The Wesleyan tradition takes a different approach, challenging the sola scriptura misapplications and pointing to what Christians do in practice, namely, follow Jesus while negotiating the authorities of Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience.

In the Protestant Reformation sola scriptura was meant to make the case that the Bible is the ultimate and final authority on matters related to salvation and faith. This often gets misunderstood as the Bible being the only authority Christians use for matters of faith in the Christian life. But as R.C. Sproul teaches in What Is Reformed Theology, the doctrine properly understood means that “only the Bible has the authority to bind the conscience of believers.”

While the Bible is the primary and final authority of Truth and the Christian faith, our faith is also mediated, explained, and delivered through a particular tradition and perspective.

For centuries Protestants have recognized the authority of their confessions of faith. These confessions, which remain subordinate to what is plainly taught in the Bible and are open to questioning in ways the Bible is not, are regularly used to evaluate pastoral candidates and church membership on the basis of subscription to those documents.

For example, Presbyterians use the Westminster Confession of Faith, Lutherans use the Augsburg Confession of Faith, and Anglicans use the Book of Common Prayer.

The Wesleyan tradition takes a different approach, challenging the sola scriptura misapplications and pointing to what Christians do in practice, namely, follow Jesus while negotiating the authorities of Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience.

Wesleyans call it the Wesleyan Quadrilateral; I call it “honesty.” [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]

Wesleyans do not teach that these four authorities are all equal but that they describe the actual sources Christians use to situate faith in subordination to the primacy of the Bible.

For example, we use our rational faculties (reason) to interpret and apply what we read in the Bible as well as the guidance provided by our particular traditions. We use reason to test what tradition teaches according to what is plainly revealed in the Scriptures.

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