What is tota scriptura?

Answer

Tota Scriptura and its companion phrase sola Scriptura are ways of expressing a belief in the inspiration, authority, and completeness of God’s Word, the Bible. When someone asserts sola Scriptura (“Scripture alone”), they are affirming that the Bible is the sole rule for faith and practice, without reliance on tradition or any other human authority. On the other hand, when an individual upholds tota Scriptura (“Scripture wholly” or “every part of Scripture”), they are declaring that the entire Bible is equally inspired by God. Tota Scriptura is also known as the plenary inspiration of Scripture.

Sola Scriptura, a term originating from the Protestant Reformation, serves to prevent additions to the Bible; whereas tota Scriptura aims to prevent omissions. Together, sola Scriptura and tota Scriptura complement each other in directing our attention to the 66 inspired books of the Bible, neither more nor less.

Tota Scriptura underscores the importance of viewing the Bible as a unified whole. The complete canon represents God’s Word, and we are not at liberty to selectively accept or reject certain portions of it. In his farewell address to the Ephesian believers, Paul declared, “Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:26-27;ESV). It is evident that Paul fulfilled his responsibility by proclaiming the “whole counsel of God”; in essence, Paul preached tota Scriptura.

While we may have favorite passages or preferred sections of Scripture, we must not neglect the entirety of God’s Word. Tota Scriptura guards against the overemphasis of one part of Scripture at the expense of another, thereby averting doctrinal errors.

Some misguided teachers advocate for solely adhering to the “red-letter words” (those directly spoken

By Jesus Himself) are truly inspired. Others reject Paul’s epistles or discard the book of Revelation or disregard the Old Testament. Still others separate the passages that address matters of faith from those that address matters of history or science—the Bible is accurate, they say, when it speaks of faith, but in matters of history or science it cannot be trusted. The issue with all of these perspectives, apart from the fact that they contradict the principle of tota Scriptura, is that they establish man as the judge of God’s Word. Who exactly determines which parts of the Bible are correct or incorrect? If we deviate from tota Scriptura, we can all take scissors to the Bible and create our own text, depending on our own wisdom (or feelings or intuition or whatever).

We cannot say, “The Bible is God’s Word—” and then add, “—but this part is ‘truer’ than the rest.” Holding to tota Scriptura, we cannot diminish or detract from any part of the Bible. From Genesis to Revelation, from the creation to the end of the world, God has given us His Word revealing His plan of salvation. Proverbs 30:5 says, “Every word of God is flawless,” not “some of the words” or “a great majority of the words.” Every word. That’s tota Scriptura.