declares to believers that "God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work" (9:8). But this does not make the believer "The All-Sufficient Man". Rather, the believer confesses, "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God" (v.5) – for otherwise "who is sufficient for these things?" (2:15).

The same is true of the church of Christ. Jehovah alone is the only all-sufficient being in all the universe.

I. Jehovah is all-sufficient in His person.

1. Jehovah is all-sufficient because of His self-existence. This is indicated in His name "I AM WHO I AM" (Exodus 3:14; see also "I am Jehovah" in v.3). This declaration signifies that it is God's nature to be, and therefore implies His self-existence. This may be indicated also by His name El Shaddai (Genesis 17:1; 35:11) if indeed that name means "All-Sufficient God" (as many Hebrew scholars translate). Jehovah is "The Uncaused" (not to be confused with "The Self-Derived" or "The Self-Originated", which would deny His eternity). Jesus Christ spoke of this self-existence of God when He said "the Father has life in Himself" (John 5:26). This means the life of God is underived and in Himself. All other things owe their existence and life to Him, "since He gives to all life, breath, and all things" (Acts 17:25). None but the One who is self-existent can be truly all-sufficient.

2. Jehovah is all-sufficient because of His divine perfections. i. He is all-sufficient essentially because of His infinity, freedom from all limitations in His essence and nature (Psalm 145:3: "His greatness is unsearchable."). ii. He is all-sufficient in quality because of His perfection (Matthew 5:48: "your Father in heaven is perfect."). iii. He is all-sufficient everywhere because of His omnipresence (Proverb 15:3: "The eyes of the Lord are in every place."). iv. He is all-sufficient in knowledge because of His omniscience (Romans 11:33: "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!"). v. He is all-sufficient in power and strength because of His omnipotence (Jeremiah 32:17: "There is nothing too hard for You."). vi. He is ever all-sufficient because of His eternity (Isaiah 57:15: "He inhabits eternity.") vii. He is unchangeably all-sufficient because of His immutability (Malachi 3:6: "I am the LORD, I do not change."). viii. He is all-sufficient in resources because "The earth is the LORD's, and all its fullness" (Psalm 124:1). None but the perfect One can be truly all-sufficient.

II. Jehovah's is all-sufficient in His grace (2 Corinthians 12:9): "And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you.'" This is true because God's grace, along with His mercy, is one of His perfections (Psalm 103:8: "Jehovah is merciful and gracious."). God's mercy manifests His sufficiency in providence to all creation (Psalm 145:9, 15f); but His grace manifests His sufficiency in salvation to His elect (Exodus 33:19; Romans 9:13-16). God's grace, being perfect like Himself, is all-sufficient because it is infinite, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, eternal, and immutable. It is all-sufficient in its resources because "where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 5:20f). (And, of course, reigning grace is sovereign grace!) None who know the grace of God look for all-sufficiency in man or his church.

III. Jehovah is all-sufficient in His Christ (Colossians 3:11): "Christ is all and in all." "Christ is all" to the universe because He is in His person Jehovah (John 1:1; 10:30). But to believers "Christ is all" in a much more blessed sense and manner (Ephesians 1:3ff): "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ... has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ ...." Christ alone is all-sufficient in and for salvation (Matthew 1:21), justification (Romans 5:9), remission of sins (Matthew 26:28), cleansing from defilement (Revelation 1:5), "wisdom from God - and righteousness and sanctification and redemption" (1 Corinthians 1:30), and every thing else regarding the gracious spiritual blessings of all believers in Him.

May the Lord give us sufficient grace to desert self-proclaimed all-sufficient men and all-sufficient religions, and to embrace "The All-Sufficient God" and His "All-Sufficient Christ", and to confess to all that "our sufficiency is from God."

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