And so, today we continue in our new series on the solas. So kicking it off with sola scriptura is what is before us tonight.
Again, Pastor Adam opened us last week with a bit of a history of the Middle Ages, a bit looking at the ecclesiological side of some of the mess with the papacy and kind of the breakdown of the church, which is what led to the Reformation. And so, today I’m given the opportunity to begin with sola scriptura, for it is from scripture that we begin to unpack a lot of what the Reformation meant and also the foundation for the rest of the solas.
Where do we derive these teachings from? Where do we derive faith alone from, grace alone from, Christ alone from? You must have a source from which to derive these teachings, and so that is the scriptures.
And so, as we unpack this, I want to begin with a brief history, why scripture is so important to us. And again, it’s a theme that echoes throughout history, is this reliance on the scriptures to teach and inform the faith. But for a long period of time, the issue arose is that there was a degree to which scripture got lost in the fact of the illiteracy of the age.
So again, it wasn’t a very literate culture, and so with that, you saw the rise of art and icons throughout church history, begin to see churches become painted with scenes from scripture so that people could understand the general idea through art. Again, it took on its own reverence, and as all things do, what began as purposeful began, becomes sacrilegious in many ways, as scripture got lost to traditions. So the scriptures themselves began to be sacrificed for tradition, as the church itself transformed over time.
Also along the way is we have the standardization of one translation that becomes primary. So again, we have the translation of the Greek and Hebrew texts into Latin in the late 4th, early 5th centuries by Jerome, Jerome of Jerusalem becomes a very important figure. Again, Jerome is not a bad figure, everyone gives him a bad rap just because of the Vulgate. He’s actually a very important church father who was very knowledgeable about the scriptures and was passionate about the scriptures. In many ways, Jerome is the John Wycliffe or the John Huss of his day, translating the Bible into his people’s language. So he wanted the Romans to be able to read the Bible in Latin because they spoke Latin.
So again, now how that’s abused over many, many years may be very similar to how some KJVers treat the current scriptures, as if they themselves are the only inspired word of God, because the KJV is God’s only true word, and if it was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me. So if you’ve met those KJVers, they do exist, it’s weird. But that’s the idea.
So the scriptures were translated into Latin for the good of the people, and again, over time it is abused and becomes the only true divine language. And so part of what Adam unpacked a little bit for last week was some of the history, and we talked about the destruction of Constantinople. Now what’s important is Constantinople’s destruction is one of the greatest tragedies and one of the greatest victories for the church. So it’s a tragedy because again, this great Christian beacon of life to what ultimately was the East is destroyed, but in so doing, all of the Greek texts, because again, so Latin, we don’t care about the Greek, that’s unnecessary. Those darn Easterners can keep their silly Greek texts. We have the Latin, the true word of God.
But with the destruction of Constantinople, all the Greek texts, all the Greek fathers, all of that entire history is packed up and shipped West. The Vatican will happily take it all at that point. So lots of churches in the West start to get Greek manuscripts, start to read the text for the first time in these different Greek originals, which begins to transform their understanding. So they’re no longer just reading the interpretation. So they’re not just reading the Latin Vulgate, but they’re reading what did the early church believe and what are the Greek original as close to original manuscripts actually said. That began to transform the world as they see what does scripture truly teach and does scripture, okay, does tradition align with scripture?
And again, that’s one of the things that you have the 95 thesis, this giant list that we have that starts the reformation is ultimately a list of how the church’s traditions have deviated from the scriptures as Luther poured over the scriptures to see how they aligned with the church’s traditions and then saw that the traditions had become distorted. And so this becomes the beginning of this transformation that leads us to the reality that we see today, the importance of scripture.
So again, that unpacks a little bit of the history. We’ll work through some of the modern applications of that a little bit later in a few weeks when we get to the end of our series, but I wanted to set that foundation. So kind of highlighting some of the important history behind Solar Scripture before we turn to the Word today and just unpack Scripture’s pointed discussion on the Scriptures and why the Scriptures are so important to us and what we get from the study of God’s Word.
So of course, does anyone want to guess what text we are going to go to? There we go. Is there another text besides 2nd? There are lots of other texts. I will highlight some of them, but we want a concise one, very to the point. It is 2nd Timothy 3, 16 and 17. That is the text before us tonight as we are encouraged in this discussion on the Scriptures and the reality of the Scriptures’ importance to us as a church and as individuals. So the Scriptures as foundational.
So again, as you turn to 2nd Timothy, this is Paul’s second letter written to Timothy encouraging him. This is believed to be the last letter of Paul. This is Paul’s last hurrah, encouraging Timothy to live out the faith well and to fulfill his mission, to do the ministry he’s been called to. Paul’s time is done. He’s been poured out as a drink offering. He’s finished. Peace out, Timothy. Keep going. Okay?
And so in this final letter, he gives Timothy a series of different encouragements on living out the faith, on preaching the gospel, and so he reminds him time and time again of living out the faith well, and part of it is this reminder of the importance of the Word of God, to proclaim the Word. And in 3, chapter 3, 16 and 17, all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
And so what Paul here is encouraging Timothy, and in so doing, encouraging the church throughout every generation, is the importance of the Scriptures for shaping us individually and corporately. And so the first part that he encourages and reminds him is the fact that all Scripture is breathed out by God. It’s foundational for our understanding that these are not the whims of man. Scriptures aren’t just randomly written down based on how men felt like talking about God. Paul is encouraging him to remember that these are the words of God to his people.
The Torah, the first five books, the Pentateuch, if you will, in a Greek setting, first five books breathed out by God to instruct the people of Israel who their God is, who saved them out of Egypt, telling their entire history, telling the history from Genesis, their creation, all the way through to the proclamation that they are about to enter the promised land, the death of Moses and the institution of Joshua. That tells their foundational story, the law. It’s also why it’s called the law, the Torah, the first five Pentateuch. That is the first five. These all are breathed out by God.
Moses didn’t just sit down like, well, what should I include about the Red Sea? We walked through it. We sang a song. It was a good song. Miriam danced. That was weird, but I’m going to write it in there. There’s a reality that these were things that God inspired and breathed out for them to be written. The Holy Spirit carried them along. They wrote them accordingly.
Then we see that again, go throughout the whole of the Old Testament, the reminders of the prophets, the different things that they were prophesying, both to the people and to the future. These are all things that God was teaching and leading them to write. We see this in 2 Peter, knowing this, first of all, that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. They weren’t just making it up as they went along.
Again, the gospel writers aren’t just making it up. They’re firsthand accounts or connected to them. Of course, we have Matthew, who is an apostle. Matthew, the tax collector, also known as Levi, was with Christ. Then we have Mark. Does anyone know who Mark’s gospel is from? Peter. Again, he gives us Peter’s firsthand account because Mark is Peter’s second in Rome. He ends up in Rome with Peter, becomes his second in command. Luke travels with the apostles. He becomes their historian, if you will, thus giving us also the book of Acts. As the Spirit leads them, of course, John is John, the beloved, the one who ran faster than Peter, in case you need to know all those details. There is a little bit of character also in it. It’s not just a robot writing. There are some personality quirks in there as well. They don’t just robot Holy Spirit work. It is the influence of the Holy Spirit that leads them to write, inspires their writing. a little bit of personality in their writings as well, so as God uses them.
And so each of these things, they are being reminded of, Paul is reminding Timothy, us also reminding us, of the impact and necessity are reminded that these things are written by God. And it’s not just that they’re written by God, but they’re written by God for a purpose. They are profitable. They are of good value. Okay, so these things are not of no value. But let me go back a second. Sorry, I skipped a whole portion. It’s an important part. The meaning of the inspired work. So we use the word breathed out, also inspired. Inspired is the fancy term. Okay, that’s inspired by God, and it has five historic uses. So historically, we talk about the inspiration of scripture in this way in five distinct ways.
First, therefore, it is inerrant. If it is breathed out by God, it is inerrant. You might have heard about this. Again, we’ll deal with the whole inerrancy controversy when I do Semper Reformanda in five weeks. But for now, just the basic idea that it is without error. The Holy Spirit leads them, so they write. If it is written by God and by the Holy Spirit, it is therefore without error in its original writings and intent.
Also, if it is the inspired word of God, then it is authoritative. So it has authority. So with it carries the weight of God’s word. So it should be taken with a seriousness for it is the word of God. It is clear. So it’s not meant to be confusing. It’s not meant to be some weird Gnostic text that only a few can understand. It is clear in what it teaches. It is necessary. We need it. We need the word of God to know God. And it is sufficient. It is all we need. We don’t need to add to it. We don’t need to take away from it. It is sufficient for us.
And so, as we see, it is profitable. It is of good use for these things. It is for teaching. It is for reproof. It is for correction, and it is for training in righteousness. So it teaches us. It teaches us who God is. It teaches us who we are. It teaches us what God has done. It teaches us how we should live. It reproves us. It tells us where we have gone wrong. It corrects us. It shows us how to get back on the right path. And it trains us in righteousness. It trains us how to live a life that is pleasing to God.
So it’s not just about knowing, it’s about doing. It’s not just about head knowledge, but it’s about a heart transformation that leads to a life transformation. It’s not just about knowing more, it’s about knowing God more. And in knowing him, we then live it out. We live out the good work it has instructed us in. So that, my friends, is Sola Scriptura today. So that is what we have. So any questions, comments, charges of heresy?
