Sola Scriptura is not only the formal principle of the Reformation; it is the formal principle of all Christian theology. The task of Christian theology is to articulate with clarity the judgments of divine revelation. The Christian theologian is, first and foremost, a recipient of the revealed word. The Scriptures do not contain undeveloped raw materials that need to be improved upon, clarified, and polished for more relevant applications. 

The Lord Jesus Christ promised that he would build his church and that the gates of hell would not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18). This promise, however, did not come with a guarantee that the church would never be in danger of theological drift and corruption. Rather, both Jesus and the apostles warned us that false teachers and even false Christs would arise. They would seek to deceive the people of God like wolves in sheep’s clothing, enticing the saints with all manner of deceptive anti-Christian philosophies substituting imposter gospels for the true one.[1] This alluring deception can take many forms, and no generation of Christians can rest on the assumption that sound doctrine is safe from assault.

Sola Scriptura: Background of the Doctrine

Historically, one of the most notorious departures from the true gospel came in the complex development of late medieval Roman Catholicism. With the gradual ascent of the Bishop of Rome to a place of preeminence combined with the belief that bishops were the successors to the apostles of Christ, many came to believe that the formal traditions of papal declarations, creeds, and councils carried the full weight of divinely revealed truth. This opened wide the gate for all manner of false doctrine to masquerade as truth, even when untethered entirely from the teaching of holy Scripture. Like the Pharisees of old, the Roman Catholic magisterial authorities had departed from the divinely given testimony of the prophets and apostles and were “teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:7).

This widespread departure from the faith “once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3) ultimately sparked the Protestant Reformation. Men like Martin Luther, Uldrich Zwingli, and John Calvin sought to recover true catholicity from the corruptions of Roman Catholicism. Many rightly regard the doctrine of justification by faith as the material principle of the Reformation—the central issue (the main matter).. For the Reformers, justification is the imputation of the righteousness of Christ alone (solus Christus) by faith alone (sola fide), through grace alone (sola gratia), and for the glory of God alone (soli deo gloria).

If justification was the material principle of the Reformation, then the issue of authority was its formal principle. What authority gives shape (form) to the doctrinal matter of the church? Is the content of the true Christian faith to be determined by the magisterial, top-down authority of an ongoing apostolic office (the bishops) with one preeminent head (the pope) or only by the inscripturated word of prophets and apostles in the Old and New Testaments? For the Reformers and their heirs, Scripture alone (sola Scriptura) meant that all Christian teachers (including popes and bishops), all Christian assemblies (including councils), and all Christian theological truth claims (including creeds) are to be judged by the words of Scripture. Martin Luther’s legendary speech at the Diet of Worms, when he was asked to recant his writings, encapsulates this commitment: “Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason—I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other—my conscience is captive to the Word of God.”[2]

Scripture Alone is What Exactly?

In order to grasp the significance of sola Scriptura for theological method, we need to consider what exactly the slogan is claiming. I often ask my students to fill in the blank: Scripture alone is _______. Many write something like “the only authority for the faith and life of the church.” While this response reflects a right instinct, this articulation of sola Scriptura is incomplete. Neither the Reformers nor their heirs believed that Scripture is the only authority in the faith and life of Christians. Rather, the Reformation emphasized the need for, and put to good use, other sources of theological and religious authority.

As a renewal effort, the Reformation prioritized the preaching of Scripture by qualified men who occupied the biblically defined office of pastor/elder/overseer. Preaching was certainly grounded in the authority of Scripture, but to follow Scripture’s own teaching meant recognizing the genuine—albeit secondary—authority of the men occupying the teaching office of the church. Additionally, the Reformers themselves had an interest in retrieving the teaching of the church fathers[3] and the ecumenical creeds,[4] because they recognized that such teachings have a regulative function in the life of the church to varying degrees. Furthermore, the Reformers and their heirs made a habit of drafting and affirming confessions of faith, which were intended to regulate the acceptable doctrine and practice of the faithful.

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