In God’s Word Alone, author Matthew Barrett aims to articulate, clarify, reason for, and reinforce the original meaning and current importance of the Reformation doctrine, Sola Scriptura. Broadly speaking the doctrine of sola Scriptura asserts that Scripture alone is the ultimate authoritative, magisterial authority in the life of the believers and the catholic (universal) church, over and above that of any ministerial authority wielded by the church. Barrett accomplishes his goal by way of three vectors, which are used as sections to organize the book. 

In the first section, Barrett provides a high-level overview of the historical fight against Scripture’s authority through the events surrounding the Reformation, the centuries following, and up until our current age. Leading up to the Reformation, the authority of Scripture was encroached on by the Papacy. In the centuries following, namely during the Enlightenment and in Modernism, Scriptural authority was sacrificed on the altar of the rational self, or under new papalism which stresses “the infallibility of the biblical scholar” (p. 76). More recently, Scriptural authority is debased by deconstructionist relativism, which places the meaning—and therefore, the authority—of the text in the subjective eye of its beholder. Barrett contrasts each usurpation of Scripture’s authority with the arguments proffered by the reformers and those who followed.

In the second section, Barrett establishes Scripture’s ultimate authority by tracing God’s covenantally communicative character throughout redemptive history. He does so to illustrate how God’s Word has always been the manner through which he revealed himself to his people and how it became his constitutional document between him and them. God’s faithfulness throughout redemptive history, Barrett argues, is evidence of the truthfulness and ultimate authority of his revealed, inscripturate word. He invokes Frame, noting that “to reject God’s Word is to reject his covenant as well.” The culmination of God’s revelation comes through the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, who, of course, is the ultimate fulfillment of God’s inscripturate Word and covenantal promise which can be traced all the way back to the Garden.

In the third and final section, Barrett systematically explores the scriptural attributes of inspiration, inerrancy, clarity, and sufficiency and reinforces the overarching truth of Scripture by highlighting the regard with which Jesus Christ himself held it. Scripture is inspired, which Barrett defines as verbal, plenary inspiration (p. 226), which emphasizes the authorship of God via the varying styles of human writers. Scripture is inerrant in that it speaks ultimate truth. It is clear, or perspicuous, in that in matters pertaining to salvation it can be understood by all. And finally, Scripture is sufficient in that it is enough to make known what is necessary to obey God and be saved.

There are a few areas of inquiry, which if addressed briefly, I believe could further strengthen Barrett’s excellent work in God’s Word Alone. Since much of his argumentation in establishing Scripture’s ultimate authority relies on “listening to what Scripture has to say about itself” (p. 145), a more thorough explanation of biblical epistemological categories would have further bolstered his argument. Epistemology is an important field in itself, but clear biblical epistemological distinctives are exceedingly important for a thorough grounding of the self-attesting authority of Scripture. 

Another, though minor, question raised in the reading is the subtle differences between Scripture’s clarity and its perspicuity. Though Barrett implies that the terms are interchangeable, it seems to me that there are nuances in the terms that might be worth exploring, though perhaps not in a book like this one which is meant to be an overview. In my outside reading, it seems to me that clarity has much to do with whether or not the reader understands what the text says, while perspicuity has to do with understanding why the text says what it says.

Overall, I’m of the opinion that believers owe Barrett a debt of gratitude for his work in God’s Word Alone. In it, he offers clear, faithful, and well-argued rationale for why the modern church should not only embrace wholeheartedly, but fight for this glorious, worthy doctrine of sola Scriptura as understood, articulated, and passed down by the Reformers.