What is Sola Scriptura?
Sola Scriptura is the fundamental principle of Reformed Christianity. Essentially, Sola Scriptura teaches that Scripture—the written word of God which was revealed over thousands of years and is collected today in what we call The Holy Bible—is the chief authority for the Christian Church and all her members. Sola Scriptura teaches that the Bible, because of what it is, demands to be the most revered source of truth and instruction, and in the daily activity of a Christian, ought to be the authority for faith and practice.
The doctrine of Sola Scriptura is the direct teaching of the Scriptures, beginning with Moses [Deuteronomy 13:1 - 4], being affirmed by Jesus [Matthew 22:29 - 32], and being applied to the teaching of the Apostles [Galatian 1:8]. Sola Scriptura also stands as the natural conclusion given Scripture’s identity as God’s word—why would we not gladly confess that God’s own word takes the highest place of honor in His Church?
The Apparent Problem
It seems more than evident, given the clear teaching of Scripture and rational thinking, that Sola Scriptura is true. However, there are a number of questions about how a Christian should put the truth of Sola Scriptura into practice. How does someone appropriately handle the word of God? How do we reconcile the supremacy of the Scriptures and the binding authority of church leadership? How can we keep Sola Scriptura from devolving into a game of subjective interpretations and unhelpful opinions?
These questions are, sadly, often left unanswered in the Church today. Many Roman Catholics continue to critique the doctrine of Sola Scriptura based on the apparent lack of answers to these questions, and lots of Christians who accept Sola Scriptura to be true still have yet to wrestle with applying the principle. Luckily for us, there are a number of theological giants who can help us put these questions to rest, and I can think of no one better to ask than the man who most emphatically proclaimed the truth of Sola Scriptura: the German reformer, Martin Luther.
Martin Luther and Sola Scriptura
Born just sixty-eight years after the execution of Jan Huss, Martin Luther became the chief face of the Protestant Reformation. Though an ordained monk, Luther took issue with certain practices of the Roman Catholic Church, especially the promotion of indulgences. His frustration over these issues led him to post his now-famous Ninety-Five Theses on the door of his local parish in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517.
Unbeknownst to Luther at the time, this simple action would kick-start multiple years of writing, lecturing, debating, and appearing before Roman councils. It would all culminate in the 1521 Diet of Worms, where Luther was commanded to either recant of his numerous writings (some of which Rome held to be heretical), or else be condemned a heretic and likely executed. Luther asked for twenty-four hours to think over his response. The next day, he delivered what would become the defining watershed moment of the Reformation:
“Unless convinced by Scripture or evident reason, I will not, I cannot recant. My conscience is captive to the word of God. To go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other, God help me. Amen.”
This was Luther’s ultimate commitment: the Scriptures. Luther could not bring himself to teach, say, or passively accept anything that he saw as clearly contradictory to the word of God. His mind, heart, and soul were bound by what he knew God had said in the biblical text, and he understood that no pope, council, or creed could be given authority over the testimony of Scripture.
As the Reformation pressed on, this commitment to the word of God would be formally defined as Sola Scriptura, the concept that Scripture has the highest authority in all questions regarding Christian faith and practice. Because of the strong commitment to Sola Scriptura, the Reformation saw a widespread return to preaching, and the preaching of the Bible. Martin Luther, and especially John Calvin, began insistently drawing their people back to the Scriptures, proclaiming that nothing else could bring the same light, substance, or truth as they did.
Sola Scriptura was undoubtedly the theological foundation of the Protestant Reformation. But the Reformers saw Sola Scriptura as more than just a doctrine to be debated. Rather, Sola Scriptura was to be the way of life for Christians. Christians are to be people of the book; below are four steps, derived from the writings of Martin Luther, that allow the Christian to truly live the doctrine of Sola Scriptura.
Step One: Read the Scriptures
The first thing someone must do in order to practice Sola Scriptura is to read the Scriptures. And, while that may appear (and should appear) to be the obvious first step, it cannot go unstated. Knowing the Scriptures is the first step to Christian growth. To quote,
“How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of Yahweh, and in His law he meditates day and night. And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers.” [Psalm 1:1 - 3]
Notice, the goal of reading Scripture is to have it first be your delight, and then your meditation. This can only happen when someone devotes themself to reading the Scriptures. The key objective is to see Scripture for what it is, and learn to love it. Then, as a love for the word increases, and as one finds himself immersed in it day after day, it begins to penetrate the reader and stays with them. It becomes his “meditation,” and the believer finds himself thinking about the Scriptures and seeing the world through them.
Volume, volume, volume. The volume of Scripture read is of the utmost importance: volume of reading, volume of texts read, consistency of exposure. Scripture is like a mansion with a vast number of rooms, each containing a multitude of secret compartments, each having different valuables stuffed in the drawers, and each having hidden passages that connect them all to one another. The mansion is God’s, but you are His guest, and the whole house is—in effect—yours. How do you suppose one would best find his way around the house? By standing on the outside, looking timidly at the doors, windows, and siding? Or by spending his every day searching through the many rooms, nearly tearing up the floorboards in the pursuit of becoming more familiar?
This brings us to the next point: not only must a man be always focused upon Scripture, but he must be focused upon the whole of Scripture. It does us some good to be familiar with one or two rooms, but it does us far more good to be familiar with every room—how else will we find the hidden passages? Luther says of his own reading routine:
“For some years now, I have read through the Bible twice every year. If you picture the Bible to be a mighty tree and every word a little branch, I have shaken every one of these branches because I wanted to know what it was and what it meant” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 54).
The direct companion to Sola Scriptura is Tota Scriptura: all of Scripture. We believe, because of the nature of the Scriptures, that they speak with one voice—the voice of God. Therefore, we expect to find (and do find) that the Bible speaks with one united message. However, this message only comes into full view when the fullness of the Bible is taken into consideration. Thus, we must be diligent to study every book, every chapter, and every verse of the Scriptures.
Further, Luther warned against becoming distracted from Scripture by Scripture-related books. Luther understood that there was a danger in leaving the Bible for that which had the appearance of being God-breathed, namely theology books, commentaries, and the Church Fathers.
“As a young man I made myself familiar with the Bible; by reading it again and again I came to know my way about in it. Only then did I consult writers [of books other than the Bible]” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 54).
Luther strictly believed that reading additional materials about the Bible could only come after one had read the Bible. Why? Because, “It is better to see [the Scripture] with one’s own eyes than with another's" (Luther’s Works Vol. 54). Luther understood that the Scriptures could speak for themselves, and would speak for themselves, when given the opportunity. However, when one seeks the Scriptures through books and commentaries, they will not truly receive the word: “The Bible will be buried under a mass of literature about the Bible, and the text itself will be neglected” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 54).
Although theological books, biblical commentaries, and the works of the Church Fathers may be spiritual and even biblical, they themselves are not inspired by God. What’s more, though those works may make reference to Scripture, the overall content is of merely human origin—these writings could be accurate, helpful, and true (depending on the author), but they are not Scripture and cannot be received as infallible teaching.
What then, is the place of such books? Luther says,
“The writings of the holy fathers should be read for only a time, in order that through them we may be led to the Holy Scriptures” (Works of Martin Luther, With Introductions and Notes, Vol. 2).
The purpose of these books, according to Luther, is to point us to Scripture. That by reading such books, we would find a greater desire to search the Scriptures for ourselves and thus find the truth there. The problem, however, is that we are often tempted to use these supplements as a replacement for the real thing. We will often read a book instead of Scripture, or listen to a podcast instead of a sermon, or listen to music instead of pray. These things ought to lead us to what is true, and help us to appreciate it, not lead us away.
Step Two: Look For the Literal Meaning
The second thing someone must do in order to practice Sola Scriptura is to find the literal meaning of the text. In Luther’s day, the popular school of biblical thought practiced a four-fold interpretation system, wherein every text was assigned a literal, allegorical, moral, and anagogical meaning. This system, though it gave the appearance of being insightful, tended to obscure the true meaning of the text and built the framework for fanciful and unbiblical doctrines to be developed. Luther, recognizing that years of mystical interpretations had left the text woefully misrepresented, advocated for a return to literal methods of interpretation. He said this:
“An allegory is like a beautiful harlot who fondles men in such a way that it is impossible for her to not be loved” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 5).
Vivid language, to be sure, but Luther knew that allegorical interpretations of Scripture were enticing. He also saw the danger of allegory. Allegorical interpretations, because they are not (usually) derived from the text, can be almost anything. Given an active enough imagination, one can take any object in Scripture and liken it to anything else, and in the process, invent any related doctrine. Such was the case, I would contend, with the various developments of Mariology that have come about in the history of the Roman Catholic Church.
Now, the term ‘literal’ can create a nasty response from certain people. RC Sproul once joked about a time when he was asked, “You don’t read the Bible literally, do you?” To which he responded, through his signature chuckle, “Well how else am I supposed to read it!” See, Sproul’s questioner had a very narrow understanding of what “literal” means. The student was likely equating “literal” with “wooden;” that is, he could have asked, “Mr Sproul, when the Bible speaks of God having wings, and hands, and eyes, and a face, do you understand God to have a physical pair of wings, and hands, etc.?” To that question, Sproul undoubtedly would have answered, “No!” Why? Because of what “literal” means.
“Literal,” as Luther and the Reformers understood it, meant the meaning of the text which was given by the one who wrote it; to look for the literal meaning means to search for what the author intended to communicate. Now, one of the key steps toward understanding the literal meaning of the text is to grasp the function of genre, metaphor, and figures of speech. Why? Because when we understand those literary devices, we are one large step closer towards understanding what the original author meant.
Luther saw that the proper way of reading Scripture is to understand the mind and intent of the author. Luther believed that one must get behind the eyes of the biblical author, to see the words as the writer originally intended them to be understood. He said:
“The Christian reader should make it his first task to seek out the literal sense (Luther’s Works, Vol. 9),” and, “In the interpretation of Holy Scripture the main task must be to derive from it some some sure and plain meaning” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 1).
Because of his foundational belief that there is a literal meaning to the text, and because of his commitment to finding the literal meaning of the text, Luther concluded,
“One should not therefore say that Scripture or God’s word has more than one meaning” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 39).
This cuts against even the common belief of many Protestants today. One of the most popular questions in an evangelical Bible study is, “What does this passage mean to you?” Luther would scoff at that question. Rather, the question should be, “What does this passage mean? What did the author understand, what was God trying to communicate?” Our task is not to study our opinion of the Bible, but to study the Bible as it is, understand what it says, and submit to it.
Commitment to the literal meaning of the Bible is absolutely essential to the practice of Sola Scriptura. Not only does a commitment to the literal meaning of the text demonstrate a belief in the univocality of Scripture, but it safeguards us against fanciful misinterpretations and doctrinal inventions. Our highest task is to go to the Scripture and seek to find what the Holy Spirit has intended to leave for us—no more, no less.
Step Three: Do Some Digging
The third step that brings Sola Scriptura to life is digging into the text at a deeper level. It's not enough to simply receive the words of Scripture—although that is the powerful first step—what we must do to be sure of our understanding is dig behind the text. For Luther, this meant giving a heavy emphasis to the biblical languages of Hebrew and Greek when studying Scripture.
In Luther's day, returning to the original languages of the biblical text was an absolute necessity. For centuries, the Roman Catholic Church had defaulted to the Latin Vulgate as the official Bible of scholarship and worship. Providentially, however, the Catholic humanist scholar Desiderius Erasmus published a full Greek text of the New Testament in 1516, one year before Luther posted his ninety-five theses. The publication of this Greek text—thought it did contain some inaccuracies—was absolutely instrumental in the cause of the Reformation, specifically in the pursuit of Sola Scriptura. Now, by using the original languages, students of the word could draw all the more closer to the true meaning of the Bible.
Today, we have access to a much greater volume of Greek and Hebrew manuscripts, which in turn allows us to construct more accurate biblical texts and translations. Sadly, however, many Christians do not utilize the most accurate translations. “Translations” like the Message and the NLT are popular among Christian readers and even pastors, but these texts explicitly attempt to adapt the word of God. Helpful tools as they may be, English Bibles that employ the method of dynamic-equivalence (or, “thought for thought”) do not faithfully deliver the text of Scripture in the same way that Bibles with formal-equivalence (“word for word”) do. My point is not to disparage the existence of “thought for thought” study tools. However, in the pursuit of Sola Scriptura, literal, “word for word” translations must always be preferred and, if possible, one should refer to the underlying Greek or Hebrew text.
Additionally, it is encouraged that those who seek to understand the Scriptures should also understand the various contexts in which the Scriptures were given. Not only were the books of the Bible not written in a context like our own, but many of them were written hundreds, even a thousand years apart from one another. There are four hundred years between Malachi and the New Testament… that's longer than the United States has been a country. Therefore, one who wants to know what the author of Scripture meant to communicate needs to know when, where, why, and to whom the author is writing. Moses's audience was much different than Isaiah’s, or Christ’s, or Paul’s; furthermore, the Thessalonians were different than the Corinthians.
However, we must be careful that “historical context” does not become a way to obscure or bypass the clear meaning of Scripture. No amount of supposed context should be allowed to overturn the clear meaning of the text. There have actually been numerous instances in recent memory in which whole camps of people have tried to use “historical context” to obfuscate the words of Scripture. Within the Church, this has happened surrounding 1st Timothy 2:12, where Paul's amazingly clear statement “I do not permit a woman to teach” is ignored in the name of “understanding the context.” Outside the Church, many have tried to convince us that the Bible’s numerous commands against homosexuality either do not mean what they clearly say, or are not applicable today. Such uses of “context” are not appropriate, primarily because they disregard the more immediate and more important textual context.
The purpose of additional context, and of searching the original languages, ought to be finding insight into the existing meaning of the text, not attempting to overturn what the Bible is saying. When done rightly, seeking additional historical and linguistic context opens up the Scriptures to us on a deeper level, making us more sure of their objective meaning.
Step Four: Yield Yourself to the Text
Lastly, if we want to accurately practice Sola Scriptura, we must yield ourselves to the Bible’s teaching in all matters. What good would it be for a soldier to swear, “I am fully committed to the king!” and then skirt away from various of the king’s commands? What good is it if we profess to believe in Sola Scriptura but do not submit ourselves to what the Scripture says? In essence, failure to fully and truly submit to Scripture is itself a direct a denial of Sola Scriptura, in that, by not giving full assent to the Scriptures, one asserts his own intellect or opinion as more accurate than the Scriptures—such is both ridiculous and contradictory to the Sola Scriptura.
As one endeavors to yield themself to the text of Scripture, he has two powerful aids. First, he has the help of the Holy Spirit. As we go to the Scriptures, we must always remember that the very Holy Spirit who wrote them lives inside of us. While we cannot ask Moses, or Isaiah, or the Apostle Paul what they meant in their writings, we do have access to He who wrote through them: the Holy Spirit of God. Luther understood that all Scriptural insight, and even the desire to read the Scriptures, was given by the Holy Spirit:
“The people who have a burning desire and longing for the word acknowledge with gratitude that this affection has been instilled in them by the Holy Spirit” (51).
If the very first step—reading the Scriptures—comes about because of the work of the Holy Spirit [see Romans 8:5 - 9; 1st Corinthians 2:10 - 16], then how much more do we depend on Him to understand the Scriptures? To this point, Luther spoke clearly, saying:
“No one can correctly understand God or His world unless he has received such understanding directly from the Holy Spirit… The Holy Spirit instructs us as in His own school, outside of which nothing is learned but empty words and prattle” (56).
Only by a prayerful, meditative reliance on the Holy Spirit, can we be led to the true meaning of the Scripture. While some passages may be so plain in their intended content that anyone can understand them without explanation (such as the history books), even those writings must be believed, and that belief comes about by the work of the Spirit. Further, of those passages which are plainly difficult to understand, or which are (as is most usually the case) an affront to the natural thinking of man, we are clearly reliant on the Holy Spirit’s illumination.
Second, as we seek to understand the Scriptures, we will find the task much easier if we are involved in an active pursuit of holiness. Much if not most of the Bible comes though in command form—that is, the authors of Scripture are attempting to inspire action from their listeners. Moses commanded the Israelites to obey the Law of God; the prophets delivered a message of painful repentance; Jesus called men to pick up their cross and follow Him; Paul instructed the Church to practice a number of difficult virtues. It is easy to ignore these commands for a number of reasons, but we are called to be conformed, not comfortable.
Through pride, apathy, sloth, or any number of vices, we will be tempted to disregard the moral prescriptions of Scripture. However, the same Spirit who wrote the commands of Scripture wrote the theological treatises… How will we be able to hear Him in the latter if we have become so hard-hearted regarding the former? Should we want to hear the voice of God as He instructs us by His word, we have to be obeying Him, and aligning our hearts with His own; we must be pursuing holiness.
Conclusion
Sola Scriptura is fundamental to the Christian life, if only for the reason that it forces us to rely on God and not ourselves. We cannot establish ourselves as the source nor arbiters of truth, but must believe that God has given us all that we need in His word. Further, Sola Scriptura calls us to seek the God in the Bible at the deepest level: through a routine of intensive reading, seeking the intended and literal meaning, digging into the original languages and contexts, and yielding ourselves to the text of Scripture, we will find God speaking to us clearly and directly, both instructing us in His truth and calling us to be holy as He is holy.
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