Sola Scriptura
Third Midweek Advent Service
December 14, 2016
Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID
Scripture is the source and norm for the Christian faith. To put it plainly, this is what Sola Scriptura, Scripture alone, means. Scripture is the source and norm for the Christian faith.
Five blind men and the elephant. Each one touches a different part of the elephant and tries to describe to the others what it looks like. In the end, they all agree to disagree, but none of them know what the elephant actually looks like. The only way to actually find out what the elephant looks like is for the elephant to speak. To tell the blind men who he is, what he looks like, what he does and what that all means for them.
And so it is for Scripture. God is above us and we cannot see Him in all His glory and live, much less understand completely. We may know in part, but in this life we see through a glass dimly. The only way for us to know God, and thus to know ourselves, is for God to speak. The Holy Spirit gave to His chosen writers the thoughts that they expressed and the words they wrote. This is what God reveals to us about Himself: 2 Timothy 2:15b-17, “… the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” This is called the verbal inspiration of Scripture. That also means that Scripture, as God’s own Word and truth, it is without error, or inerrant.
Scripture, then, is the source of theology in an instrumental way. In other words, it is the means by which God communicates who He is, who we are in relationship to Him, and what He wills for His creation. We do not worship Scripture, but we recognize that Scripture is the Divine revelation of the One we do worship: the Triune God.
Sola Scriptura is the basis for all doctrine and practice because it is God’s Word, and as the Creator, He gets to decide how things are. What we know and say about God is known only by His revelation in Holy Scripture. Although I cannot explain it all, we must not depart from what is expressly revealed in the Word. We humbly limit ourselves to the bounds of divine revelation. For we must not believe or say anything about God but what is expressly revealed in the Scriptures. While this may sometimes appear rude and crude and I do not deny it, it is the truest, surest, and safest way of all (Chemnitz, Two Natures, p 306). Scripture as the source of theology and as the true, inspired, and absolutely authoritative Word of God are two truths which compliment each other. If one falls, the other follows suit.
Sola Scriptura guards against falling into several ditches. God does not speak to us outside of the use of His Word. The author of Hebrews begins his letter in this way, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our Fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by HIs Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom He also created the world” (Hebrews 1:1-2). Whatever is promoted as the Spirit without the Word of God is never the Holy Spirit.
Liberal churches say that Scripture contains God’s Word, but it is not God’s Word. This is a main difference between the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and most other Lutherans, including us. The ELCA says the Bible contains God’s Word, while we say it is God’s Word. So for the ELCA, it is up to the Church to decide which part of Scripture is God’s word and which parts is man’s word. Yet, this is nothing else than elevating our words above God’s Word and using human reason as the guide for understanding Scripture.
Now, many in the Reformed and Evangelical Churches believe that Scripture is subject to reason. They believe that yes, it is God’s Word, and it is the only authority, but it is simply information about God. It is just a guidebook on how God deals with us and what we are to do. What makes sense, what is verifiable, helps to interpret what Scripture actually means and how it applies. Scripture is not a textbook communicating information. Faith is above reason. Christian truth is not contrary to reason, but above it. Reason is a gift of God, but since the Fall it is tainted by sin and cannot comprehend spiritual things. It may perceive and retains what Scripture says, but left to itself, without faith, it will deny it all. It is right to use reason as a servant of the text, but the guidance of the Holy Spirit is essential for its proper understanding. The Apostle Peter wrote, “You should know this: no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation” (2 Peter 1:20). In other words, Scripture interprets us, we do not interpret it, its meaning is determined by God and not by us.
This also crops up in a problem with Roman Catholicism, that believes revelation from God is the only source of theology, but they regard unwritten tradition and the decrees of Popes and councils as revelation along with, in addition to, Scripture. Lest we think this is limited to them, how many do we know that treat dreams, voices from deceased loved ones, feeling, and the like in a similar manner. It’s even more of a problem when you consider the Book of Mormon and Watchtower publications and the like that claim to be a new, or different, revelation from God.
Sola Scriptura guards against the whims of sinful hearts and minds, the traditions of men, and the deceit of the devil. It binds us solely to where God has promised to be and to speak. But it also guards against the idea that Scripture is the only thing that matters. Yes, Scripture contains all that is needful for our salvation. God’s Word is efficacious, it does what is says it does, bestowing faith, forgiveness of sins and life in Jesus’ name. The Church is the product of Scripture, for by the means of Scripture, the Holy Spirit works to create and sustain faith in Jesus Christ. That life though is not lived in isolation to the world, nor of history.
Scripture alone doesn’t mean that we ignore history or tradition. It means that we put things in the right perspective. Our Formula of Concord reads: “We believe, teach, and confess that the only rule and norm according to which all teachings, together with all teachers, should be evaluated and judged are the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures of the Old and of the New Testament alone” (Ep, Summary, 1).
Because Scripture is “the only rule and norm” that we are to use to evaluate and judge all teachings. When we see the roles God has given to His Church and to His Scriptures, we see a divine balance. The Church has a teaching and preaching role to be the foundation of the truth. This prevents each person from inventing his own truth and interpretations from the Scriptures. This also keeps a “me and Jesus” approach from dominating one’s own faith life at the expense of the Communion of the Saints. Things such as Creeds and confessions and the liturgy and tradition have an important place in the role of the Church when these things serve Scripture, are judged by God’s revealed Word to their truth and benefit of God’s people. They are to point people to Jesus, to guard the truth of Scripture alone in the passing down of the Christian faith that we are saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ.
And in the end, that is why sola Scriptura is so important. It is about Jesus and faith in Him. It is God’s story. He is the main character, you are the supporting characters, but as the holy bride of Christ, you are the damsel in distress, caught in sin facing certain death. Jesus is the hero, from beginning to end. We believe this because we believe that Jesus died upon the cross and three days later rose from the death. The crucifixion and the resurrection stand at the heart of the matter – it validates all that God had promised and done throughout history.St. John records Jesus’ words in his Gospel account, “These things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.”