The question: Are the books of the Bible all that is necessary to guide
us to the attainment of eternal salvation? has been variously answered.
The Romanists claim that they are not. They give to genuine tradition
the same authority as to the written word and submit both to the
interpretation of their infallible Pope.
Most of the Protestants deny the authority of the tradition and the
infallibility of any one representative of the church. They claim that
the written word, as contained in the Bible, is the only necessary and
authoritative guide in matters of religion. An eminent Baptist divine,
Dr. Angus, says: "As {351} the Holy Scriptures claim to be regarded
as the book of God, a divine authority, so they claim to be the only
authority. It is not _a_ rule, it is _the_ rule both of practice and
faith. To ascertain its meaning, we employ reason and the opinions of
good men, and the experience of a devout heart; but no one of these
helps, nor all combined, can be regarded as of coordinate authority."
(Bible Handbook, page 69.)
Bishop Grundtvig was aware of the weakness of this Protestantic
position, taken and vigorously defended by the reformers. For the
guidance of the "church" he claimed in the first place a "living
word," a continuous tradition, expounding the "written word," which,
he insisted, is nothing but a dead letter until quickened by the Holy
Spirit, present in the "church;" and in his view, curiously enough,
not the books of the Bible but the Apostolic Symbol was _the_ written
word, _par excellence_, composed, probably, by our Savior himself
and transmitted from the Apostles to the posterity in all ages. The
worthy bishop gave to the Apostolic Symbol the place that is otherwise
generally accorded to the books of the Bible, and agreed with the
Romanists in holding the necessity of a living interpreter, directed by
the Spirit, while, with the Protestants, he denied the claims of the
Pope, or any pope, as to the monopoly of this office.
The Latter-day Saints hold that the books of the Bible were sufficient
for the people to whom they were addressed and for the purpose for
which they were written. As records of God's dealings with mankind
in ages past, and as prophecies of things yet future, they contain
instructions for all ages and all nations; but as circumstances change,
as new emergencies arise, and the plans of God develop, continued
revelations are just as necessary for the guidance of the church as
revelation ever was. "A religion that excludes new revelation from its
principles, is just the very religion that suits the devil * * * for he
knows well that God has nothing to do, nor ever had, with any religion
that did not acknowledge prophets and revelators, through whom He could
speak and reveal His will to His sons and daughters." (Orson Pratt.
_The Seer_, vol. ii, No. 5, May, 1854.)
Thus the various views on the question may be briefly stated.
The word of God, the Bible itself, amply justifies, I think, the
position of the Latter-day Saints on this important question. The
purposes for which the various books were written; the difficulties
that present themselves when the exact meaning of many passages is
investigated; the usual dealings of God {352} with His people, as
explained in the Bible, and many predictions of new revelations, all
these facts give evidence of the correctness of the position taken by
the Church of Christ in this last dispensation. What man needs, is not
only a Bible and a genuine tradition, expounded by an interpreter,
even if this should have, in some degree, the Holy Spirit, but he
needs first of all and above all a direct communication with God, his
heavenly Father. He may study the written word humbly and carefully,
and thereby he will certainly, through the aid of the Holy Spirit,
acquire much useful knowledge concerning religion and eternal truths;
he will, if following the precepts laid down, be led onward and forward
and attain a certain degree of eternal happiness. But the knowledge
necessary for the work to be done in connection with the establishment
of the dispensation of the fulness of times or for the obtaining of the
glory emanating from the ordinances of this dispensation, he will never
acquire by his own study of any amount of sacred literature.
The truth of this statement becomes self-evident, when we mark the
purpose for which the sacred books were written. If there were any
book of the Bible by God designated to be a complete code of laws,
all-sufficient for all times and all conditions, such a fact might
reasonably be expected to be either expressly stated, or implied
somewhere within the covers of the sacred volume. But no such statement
is to be found, nor can it be shown to be implied, when the scope of
each book is clearly understood.