"Sola Scriptura" Scripture Alone - Nov 2, 2008

W HAT IT MEANS TO BE LUTHERAN

There are so many churches in our day; sorting them all out can be quite confusing! There are also different kinds of "Lutherans” because the term means different things to different people.

What "Lutheran" originally meant -- and what it still means here at Redemption -- can be summed up with three basic ideas about how we gain eternal life:

Grace Alone

Because we are sinners we do not deserve God’s love. Instead we deserve punishment and separation from God and His goodness, forever. But, in an unprecedented act of grace, God showered his love on undeserving sinners. God the Father sent God the Son to suffer the full punishment for our sins, and to die in our place. Heaven's doors are open to us, not because of what we do for God, but because of what He has done for us through Jesus. Sinners are saved by God’s undeserved love—by grace alone.

Faith Alone

Jesus has suffered the full punishment for all people’s sins. But this doesn’t mean that all people will end up in heaven. The gift of salvation is free, and each individual sinner receives it through faith. Faith isn’t just acknowledging that God exists. Faith isn’t trying to follow a bunch of rules and commandments. Faith means trust. Christian faith means having a heart which trusts that God kept His promise to send a Savior, and that Savior is Jesus.

Scripture Alone

The only reliable way to find out what God says is through the Bible. The Bible was written by men, but authored by God. Human ideas change. Logical conclusions can be wrong. Traditions can become outdated and unprofitable. Only the testimony of the eternal and all-knowing God is completely reliable. “Scripture alone” means that the Bible stands as the foundation for our thinking in every area.

SOLA SCRIPTURA?

Some Christians take the idea of “Scripture Alone” for granted. They assume that all people claiming to be Christians will want to put God’s word above everything else. But this is not the case. Many professing Christians elevate self above God’s Word. Some elevate personal experience above God’s Word. Others elevate loved ones above God’s Word.

Consider how people choose which church they will belong to. Do people choose a church based on how faithful it is to God’s Word, or for some other reason? Perhaps it’s close to where they live, has a preschool program or their family has always gone there.

Since Scripture alone is the only reliable way to find out what God says, your church aught to be the one that teaches what the Scripture plainly says.

But how can the average person know for sure? Can’t the Scriptures be interpreted differently by each person? Is the average person really qualified to say that their interpretation of Scripture is the right interpretation?

The Reformation principle of “Sola Scriptura” says that yes, the average person can know for sure what God says – through the Bible.

Though there are many human interpretations, there is but ONE meaning intended by God. The Holy Spirit teaches us what He means when we allow the Bible to interpret itself (Or, to say it another way, the Holy Spirit explains what one part of His Word means when we read other parts of His Word). None of us are qualified to JUDGE the Word of God, but the Holy Spirit certainly does reveal His meaning when people study it.

In essence, “Sola Scriptura” says that the Scripture doesn’t need help from man. It is all-sufficient because it is the Holy Spirit inspired, preserved and explained Word of God.

TWO DITCHES ALONG THE ROAD OF SCRIPTURE

When we ask the question, “How can I really know what God says” two great dangers appear. We might think that someone else needs to tell us what God says. Someone smarter than we are. Someone we can listen to and then go along with. Or, we might think that only the “voice from inside us” can lead us to the truth about what God really says. If we just listen to the voice inside of us we’ll know what God is telling us. In reality, Scripture is the ONLY reliable voice which can tell us what God wants us to know.

At the time of Martin Luther this truth was almost completely forgotten. Through the Lutheran Reformation God caused His Word to be elevated back to it’s place of prominence in the church. Or in other words, God used Martin Luther to pull people out of the ditch of blind submission to religious authority and back onto the sure road of God’s Holy Word.

A SPIRITUAL REFORMATION

Some people claim that the significance of the Reformation is that a common monk stood up against the evil powers of a tyrannical church hierarchy and won.

Some believe that Martin failed because he did not free the people from the tyranny of the Scriptures being their boss. These people would push us into the ditch on the other side of the road, the ditch of “enthusiasm” (the belief that God speaks to people primarily through an inner voice, not through His written and spoken Word). We might also call this the ditch of “self slavery”.

Luther wanted to free people from the tyranny of evil men, but he also wanted to free them from slavery to self. When loosed from evil men and sinful self, people are freed to serve God. This is only accomplished through faith in Christ Jesus.

ROMANISTS: MAN ABOVE GOD’S WORD

Luther grew up in Germany, attending the Roman Catholic Church. At that time the Bible did not exist in the German language and the Roman Catholic Church was THE church. In those days the Roman Catholic Church was a significant political power, and heresy was often punished by torture and horrible death.

The RCC had long strayed away from God’s Word as decider of disputes and final authority over all things. It was accepted that the head of the church, the Pope, was the “on earth stand-in” for Jesus. As such, the Pope claimed that he alone had the final authority in all matters (including, of course, the interpreting what the Scriptures really meant).

Aside from the Pope, the church also looked to tradition as another voice of authority beside the Pope. In other words, they looked to past pronouncements made by church councils.

Lastly, the RCC also looked to the Bible for direction. But the Bible was not considered a great source of direction, for the RCC taught that it was unclear. It certainly was not fit for common people to study, but was considered a “professional book” for the clergy to use.

The RCC called for common people to simply submit to the authority of Christ’s stand-in and let the priests and other church officials tell them what God wanted them to know and do.

This of course made it very easy for the RCC to manipulate and use the people. Sadly, it also made for lazy people. It is easier to sit back and let the preacher tell you what to believe than it is to dig into the rewarding, but sometimes hard work, of studying God’s Word.

Regardless, the people had little choice in the matter. Unless you were independently wealthy, or willing to join a monastery, learning the necessary languages and examining the Scriptures of God was simply not going to happen.

Luther himself was very surprised to find out how much more of the Bible there really was when he finally got to study it. The Bible texts which the people heard during the Sunday Mass were only a portion of the whole Scriptures (Gospel and Epistle readings). By the way, these Scripture selections were read in Latin, the language used throughout the rest of the service, which only scholars understood.

Not only did the RCC insult God’s love and wisdom by saying that the Scriptures were unclear, they didn’t even give the common people a chance to understand them. May it be understood, the RCC is not another Christian church that happens to differ from Lutheran churches on a few points. It is very much so the Pope’s church, and has been since before Luther’s time.

In response to Luther’s 95 Theses, a Catholic Professor by the name of Sylvester Prierias wrote,

“Whoever does not rest upon the teaching of the Roman Church and the supreme pontiff [the Pope] as an infallible rule of faith, from which even Holy Scripture draws its vigor and authority, is a heretic” (“This is Luther”, Plass, p.60).

“In a letter dated November 25, 1522, Pope Adrian VI said: ‘Almost all the things on which Luther differs from others have already been rejected by General Councils, and there ought to be no doubt that whatever has been approved by General Councils and the Church Universal, must be held as an article of faith; for anyone who casts doubt upon things that have once been rightly settled, insults a Synod of the Church.’ The entire lengthy letter need not be quoted, but it should be mentioned that nowhere in it is there a reference to Scripture in refutation of Luther’s doctrines. The changes are rung on ‘saints’ and ‘Fathers’ and ‘Councils.’ These Luther had dared to contradict” (“This is Luther”, Plass, p.60).

“The American Catholic Cardinal J. Gibbons (died 1921) wrote in his The Faith of Our Fathers: ‘The Scriptures alone cannot be a sufficient guide and rule of faith…because they are not of themselves clear and intelligible, even in matters of the highest importance, and because they do not contain all the truths necessary for salvation.’ One wonders what Paul would have said to Gibbons, Paul who wrote to young Timothy that even in his childhood he (Timothy) had been acquainted with the Scriptures, ‘which are able to make thee wise unto salvation’” (“This is Luther”, Plass, p.56).

LUTHER: ROMANIST NO MORE

When Luther finally got to study the Scriptures for himself, he was delighted to find that these were not cloudy and hard to understand. The chief teachings of the Scriptures could be easily understood, even by a child, if they were but faithfully translated into the language of the people!

He also discovered that not only had past church councils disagreed and contradicted each other in their official pronouncements, these church councils had also contradicted the Holy Word of God. In a sense, God pushed Luther to see this through the Leipzig debate.

“In the course of the debate, however, Eck charged Luther with holding Hussite opinions. Thoroughly aroused and indignant Luther repudiated the charge. But pressed by Eck why he does not publicly refute their errors he is led to make the statement, to the surprise of the great audience, that many of the articles of Huss are very Christian which the Church can not condemn. But all o f the articles of Huss had been condemned by the Council of Constance! Luther hesitated. He struggled against the result of his premises into which he had been artfully led in the heat of the conflict by Eck. Finally Luther declared that councils could err and had erred in the case of Huss, by condemning these Christian articles.” (“Sketched from the History of the Church”, Hageman p.135)

Through continual contact with Scripture, finally Luther completely abandoned his deference to councils, popes and anything other than the Word of God.

“It is a horrible and great insult to, and crime against, Holy Writ and all Christendom to say that Scripture is dark and not clear enough for everyone to understand, so that he might be instructed by Scripture what to believe and might prove his faith by quoting it” (“This is Luther”, Plass, p.57).

Because of what he read in God’s Word Luther insisted that all things aught be tested by the Scriptures to find their truth and worth. This included the traditions, councils, popes, cardinals, monks and even an individual’s own thoughts and opinions.

“I honor the Roman Pontiff and his decrees. None is above him, without exception, save the Prince of this vicar of Christ, namely, Jesus Himself, Lord of us all and of all men. I prefer His word to the words of His vicar, and have no doubt that we should judge all the words and deeds of the vicar by His word. For I desire him to be subject to this universal rule of the apostle: ‘Prove all things; hold fast that which is good [1 Thessalonians 5:21]’” (“This is Luther”, Plass, p.49).

“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1 NIV).

When, at the Diet of Worms, Luther was asked to take back the pile of his writings that lay before him, Luther replied,

“Unless I am overcome with testimonies from Scripture or with evident reasons – for I believe neither the Pope nor the Councils, since they have often erred an contradicted one another – I am overcome by the Scripture texts which I have adduced , and my conscience is bound by God’s Word, I cannot and will not recant anything; for to act contrary to one’s conscience is neither safe nor sincere. God help me! Amen” ( “This is Luther”, Plass, p.50).

To Christians who endeavor to hold Scripture up as the highest authority in their lives, this statement seems obvious. Of course the Scriptures have to decide the argument! But to the RCC as it was at the time, this was a shocking idea and a most daring monk who proposed it. Thanks be to our God that he did, for we shudder to think what the world would be like without the Reformation that restored Christ’s precious Gospel to prominence in the church and trumpeted so loudly the truth of “Sola Scriptura”.

Luther’s sincerity in trumpeting “Sola Scriptura” is seen in his absolute disinterest in pushing himself forward and building his own following. This never seems to have entered his head.

“Whoever wants my books at this time ought, whatever he does, not let them be an obstacle to studying the Bible itself” (“This is Luther”, Plass, p.45).

“No one is bound to believe me; let every man search [Scripture] for himself,” (“This is Luther”, Plass, p.45)

“I had hoped that people would henceforth pay more attention to the Holy Scriptures themselves and let my books go now that they have served their purpose and led men’s hearts into and up to the Scriptures, which was my reason for writing my books. What is the use of making many books and yet always staying away from the chief book? Drink rather from the fountain itself than from the rill that has led you to the fountain” (“This is Luther”, Plass, p.46).

“There are many who believe on my account, but the only true believers are those who would continue to believe even if they heard (which God forbid!) that I had denied the faith or fallen away from it. These are they who pay no heed to the bad, the terrible, the shameful things they hear about me and about our people , for they do not believe on Luther, but on Christ Himself. The word has them, and they have the Word; as for Luther they care not whether he is a knave or a saint. God can speak by Balaam as well as by Isaiah, by Caiaphas as well as by Peter; nay He can speak by an ass. I myself do not know Luther and will not know him. I do not preach about him, but about Christ. The fiend may fly away with him, if he can; but if he leaves Christ in peace, it will still be well with us.” (“This is Luther”, Plass, p.46).

To Luther, Christianity was no blind faith, but a “Bible faith”. It was no “Luther faith”, but a “Christ faith”.

“20Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:20-24 NIV)