Many people have asked over the years, “So you believe sola scriptura?” I remember the first time someone ever asked me something like that—I had no idea what they were talking about. I had never heard of “sola scriptura.” I’ve been in some Bible studies where a person will say, “Of course you would say that! You’re sola scriptura!”
At first, it may sound, on the surface, like a good thing to believe in “sola scriptura.” After all, it is simply a Latin phrase that means, “by Scripture alone.” Isn’t going “by Scripture alone” a good thing? What could be wrong with believing or claiming “sola scriptura”?
Consider for a moment that this is a phrase that was made up by a group of men to describe a certain belief system. As such, the phrase actually has some different understandings about how it is applied and exactly what it means. For example, does it mean that “Scripture alone” is sufficient or that “Scripture alone” is the authority or something else? Interestingly, among those who hold to “sola scriptura,” there is variation in its explanation. Not to mention that those who do not hold to “sola scriptura” have their own understanding of what the phrase means and what people believe who espouse it. All of that can be kind of confusing.
Here’s the better practice: Rather than take a position that aligns with a manmade slogan (without knowing exactly what it means, or exactly what those who hold to it believe it means, or exactly what those who deny it believe it means) and rather than take a position that questions or repudiates the belief system, what if we just go to the Bible itself, read the Bible for what it says for itself and then use Bible terms to explain what the Bible teaches? Let’s see where that leads and what we can know (for certain) from that endeavor.
Bible certainty #1: ALL Scripture in the Old Testament and New Testament is inspired of God. The Bible says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Tim. 3:16), or “breathed out by God” (ESV). Bible writers recognized Divine guidance of their words: “The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was on my tongue” (2 Sam. 23:2). While they “inquired and searched carefully” to fully understand what they were writing, they understood that their words were coming from “the Spirit of Christ who was in them” (1 Pet. 1:10-12). “We have received…the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak…which the Holy Spirit teaches” (1 Cor. 2:12-13). Peter stated simply, “…holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:21).
Where did Scripture come from? (More next week)