Sola Scriptura
How does God speak today? How should you go about discerning His voice? How should the church decide what to believe, teach, and promote regarding God, His Son and the gospel of Jesus Christ? How should believers seek God’s direction regarding the important issues of their lives? In what ways should we settle disputes that arise about church believe and practice? Are our beliefs and practices based on our experiences plus scripture, the private revelations from people who say they’ve heard directly from God plus the scripture or on scripture alone? This is crucial because churches, families and individuals will pursue their relationship with God based on something. We’ll submit to the guidance of our own experiences, a pastor/guru or the scriptures.
The reformers faced similar issues in their struggle against the Roman Catholic Church. From Rome’s perspective scripture along with church councils along with the pope when he spoke ‘ex-cathedra’ were all authoritative and binding for God’s people. The reformers replied that scripture and scripture alone was the rule of faith, belief and practice for God’s church and God’s people. To this end we agree with the Cambridge Declaration of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals: We reaffirm the inerrant Scripture to be the sole source of written divine revelation, which alone can bind the conscience. The Bible alone teaches all that is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the standard by which all Christian behavior must be measured.
Why are we convinced that scripture alone is the only rule for faith, belief and practice for the church and its members? We believe it because the holy scripture is the inerrant, God-breathed word of God. It is the revelation of the living God and thus in and of itself all we need to know, serve, follow, obey, delight in, love and believe in Him. As 2 Tim 3:16 reads ‘All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness’.
It is therefore scripture alone, not our experience or the so-called revelations of others that can bind our conscience with respect to the things of God. No man or woman can dictate or dominate the walk of a believer simply on the basis of his or her position or private revelation.
Following the measure of scripture alone liberates us from depending on charismatic people who claim to ‘speak a word into our lives’ in order to know the will of God. All that we need to know about God’s will, walking before Him in holiness and following our Lord Jesus faithfully is found in His word. Pastors and teachers are charged with preaching and teaching the scriptures. That means that we are responsible to study, explain and apply what scripture says concerning the Covenant Lord and our relation to Him. Our appeal to God’s people regarding the way they think, speak and live to glorify God must be based solely on what scripture says. If we’re wrong and a change must be made, then let that change come about through the prayerful study of scripture.
What is true about individual believers is also true about the Lord’s church. What we teach, preach, believe, preserve and promote regarding God, mankind, sin, salvation, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the church etc. must arise from and be based on our study of scripture. The church never, ever decides to adopt a new belief, practice or doctrine because some man insists he’s got a fresh revelation from God. Belief in scripture alone means that for us God has spoken authoritatively, clearly, sufficiently and finally. Any and everything we need to know in order to serve, witness of, and live before our Covenant Lord in 21st century America has already been revealed, written and preserved in holy scripture.
Do we believe that God still speaks today? Yes we do. Whenever one of His people read, reflect on, think through, hear or study His word our God speaks loud and clear.
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Heb. 4:12 (ESV)
For Christ, His Church and the Truth
Lance Lewis