The Five Solas: By Scripture Alone

All of Holy Scripture, from beginning to end, points solely to Christ as our source for grace and truth. - Martin Luther


The idea "By Scripture Alone" comes from a rebuttal towards the Catholic Church adding to Scripture and salvation. "The doctrine of justification of the Roman Catholic Church then and now is grounded in works of penance, the treasury of merit, and other elements established in tradition, not the Word of God." (https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/scripture-alone) These additions were accepted because of the Bible not being in the common language of everyday people. The people did not have any grounds of contradicting the Catholic Church. Live in fear was the biggest push from the Catholic Church.

In today's world, it is about you not having enough faith. If you are not healthy, then you must not have enough faith. You are not rich, then you must not have enough faith. This type of faith is not about Jesus. It is about placing your faith in your faith. This type of faith is essentially turning yourself into an idol. It is not about seeking out God's will and following Him. It is about asking God to fulfill your wants and demands. It is humanizing Jesus. This type of teaching can only take place by cherry-picking a singular Bible verse, and normally it is taken out of context.

The problem with these lines of thinking is that the Bible doesn't teach any of this. The Bible doesn't teach that penance, good works, baptism, tithe, and riches help obtain salvation, and they do not give reference to the depth of your salvation.

Scripture tells us in Ephesians 2: 1-10 "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

If Scripture holds the only standard for all of life, the next question is vital: Where do you go to get God's Word? The church you attend is of the utmost importance. How do you protect yourself and your family from unhealthy churches? At the end of the day, we can't depend completely on the church that we attend. Like the Catholic Church or the Word of Faith movement, the audience didn't know the Bible. As believers, we cannot recognize false doctrine if we don't know doctrine. All we can do is completely place our faith in the preacher that he is rightly dividing the Word correctly. This is completely opposite of the Berean church. "The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so (Acts 17:10-11)." Sure, the church you attend is important, but not at the hands of neglecting our own personal growth with God.

David Platt said, "If we want to know the Glory of God, if we want to experience the beauty of God, and if we want to be used by the hand of God, then we must LIVE in the WORD of God."  We must use Scripture to defend Scripture, not our Sunday school or life group curriculum. We can't use our pastor's sermons to replace our own personal study of God's Word. Curriculum and books can be good, but they should never replace our own personal study of God's Word.

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