The Reformation and the question of sola scriptura

Program / Course 11: Church, Sacraments, and Authority / Lesson 3.4

What you will learn

• Define sola scriptura and describe how the Reformers used it.
• Distinguish the position of the magisterial Reformers from the radical Reformation and from modern individualism.
• State the main scriptural and historical arguments for and against sola scriptura.
• Compare how Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican and other Protestants relate Scripture to tradition.

The big idea

Sola scriptura, Latin for Scripture alone, is the Protestant teaching that Scripture is the only infallible and final authority for Christian faith and life. The Reformers did not reject the creeds, the fathers or the church’s teaching. They held that these must be tested by Scripture and can err. Critics, Catholic and Orthodox, answer that Scripture alone cannot be shown from Scripture, that it leaves no final judge between competing readings, and that the canon was received through the church. Defenders reply to each point.

Key terms

Sola scriptura

Latin for by Scripture alone. The teaching that Scripture is the supreme and only infallible norm of faith.

Magisterial Reformation

The Reformation of Luther, Zwingli, Calvin and the Anglican reformers, who worked with civil authorities and kept creeds, ministers and sacraments.

Radical Reformation

A set of movements, including the Anabaptists, that rejected infant baptism and ties with state churches and relied more directly on Scripture.

Perspicuity

The teaching that the central message of Scripture is clear enough for ordinary believers to understand.

Norma normans, norma normata

Latin phrases for a norming norm and a normed norm. Scripture is the first, and creeds and confessions the second.

Solo scriptura

A term some writers use for the idea that each person interprets Scripture alone, with no regard for the church’s teaching. Most Reformers rejected it.

Background

The Reformation began in 1517 with Martin Luther’s call for debate over indulgences. By 1519, in a debate at Leipzig, Luther was saying that councils and popes can err. At the Diet of Worms in 1521, when asked to recant, he is reported to have said that he could not do so unless convinced by Scripture or by plain reason, and that his conscience was captive to the word of God. The exact words attributed to him are debated by historians, but the stance is well attested.

From the sixteenth century on, Protestants of many kinds have used the phrase sola scriptura. It means different things to different groups. This lesson distinguishes the main meanings and sets out the arguments. Catholic and Orthodox criticisms are given in the strongest form their own writers use.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: What the Reformers meant

Luther, Calvin and the confessions taught that Scripture is the supreme authority, and that other authorities, councils, fathers and the church’s own teaching, are subordinate and can err. They did not discard them. Luther kept the ancient creeds and wrote on the councils. Calvin cited the fathers constantly and defended the early councils on the Trinity and Christ. The Thirty-Nine Articles (Article 6) say that Scripture contains all things necessary to salvation, and Article 21 says that general councils may err. The Westminster Confession (1.6, 1.10) says that the whole counsel of God is either set down in Scripture or may be deduced from it by good and necessary consequence, and that the Holy Spirit speaking in Scripture is the supreme judge.

Scholars sometimes describe this as a position in which tradition is the church’s interpretation of Scripture, held under Scripture’s judgment. Some call it Tradition 1, in contrast with an idea of tradition as a second, independent source, which some call Tradition 2. These labels come from modern scholarship and are not used by every writer.

Step 2: Biblical arguments offered

Protestants cite 2 Timothy 3:16-17, which says Scripture is God-breathed and profitable so that the man of God may be complete and equipped for every good work. They cite Jesus’ repeated appeals to the written word (Matthew 4:4) and his rebuke of traditions that nullify the commandment of God (Mark 7:13). They cite the Bereans, who examined the Scriptures daily to see whether what Paul said was so (Acts 17:11).

Critics respond that 2 Timothy 3:16 does not say Scripture is the only authority, since it speaks of the Old Testament and does not exclude the apostolic teaching delivered by word (2 Thessalonians 2:15). Protestant replies note that the New Testament writings were soon placed alongside the Old, and that the passage still describes the sufficiency of Scripture for its purpose. The argument continues, and each side can fairly claim that its reading is reasonable.

Step 3: The main objections

First, the doctrine itself. Catholic and Orthodox writers observe that no verse teaches sola scriptura in so many words. Protestants answer that the doctrine is a conclusion drawn from what Scripture says about itself and about human traditions, as the Trinity is a conclusion from Scripture even though the word does not appear.

Second, interpretation. Critics note that Protestants who hold the same Bible have divided into thousands of denominations and disagree on baptism, the Lord’s Supper and the church. Protestants answer that they agree on the central creeds, that disagreement exists in all churches, and that Catholics and Orthodox also face disputes over interpretation. Many Protestants add that they do not read Scripture alone, but in the church, with the creeds and the fathers as guides.

Third, the canon. Critics say that the church decided which books belong in the Bible, so the church precedes Scripture. Protestants reply that the church recognized books that already carried divine authority. They also note that the Protestant churches differ with the Catholic and Orthodox about the Old Testament books sometimes called the deuterocanonical or apocryphal.

Step 4: Variety among Protestants

Lutherans, with their confessions in the Book of Concord, stress Scripture as the only rule and give the confessions a normed standing. Reformed churches give significant weight to their confessions and catechisms. Anglicans, following Richard Hooker in the late sixteenth century, speak of Scripture, reason and tradition, giving Scripture first place. The Methodist tradition is sometimes described using the phrase Wesleyan quadrilateral (Scripture, tradition, reason and experience), a term that was coined in the twentieth century by Albert Outler to describe John Wesley’s approach.

Some Baptist, Pentecostal and non-denominational churches hold a sharper form in which the Bible is the only book they need and creeds and confessions have little or no formal role. Scholars sometimes call this a modern form that departs from the Reformers’ own use, though members of these churches deny that they depart from the Reformation principle.

Step 5: Questions for a fair reader

The doctrine is best judged by asking what each side is protecting. Protestants wish to protect the freedom of the word of God to correct the church, as the prophets and Jesus corrected religious leaders. Catholics and Orthodox wish to protect the unity and continuity of the church and the way in which the faith is passed on in community. Each has a real concern. A student can state both concerns before deciding whether the proposed solutions meet them.

1. Does this writer mean Scripture alone, or Scripture read alone?
2. What place does the writer give to creeds, councils and the fathers?
3. Which verse does the argument rest on, and is the reading the only possible one?
4. How does the writer deal with the formation of the canon?
5. How does the writer respond to the existence of many denominations?
6. What is the writer protecting?

Examples

Different perspectives

Protestant

Scripture is the final norm because it alone is God-breathed and without error. Councils and fathers help to interpret it. The Westminster Confession and the Thirty-Nine Articles express a common Protestant position, though they differ on some details. Protestants often add that sola scriptura is not a rejection of the church, and that the church is a servant of the word.

Catholic

The Catholic Church holds that sola scriptura is not taught in Scripture, that it leaves believers without a means to settle disputes, and that Scripture is rightly interpreted within the church’s tradition by the magisterium. Catholics honor Scripture as the word of God and require its reading in the liturgy. They argue that the principle has not produced unity.

Orthodox

Orthodox theologians say that Scripture is the church’s book and cannot be set against the church that received and preserved it. They hold that the principle isolates Scripture from the living Tradition in which it is understood, and that this produces private interpretation. They also recognize that Protestants affirm the early creeds.

Scholarly view

Historians distinguish the Reformers’ use of Scripture, which was set within a strong respect for the church’s past, from modern forms in which each reader is the final judge. They also note that Catholic theologians before Trent disagreed about the relation of Scripture and tradition, so the positions were not fixed when the Reformation began.

Why it matters

Sola scriptura underlies most Protestant thinking about how to know what is true, and the objections to it underlie the Catholic and Orthodox cases. A student who can state the doctrine accurately, with its range of meanings, will avoid the common error of treating it as simple individual opinion, and can understand the controversy as a real disagreement about how God’s word is preserved and interpreted.

Common misunderstandings

Knowledge check

Think it through

1. What is the difference between Scripture as the final authority and Scripture as the only authority?
2. How would a church show that its interpretation is not merely its own invention?
3. What does a believer lose and gain by reading Scripture within a tradition?
4. Which of the three objections do you find strongest, and what is the best reply?

Independent assignment

The doctrine in three confessions

In your notebook, read the opening chapter of the Westminster Confession, Articles 6 and 21 of the Thirty-Nine Articles, and the preface to the Augsburg Confession or the Formula of Concord if available. Write a short summary of what each says about the authority of Scripture and of councils. Then write 250 to 350 words stating the Catholic or Orthodox objection and the Protestant reply as each would state them. Keep the work in your notebook.

Further study

• Westminster Assembly, The Westminster Confession of Faith Read chapter 1 on Holy Scripture.
• Philip Schaff, Creeds of Christendom, vol. 3: The Creeds of the Evangelical Protestant Churches Read the Thirty-Nine Articles 6 to 8 and 21, and the Augsburg Confession.
• Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will Luther’s argument on the clarity of Scripture is found in this work.
• John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion Book 1 chapters 6 to 9 on Scripture and the Spirit.
• Council of Trent (1545-1563), Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent Read the decree on Scripture and traditions for the Catholic reply.
• 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God.
• Acts 17:11 The Bereans examined the Scriptures.
• Mark 7:13 Making the word of God void through tradition.