Scripture Self-Revealing View
May 22 2025
The defining characteristic of this view is seeing Scripture as the primary means of making individual career decisions. The Bible not only provides spiritual guidance and general guidelines and principles that Christians apply in their lives, but also provides direct individual guidance to each believer on career decisions.
Means of discernment: While prayer is considered important, it is secondary to Scripture. Direct supernatural revelation is acknowledged but less emphasized than Scripture and subject to Scripture. However, adherents of this view may seek personal supernatural guidance from the Bible, for example Bible verses that they feel speak to them particularly in their situation. Reason is de-emphasized compared to direct guidance from Scripture. Community is also less emphasized than Scripture.
Example: Facing a career decision, people holding the Scripture Self-Revealing View might do a Bible study or look for verses that speak to them directly in their situation.
Comparison with the CFI view: CFI also recognizes Scripture as important in career discernment, but makes more use of other means of discernment compared to the Scripture Self-Revealing View. In the CFI view, the Bible provides guidelines and general principles that are applied, as well as spiritual direction and encouragement, but doesn’t usually provide direct guidance for all different circumstances. Rather, Christians need to apply its teachings to various situations.
While the Scripture Self-Revealing View doesn’t place special emphasis on impact, impact considerations can be included and expressed in Biblical framings. These could include the Parable of the Talents or focusing on advancing things God cares about based on Scripture. CFI also finds the Parable of Talents and other passages that discuss the impact and effectively helping others important. We believe our top focus areas align with Scripture—see our problem profiles for more.
Key thinkers: John Stott, John Piper