Sola Scriptura
Bible Study Time 1-14-07
Church links:
Bible Study Time 1-14-07
Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. When we accept by faith that God has accepted Christ’s shed blood as the one and only acceptable sacrifice for our sin, God baptizes us by the Holy Spirit into the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. In this way, we are born again. By this means, we are washed in the blood of Christ, cleansed from our sins, and our lives are filled with the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit.
But how can we know that these things are true? By human reasoning, it sounds pretty bizarre to think that God would become a man by entering into the womb of a virgin, that He would be born and then grow up to be killed by the very people He had created. That He would do all of this for the purpose of rescuing those same people from the clutches of hell, so that He could give them eternal life. As strange as all this sounds, how can we be sure that it’s really true?
Well, it all boils down to the credibility of the word of God. We can be sure it’s true because God has given us His word.
Hebrews 4:12 (KJV)
12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The word of God is like a mirror that reveals who we really are. When we come to the word of God, we see ourselves. We read the words of Isaiah, who said:
Isaiah 64:6 (NIV)
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all (of) our righteous acts are like filthy rags . . .
When we read this, we know that it’s talking about us personally, and we feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit. However, as we continue in the word, we hear God saying:
Isaiah 1:18 (NKJ)
18 "Come now, and let us reason together . . . Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
The word of God rings true in our hearts, and we rejoice to hear the good news that God loves us in spite of our sins, and He has provided a way for us to be saved. Isaiah said:
Isaiah 55:6-11 (NKJ)
6 Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
8 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD.
9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.
10 "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
God has many purposes for His word, but one of its purposes is to produce faith in the hearts of those who believe. Paul said:
Romans 10:17 (NKJ)
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
The world sees the gospel of Jesus Christ as a message for fools, but we are willing to be considered fools for Christ’s sake. As Paul said to the Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 1:18-21 (NKJ)
18 . . . the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent."
20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21 For since . . . the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
Yes, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, and then, faith appropriates the grace of God.
Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace (we) are saved through faith; and that not of (ourselves): it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
That’s what the Bible says and that’s what we believe.
It’s been nearly 500 years since Dr. Martin Luther questioned the use of indulgences in his church. He had learned from the word of God that God’s forgiveness can not be bought with money for our forgiveness has already been bought by the blood of Christ.
On October 31st of 1517, Luther wrote a letter to his Archbishop inviting debate on this very issue of indulgences. He included a copy of his famous 95 Theses, and on the same day he posted the 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenburg Chapel. With the printing press having been recently invented, it wasn’t long before the 95 Theses was being distributed throughout the continent of Europe.
To support his claims that the doctrines and practices of his church were in error, Luther turned to the scriptures and asserted that the scriptures have the final authority. He said that the church can err but the scriptures can not err.
Luther’s position against the indulgences gained favor among the people, and the movement for the reformation of the church began to grow. The primary doctrinal principle of this movement was expressed in the Latin phrase, Sola Fide, which means faith alone, and then next to that was the phrase Sola Scriptura which, of course means by scripture alone. The three other planks of the reformation were Sola Gratia, by grace alone, Sola Christus, by Christ alone, and Soli Deo Gloria, which means glory to God alone.
So the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century was based on the idea that if we take the word of God as our only doctrinal authority, we find that salvation is given only by the grace of God, and it’s given to those who put their faith in nothing but the work of Christ alone upon the cross, and that the sole purpose of salvation is to bring glory to God.
Luther had a couple of opportunities to debate those who opposed his point of view, and in those debates it was pointed out to Luther that his view was in opposition to the teachings of the church. Luther was reminded that the doctrines of the church had been established by the councils of the church and that all of the members of the church were obligated to adhere to the established doctrines of the church.
When Luther refused to accept the doctrines of the church, the church leaders were appalled at what they considered to be Luther’s arrogance. In their minds, they were asking, who does this guy think he is? He really thinks that his opinion is more important than the established doctrines of the church.
Finally, they asked Luther, point blank, if he opposed the teachings of the church. They were shocked when Luther said that in his opinion church councils can be wrong. In fact, he said that a simple layman armed with the Scriptures has more authority than church councils without the Scriptures. Ultimately, Luther was threatened with excommunication, and a price was placed upon his head.
Two years later, Luther was called to Worms, Germany, supposedly to debate his differences with church doctrine, but when he arrived he discovered that the sole purpose of the meeting was to force him to recant. Without hesitation, Luther replied:
Unless I can be instructed and convinced with evidence from the Holy Scriptures or with open, clear, and distinct grounds of reasoning, I will not recant. My conscience is held captive by the word of God, and it is neither safe nor wise to act against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me!
After that, Luther was forced into hiding for a couple of years under the threat of death, but Luther had established the principle of Sola Scriptura. He had made it clear that the only writings which have the authority to bind the conscience of man are the writings of the Bible. In this we see that the Bible is the word of God, and as Isaiah 55 says, it came down from heaven like the snow, and it has been given the power from God to accomplish its mission.
During the first three hundred years after Christ. There were several disputations about which of the writings that were in circulation at the time were actually the inspired word of God. The Bible as we know it was not confirmed by church councils until the year 397 A.D.
However, these early disputations only serve to illustrate the fact that from the earliest writings of the Apostles, it was understood that there were some writings which were in fact the word of God, and that these writings were to be accepted as having the same authority as the writings of the Old Testament.
When the Old Testament prophets spoke, they didn’t say, this is the word of Isaiah, or this is the word of Ezekiel. They said, thus says the Lord, and in the same way, when the Apostles wrote the books of the New Testament, they knew it was the word of the Lord. Peter said:
2 Peter 1:16-21
16 . . . we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but (we) were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory (saying): "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.
19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;
20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,
21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
So Peter emphasizes the fact that all Scripture is given by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and then when he refers to the writings of the Apostle Paul, he calls them Scripture. He says:
2 Peter 3:15-16 (NKJ)
15 . . . account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation-- as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you,
16 as also in all his epistles . . . in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
Paul’s message was to the Gentiles and then to the Church which is the Body of Christ. Therefore, since Peter held firmly to the Jewish hope of the kingdom, it was hard for him to identify with some of Paul’s teachings. But Peter still knew that Paul’s writings were part of the Holy Scriptures, and he said so while he, himself, was writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
No serious challenge has ever been mounted against any of the books of the New Testament or the Old Testament. There are only two or three of the books of the New Testament which have ever been challenged at all. All of the rest of the books of the Bible have been accepted as the word of God from the time they were written.
We accept by faith that the word of God true, and we can see that the writings of the Bible were brought together under the influence of the providential hand of God. God has given us His word. He loves us, and He gave His son to die for us. This is the gospel, and it is the power of God unto salvation to all those who believe.
Well, I see that our time is gone for this morning. It’s been a pleasure studying with you this morning, and I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
But how can we know that these things are true? By human reasoning, it sounds pretty bizarre to think that God would become a man by entering into the womb of a virgin, that He would be born and then grow up to be killed by the very people He had created. That He would do all of this for the purpose of rescuing those same people from the clutches of hell, so that He could give them eternal life. As strange as all this sounds, how can we be sure that it’s really true?
Well, it all boils down to the credibility of the word of God. We can be sure it’s true because God has given us His word.
Hebrews 4:12 (KJV)
12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The word of God is like a mirror that reveals who we really are. When we come to the word of God, we see ourselves. We read the words of Isaiah, who said:
Isaiah 64:6 (NIV)
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all (of) our righteous acts are like filthy rags . . .
When we read this, we know that it’s talking about us personally, and we feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit. However, as we continue in the word, we hear God saying:
Isaiah 1:18 (NKJ)
18 "Come now, and let us reason together . . . Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
The word of God rings true in our hearts, and we rejoice to hear the good news that God loves us in spite of our sins, and He has provided a way for us to be saved. Isaiah said:
Isaiah 55:6-11 (NKJ)
6 Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
8 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD.
9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.
10 "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
God has many purposes for His word, but one of its purposes is to produce faith in the hearts of those who believe. Paul said:
Romans 10:17 (NKJ)
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
The world sees the gospel of Jesus Christ as a message for fools, but we are willing to be considered fools for Christ’s sake. As Paul said to the Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 1:18-21 (NKJ)
18 . . . the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent."
20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21 For since . . . the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
Yes, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, and then, faith appropriates the grace of God.
Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace (we) are saved through faith; and that not of (ourselves): it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
That’s what the Bible says and that’s what we believe.
It’s been nearly 500 years since Dr. Martin Luther questioned the use of indulgences in his church. He had learned from the word of God that God’s forgiveness can not be bought with money for our forgiveness has already been bought by the blood of Christ.
On October 31st of 1517, Luther wrote a letter to his Archbishop inviting debate on this very issue of indulgences. He included a copy of his famous 95 Theses, and on the same day he posted the 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenburg Chapel. With the printing press having been recently invented, it wasn’t long before the 95 Theses was being distributed throughout the continent of Europe.
To support his claims that the doctrines and practices of his church were in error, Luther turned to the scriptures and asserted that the scriptures have the final authority. He said that the church can err but the scriptures can not err.
Luther’s position against the indulgences gained favor among the people, and the movement for the reformation of the church began to grow. The primary doctrinal principle of this movement was expressed in the Latin phrase, Sola Fide, which means faith alone, and then next to that was the phrase Sola Scriptura which, of course means by scripture alone. The three other planks of the reformation were Sola Gratia, by grace alone, Sola Christus, by Christ alone, and Soli Deo Gloria, which means glory to God alone.
So the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century was based on the idea that if we take the word of God as our only doctrinal authority, we find that salvation is given only by the grace of God, and it’s given to those who put their faith in nothing but the work of Christ alone upon the cross, and that the sole purpose of salvation is to bring glory to God.
Luther had a couple of opportunities to debate those who opposed his point of view, and in those debates it was pointed out to Luther that his view was in opposition to the teachings of the church. Luther was reminded that the doctrines of the church had been established by the councils of the church and that all of the members of the church were obligated to adhere to the established doctrines of the church.
When Luther refused to accept the doctrines of the church, the church leaders were appalled at what they considered to be Luther’s arrogance. In their minds, they were asking, who does this guy think he is? He really thinks that his opinion is more important than the established doctrines of the church.
Finally, they asked Luther, point blank, if he opposed the teachings of the church. They were shocked when Luther said that in his opinion church councils can be wrong. In fact, he said that a simple layman armed with the Scriptures has more authority than church councils without the Scriptures. Ultimately, Luther was threatened with excommunication, and a price was placed upon his head.
Two years later, Luther was called to Worms, Germany, supposedly to debate his differences with church doctrine, but when he arrived he discovered that the sole purpose of the meeting was to force him to recant. Without hesitation, Luther replied:
Unless I can be instructed and convinced with evidence from the Holy Scriptures or with open, clear, and distinct grounds of reasoning, I will not recant. My conscience is held captive by the word of God, and it is neither safe nor wise to act against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me!
After that, Luther was forced into hiding for a couple of years under the threat of death, but Luther had established the principle of Sola Scriptura. He had made it clear that the only writings which have the authority to bind the conscience of man are the writings of the Bible. In this we see that the Bible is the word of God, and as Isaiah 55 says, it came down from heaven like the snow, and it has been given the power from God to accomplish its mission.
During the first three hundred years after Christ. There were several disputations about which of the writings that were in circulation at the time were actually the inspired word of God. The Bible as we know it was not confirmed by church councils until the year 397 A.D.
However, these early disputations only serve to illustrate the fact that from the earliest writings of the Apostles, it was understood that there were some writings which were in fact the word of God, and that these writings were to be accepted as having the same authority as the writings of the Old Testament.
When the Old Testament prophets spoke, they didn’t say, this is the word of Isaiah, or this is the word of Ezekiel. They said, thus says the Lord, and in the same way, when the Apostles wrote the books of the New Testament, they knew it was the word of the Lord. Peter said:
2 Peter 1:16-21
16 . . . we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but (we) were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory (saying): "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.
19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;
20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,
21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
So Peter emphasizes the fact that all Scripture is given by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and then when he refers to the writings of the Apostle Paul, he calls them Scripture. He says:
2 Peter 3:15-16 (NKJ)
15 . . . account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation-- as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you,
16 as also in all his epistles . . . in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
Paul’s message was to the Gentiles and then to the Church which is the Body of Christ. Therefore, since Peter held firmly to the Jewish hope of the kingdom, it was hard for him to identify with some of Paul’s teachings. But Peter still knew that Paul’s writings were part of the Holy Scriptures, and he said so while he, himself, was writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
No serious challenge has ever been mounted against any of the books of the New Testament or the Old Testament. There are only two or three of the books of the New Testament which have ever been challenged at all. All of the rest of the books of the Bible have been accepted as the word of God from the time they were written.
We accept by faith that the word of God true, and we can see that the writings of the Bible were brought together under the influence of the providential hand of God. God has given us His word. He loves us, and He gave His son to die for us. This is the gospel, and it is the power of God unto salvation to all those who believe.
Well, I see that our time is gone for this morning. It’s been a pleasure studying with you this morning, and I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
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