Q. What do the Scriptures mainly teach?
A. The Scriptures mainly teach what man is to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of man.
Commentary
This question provides a summary of the entire scope of biblical revelation. The Bible has a central purpose: to teach us what we are to believe about God and what duty God requires of man. These two categories encompass faith and obedience and doctrine and practice, addressing everything the Scriptures teach and establishing the framework through which every passage should be understood.
The first great subject of Scripture is what man is to believe concerning God. This includes the knowledge of who God is in His being and attributes, the mystery of the Trinity, the eternal decrees by which He governs all things, the work of creation and providence, the fall of man into sin, the covenant of grace, and the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ as Redeemer. It encompasses the Holy Spirit's application of redemption through effectual calling, justification, adoption, sanctification, and glorification. In short, the Bible teaches us the whole of Christian theology as living truth that transforms the mind and nourishes the soul. To believe rightly about God is the foundation upon which all of the Christian life is built, for we cannot love, worship, or obey a God we do not know.
The second great subject is what duty God requires of man. Having revealed who He is and what He has done, God also reveals how His creatures are to respond. This includes the moral law summarized in the Ten Commandments, the call to repentance and faith, proper worship and the use of the means of grace, and the whole manner of life that flows from a heart renewed by the Spirit. The Bible never separates doctrine from duty; right belief always produces right living, and true obedience always flows from true faith. As Solomon concluded after surveying all of life under the sun, the whole duty of man is to fear God and keep His commandments (Ecclesiastes 12:13). The Scriptures provide everything we need for both, teaching us to know the God we serve and showing us how He would have us live for His glory.
Scripture Proofs
“The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
“But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them’” (Luke 16:29).
“But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).
“But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets” (Acts 24:14).
“Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come” (1 Corinthians 10:11).
2nd London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689
1.6: The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man’s salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down or necessarily contained in the Holy Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelation of the Spirit, or traditions of men. Nevertheless, we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the Word, and that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, and government of the church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be observed.