Sola Scriptura

St. John 1: 1-5

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Sola Scriptura means ‘scripture alone’ in Latin. Our Omniscient Lord has given us His Word for a reason. It is all sufficient, most certain and infallible word of God that is necessary for God’s glory, our salvation, our faith, and our life on this planet and eternity (White, 2004).

Years of listening to several preachers, misunderstanding and misrepresenting the Word of God has driven me to read my Bible in a new light. With the Holy Spirit’s help, I have embarked on this amazing journey of really devouring the Word of God with eagerness and delight. Indeed, it is sweeter than honey! Every revelation revealed by the Holy Spirit through the Word has been a glimpse of what it is like to be in the Garden with God walking beside you, disclosing to you the Word in all its glory. Without His help, without His exposé of the person of Jesus Christ, this would have been a boring book. With each turn of the page, the ‘Truth’ became crystal clear.

We are called to be in unison with Jesus as well as the Father. How are we to go about being one with the Triune God? God has breathed His Word to us through the Holy Scriptures – an instructional manual, if you will. Kindly allow me to lay out how we need to go about. For instance, if we purchase an appliance, do we just plug and use it straight away or do we read the instructions carefully before we plug in? If we don’t read the instructions and use it, then for some weird reason, the appliance doesn’t work the way it is supposed to, then who or what needs to be blamed? Self, of course! Similarly, to lead a Christ-like life on this earth, God gave us ‘The Bible’, which is all-sufficient, most efficient and certain and the truest manual one can rely completely on. It is the ultimate authority!

Then what about church denominations, distractions from the Truth, various doctrines that seem to slightly contradict the Truth, which seem to be inspired by men rather than God? We are torn and ripped apart by this dichotomy that has plagued our Universal Church of Christ for centuries. How are we to combat such wide array of beliefs, thereby, not follow false doctrine or false teachers? Can we trust and rely solely on the Scriptures?

There is but one tried and tested solution to such dichotomy. With the Word of God as the fulcrum in our walk with the Lord, we must believe that any discrepancies we encounter and ignorantly partake certain times, are subject to His Divine Authority. The unchangeable, indestructible, irreplaceable Word of God will eclipse every falsehood that comes from the mouth of a mere man. That should reassure us from never fearing while we are walking on uncertain ground. Resting in Him for wisdom can lift us up from every controversy. Conversely, relying on preachers or men-derived doctrines for all the truth can drag us into miry pits, where we never learn to discard the crutches.

As we behold the Truth in our hands, let us trust in God the Father, Jesus His Son and the Holy Spirit alone, and in His breathed Word to guide us through murky waters of this world.

Thoughts inspired by:

White, R. James Scripture Alone – Exploring the Bible’s Accuracy, Authority, and Authenticity. Bethany House Publishers, Grand Rapids, MI, 2004. The Holy Bible