A New Social Media Hashtag #: #Sufficientist 

Social media is so interesting. The latest social media hashtag # I’m seeing is #Sufficientist. The word was recently shared by Pastor Carl Hargrove, an ACBC speaker at their 2024 conference.

In a Twitter/X interaction, Pastor Hargrove explained that,

“I believe Owen Strachan used the word in a broad sense. I used it in reference to the biblical counselor’s confidence in the sufficiency of Scripture and the sufficient work of Christ that is the source of all Christian work, and its message.”

I like that description.

How We Use Words 

Sadly, I’ve seen others on social media use the word in less helpful ways. Sometimes when new, modern words are invented, the end result is separation instead of conversation. The word becomes “our word” that “identifies us” as part of the “in group” or the “right group.” At times:

• Our creation of a new word creates a new boundary.

• Our new word creates a new wall of division, a new partition of separation.

• Our new creation creates the implication of rightness versus wrongness.

• Our creation of a new word creates a holy huddle of “our right team” against “your wrong team.”

Of course, the last thing any of us would want, including Pastor Hargrove, is for man-made terms to become man-made walls of division and man-made tools of judging oneself as right and others as wrong.

What the Word Says

When we hear a modern, man-made term like sufficientist, it’s always wise to go back to our sufficient Bible to define the term scripturally. Adams, Bettler, and Powlison used 6 different “R” words to describe the process of interacting biblically with man-made terms:

1. Recycle
2. Reinterpret
3. Reshape
4. Reconcile
5. Redeem
6. Recast

Biblical definitions allow us to have wise, intelligent, gracious, bridge-building, iron-sharpening-iron conversations.

Why Share My “Take” on This? 

I love words. I love interactions. That’s why I helped to launch the Biblical Counseling Coalition in 2010 with the twin goals of promoting collegial relationships and producing collaborative resources. By sharing my take on sufficientist, I’m hoping to invite conversations that promote iron-sharpening-iron relationships.

By providing my working biblical definitions of “sufficientist,” I’m inviting conversations:

“Here’s how I would use ‘sufficientist,’ especially in the context of the Bible and extra-biblical resources for biblical counseling. What do you think? Where do we have commonality? Where do we see things a bit differently? Where could we learn from each other as fellow, mutually respected members of the body of Christ?” 

Now…My Working Definitions 

Given the form of the word “sufficientist,” it is being used as a modifier to describe a person (or group of persons) who believes in the sufficiency of Scripture.

Here are my working biblical definitions of #Sufficientist.

1. A sufficientist is a historical biblical counselor (Christian soul care in church history) who holds the theological conviction that “Scripture alone teaches a perspective and way of looking at life by which we can think biblically about and critically evaluate information and actions from any source (Colossians 2:2-10; 2 Timothy 3:16-17)” (Biblical Counseling Coalition Confessional Statement).

2. A sufficientist holds the theological conviction that the Bible’s sufficiency, authority, clarity, and profundity provide the wisdom to discern, assess, and evaluate (seeing with new eyes) when, how, and if to use extra-biblical information such as research, science, and neuroscience.

3. A sufficientist is a gospel-centered/Christ-centered, theologically-saturated, relationship-focused, church history-informed, research-aware soul physician of embodied-souls.

4. A sufficientiest believes that “Scripture is sufficient, not in that it is exhaustive, containing all valid knowledge, but in that it rightly aligns a coherent and comprehensive system of counseling.” “The Christian faith contains comprehensive internal resources to enable us to construct a Christian model of personality, change, and counseling” (David Powlison, Cure of Souls and Modern Psychotherapies).

5. A sufficientist is to the Bible and special revelation what a scientist is to creation and general revelation (including the apex of God’s creation—image bearers). Christian sufficientists and Christian scientists humbly respect and mutually learn from each other.

By the Way… 

If anyone might think, “Wait, you can’t define a word someone else made up!” Sufficientist has been around for at least fifteen years in the legal field. See: A Sufficientist Approach to Reasonableness in Legal Decision-Making and Judicial Review. So, either knowingly or unknowingly, it is already a borrowed modern secular term—that no one person or group can claim. 

Join the Conversation 

Thoughts? Further development? Your biblical definition? Definitions you have heard others use?

In our use of sufficientist, where do we have commonality? Where do we see things a bit differently? Where could we learn from each other as fellow, mutually respected members of the body of Christ?