THE FIVE SOLAS - SOLA SCRIPTURA

 

Imagine a friend coming up to you, handing you a gift and you pull out your wallet and start digging for the money to pay for it. Your friend, looking rather confused says, “But this is a gift. I’m giving this to you. There’s no need to give me any money.” You then reply, “Well, let me come over and clean your house, wash your car, do your laundry, and cook your dinner in exchange.” The purpose of them giving you a gift wasn’t for you to pay them back with money or with “good deeds”. They gave you a gift because they loved you.

This is what the Reformers dealt with in the 16^th century, when an Augustinian Monk by the name of Martin Luther had come to a crisis point in his faith. The Catholic Church was taking part in practices that went against Scripture and taught salvation by grace PLUS works.

Luther and the Reformers came up with five short Latin phrases in response to the Catholic Church’s teachings that turned the Christian world upside down and they are still relevant today. You don’t need a master’s degree in Latin or theology to understand them. They’ll be unpacked here in plain English so you can see how important they are to Christian doctrine and faith.

Let’s look at a little history, shall we. As I mentioned in the intro, the Augustinian Monk, Martin Luther, had come to a crisis point in his faith. Part of his duty as a monk was to teach theology at the Church at Wittenburg, Germany. Obviously, this required hours of study in the Scriptures.

During his studies the Holy Spirit began opening his mind and heart to truly understand what salvation was and how we obtain it. He realized that salvation was truly a work of God alone; there was nothing required for us to do to merit (earn) it. This caused him to begin questioning the practices of the Catholic Church, mainly, the selling of indulgences. In 1517, Luther and others like him set out to reform the Church. They got the name “Reformers” because it wasn’t that they were inventing new ideas; they were trying to rescue the gospel buried under all the man-made traditions. Their battle cry came in the form of The Five Solas.

THE FIVE SOLAS

Sola Scriptura

First, let’s define what “sola” means. Sola is a Latin word that means, “by one’s ownself” or “alone”. Sola is the feminine form and solus is the masculine form. It’s similar to the English adjective word “sole” which carries the same meaning. For example, if a plane crashes and only one person survives, we say they are the “sole survivor”.

Second, let’s define “Sola Scriptura”. The simplest way to explain Sola Scriptura is to say that the Bible is the ONLY and FINAL authority. Not a pope. Not some denominational council. Not anyone’s feelings. The Bible is where we're to go to for knowing how we are to live.

Imagine planning a trip to somewhere you’ve never been. You pull out your trusty paper map or even the map on your phone and you start planning your route of how to get there. You pick the route carefully to avoid toll roads, construction zones, congested cities, etc. A friend finds out you’re taking this trip, and they begin giving you their opinion of which route to take even though they’ve never traveled to that destination before.

This is where things get shaky within the church. Church leaders (popes, pastors, elders, deacons) start leading based on their opinions and feelings instead of going to God’s Word for guidance. This is what the Catholic Church was doing when the Reformers began trying to steer them back to God’s Word and not rely on man-made traditions.

We read in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, "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."

In the first verse we see who the author of Scripture is and that is God Himself. While it’s true that God didn’t physically put pen to paper, those who did were guided by the Holy Spirit who told them what to write.

Then we’re given the list of benefits of reading Scripture: 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.

Everything we need for life is found in the 66 books of the Bible, not in the rules, regulations, or traditions made by man. Nothing good ever comes from following man-made traditions because they aren’t based on biblical teachings but on the feelings and opinions of finite creatures.

When faced with hard questions, problems, and the everyday trials of life, we have to ask ourselves whose voice will we listen to: God’s or man’s?

If you’d like further study, read Psalm 119 and circle or write out in a notebook all the benefits of God’s Word.

Next post we’ll be discussing Sola Fide, faith alone.