Scripture Alone

It is truly good to be back with
you, our church family. We had a frustrating time with
regards to worship. I was pretty upset the first week.
We were in a hotel conference room and that was our worship. Here we are in Scotland at the
heart of the Reformation. and there was no place for us
to gather for worship. I was quite disappointed with
that. The following week was a completely different situation
with Barbara’s sickness. It was very difficult for me
to even find a place to worship in Switzerland. And so it is
especially good to be back in our church. And I hope to take
the opportunity to tell you all about our trip, along with some
of the thousand or so pictures that I took. In short, our trip was interesting
as well as it had all been planned. There were some providential
twists and turns, as you know, not the least of which was the
sickness that first hit Barbara and then hit me the day after
we returned. So thank you for your prayers
on our behalf and know that we were praying for you as well.
We genuinely missed each of you. Most of you know that our trip
centered around the Reformation, aiming to visit many historical
sites. And my own heart was stirred
to be able to do that, to be reminded of those who not only
stood for biblical principles, but were willing to give their
lives for the purification of the gospel and the church. Philip Schaff, who is arguably
Christianity’s greatest historian, he calls the Reformation of the
16th century the greatest event in history. Next to the introduction of Christianity,
it is the most amazing event that the world has ever known.
He says that it bears a strong resemblance to the first century.
Both are rich beyond any other period. They are turning points
in the history of mankind. The Reformation was negative
and destructive towards error, but positive and constructive
towards the truth. It built new institutions in
the places where it pulled down others. Well, I was so thrilled
to be able to see so much of where all of that took place.
And so I figured that a few weeks pondering that dynamic event
should do us all some good. And before we even left for our
trip, I began to set my sights on capturing and communicating
some of the highlights of this Reformation tour. I wanted to
come back and report to you. I wanted to find a way to pass
along, really, some of the excitement of this lifelong dream. And so
I wanted to preach a message or a series of messages connected
to the earth-shaking event known as the Reformation. I decided
that the surest vehicle to accomplish that would be to preach through
what are called the Solas of the Reformation. The Solas of
the Reformation, for those who are less acquainted with them,
are these five superlative Latin phrases. Sola Scriptura, scripture
alone, points to the one source of redemption and forgiveness.
Pardon me. Sola Scriptura points to the
one source of divine revelation. Solus Christus, Christ alone,
points to the one source of redemption and forgiveness of sin. Sola
gratia, grace alone, is the one means of spiritual restoration
with God. Sola fide, faith alone, is the
one means of possessing Christ’s righteousness, being justified
before a holy God. Soli deo gloria, God’s glory
alone, is the one great aim of every true child of God. that
God would receive all glory and honor. Well, those are the five
solas, and Lord willing, we will consider each one over the next
several weeks. Many of you know that the most
recent expression of those five solas is captured in a document
called the Cambridge Declaration. We hand it out at every membership
class, As a church, we have affirmed that document from the earliest
days of our church. It’s one of our foundational
documents. Years ago, I began to do some
digging because I wanted to know more about the history of that
document and the history of the solas themselves. And I did learn
about the history of the Cambridge Declaration in April of 1996,
that’s only two years before we founded our church, a group
of 113 conservative pastors and leaders held a four-day conference
in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Though these men were from a
great variety of denominational backgrounds, their concern was
singular. They were drawn together in response
to the theological drift of the modern church. We know and we
highly esteem many of the original signers of this document, Alistair
Begg, James Boyce, Robert Godfrey, John Hannah, Michael Horton,
Al Mohler, R.C. Sproul, David Wells, and many
others. The Cambridge Declaration was
the result of that conference. But then I wanted to find out
where these men in this day found these foundational truths. Where did they find the original
five solas? Surely, I thought if these truths
were at the heart of the Reformation, they would be easily discoverable.
Cambridge Declaration presents the five major tenets of the
Reformation as a reassertion of those truths. And so I thought
if this document is a reassertion, there must be an original source
for these five phrases. And I figured that in this Google
search information age, it would be relatively easy and straightforward. I half expected to find an easily
traceable link back to some prominent reformer who styled these five
Latin phrases, Calvin, Luther, Knox. Perhaps a committee of
pastors or scholars had gathered to map out these principles that
would guide them through the Reformation. Perhaps these truths
were preached by some reformer as part of a five-part series
in his church. But my most earnest research
proved fruitless. The original source of the five
solas was undiscoverable. One source pointed out that Lutherans
have long maintained three solas, sola fide, sola scriptura, sola
gratia, There’s a Lutheran symbol which dates back to Luther’s
day called Luther’s Rose. The image, it’s of a white rose
against a blue background. In the center of the rose there
is a heart, and in the center of the heart is a cross. Pardon me. The symbol articulates
three solas. Three, not five. So as far as
I was able to determine, there is no historical document that
sets forth five solas, not until the Cambridge Declaration of
1996. There seems to be an even greater
question about the history of these statements, whether or
not these are historical, whether there was a traceable lineage
back to some reformer. The greater question is, do we
find these truths in Scripture? And I believe that I can say
with all confidence we do, we will, and I hope to show this
over the next several weeks. There is yet another question
that I hope to answer along the way. The second pressing question
is, do we indeed find these convictions active in the Reformation? Thank you. Do we find these convictions
active in the Reformation? After all, if these are the solas
of the Reformation, we ought to be able to observe them, right? So, as I set my sights on this
study of the five solas, I quickly transitioned to consider sola
number one, sola scriptura, And I wondered where I might turn
for a passage that articulates this truth so that I might preach it. I
don’t mean to alarm you, but as soon as I began to look for
a text that single-handedly articulates the principle of sola scriptura,
in all honesty, I came up rather empty-handed. Don’t panic. Let me explain. If we were to
go looking for a singular New Testament passage that articulates
Sola Scriptura, we would have to begin with considering those
passages that speak either of the word of God, that phrase,
or those passages that specifically mention Scripture. The word Bible
isn’t used in Scripture, so we can scratch that one off. In
the case of the phrase, the Word of God, I discovered that most
of those passages seem to speak more generally of a divine revelation
for salvation, the Word of God in that sense, than they do about the New Testament.
Listen to just a few examples. 2 Corinthians 4.2, we’ve renounced
the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness,
or adulterating the Word of God. We hear that and we instinctively
think of reframing from adding anything to the scriptures, especially
the New Testament. But Paul is speaking more generally
there of adulterating the gospel. Here’s another one. Ephesians
617, we just preached through this passage, Ephesians 617,
take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit,
which is the word of God. And what Christian hasn’t cited
that verse in light of their New Testament and the ability
to go and face any foe. We hear that, we immediately
think of our Bible, Old and New Testament. But at the moment
of his writing of this verse and this epistle, the epistle
to Ephesians, there was no New Testament at all. The word of
God in Ephesians 6, 17 then would seem to be pointing to something
different, to the revelation of the gospel, God’s plan of
redemption by faith in Christ. Let me give you one last example.
First Thessalonians 2.13, which verse many of you are familiar
with. For this reason, we constantly
thank God that when you received the word of God, which you heard
from us, you accepted it, not as the word of men, but for what
it really is, the word of God, which performs its work in you
who believe. What Paul is referring to there
is the reception that the Thessalonians gave to the preaching of the
gospel. Paul is praising the Thessalonian
believers for their initial reception of the gospel message, not that
they eagerly welcomed a gift of a copy of the New Testament.
And so in each of those uses, Paul is speaking of divine revelation
for salvation. And at the moment of each of
those writings, there was no New Testament, as I said. All
of those passages appear on the face to be speaking of Not the
New Testament, but divine revelation for salvation. Well, it seemed
that if the phrase the word of God was not going to yield a
passage to preach about the concept of sola scriptura, what about
the word scripture itself? Is there a passage that utilizes
the word scripture that could be used to support the idea of
sola scriptura? And here, too, I came up empty-handed. And that’s because the word scripture
seems to be used primarily as an immediate reference to the
Old Testament scriptures. Listen to just a few examples,
Romans 15.4, whatever was written in earlier times was written
for our instruction so that through perseverance and the encouragement
of the scriptures, we might have hope. First Timothy 4.13, until
I come, give attention to the public reading of scripture.
Second Timothy 3.16, all scriptures inspired by God. The problem
with each of those is that at the time of their writing, there
was no New Testament. So each of these, like all other
mentions of the word scripture in the New Testament, they had
to be necessarily a reference to the Old Testament scriptures.
So we’re gonna have to defer for a moment our desire for a
passage of scripture that singularly articulates the concept of sola
scriptura. But the question remained, how
did the reformers land on such an idea? And to answer that,
we need to understand the context, the status of the church in the
14th and 15th centuries. And in short, before there could
be the principle of sola scriptura, there had to be a recovery of
scriptura itself. In simpler terms, before we can
begin to talk about scripture only, we have to first establish
that there is such a thing as scripture. You see, for nearly
10 centuries, the word of God had been covered over and had
become an austere, much forgotten, greatly overshadowed vehicle
of truth. For most people, practically
speaking, the scriptures simply did not exist. Jerome, who was
known in some circles as Saint Jerome, was a priest, a theologian,
a writer. Because of his scholarly capabilities
near the end of the fourth century, he was commissioned to translate
the entire Bible into Latin. Latin, you see, was the language
of the people of the day. Jerome was a very capable scholar. He used the Hebrew and Greek
manuscripts from which to work. The entire process of translating
took nearly 20 years and was completed in 406 AD. His work was referred to as the
Latin Vulgate. It was the first time ever that
the Bible, the Old and New Testament, had been translated into another
language. It was thrilling. And this is
the Bible that would hold prominence in the church for nearly a thousand
years. The problem was, for the people
and for the church, Latin slowly died out as the common language
of the people. And the word of God grew more
and more distant from the people of God. The Roman Catholic Church
grew to favor this arrangement. The Bible slowly came under the
exclusive stewardship of the Catholic Church, its priesthood
and theologians, and they determined the meaning, they determined
the message of the scriptures. And naturally, since the scriptures
were no longer in the hands of the people, the thousand-year
reign of the Latin Vulgate led to many errors, heretical teachings,
and abuses by the Church. By the 14th century, corruption
in the Church was rampant. The hierarchy of the Catholic
Church, including and especially her popes, were embroiled in
many and great sins. bribery, the abuse of power,
gross and widespread immorality, political maneuvering, nepotism,
family favors, tyranny, the sale of indulgences, that is, the
forgiveness of sin for money, the worship of images, statues,
relics, prayer, even worship given to so-called saints, to name just a few of the abuses. Even the monasteries, which were
supposed to be places dedicated to study and prayer, had become
centers of hedonistic pleasure. And even in the celebration of
communion, where a priest was supposed to be nearest the great
drama of redemption, there was error. The Catholic Church had
invented the heresy of transubstantiation, in which the bread and the cup
of communion become the literal body and blood of Christ. Communion,
therefore, became a re-sacrificing of the Savior during each Mass. And worst of all, Christianity
itself had largely become a system of merit. to be met with either
punishment or reward. This was all enabled by the fact
that education was limited to nobles and priests alone. The masses of the people couldn’t
read or write. The people were made to be ignorant,
especially with regard to the spiritual truth of God’s word.
They had virtually no access to scripture. Only what the priest
communicated to them in Latin, a language they no longer understood. And the church hierarchy all
the while was enjoying this arrangement. just as they had for a thousand
years. To make matters worse, Rome held
to the position that there were two sources of spiritual authority,
scripture on the one hand and tradition. They maintained that
the additional books of the Apocrypha were just as trustworthy and
just as valid as scripture itself. In addition to that, decisions
of church councils and decrees of countless popes all added
to the vast amounts of material that were also equal to scripture
in value and authority. Further, the church itself sat
as judge of scripture. So only the church could determine
the proper interpretation and establish a doctrinal position. Pardon me, corruption in the
church was rampant. The need of reform was great.
But suddenly and clearly by God’s sovereign providence, the light
of reformation began to dawn on the church. And it did so
simultaneously in various locations throughout the modern world.
At the same time, Germany, England, France, Switzerland, and others. And the one most zealous reform,
the ones most zealous reform were exclusively Roman Catholic
priests or scholars. They had access to the word and
they were the ones that became the most zealous for change.
John Fox, writer of Fox’s Book of Martyrs, notes that these
men stepped forward regardless of the bigoted power which opposed
all reformation to stem the time of papal corruption and to seal
the pure doctrines of the gospel with their blood. These men saw
the truth for what it was and were willing to stand face to
face with the Catholic Church. If there was one overarching
question that prompted reform, it was the question that every
sinner has to ask. What must I do to be saved? That’s what these men were wrestling
with. This is the one question that stirred these would-be reformers’
hearts. And because of that, they were
naturally drawn to the scriptures. which had in turn inflamed their
hearts with a passion for the gospel. And it was this that
led to a desire to get the Bible into the hands of the people. But it was also that desire that
put them most at odds with the Catholic Church. The last thing
that the existing church needed was an educated and informed
people. The church hierarchy therefore
pulled out all the stops to prevent the printing and the distribution
of vernacular Bibles, Bibles in our common language. And those who violated their
edicts were threatened with excommunication or even death. Now, one of the
most prominent early reformers, you know these names, was a man
named John Wycliffe. Because he was one of the first
to call attention to the corruption that was rampant in the church,
he’s been called the morning star of the Reformation. But
Wycliffe didn’t begin with an attitude that was contrary to
the church. His experience was much more
personal. While studying at Oxford, which place we had privilege
to visit, Wycliffe was captured by this study of God’s word.
He began to relish and enjoy the Bible as a source of great
spiritual life and vitality. This book, which for a thousand
years had been the exclusive property of the clergy, He began
to see it was a treasure that was intended for all of God’s
people. Scripture truths were for every
believer, but the treasure of God’s word was being mercilessly
withheld from them. And the more Wycliffe read the
scriptures, the more clearly he could see the errors and the
abuses of the Catholic church. He didn’t set out to become a
troublemaker or a critic of the church. But soon, in time, that’s
what he was. The more he studied, the more
alarmed and incensed he became. He eventually grew determined
to expose errors, vices, heresies. In fact, he’s likely the first
one that identified the Pope as Antichrist. Perhaps his most
severe concern was that the church was keeping the Bible from her
people by keeping it in Latin only. Before embarking on the translation
of the Bible into English, pardon me, he wrote a paper on the matter
called The Truth of Holy Scripture. He argued that God’s word belonged
to the people and that no earthly body should be able to withhold
it from them. And so he took up the translation
of the Bible into English as God’s own God-ordained assignment
for him. Wycliffe argued that the Bible
was the church’s one ground of faith, sola scriptura. And that every believer ought
to be able to study the scriptures on his or her own. And his translation
would reflect the simple down-home style. Predictably, the Catholic Church
was quite displeased with Wycliffe’s
endeavor. They saw his efforts as irreverent
and a desecration of the Bible itself. Wycliffe was eventually
excommunicated, and he died of natural causes several years
later. But so great was the hatred of the Roman Catholic Church
that 41 years later, they dug up his bones, burned them, and
threw the ashes in the river. So there was this initial recovery
of Scripture. But still, the Church’s tradition,
interpretations, doctrinal positions, Those of the Pope, they stood
in the way of the access to truth. And try as he might, Wycliffe’s
efforts put the Bible into the hands of God’s people, but they
were only minimally successful. The greater majority of the people
even still had no Bible. But there was a second great
event in the life of the English-speaking church. About 100 years later,
after Wycliffe’s death, God raised up another man to continue the
reformation of the church, William Tyndale. He was uniquely gifted
by God for a specific task. A scholar who was equipped with
the knowledge of both Hebrew and Greek and a great command
of his native English language, he had come to a growing love
for God’s word and an equal disdain for the falseness of the Roman
Catholic Church. John Fox records this famous
interaction. While he was conversing with
a theologian, Tyndale was shocked to hear the man place the Pope
above scripture, saying, we were better to be without God’s laws
than the Pope’s. And Fox recounts Tyndale’s famous
response. Master Tyndale hearing this full
of godly zeal and not bearing this blasphemous saying replied,
I defy the Pope and all his laws and added, if God spares me,
I will one day make the boy that drives the plow in England to
know more of scripture than the Pope himself. It’s quite a goal. It soon became Tyndale’s deepest
desire to reform the church and the great mischief and abuses
prevalent in the church he saw was only due to the inaccessibility
of God’s people to God’s word. So the surest way to achieve
the necessary change would be, as he clearly saw, to place the
scriptures in the hands of the people. Only if God’s people
could read God’s word In their own language, could truth be
seen and understood and restored in the church? In God’s providence,
one recent invention would be of immeasurable help to Tyndale. It was the invention of the printing
press by Gutenberg. This would greatly improve Tyndale’s
chances for getting the scriptures to the people, and yes, I had
the privilege of seeing one of those initial Gutenberg Bibles. He used the original Greek and
Hebrew from which to translate, and in time he had an excellent
translation for public consumption. So strong was the Pope’s reaction
that Tyndale’s New Testament had to be smuggled into England.
Nevertheless, his toil and sacrifice bore much fruit. His translation
soon began to spread far and wide and fanned the flames of
reform, not only in England, but beyond. The reformation that
the scriptures initiated would ultimately sweep through the
land and change the church forever. The Pope’s reaction to Tyndale’s
work was venomous. Tyndale was labeled as a heretic.
He would now pay the ultimate price for his service to Christ’s
church. He was arrested and led forth
to be burned on Friday, October 6th, 1536 in Vilford, Belgium. His plea as the fire began to
consume him was, Lord, open the king of England’s eyes. And so, even if this reform had not yet
risen to sola scriptura, the word of God had indeed been rediscovered. The reformation of the church
was now in full swing. And now that the scriptures had
been uncovered again, sola scriptura was inevitable. Not more than
100 years later, another major step toward reformation of the
church would be seen. Just 100 years following Tyndale’s
death, a body of reformers sought to capture the teachings of the
scriptures that had been so long hidden from the church. The body
of reformers were known as the Westminster Divines, godly men
of England who sought to advance the teachings of the recovered
gospel. After some six years of labor,
they produced what we now know as the Westminster Confession.
Some of you Baptists may be more familiar with the Baptist edition
of the document, the London Baptist Confession. They’re essentially
the same, with the exception of the issue of baptism. But regardless, I want you to
listen to this. Listen to the very first chapter,
which they titled, Of the Holy Scriptures. This is chapter one.
Listen to this. First sentence. The Holy Scripture
is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving
knowledge, faith, and obedience. You know what that is? That’s Sola Scriptura. The Holy
Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule
of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience. The scriptures
are the only words that are sufficient to speak to man’s greatest need,
that of redemption. This is what the sentence means
by saving knowledge, faith, and obedience. Only the Bible is truly capable
of speaking to that issue. And these words are certain in
the sense that they are not only words that are sure and trustworthy,
they tell the truth about mankind and his predicament. Further,
only the words of scripture are infallible. They’re God’s words. They cannot fail to provide the
accurate report about all things spiritual. That’s sola scriptura. But these reformers wanted to
drive the point home. Listen, if you would, as they
continue. Although the light of nature
and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest
the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, so as to leave men inexcusable,
yet they are not sufficient to give that knowledge of God and
his will, which is necessary for salvation. If that sounds
familiar to you, it should. Do you understand what they’re
referring to there? The light of nature, creation
and providence, that’s Romans 1. It’s Psalm 19. He’s talking there about general
revelation. That we can look out at the stars
or stand at the edge of the Grand Canyon or hear a baby’s cry and
we can be assured that there is a God. Those things all declare
the existence of a being that we know as God. But as powerful
a testimony as they are, general revelation is not enough to save
us. We can look and observe and acknowledge
all that we see, but we cannot be led to an understanding of
the Savior. by those things alone. And that
leads us to the third portion of the opening statement. Listen
to this. Therefore, it pleased the Lord in many portions and
in many ways to reveal himself and to declare that his will
to the church. You see, God is a God of revelation. God is a God who wants to be
known and loved. He wants to be in fellowship.
And so he revealed himself. And no longer in some vague and
distant manner, the stars in the sky, the beauty of creation. The writer of Hebrews says that
in these last days, he has spoken to us in his son. In Christ’s own words, he who
has seen me has seen the Father, John 14, nine. And God saw to
it that the revelation of his son included the final written
revelation of scripture, the New Testament. What the Westminster
divines recognized What they were declaring to the world in
their document was that in Christ, the scriptures are now complete. God’s testimony to the world
is finished. All that we could ever need as
fallen humanity is captured and preserved in the holy scriptures.
What a thrill. Listen to this last clause. of
the opening statement of the confession. This is just one
paragraph. It is, why did God provide his
word? This is the answer. For the better
preserving and propagating of the truth and for the more sure
establishment and comfort of the church against the corruption
of the flesh, the malice of Satan and of the world. This is why God gave his word.
And this is what the church was completely without for a thousand
years. Well, this is the very kind of
nonsense and folly that the church had fallen into once the Bible
was obscured and forgotten, the corruption of the flesh, the
malice of Satan, the world. The Bible was given to protect
us from those things. There are no more special revelations. There are no voices from heaven.
There are no pillars of fire and such. There’s God’s word,
and it’s enough, even if it stands alone. We need no other divine
revelation. Sola Scriptura. Listen to this. There in that opening paragraph,
It proclaims sola scriptura. It says that it pleased the Lord. It made God happy to do three
things. It made God happy to reveal himself. It made God happy to declare
his will to the church. And it made God happy to commit
the whole to writing. Do we hear what they’re telling
us there? If God gave the Bible to us, it is because he saw how
greatly we needed it. And if God gave us the Bible,
it has everything that we need. And only what we need. Scripture
alone. Would you listen to one more
brief paragraph? From that initial chapter of
the confession, this is from the sixth paragraph, just listen.
It reads like this, the whole counsel of God concerning all
things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith,
and life is either expressly set down or necessarily contained
in the Holy Scripture. to which nothing at any time
is to be added, whether by new revelation of the Spirit or traditions
of men.” Do you know what that is? That’s Sola Scriptura. The whole counsel of God, Sola
Scriptura. All things necessary for God’s
glory, Sola Scriptura. All things necessary for man’s
salvation, faith, and life, Sola Scriptura. to which nothing at
any time is to be added, sola scriptura. You see, these reformers
knew the richness and the nature of God’s word, the Old and the
New Testament. And that’s because by the time
they gathered and studied and began to write, the body of the
New Testament was complete. They knew that like the Thessalonians
of old, They too had received the Word of God, which performs
its work in you who believe. They knew to do as Paul directed
to Timothy, to give attention to the public reading of Scripture,
old and new. They knew the fullness of Romans
15.4, whatever was written in earlier times, ancient or first
century was written for our instruction. They could very easily look at
a passage like Ephesians 617 and understand that the sword
of the spirit was the word of God in its entirety. Old and
New Testaments. And they could emulate Paul’s
courage. in speaking the Word of God, the Holy Scriptures without
fear. They sought to live as the early
church did, speaking the Word of God with boldness. That’s
sola scriptura. Likewise, with regard to the
use of the word Scripture in that opening chapter of the Confession,
the title again of the Holy Scriptures four times, Four times just in
that opening passage of scripture, they cite 2 Timothy 3.16. Would God’s people please turn
there now? That ends my introduction. 2 Timothy 3.16. It’s important to note that these
reformers had come to grasp the truth of Sola Scriptura, that
only the Bible was able to render the kind of aid that people really
needed. They cite, as proof, 2 Timothy
3.16 and 17 four times. All scripture is inspired by
God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction,
for training in righteousness. Why? That the man of God may
be adequate, equipped for every good work. When Paul calls Timothy’s
attention to all scripture, he points not only to every line
of the Old Testament, but now, as the Bible is now complete,
these reformers knew that gathered into this declaration was the
New Testament as well. All of Scripture. And Paul asserts
two significant truths here about the nature of God’s Word. First, that it is inspired, and
secondly, that it is profitable. When Paul says that Scripture
is inspired, he tells us that it is literally God-breathed,
fully infused by God’s Spirit. No other writing can make such
a claim. As 2 Peter 121 says it, men moved by the Holy Spirit
spoke from God. They were God’s mouthpieces.
Scripture is God-breathed. And that makes it literally God’s
word. When Paul says that, tells us
that scripture is profitable, he speaks of the Bible’s beneficial
element. No other writing can make this
claim either. As the writer of Hebrews puts
it, the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any
two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul
and spirit, able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the
heart. No other document can do that. Paul goes on to speak
of some practical ways in which scripture may be employed in
the transformation of individuals. How does it do these things?
teaching, reproof, correction, training in righteousness. The word of God is used for teaching.
It provides that necessary spiritual instruction in right doctrine
for each individual reader. It provides reproof. pardon me, refuting error, rebuking
sin, confronting those who are wayward. It provides correction. It provides restoration from
a fall, pointing one back to a morally upright position. And it provides training in righteousness,
a word used for teaching little babies. such as each of us are
before God. We are in need of daily training
in the direction of righteous living, are we not? And all of
this is provided for a single purpose. Would you glance at
the verse that the man of God or the woman of God may be adequate
equipped for every good work. That they would be fully equipped,
fully serviceable to God, You see, the Christian holds in his
hands the one instrument by which lasting change can really be
effected. It’s the Holy Bible. Only God’s
Word can do that. Sola Scriptura. The Bible, God’s
Word, Scripture, is the only document in the world that can
have such a life-changing effect on its readers. Scripture stands
authoritatively alongside no man-made document. Men’s writings,
no matter how technically correct, no matter how scientifically
accurate, no matter how well-reasoned, no matter how colorfully erudite
they are, no writing that mankind has ever produced could begin
to address our greatest need, redemption from sin. Only the
scripture can do that. And thus the echo of the first
superlative of the Reformation, sola scriptura. Would you humble yourself before
God?