Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 137 | 5 Solas

Episode Date: July 15, 2019

What does it mean to be "reformed?"

Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Hope everyone is having a wonderful day. If you are watching this on YouTube, if you're not, you should totally subscribe to the Allie Beth Stucky YouTube channel, by the way. But if you are watching this on YouTube and I'm sitting really weirdly, that's because right now, as I'm recording this, I'm at the end of the pregnancy and I'm really uncomfortable when I sit a certain way for a long time. So I have to like arrange myself so that my hips aren't killing me. Uh, anyway, today, we're not actually talking about my discomfort in pregnancy, believe it or not, sorry to burst your bubble. But we are going to talk about the five solas. And if you have no idea what I'm talking about when I say the five solas, that's perfectly fine. You will soon enough. So as most of you guys know, I am a Protestant.

I am specifically what you would call a reformed Protestant. And I've talked about kind of how I got into that and how I recognized that that was the theology that I ascribe to. And a of course, the theology that I believe to be true when I was in high school and how that's developed since then. I've talked about that on the past podcast, but I want to talk about the pillars of what it means to be a reformed Protestant. A lot of you guys have asked me about this before, and this episode is going to lay the groundwork for that by explaining something called the five solas. So the adherence to these five solas is what fundamentally distinct. which is Protestants from Catholics. There are a lot of things that Protestants and Catholics agree on,

even within the Five Solis, but we do differ on some really important things. I know I have a lot of Catholic friends that listen to this podcast, and that is awesome. I'm so grateful that you guys listen and you guys have messaged me sometimes about the disagreements that you have or you've said, hey, I'm a Catholic. I don't agree with everything you say, but I love your podcast, and I find that we agree on enough for this to be, you know, good for me to listen to, or or I've changed my perspective on something, whatever it is. I really appreciate those of you who maybe don't agree on every point of my theology or don't agree maybe with my theology at all.

But you open your ears up to listen to a different perspective. I think that's really productive for both of us to be able to have those conversations where we disagree. So no in this is I explain the five solas. I am going to have to say, okay, here's a difference between what we believe and what the Catholic Church believes. And of course, as a Protestant coming from this perspective, If there is a place where we differ with the Catholic Church, of course, I believe that the Protestant position is right or else I would not be in this position. But I don't want that, I don't want

anyone to take that as an attack. I don't want anyone to take that as hatred or antipathy towards the other side. There's a lot of conflict between the Catholic Church and Protestantism coming from both directions. And I don't want this to be about that conflict. This is simply saying what the five solas are and where they came from. And with, within that is talking about some of the history of the history of the disagreements between the Catholic and the Protestant Church. Now, there have been times where I have posted, like as a caption one time, I posted the five solas. And I know I keep saying that word. And if you're like, what the heck are the five solas? Don't worry. I promise that I'm going to explain that.

But I think a lot of you probably too, where I've had Catholics reach out to me or comment or message me, whatever, and say, why would you polarize your audience like that? Why would you, you, you know, make us feel bad? Why would you demonize us? When I really said nothing about Catholicism at all, I just said what I believe is a Protestant. So please do not take me talking about my Protestant theology, my reformed Protestant theology as an attack. I certainly don't see it as an attack when I hear a Catholic talk about sacraments, when I hear the Catholics talk about Mary in a way that I don't agree with. So please don't take it as a personal attack. or that I dislike you or anything like that.

I want us to be able to have a productive dialogue about this. And since I've been asked so often about why I'm a reformed Protestant or what it actually means and what the five solas are, I wanted to do this episode. And like I said, I'm going to have to touch on Catholicism just a tiny bit. But it is all done in the vein of edification and in love. So the five solas or the five soli, if you want to get super laxism, with it. I don't even know if that's how you pronounce it. I took Latin. We had to take Latin when I was in middle school. And I think it was beneficial, but unfortunately, I don't really remember that much. But I do

know that soli or A-E is plural. So you could say five soli if you want to do it that way. So what does Sola mean, first of all? It's the Latin word for alone. So you could call these the five alones. If you want to, the five alones of the Protestant faith, the five alones or the five pillars of reformed Protestantism. When I say reformed Protestantism, that means taking the values and the pillars of the reformation that happened after Martin Luther. We're going to get into that in just a second. And these five solas or these five alones, these five pillars spring from the reformed theology or reformed Protestantism is built on these pillars, which of course we believe is built on the word of God. So in Latin, these five solas or soli are.

Sola gratia, Sola Fide, Solis Christus, Sola Scrippsura, Solidaeo Gloria. And as you can tell, don't have the Latin accent down very well. Probably sounds a lot like a Texan trying to say these things in Latin. So sorry if I butchered it. Any of you fluent Latin speakers out there. Just kidding. And this means English I can do okay. So this might be better.

This means grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone, scripture alone to the glory of God alone. So those are the five solas, the five pillars of reformed Protestantism. So it's usually said like this, by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to scripture alone, for God's glory alone. By grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to scripture alone, for God's glory alone. So let's ask this question, where did all of this come from? Where did this come from? Where did Protestants get this idea? So the five solas go all the way back to the Reformation. Like I said, the Reformation was a theological revolt, if you will. Revolt sounds kind of like a dramatic word,

but it really kind of was a revolt or a revolution against what a lot of people saw as unbiblical practices of the Catholic Church at the time. The Reformation spread throughout Europe, mostly led by people like Martin Luther in Germany. You've got John Calvin in France, and you've got Ulrich Zwingli in Switzerland. The event that is seen as the precipitation or the spark of what I think that you could honestly describe as a wildfire was Martin Luther's 95 Theses that were posted on October 31st, 1517 at the University of Wittenberg. Now, some people say that he actually nailed it to the door. Some people say that was a myth. Regardless, the tweet thread, if you will, went viral. It might have even gotten ratioed just a little bit by a lot of people who were

mad about it. Caused a lot of controversy, but also was retweeted a lot of times throughout Europe. Okay, I'm done with that analogy. So Martin Luther was a German monk and a professor of theology. He knew Catholic doctrine very well. This is not an outsider. This is an insider in the Catholic church. He knew the Bible very well. He knew the Catholic Church very well. And he saw what he felt like was corruption, according to God's word, in the Catholic Church, a wandering away from the Christianity of Scripture, the Church of Scripture, and that is why he posted the 95 theses to express his many concerns with how the Catholic Church was operating at the time. Luther didn't actually intend to start any kind of revolution his early writings revealed to us.

He wasn't trying to make a new church or even separate himself necessarily from the Catholic Church. He wanted to reform the Catholic Church. He wanted to change it for the better in accordance with scripture. His early writings show that he wanted really to still be. be a part of the Catholic Church to work on it from the inside. But he felt, according to what he was reading in the Bible, that the Catholic Church needed to change. Church leadership had become drunk with power. And like anyone drunk with power, they had become corrupt and exploit. I hate this word. I can't ever say exploitative. You could say exploitative, exploitative. They were exploiting the people at the bottom. So one of the ways that the

Catholic Church was abusing power at the time was the church's selling of indulgences. This was money the church received from its congregants. The church leaders promised would pay for their sins and limit the amount of time their loved ones would spend in purgatory. Luther was very concerned about this. He was concerned about a false sense of assurance that Catholics would feel by giving money to the church. And that's not what the Bible outlines as the means of salvation.

That is not what gives us peace in our salvation. Luther saw serious problems as well with the papacy. He wasn't actually anti-Pope, but he was against what he saw as a movement of the papacy towards embracing man-made doctrines rather than scripture. So here's an example of what Luther said in his thesis about indulgences and the Pope. Number 32.

On the way to eternal damnation, are they and their teachers who believe that they are sure of their salvation through indulgences. Number 33, beware well of those who say the Pope's pardons are the inestimable gift of God by which man is reconciled to God. A few years after he posted the 95 Theses, Pope Leo the 10th, issued something called a papal bull against Martin Luther, judging Luther a heretic. As a consequence of that, Emperor Charles V called the infamous Diet of Worms, which was a court assembled, which was a court assembled before which Luther, was asked to appear and recant all of his so-called heretical beliefs. He was asked by Johan Eck, who actually represented the emperor at the time, if he would

recant these views. And this is what Luther said, unless I am convinced by the testimony of the scriptures or by clear reason, for I do not trust either in the Pope or in councils alone, since it is well know that they have often erred and contradicted themselves, I am bound by the scriptures I have quoted, and my conscience is captive to the word of. God. I cannot and will not recant anything since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen. After that, the Diet of Worms issued the Edict of Worms, which declared him a heretic officially and banned the reading of Luther's writings. And it was

understood that Luther was going to be excommunicated. It was understood that Luther was excommunicated and then it was also understood that he was probably going to be executed. But he ended up being taken away and hidden by Prince Frederick the 3rd of Saxony. And it was in his hiding that he continued to write and to read and to actually translate the Bible into German. This was the first translation of the Bible from the original Hebrew and Greek into German rather than the Latin Vulgate version. this meant that the common person, the layperson, not just monks and priests and clergy who had been

educated in the reading of the Latin Vulgate, but everyone who could read in Germany could read the word of God for themselves. This was revolutionary. So imagine if you had been in the Catholic Church at the time, you just didn't know. You likely had never read the Bible for yourself. You didn't know that indulgences weren't in the Bible. You didn't know that the Pope didn't have supreme power. or maybe you felt that it wasn't right, but you just weren't sure. You did what you were told. Until now, until the 95 Theses, until the Reformation, until the translation of the Bible. At this point, the revolution, because of all of this, had already begun.

Luther lit a flame that could not be put out that was far beyond his control, and it was spreading throughout Europe. Now, Luther was, he was disturbed, actually, by a lot of what was happening, or some of what was happening. I won't say a lot. some of what was happening with the Protestant Reformation. Like I said, he didn't really intend to go for things to go exactly as they did. He still saw good in the Catholic Church, but that he thought maybe was worth preserving. But it was too late. The idea that people got in their minds from Luther, from the 95 Theses, and from this spirit that was traveling throughout Europe. And I say spirit just in the sense of this attitude, this thought, this feeling. The idea that men and women are not. beholden primarily to church authority but to God himself and that men and women through God's word could have a relationship with God himself that Jesus is the only intercessor between God and

man that salvation was earned not through allegiance to the Pope or the giving of indulgences but through grace by faith that it's not something that is earned but something that is given by God. Those ideas were radical at the time and they started a revolution. one thing to note about Martin Luther. He was not a perfect guide. And I don't think that any Protestant, reform Protestant claims that or should claim that. Some of his ratings are anti-Semitic. He said some really hateful things. We don't need to obscure that. I feel no reason to defend him to the death. We also, though, don't have to discount the Reformation because of that. His ideas were true. They hold up in comparison to Scripture. When you look at Scripture,

His ideas were based on scripture, and Protestants are extremely thankful to God for what God did through him and what God did through the Protestant Reformation. And again, this is not out of hatred for our Catholic friends. I would argue that the Catholic Church, and I've heard Catholics say this, have benefited in a lot of ways from the Protestant Reformation as well. The idea that Catholics, that lay people can study the Bible on their own, that they can learn theology, on their own was sparked by the ideas of the Reformation, that you as an individual have a responsibility to God and to know him for yourself as he as the supreme authority and salvation is by him alone. All of these ideas were spread because of the Reformation and also infused, whether some in the Catholic Church liked it or not, into Catholicism. And that has been helpful and productive for a lot

of people in the Catholic Church. And I realize, I do realize I was surprised by this. I've just kind of learned this over the past few years that a lot of Catholics still hate Martin Luther and hates the Reformation. They still see him as the guy who ruined everything. And they say, how can Protestants possibly celebrate the Protestant Reformation? You've got so many denominations now. You're so fractured. How could you possibly say that this is right? This is like celebrating a divorce. And these, I've heard people say this, who I really respect. and like and are extremely smart, wonderful people. But the understanding is from a lot of Catholics' perspective is how could you possibly celebrate

this? And to that, I say, well, yes, there are different denominations because disagreement is always going to be the result of freedom. Disagreement is always going to be the result of freedom. That is true of the United States as well. In the United States, we don't live under a tyrant or a monarch. We have freedom of speech. We have freedom of religion.

that means that there is speech out there that we don't like or that we don't agree with. That means that there are religions being practiced that we don't agree with. But disagreement and freedom is better than unity and tyranny. That's what the United States decided. That's what Protestants decided. Now, Protestants don't believe in disagreement, period. We all believe in the same source of truth and we'll get to all of that and reconciling that in a little bit.

But yes, the consequence, one of the consequences of freedom and not living under what Protestants at the time felt like, was a tyrant is going to be slight disagreement. And that's what I would say is the difference between a lot of denominations is a slight disagreement. And like I said, we're going to get into all of those and the nature of those disagreements in just a little bit. But it's important, it's important to note that while Protestant denominations do disagree, they are mostly just secondary and tertiary issues, not on what it means to be a Christian, but on salvation issue. So fundamentally, Protestants are still united on the five solas, even if we worship a little bit

differently, if we sing our songs differently, even if we have different views about the timing of baptism. Now, there are, of course, more liberal denominations and more conservative denominations, but that exists within the Catholic Church, too. That's just the nature of humanity. We are going to disagree. But what all earnest practicing Protestants believe is that the Word of God is our authority, not our own opinions. So even if we do disagree on things, we can agree that scripture, not any church authority, not any one person, not any man-made piece of literature, scripture gets the final say as the word of God. And with that, let us get into the five solas. So number one, sola gratia, by grace alone, or solagratia, however you want to say it. By grace alone, by grace alone

is probably, I mean, you could say that about all of the solas what I'm about to say. It's probably one of the most radical, at least to the world, radical ideas in Christianity. It distinguishes Christianity from other religions. It's probably one of the hardest concepts for non-believers to understand because we are used to the concept of earning or deserving or merit. Grace is the giving of a reward despite the punishment that you deserve. So mercy and grace are different. mercy is taking away the punishment that you deserve.

Grace is actually giving you a reward in place of the punishment that you deserve. So this means that those who are in Christ, who are believers in Christ, that we not only escape eternity in hell, but we also get to spend eternity with God in heaven, experiencing fullness of joy and peace and perfection forever. Just because God loves us and is good, this wasn't something that he had to do. This was something that he chose to do because of his, kindness and his goodness for his glory, not ours. You have heard the phrase, you know, I've got to get in her good graces, meaning like I've got to get on her good side or get this person to like me.

That is not the kind of grace that scripture talks about in relation to salvation. This grace-fueled salvation is not a result or a consequence of what we do, either through good works or indulgences or allegiance to a particular church, but a salvation that is given to us as a gift through God's grace. Grace is not cheap. It is free for us, but it cost God the life of his son, Jesus, who was God made flesh. Grace was poured out in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which resulted in salvation for all who believe.

The very concept of grace is by nature giving us what we, in fact, do not deserve. The Bible is clear that all of us deserve punishment. Apart from Christ, we are all condemned. John 318 says this. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only son of God. Jeremiah 179 says our hearts are desperately wicked. Isaiah 646 says, we have all become like one who is unclean and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. Some translations say like a filthy rag. That's what our righteous deeds are. Romans 310 through 11 says none is righteous.

no not one, no one understands, no one seeks God. Ephesians 2-1 through 3 says this, 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, and 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. So apart from Christ, we are not just bad people, but we are condemned. We are dead in our sin. We are corrupted. We are polluted. We are desperately wicked, whether we feel like we are or not. We are completely lost. We are completely incapable of cleaning ourselves up or making ourselves presentable to God. This means that in order to be saved, we need grace. We have to have it. And this is what that looks like, Romans 5, 6 through 8. For while we were still weak at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely died for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one would even dare to

die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Ephesians 2, 4 through 10. 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 then it goes on to say, 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 work 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. So this is a concept the reformers wanted to hammer home that the Bible says that you are saved by grace. That means you cannot earn it. God gave you the gift of salvation

that is found in Christ alone. This is the concept that distinguishes, or a concept that distinguishes Christianity from all false doctrines and other religions. Every other religion, doctrine and cult will tell you how to climb up the mountain to earn your way to God. Christianity, true Christianity says, no, no, no, you're dead at the bottom of the valley and God got up, came down the mountain and rescued you. He brought you to life when you were dead. He reconciled himself to you when you wanted nothing to do with him. He befriended you while you were his enemy. that is grace and that is the gospel. Number two, Solafide or through faith alone.

So first, by grace alone, two, through faith alone. What does this mean? So Martin Luther called justification by grace through faith, the doctrine by which the church stands or falls. It was that important. This is obviously tied closely to by grace alone. It is, as the passage in Ephesians tells us, by grace through faith, not your own doing. A gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may

boast. It really doesn't get any clearer than that. A gift of God. Why? So that no one can boast, so that no one can brag about earning their own salvation. So we cannot take credit. Romans 5-1 says, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5 also says that faith is counted to us. us as our righteousness. Galatians 2.16 says, yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law because by works of the law, no one will be justified. Now, I know what a lot of you are thinking, because I think of this too, whenever I hear these

verses, and this is the verse that is always brought up by those who disagree with by faith alone. It's James 224 that says, you see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. What? I thought that this whole point was by faith alone, and I thought that we just heard that someone is justified by faith and not by works of the law and that no one will be justified by works of the law. How do we square that? So this says, you see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

So what do we do? we've talked about this many times. What do we do when we have two pieces of scripture that seem to, in our mind, contradict each other? Do we throw one out in favor of the other? No. We look to reconcile them and how do we reconcile them? With what do we reconcile them with our opinions? No, with scripture. And to do that, all we have to do is to back up a little bit in the second chapter of James. So 2.14 through 17 says, what good is it my brothers? If someone says he has faith, but does not have works. Can that faith save him if a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food? And one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and filmed, filled without giving

them the things needed for the body. What good is that? So also, faith by itself, if it does not have works is dead. And of course, anyone who has a high view of scripture, who sees scripture as a supreme authority, would agree with that. Anyone who believes and by faith alone would still read that passage and say yes and amen. That's not something that we throw out. God through James defines what saving faith looks like. He doesn't discount faith. He says this is what saving faith actually looks like. As Jesus said, a tree is known by its fruit. If it doesn't bear fruit, it is a dead tree. In the same way, faith without works is a dead faith, meaning it's not faith at all. So true faith, faith that has been given as a gift by God through Jesus Christ, does in which,

always manifest itself in good works, in obedience to Christ and the fruit of the Spirit. Now, this does not mean that we don't sin. This does not mean that we don't struggle, as the Bible makes it very clear. But it does mean that through the Holy Spirit, we are being sanctified, conform to the likeness of Christ, and the overflow of that saving faith is good works. Galatians 5.6 says this, for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. That is the saving faith that God graciously gives believers a faith that works itself out in love. If you say that you have faith, but you don't have

love, then your faith isn't real. You don't have anything. First Corinthians 132 says, and if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. People, make the mistake of separating faith in love and saying, well, if you don't have faith but you do have love, that's okay. No, the Bible also says without faith, it is impossible to please God. It is love working itself out or faith working itself out in love. Ephesians 210 says right after saying that salvation is by grace alone through faith, that we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in him. So we are,

are saved by grace through faith for good works, not by good works, but for good works. And the faith that we have manifests itself in good works. That is how you tell if someone has saving, justifying faith is how it is working itself out in love. And this Ephesians passage makes clear that it's even those good works were prepared for us beforehand. So we can't even take credit for that because the grace that we were given is a gift, the faith that we were given is a gift. The love through faith that we work out in good works was actually prepared by God beforehand, so we still can't take credit for any of it. So the passage in James and the concept of by grace through faith don't contradict each other.

James does not say that you can earn your way to heaven. James does not say that salvation is a product of our own doing, but a product of faith, which is a gift given to us by God. God by His grace. Number three, in Christ alone. So now here is where Catholics and Protestants agree. Salvation is found in Christ alone in no one else. This sola flies in the face of moral relativism that we see in a lot of secular culture and unfortunately a little bit in people who call themselves Christians. No, not everyone is saved. Relativism is not right. Not everyone is saved. Not every religion is the same. Not every God.

can save you. In fact, the Bible says no other God can save you. Isaiah 4311, I, I am the Lord and besides me, there is no savior. Isaiah 45, 5 through 7, I am the Lord and there is no other. Besides me, there is no God. I equip you, though you do not know me that people may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none besides me. I am the Lord and there is no other. I form light and create darkness. I make well-being and create calamity. I am the Lord who does all these things. Verse 12 of the same chapter says, I made the earth and created man on it.

It was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I communicated all their hosts. 4522, turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other. And Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, is Himself God. The same God talked about in Isaiah. this very God who speaks of himself in Isaiah 45, who is a lone God who created the heavens in the earth,

in whom alone is salvation. This is also the Christ. We know this from John 1, verses 1 through 5 say this. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him

was not anything made that was made. in him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and darkness has not overcome it. So who is this word? Verse 14 tells us and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen His glory as the only son from the father full of grace and truth. Verse 17 says grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. God is the only God that there is.

Salvation comes through him alone, taking the form of the form of. Word made flesh, which the Bible says is Himself God and is in the person of Jesus Christ, who died a gruesome death on a cross for our sake that we might be saved. How? By grace through faith, which is a gift. Isaiah 53-9 prophesied of this Jesus by saying, and they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth. And this parallels perfectly with 2 Corinthians 521. which says, for our sake, he made him, God made him, to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. First Corinthians 130 says this, and because of him,

you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption so that as it is written, let the one who boast boast in the Lord. So in Christ alone means that salvation comes through Jesus Christ alone. Solis scripture alone. That's number four. Now, this is also seen as a very controversial one or one that we have debates over. Catholics don't, or typically Catholics will say that they don't believe in scripture alone, but they believe in the equal authority.

And if you're a Catholic and I'm saying this incorrectly, please let me know the equal authority of the Magisterium. Now, it should be said that there are and have been many Catholics who have spoken out against Catholic teachers or against the Pope when something is said. That is not biblical. A lot of people think that Catholics take everything the Pope says as inerent biblical truth. And that has not been my experience with Catholics. Catholics do have a different view of tradition and teachings than Protestants do.

But I don't think it's accurate. and you guys can correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think it's accurate to say that most Catholics will take everything that a Pope or a church leader says as inerrant gospel truth, but that they actually do weigh it against Scripture. However, that said, there are some disagreements still between Protestants and Catholics on this point of Scripture alone. Martin Luther summed up this Sola this way. The difference between us and the papists is that they do not think that the church can be the pillar of the truth. truth unless she presides over the word of God. We, on the other hand, assert that it is because she reverently subjects herself to the word of God, that the truth is preserved by her and passed on to others by her hand. So that's really important. There's a difference there between Catholics believing that the church presides over the word of God and Protestants believing that the church is supposed to subject themselves

to the word of God and preserve. the word of God through that subjection, not by presiding over it. That was true at the time that might be true of a number of Catholics now, but maybe not all. So that was the difference, though, that kind of spurred or motivated this particular Sola. Now, it's important to note that often Sola scripture is misunderstood to mean that Protestants do not believe in the wisdom of teachings or that we don't believe in the use of creeds at all, and that's not true. We simply believe that all teachings, all wisdom, all songs, all creeds need to be rooted and grounded in scripture. And here I use Protestants as a general term to mean people who actually abide by these fife solas. There are a lot of

people who call themselves Protestants who don't adhere to scripture and are ignorant of the fife solas. But I'm talking generally, fundamentally, typically, ideally reform. Protestants. Soul of Scripture means that you and I, just as commonly people, have just as much authority through the Holy Spirit to read and interpret scripture as any pastor or teacher or church leader. That doesn't mean that we have as much knowledge or wisdom as people, you know, who have been studying scripture for 50 years, but we have the ability, the authority, the capacity to study scripture on our own. If a teacher, an elder, an author, a pastor preaches to us something that does not align with what the Bible says, it is our responsibility

to reject and rebuke that teaching as a lie. Some people understand this to mean that everyone just interprets scripture. Every Protestant just interprets scripture as they see fit. Protestantism is all about relativism. A lot of people wrongly think nothing, nothing could be further from the truth. Where foreign Protestants are often actually seen as fundamentalists because of how seriously we take a proper interpretation of the biblical text. And there is a systematic way we believe to do this. We don't just say, well, here's what this means to me. No, we actually reject that entirely. We don't ask what does this mean to me? We ask, what does this mean? What does this say? What does this tell me about God? And to answer those questions, what does this passage mean?

We first look at the passage in context. So that means in context with the chapter, the book, and the entirety of the Bible. We look at the original Greek in Hebrew. We study historical context. We understand the literary device being used, if any, is being used. And yes, we do rely on theologians and teachers who view the Word of God as their supreme authority to help guide us, knowing that none of these theologians are inerrant, but that they, in their wisdom and research and knowledge could help point us to a deeper knowledge of God's truth as is revealed in Scripture. Referred Protestantism is the exact opposite of relativism.

We care very little for how we feel about Scripture or how anyone feels about Scripture or what we want Scripture to mean. We care very greatly about what Scripture says and what Scripture actually means. We take 2. Timothy 2.15 very seriously. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed rightly, handling. word of truth. Now, that is not me that there are not disagreements on non-sulterological issues, meaning that issues that involve salvation or there aren't, there, there are a lot of disagreements

on issues that do not involve salvation, which reformed Protestants agree is by grace through faith. We believe that salvation is by grace through faith. We all agree on that, but we do disagree on things like believers baptism versus infant baptism on eschatism on escrow. pathological issues, like in, you know, in times. We disagree on justice, how involved Christians should be in civic life, what that looks like, spiritual gifts. And we all draw our views on these things from scripture, which we all believe to be the supreme authority.

We do still find ourselves disagreeing. And that happens. That's okay. Reform Protestants have really vigorous debates about these things. things, but unless someone that we are debating with is preaching a different gospel is saying that salvation is not by grace through faith alone and in Christ alone, according to scripture alone, we can disagree and understand that we are still brothers and sisters in Christ. That is okay. We are finite. We are fallible. There is one truth. And of course, we know that one day when we

are all in Christ, we will know that truth when God reveals to us that Presbyterians were wrong about infant baptism. Totally kidding. Kidding. Kidding, kidding, kidding. But we do have disagreements like that that we understand are okay because they don't change salvation and what we believe about salvation. Here is what Martin Luther had to say in the vein of Sola scripture. I opposed indulgences in all the papists, but never with force. I simply taught, preached, and wrote God's word. Otherwise, I did nothing. And while I slapped the word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it, I did nothing. The word did everything. Many Catholics say or have said to me, well, solo scripture can't be right

when the biblical canon wasn't agreed upon for so long. There's been so much illiteracy throughout history. How could it be that how can it be possible that Christians have to rely on the word of God and the word of God alone rather than the spoken word of church or the spoken word of church leaders for teaching when thousands of Christians couldn't do so before the printing press? but this actually isn't. I take that point, but that is actually not an argument against Sola Scribura. A Sola scripture isn't about the availability of scripture. It's about the authority of scripture.

Whether or not the Bible is available, it's still authoritative. And even though a lot of lay people didn't have access or a lot of just a lot of your common person didn't have a Bible or access to a Bible for a lot of history, most of the Catholic churches before the Reformation did. And they were the only ones actually able to read it. And yet these were the leaders at this time, at this particular time in history around the Reformation, who were acting and teaching in a way that was not actually in line with Scripture. They weren't preaching scripture. They weren't helping their congregants read scripture. Some of them were promoting doctrines that had nothing to do with scripture like indulgences.

2 Timothy 4.2 says, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching. And so, just because, just because it took a while for the canon to come together, which I'll get to in just a second, and just because the Word of God wasn't available to everyone, doesn't mean that it doesn't have supreme authority as the Word of God. So the fact that people had to rely on teachers rather than reading God's word themselves because of a lack of literacy or availability or agreeance on the canon doesn't actually take away the authority of scripture, which is what Sola scripture is all about. Also, the canon was decided systematically

in accordance with Jewish history, with careful study of the Old Testament, along with the New Testament using Jesus' specific words to decide what actually should be included. And of course, we believe God's sovereign spirit guided that process. A second Timothy 3, 16 through 17 says, All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training and righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

That is Sola scripture, and not that we don't read anything except the Bible, but that everything that we read and believe in due is subject to the Bible. Number five, the last Sola, to the glory of God alone. So this is the point. This is the answer to all of it. Why, why by grace did God send his son to die for us? Why did he grant us the gift of faith that we might believe in him to be saved?

Why did God offer us redemption and reconciliation and forgiveness and eternal life in Christ? Why does he choose to reveal himself his plan of salvation and his will in the written word? Why does he want this message to be shared to the end of the earth? Why does he give us the gospel for his glory? That's it. Yes, it is because he loves us. Yes, it is because he longs to save us. Yes, it is because he wants to take care of us. But all of these things, his love, his salvation, his care, his provision, his protection. It is all for his glory, that he might be glorified, that he might be made known. God is for himself and he is about himself. As Jesus says in John 155, apart from me, you can do nothing. You are nothing. I am the power source. I'm the only power. source you got. I am your only form of significance. I am your only source of satisfaction, Jesus says. Apart from Christ, we are dead in our sin. We are depraved. We are lost. We are unrighteous. But God, because of his love, his mercy, his grace, his goodness. He is the

only being in the entire cosmic and earthly universe who deserves to be worshipped, who deserves to be glorified. That is why we as Christians find satisfaction and find fulfillment and find fullness of joy when we worship him rather than anger or jealousy or envy that we are not getting the glory. It is for his glory that the Christian heart longs. We all long to worship something or someone, whether or not we are Christians, and everyone does actually worship something or someone. You worship yourself, you worship your boyfriend, you worship your job, your kids, your body, whatever it is. And what we find every time we direct our worship to, any of these things is that we end up disappointed. The objects of our worship fail us. They turn

their back on us. They end up not being able to deliver on their promises or meet our expectations. They may betray us or leave us or lie to us. Ultimately, these things break our hearts. Why? Because they are not worthy of our worship. God alone is, the God who made you, who made me, who made everything else in the universe, the God who, according to a Fusions one, predestined you in love before the creation of the world, the self-sufficient, all-sustaining one, the king of kings, the Lord of Lords. God created us in such a way that it actually benefits us to worship him and hurts us to worship ourselves or anything else. He is sovereign over everything and control of everything. Nothing escapes his grasp. We discussed

God's sovereignty in a previous episode of predestination, so you can go back and listen to that if you have questions. But the answer to everything that happens ultimately is God's glory. Yes, he can even use wickedness for his glory. That doesn't mean that he likes wickedness. In fact, he hates it. He hates evil. God doesn't tempt anyone the Bible says, but the justice he will bring to the evil doer will be victorious and will bring him glory. And he is even able to bring good out of evil here on earth right now for his glory. Like the story of Joseph shows that his brothers threw him into a pit, sold him into slavery. But God's plant for Joseph. Joseph to rise in the ranks in Egypt and deliver his family from famine was already in play before

he was thrown into the pit and brought glory to God. This is how, by the way, I've said this before, of course, the word of God is the standard of my theology and should be the standard of all of our theology, not what we feel, but a good question to ask yourself in that is, how can I, what doctrines bring God the most glory? Does it bring God more glory to say that I have a part in my salvation, that I can earn my way to heaven. No, it brings God the most glory to say that he did it all, that it was by grace through faith in Christ, according to scripture, for the glory of God. That everything is for his glory. That's one thing that you can know for sure, that everything is for his glory and will ultimately be for his glory. So it's a good question to ask

yourself, does what I believe glorify myself? Or does it glorify God? And if something that you believe glorifies you, like the self-love doctrine that we hear so often, it's not in accordance with scripture. I can just tell you that right now. That doesn't mean that you should be self-deprecated. That doesn't mean you should hate yourself. You're made in the image of God. And he has chosen you. That's amazing. You have an incredible purpose because of that. That's awesome. You get to see yourself through the lens of the creator. And that's an amazing and incredible privilege. So that's not self-hatred that I'm talking about. But self-glory and pride and arrogant, if your theology is coming from that place, then it's something that you need to lay down for the glory of God.

that's how important this all is. Long episode, I knew it would be, but I hope you guys enjoyed it. As always, feel free to email me. If you enjoy these podcasts, please give me a five-star review on iTunes. That would mean a whole lot to me, and I will see you guys soon.