Sola Scriptura

Sola Scriptura (Latin for ‘scripture alone') “is a Christian theological
doctrine held by most Protestant Christian denominations, in particular
the Lutheran and Reformed traditions, that posits the Bible as the sole
infallible source of authority for Christian faith and practice” — Wikipedia.

 All of my life I have identified in one form or another as a Protestant. I was baptized, educated, and confirmed as a Lutheran. During most of the years following my conversion at age 40, I identified as "reformed".  It was during those years that I first remember hearing the term Sola Scriptura.  It is one of the “Five Solas”* that the youngish reformed folks were then fond of having tattooed on their persons.

I don't need a tattoo to identify myself with the Solas. They are etched into my heart. But, it was not always so. Though I was never into body ink, in my days of being Reformed™ the Solas became a bit like tattoos to me—a superficial form of branding, a way of identifying with a certain group in distinction from other groups.

But for all of my lofty vaunting of Sola Scriptura, I spent far, far less time reading and studying the Scriptures than I did reading books about the Scriptures. I devoured books about the Good Book—books of theology, commentaries, and everything in between. I read Calvin, Piper, Edwards, Owen, Luther, Spurgeon, Pink, Sproul, and more. I adored the Puritans. These were the experts, the pinnacles of spirituality. They were the ones who told me what the Bible means. They (and my fellow "reformed" friends and bloggers)  decided for me, based upon their particular biases, which doctrines were the ones I would focus on and which theological camps I parked in. I accepted almost anything I was taught, so long as the teacher was intellectual, popular, and Reformed™.

During that time my soul began to wither, and for a while I barely noticed. But when a series of tragedies struck, I found that all my second-hand knowledge wasn't enough to steady my faith. My pet doctrines were not sufficient to sustain my life and heart. I could not survive on even the best of Christian books alone. I needed to hear from God for myself. I needed the Scripture, and I needed to know it first-hand.

Now, before I overstate my case, let me say that there were certain truths I learned during those "reformed" years that would ultimately sustain me. Every book I read quoted Scripture. Most of them held some good gospel teaching and solid truth. These books were good books, not junk. But perhaps the most important legacy of these teachers, for me, was the concept of Sola Scriptura.  

They taught me to respect God's Word (though they seldom taught me to study it for myself). From them I learned that there is no point in claiming to be a Christian while disregarding or dishonoring the text on which my whole religion is founded (though, practically speaking, that was exactly what I was doing). If that book is true—if it really is God's word to man—then that is where I need to go to learn about God. If it is not—if it is unreliable, inaccurate, or hit-and-miss—then I should drop the whole thing altogether, and forget about calling myself a Christian at all.

So when my faith was shaken by tragedy, though I felt betrayed by the modern Reformed™ movement and tempted from every side by all sorts of teachings vying for my attention (as always happens to people whose faith is being tested), I knew that if there really is a God (which I never doubted) and I really was a Christian, then I had only one place to turn to learn the truth about Him and about Christianity: the Bible.

This time I went straight to the source. I learned very quickly what doctrine loses when it is stripped from its context: It loses the heart with which it was spoken. It loses the purpose and application for which it was given. It loses its relationship with all the other doctrines which surround, shape, underpin, and limit it. Good doctrine, misused, is no longer good doctrine.

The wrath of God, for instance, has its place in God's character. But we can’t afford to separate it from the holiness and love that motivate it. The doctrine of hell is likewise inescapable in Scripture, but it is not intended to give us sadistic delight or to make us bullies. Rather, the bulk of the Bible’s teaching about hell was delivered by the very one who would suffer God’s wrath to rescue us from it. It came with love. God's sovereignty, to list another example, is not intended to be a debate topic, a philosophical talking point, a pat answer to silence hurting people, or an excuse not to evangelize the lost. Rather, it is a deep well of comfort, humility, and confidence for those who find it in the scriptural context of God’s love and his gracious purposes.

Stripped from their context, the Bible's doctrines are easily shaped by the personal experiences, personal agendas, weaknesses, attitudes, and sinful bents of the teachers. Without context, doctrines can become theoretical, stripped from the realm of life and application. It is possible to spend all our time studying our pet doctrines, thinking we are spiritual but entirely missing the point: ". . . . if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge . . . but have not love, I am nothing" (1 Cor. 13:2). We can become people who are “always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:7). All our knowledge, in other words, can amount to nothing.

This very danger once threatened to swallow me whole. But God is gracious, and He is sovereign over my life and my faith. He used tragedy to alert me to the trouble I was in. And he used good doctrine. I am thankful that I was taught Sola Scriptura, for that is what ultimately sustained me, once I determined to apply it.

What did this look like in practice? For me it began with the decision to spend at least at much time in the Bible as I did in books about the Bible. I began reading the Bible more. Then I got systematic—I began reading it from cover to cover, over and over. The amount of time I spent in other texts dwindled. My love for God’s Word grew, and my theological reading found its appropriate place in my priorities: secondary to Scripture (and to the preaching and teaching ministry of my local church).

In this process I have witnessed firsthand that “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 complete, equipped for every good work“ (2 Tim 3:16-17). God’s word is indeed sufficient for every spiritual and emotional need. I can know God and his will for my life. I can trust him and, as a result, I can obey Him. As my time in God’s word increased, so did my faith. My confidence in Him has turned my most painful circumstances into times of growth and meaning. He has transformed my life through His Word.

That is why Sola Scriptura is tattooed on my soul.

* The Five Solas are: Sola Gratia (Grace alone), Sola Fide (Faith alone), Sola Christus (Christ alone), Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone), Sola Deo Gloria (the glory of God alone).