Sola Scriptura

The Reformers loved pithy sayings to sum up complex doctrines. They boiled down theological truths to simple slogans. One of the key slogans of the Reformation was “sola scriptura”. It literally means “scripture alone”. By this they meant that scripture alone was self-authenticating, clear to the average reader, and the only reliable and sufficient authority and source for all matters of doctrine and faith. They specifically proclaimed this doctrinal position in contrast to the Catholic Church which held that scripture could only be rightly interpreted through the traditions and authority of the Church.

This emphasis on the written Word of God has been a hallmark of Protestant Christianity ever since. However, I have recently read some articles in which I was surprised to find that men that I respect, and have learned much from, have moved away from the primacy and authority of Scripture. In an effort to be culturally sensitive there is a danger that we can place culture over Scripture or strip Scripture of it’s authority by reading it as the product of a different cultural perspective. This can lead us to set aside the clear commands of God as mere traditions of men from another time, or set them aside in favor of our own new traditions. I don’t know that Christians ever set out to do that, but like the Pharisees of old, we start out be interpreting scripture and trying to clarify it and make it “relevant”, but in the process our “clarifications” become traditions and then get fossilized in our sub-cultures and the Bible is slowly superseded by these cultural forms and understandings.

Even more disturbing than the article were a few e-mails I have received lately from friends in the ministry. Several of them are looking for good ministry materials so that they will be able to lead people to Christ, make disciples, and train leaders. They are looking for materials that they can translate, adapt, or use to teach people the critical doctrines of the Faith. I confess that I have done many years of ministry this way, but I am scratching my head now and wondering what this approach says about the sufficiency of Scripture. Is Scripture alone enough for life and ministry? Do we need extra biblical lessons to be translated and books to be written? Certainly I have learned a lot from books and I appreciate resources and materials, but I have to wonder what our reliance upon these tools and techniques says about our underlying beliefs about the Word and the Spirit.

As I read scripture I see a model for discipleship consistently through the text. You can see it with the Patriarches, right through Moses, David, the Prophets, Jesus, and the Apostles. Discipleship is not a series of lessons that communicate a certain content to transfer knowledge. Discipleship is more than objective teaching or even skill development. It is a personal relational process whereby a teacher walks, talks, eats, lives, and works with his student identifying the areas of growth that are needed and then teaching to those points. He teaches through modeling as well as words. He gives assignments that will help the student to understand and apply the content that he has learned. From the early availability of the written Word it was integrated into this process of instruction and used as the primary, if not only, “textbook” for the student. This model of discipleship is the foundation of the Church. This is how the apostles were trained by Jesus. This is how the apostles trained their students, and this is how it continued for generations. It also happens to really work! It is readily transferable and adaptable. It requires the Word of God, the Spirit of God, a teacher (who is a disciple of Christ) and a student who wants to learn. That is all. There are no bottlenecks, no materials to be translated, no worries about cultural baggage, and no unhealthy dependence on foreign materials. Scripture alone was enough then, and it’s enough today!