Sola Scriptura - Meaning and History, Pt 1

Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason—I do not accept the authority of the popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other—my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.

Martin Luther, 18 Apr 1521

These are strong words and they lit the fire that started the reformation. And all of this happened because of what Martin Luther read in Scripture and saw in the church of his day. It started with Rom 1:17, which says, “the just shall live by faith”, which contradicted many things he’d been taught about salvation. Because he was now convinced that salvation was by faith alone, he realized how few actually knew what Scripture taught because so few had them. It sparked the term “Sola Scriptura” for Scripture alone.

So, what does "Sola Scriptura" mean?

By sola Scriptura Protestants mean that Scripture alone is the primary and absolute source for all doctrine and practice (faith and morals). Sola Scriptura implies several things. First, the Bible is a direct revelation from God. As such, it has divine authority. For what the Bible says, God says. (1)

Stated another way: (2)

Scripture is the sole, infallible rule of faith.

No other revelation is needed for the Church.
There is no other infallible rule of faith outside of Scripture.
Scripture reveals those things necessary for salvation.
All traditions are subject to the higher authority of Scripture.

There are some that reject Sola Scriptura, like Catholicism, because they believe that the Protestant view does not properly represent the role of church history, tradition and the historical church’s teachings. That has been used to misrepresent the Protestant position on Sola Scriptura. So let me also add some clarifications of what Sola Scriptura does NOT mean. The extended quote below helps bring clarity. From the standpoint of Protestants: (3)

We do NOT mean that we start from scratch every time we read the Bible. Of course, we should also read commentaries, quote scholars, etc. In fact, Paul writes that God gave “pastors and teachers” to the church for this reason (Eph. 4:11). However, as Geisler and MacKenzie write, “These authorities may be used only to help us discover the meaning of the text of Scripture, not determine its meaning.”[3]
We do NOT mean Scripture is an exhaustive account of spiritual or other knowledge (Jn. 20:30; 21:25). Catholic apologist Karl Keating mischaracterizes Sola Scriptura when he writes, “The Reformers said the Bible is the sole source of religious truth, and its understanding must be found by looking only at the words of the text. No outside authority may impose an interpretation, and no outside authority, such as the Church, has been established by Christ as an arbiter... The whole of Christian truth is found within its pages. Anything extraneous to the Bible is simply wrong or hinders rather than helps one toward salvation.”[4] However, this is a gross misrepresentation. We believe that Scripture can be an infallible rule that is sufficient for faith and practice without being an exhaustive rule.
We do NOT mean the Church has no role in interpreting the Bible. 1 Timothy 3:15 states that the church is “the pillar and support of the truth.” However, notice the order here: the Church supports the Bible—not the other way around. We are below the Bible—not above it.
We do NOT mean that we should reject all traditions. Some traditions are helpful to us as believers, and we see no reason to abandon these simply because they are extra-biblical. However, we contend that all human tradition should be subservient to Scripture—not equal to or above it. We shouldn’t reject tradition, but we also shouldn’t be subject to it, either.
We do NOT mean that the apostles never spoke the word of God to people (Acts 2:42; 1 Thess. 2:13; 2 Thess. 2:15; 3:6). When the apostles were alive, they could speak on faith and morals in person. However, since we do not have this luxury today, we must rely on their writings. Jude writes of “the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints” (Jude 3). Since the faith was already passed down to us in the first-century, we need an accurate understanding of that divine truth. This has been preserved in Scripture alone—not in oral tradition.

This is what the reformers stood on and believed in. Martin Luther never wanted to leave the Catholic Church. He saw excesses and down right unbiblical beliefs and practices being allowed and supported by the church (e.q, indulgences) and forcefully spoke out against them. Had the Catholic Church brought correction, which they should have done, I don’t believe there would ever have been a Protestant reformation. But there would have been an avalanche of reforms, and maybe that was feared more.

For the Protestants, Sola Scirptura means that the Bible is the infallible source and final authority on all matters of faith and morals in the Christian’s life. Scripture is the only place we read about and know who Jesus is and what He was like, and what He said and did. And it is the only place where we can go to understand how we might make ourselves “right” with God, to repent and believe in Jesus.

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (2 Tim 3:16-17)

These two verses make it clear that it is Scripture, which is the inspired Word of God, that provides our teaching, our reproof and our training in righteousness. And all of that culminates into what we need to be equipped for the work that God has planned for us to do while on earth. (Eph 2:10, Mat 5:16, 2 Cor 9:8)

What does History Say?

One of the most powerful pieces of evidence for the primacy of Scripture for the Christian is what the early church fathers wrote in support of what Paul wrote in 2 Tim 3:16-17. (4)

Irenaeus (AD 180): We have learned from none others the plan of our salvation, than from those through whom the gospel has come down to us, which they did at one time proclaim in public, and, at a later period, by the will of God, handed down to us in the Scriptures, to be the ground and pillar of our faith. (Against Heresies, 3:1.1)
Athanasius (AD 296-373): The holy and inspired Scriptures are fully sufficient for the proclamation of the truth. (Against the Heathen, 1:3)
Augustine (AD 354-430): It is to the canonical Scriptures alone that I am bound to yield such implicit subjection as to follow their teaching, without admitting the slightest suspicion that in them any mistake or any statement intended to mislead could find a place. (Letters, 82.3)
Augustine (AD 354-430): He [God] also inspired the Scripture, which is regarded as canonical and of supreme authority and to which we give credence concerning all the truths we ought to know and yet, of ourselves, are unable to learn. (City of God, 11.3)
Cyril of Jerusalem (AD 310-386): For concerning the divine and holy mysteries of the Faith, not even a casual statement must be delivered without the Holy Scriptures; nor must we be drawn aside by mere plausibility and artifices of speech. Even to me, who tell you these things, give not absolute credence, unless you receive the proof of the things which I announce from the Divine Scriptures. For this salvation which we believe depends not on ingenious reasoning, but on demonstration of the Holy Scriptures. (Catechetical Lectures, IV:17 in The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers)
Gregory of Nyssa (AD 330-395): We are not entitled to such license, namely, of affirming whatever we please. For we make Sacred Scripture the rule and the norm of every doctrine. Upon that we are obliged to fix our eyes, and we approve only whatever can be brought into harmony with the intent of these writings. (On the Soul and the Resurrection, quoted in Jaroslav Pelikan, The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition [Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971], p. 50.)
Augustine of Hippo (AD 354-430): Let them show their church if they can, not by the speeches and mumblings of the Africans, not by the councils of their bishops, not by the writings of any of their champions, not by fraudulent signs and wonders, because we have been prepared and made cautious also against these things by the Word of the Lord. (On the Unity of the Church, 16)
John Chrysostom (AD 347-407): Wherefore I exhort and entreat you all, disregard what this man and that man thinks about these things, and inquire from the Scriptures all these things; and having learned what are the true riches, let us pursue after them that we may obtain also the eternal good things. (Homily 13 on 2 Corinthians)
Basil the Great (AD 329-379): Therefore let God-inspired Scripture decide between us; and on whichever side be found doctrines in harmony with the Word of God, in favor of that side will be cast the vote of truth. (Letter 189 to Eustathius the physician)

At least up through the 5th century, the early church fathers understood the importance of Scripture and that it should be the authoritative source for all believers. These early church fathers made it clear that Scripture was above their wisdom and their teachings, and that even what they wrote and taught needed to be in harmony with the Word of God, the final authority and the final arbiter of truth. There really shouldn’t be any opposition to Sola Scriptura because there has to be an objective standard to judge what man proclaims as “faith and doctrine”. It cannot be the subjective and constantly changing viewpoints and contradictions of man. If it is allowed to be so, then the Jehovah’s Witness or the Mormon has just as much right to add to or take away from Scripture as any other Christian sect does.

There is more to this topic, and I’ll continue in part 2 …

“For I have shown from the Scriptures, that no one of the sons of Adam is

as to everything, and absolutely, called God, or named Lord. But that He is Himself

in His own right, beyond all men who ever lived, God, and Lord,

and King Eternal, and the Incarnate Word, proclaimed by all the prophets,

the apostles, and by the Spirit Himself, may be seen by all who have attained to

even a small portion of the truth. Now the Scriptures would not have

testified these things of Him, if, like others, He had been a mere man.”

Irenaeus of Lyons

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