The Authority of Scripture

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SOLA SCRIPTORA

In the early part of the 16th Century the Reformation that had been simmering since the time of Wycliffe and before, exploded into reality. A German monk named Martin Luther had the temerity to challenge the authority of the Roman Catholic Church.

Appalled by what he saw within the church, he nailed his 95 theses to a church door at Wittenburg attacking the practices and teachings of the church he served. His actions literally shook the Roman Catholic church, and Christianity has never been the same.

The tempest that caused the pot to boil was one of eternal significance. The issue was over how a person could be justified before God. The Roman Church held to the belief that a man was justified by works, and this had been affirmed through church councils, church pronouncements, papal edicts, and traditions.

Martin Luther held that "justification was by faith and faith alone." The phrase, "by faith alone," became the rallying cry and focal point of the Reformation. This great doctrine remains the hallmark of Protestant faith to the present day.

However, there was deeper and far more critical issue that was fought out then, and is often overlooked. It is an issue that is just as crucial, just as far-reaching today as it was then. That issue was - the authority of Scripture.

The debate that raged between Luther and the Catholic theologians was intense, so much so, that before it was over, Luther was a wanted man with a price on his head. While the issue of justification by faith brought the pot to a boil, it was the issue over the authority of Scripture that caused the pot to boil over.

Luther maintained emphatically, that only the Scriptures had the authority to bind the conscience. Authority, he believed, rested in the Scriptures alone. In opposition, the Roman Church held that "church tradition" held equal authority with Scripture. This then was the raging controversy, the "Scripture alone" versus the "Scripture and something else."

As Luther debated his opponents, he was accused of going against church councils, church tradition, against even the Pope himself. Men had been burned at the stake for less than this.

Still, Luther persisted, and when backed into a corner in one of the great public debates at Worms, Luther made his great declaration, "Here I stand, I can do no other. God help me, my conscience is bound by the Word of God!" He stood on the Word of God alone - Sola Scriptora.

Sola Scriptora became the foundation of the Protestant reformation, and was held sacred by those who revered God’s Word. Although over 400 years have come and gone since those turbulent days, Sola Scriptora remains the bedrock of a true evangelical faith, and is the rod by which all faith is measured.

What is crucial to the understanding of these historic events, is that the Spirit of God raised up Luther not to protest necessarily against the excess of the Roman Church, but to address the errors of doctrine of the whole Orthodox Church!

THE EROSION OF BIBLICAL AUTHORITY

As the controversy between the Roman church and the Reformers over the authority of God’s Word diminished, this insidious virus of attacking the integrity of the Word of God found fertile ground within the ranks of Protestant theologians.

In fact, the last 200 years has seen an ever increasing attack against the authority of the Bible. Liberal theologians viciously attacked the trustworthiness and veracity of Scriptures, trying desperately to destroy any sense of Sola Scriptora. Literally thousands upon thousands have been led away from the faith because of this.

Each generation it seems, must defend God’s Word from those who would destroy it from within. In the waning days of this past century, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the pastor of the largest Baptist church of his day, took a stand against hose within the Baptist Union who would undermine the faith by denying the authority of God’s Word. A huge outcry arose against Spurgeon, and he was censured by the Baptist Union. His own brother seconded the motion against him. Yet, time proved Spurgeon right, the Baptist Union went on to deny the authority of God’s Word.

The issue was and always has been, can the Scriptures stand alone, or do they need something else? However, the attack upon the Word of God has taken on a totally new dimension today. It is no longer liberal theologians alone who are questioning the integrity of God’s Word, but trusted men of evangelical persuasion who are spearheading the attack.

For the first time in church history, those who give verbal acceptance to the authority of Scripture, are attacking the very Word they give public credence to. Simply stated, they say that that the Bible is indeed the Word of God, but it doesn’t go far enough. It isn’t equipped to address 20th Century man and his problems. They deny Sola Scriptora.

For us to confront this assault we must come to grips with a profound and most disturbing phenomena which as arisen during the last twenty-five year sin evangelicalism. The phenomena is this, a distinct class of individuals has come into being, united by their secular training and professional practice into a loosely federated, but corporate body of Christian counselors.

This body has gained tremendous popularity and acceptance among evangelicals. They are given great prestige and honor, and in many circles are accepted as the spokesmen for the church. The have become trusted by pastor and laymen alike.

This body corporate have been trained in secular psychology, not Christian theology. Their secular credentials have afforded them great prestige, and their popularity has provided them a very comfortable living. They are Christians, but their counseling is secular, man-centered. They counsel by the wisdom of man not the wisdom of God. They have become secular priests adorned with Christian clothing.

However, their very success becomes one of the greatest dangers the church has ever faced. Because of their prestige, their position of trust, their visibility, what they say and teach is accepted without question by many. Error is mixed with truth and then absorbed as truth, even though it is error.

Why do these men persist in building a system from the wisdom and corruption of the world? Obviously, it is natural for them to want to protect what they have gained. It is almost impossible to give up the applause of men and the prestige of position and affluence of wealth for the simplicity and truth of the Gospel.

Instead of defending the Bible, these en, and a host of others, actually defend psychology against the Bible. They are in a position of having to prove the Bible insufficient, so they can prove psychology sufficient. Small wonder that the evangelical church no longer holds in practice to the "authority" of God’s Word. It has lot the sense of Sola Scriptora.

If the Bible is, as it claims to be, and as Jesus declared it to be, the Word of God, then it is God’s final word to man, and absolute in its authority over man. And since it is God’s final Word to man, and since it is the absolute authority for man, then, by its very nature, it is sufficient to meet all of the demands placed upon it.

What we shall see is that it is at this point, the point of sufficiency, that the corporate body of Christian counselors must attack and defeat. For if the Bible is as sufficient as it is authoritative, then there is no place for this so-called Christian counseling. On the other hand, though, if the Bible is deficient and is not authoritative, then they are indeed the instrument of healing today.

"And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, and some as Christian psychologist?????

The call and command of God is quite clear to those of us engaged in this dynamic movement of Biblical Counseling - to defend the authority and sufficiency of Scripture with all the power and means we can muster. To demonstrate to the world the truth of Sola Scriptora.