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Taking God at His Word – By Kevin DeYoung
Taking God at His Word, by Kevin DeYoung can easily be summed up by the subtitle: Why the Bible is Knowable, Necessary, and Enough, and What That Means for You and Me. In this book, DeYoung sets out to convince his readers that the Bible is entirely true, entirely from God, and entirely practical for us still today. He accomplishes this goal completely.
Entirely True
DeYoung starts this book with Psalm 119. To be encouraged to dig into the Bible is a fantastic way to start a book about the Bible. Should you have a few extra minutes, take a chance to read through this chapter of the Bible, as it will edify and uplift you and will give you more context for this book. Almost every verse of this psalm refers to God’s word and promises in a passionate and endearing way. The author uses this psalm, which is an unmistakeable love letter to God for His Word, to show us how we should strive to feel about God’s Word. The psalmist pants, longs, and weeps about God’s laws, testimonies, and commandments. This is how I want to feel about God’s Word, and this is how DeYoung wants us to feel about God’s Word. DeYoung works from how we should feel to what we should 
believe, what we are to do about God’s Word, and to explaining why the Bible is more sure, enough, clear, final, and necessary.
Moving into the second chapter, we get this great piece of information that you should know and remember, regardless of if you pick up this book or not: “Traditionally, Protestant theologians have highlighted four essential characteristics of Scripture: sufficiency, clarity, authority, and necessity.” (Page 44). Placing those characteristics into an acronym, gives you a handy way to remember these doctrines – SCAN. Each of these doctrines has its own chapter, historical references, Biblical references, and great reasons why we should stick to these doctrines when we are thinking about or referring to the Bible.
Finishing out the book in chapter 8, we read 2 Timothy 3:14-17. Paul, the apostle, is encouraging Timothy, reminding him that the Scriptures are “able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 3:15). And not only that, but God’s Word is amazingly practical. The Scriptures are able to fully equip us to live and grow in our faith, and we can trust in the Scriptures because they are given to us by an infallible God.
Entirely from God
God reveals himself to us in two different ways – general revelation and special revelation. Generally, by displaying Himself through the world that He has created for us to see and experience. Specially, by his self-disclosure through the words of divinely inspired people: The Scriptures. Over and over again in the Bible we read that the Bible is from God.
DeYoung writes, “The Bible is God’s book, a fact that we are reminded of frequently in the book. Consequently, to trust completely in the Bible is to trust in the character and assurances of God more than we trust in our own ability to reason and explain.” (Page 82). DeYoung follows this thought with a paragraph by J. I. Packer that is phenomenal, and that you should unquestionably read and write down somewhere for future reference. It has do with God being omniscient and infinite, which are both things we will never be.
God doesn’t answer every question we have in His Word. He doesn’t need to – we couldn’t handle it in our finiteness. However, He does give us all the knowledge we need for life and godliness. It expounds God. The Bible should make us lean in. It informs us about God, and gives us truth, which is essential. The more we read the Bible, the more we know about God. It is essentially the butterfly effect. Learning some things about God should beget learning more about God, which should lead to practical changes in our lives.
Entirely Practical
The Bible is true, from God, and it is for you – no matter what time or place you find yourself in. In our world today (and in all ages past and to come), people like to be comfortable. The Bible makes us uncomfortable, and sometimes we are tempted to take only the parts we want as God’s inspired Word. DeYoung shows us repeatedly how dangerous this mentality can be. We are reminded that this Word is inerrant, it is complete, and should be seen as a whole. Our God does not change, nor does His Word change, and we should be so thankful for that truth.
Taking God at His Word reminds us of what the Bible is, and why we need it. Also, why we should revere it as much as we revere God, and how we should live by the words in it. If you are a believer of Jesus Christ, then you are a believer of the Bible who trusts that every word written in there is given by the God who loves and cares for His people. He cares enough to “tell us what he thinks and to tell us how to live” (Page 121). I’m not sure about you, but a God who loves me enough to fill me in on the how and what, well, that’s a gracious, loving, amazing God; a God that I’m going to continue pursuing through His Spirit and His Word. The Bible is truth, breathed by God, and applicable to our day-to-day lives.
If you can’t tell yet, I enjoyed this book and would most certainly recommend that you pick it up. In addition to many other things, I really love and appreciate that there is a contextual Bible reference at the beginning of every chapter. Taking God at His Word has fantastic information in it, and it will drive you to your Bible – which is exactly where you should be driven. DeYoung also writes this book in a way that is easily accessible if you are new to theology or the Bible. You may have to look up a word or two (I did – anybody know what ‘perspicuity’ means right off the top of their head?), but this book is written in layman’s terms for those of us who haven’t had chance to go to seminary.
If this book by DeYoung has intrigued, taught, or encouraged you, I would highly recommend you pick up his books Crazy Busy and Just Do Something (both of which are available at The Study Room). These are the only other books that he has authored that I’ve had the privilege of reading, or I’m sure I’d be able to recommend others as well.
Finally, DeYoung has had lots of time to test this Word himself. He is currently a pastor in North Carolina, and has been pastoring since 2004. He is a contributing member of The Gospel Coalition, and the author of more than 20 books, for children and adults alike.
(And just in case you’re dying to know what ‘perspicuity’ means, it’s something like ‘easy to understand’ - so there you are! You’ve learned something new today.)
Additional links:
FREE study guide for Taking God at His Word
*Everything quoted in this article are from the book Taking God at His Word, by Kevin DeYoung and from the ESV Bible.
A blog post by Kayleigh Perry
December 14, 2021.