Sola Scriptura
Sola Scriptura
By R. Brunansky, Op-ed contributor
Christian Post,
On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenburg Church, igniting the Protestant Reformation. Luther was not trying to start a political or a spiritual revolution but attempting "to begin a conversation about the theological problem" of indulgences.
The sale of indulgences in the Roman Catholic Church originated, not as a spiritual matter, but as a civil one. In the Middle Ages, the Church was the state, so it not only enforced theological, but civil, standards. Indulgences, then, were first instituted for criminals to pay for offenses against the state, increasing revenue and decreasing expenses. Initially, the Church did not promise any spiritual benefit from these purchases.
Martin Luther understood that true salvation through forgiveness of sins could not be purchased with perishable things (1 Peter 1:18-19). Luther therefore rightly condemned these sales and promoted the Gospel of God's grace, setting off a firestorm as Rome defended its stream of revenue.
Truly, at the heart of the Reformation stood the Gospel. Four principles were developed to explain the Gospel — the five solas of the Reformation. The first was sola gratia, which means "grace alone." We receive salvation because God freely chose to give it. Second was sola fide, which means "faith alone." Works cannot avail to justify sinners before a holy God.
The Reformers were not creating a philosophical system but trying to see what Scripture taught about salvation. And the foundational principle supporting these solas was sola scriptura, Scripture alone. The basis for the Reformers' arguments was not human tradition, church dogma, or papal edicts, but Scripture itself.
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