Where is the truth about salvation to be found?
We believe the Holy Bible, Old and New Testaments, reveals the Word of God so far as it is necessary for our salvation.
Catechism for the Global Methodist Church, question 25
105Your word is a lamp to my foot and a light to my path. 130The opening of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.
1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the deserted place in order to be tempted by the devilish one. 2And after fasting forty days and forty nights he was hungry. 3And the one tempting came near and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, say that these stones become bread." 4But answering he said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone but by every declaration proceeding through the mouth of God.'"
15So then, brothers, stand firm and hold fast the traditions that you were taught, whether by word or by our letter.
16All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness 17so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work
The creed says the Spirit "has spoken through the prophets," and the catechism follows that clause straight to the Bible. The answer is the opening sentence of Article IV of the Confession of Faith, quoted exactly: "We believe the Holy Bible, Old and New Testaments, reveals the Word of God so far as it is necessary for our salvation." Article V of the Articles of Religion says the same in older words: "The Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation," and ΒΆ104 of the Book of Doctrines and Discipline names the canonical books "the primary rule and authority for faith, morals, and service, against which all other authorities must be measured."
The phrase "reveals the Word of God" describes what scripture does. The psalmist says, "Your word is a lamp to my foot and a light to my path" (Psalm 119:105), and "The opening of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple" (Psalm 119:130). Paul gives the reason: "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Jesus in the wilderness answered the tempter with scripture: "Man shall not live by bread alone but by every declaration proceeding through the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4).
The qualifier "so far as it is necessary for our salvation" is carefully chosen. The church does not claim that the Bible answers every question a person might ask. It claims that the Bible contains everything a person needs to know in order to be saved, and Article IV adds that "whatever is not revealed in or established by the Holy Scriptures is not to be made an article of faith nor is it to be taught as essential to salvation." Paul's instruction to "hold fast the traditions that you were taught, whether by word or by our letter" (2 Thessalonians 2:15) shows that what the church holds fast is what the apostles delivered.
Wesley called himself a man of one book, and the Methodist habit of daily scripture reading grows from this article. A member of the church can open the Bible with confidence that the way of salvation is fully there, that it is meant to be understood by "the simple," and that the Spirit who spoke through the prophets still speaks through their words to anyone who reads them looking for Christ.