Sola Scriptura

Outside of blatantly heretical groups, you could walk into nearly any church today across the denominational spectrum, and they would all affirm the authority of the Bible. Yet it seems believing in the authority of the Bible isn’t always enough. Plenty of debates exist over plenty of topics, such as baptism, church leadership, spiritual gifts, or salvation itself. The question then isn’t whether we accept the Bible but who has the right to interpret it and how that interpretation is guided. Sola Scriptura is one of the most recognizable slogans of the Reformation and the first of the Five Solas. It was a rallying cry against the abuses of church authority in medieval Catholicism. But like many slogans, its meaning has been radicalized and caricatured in equal parts. This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. For those in the Restoration Movement, this conversation matters deeply. We have long championed the Bible as the only rule of faith and practice, but we also know that individualism, anti-intellectualism, and isolation from church history can distort that claim. The Classical Reformation Definition Sola Scriptura was never meant to suggest that Scripture exists in isolation from history, reason, or the Christian community. The Reformers did not believe that tradition was worthless or that the church had no role in interpreting the Bible. They insisted that Scripture alone is the final authority. Every other authority—whether it be a church council, a theological system, or a spiritual leader—must be tested by the Word of God. Martin Luther’s confrontation with the Roman Church centered on this principle. In 1519, at the Leipzig Disputation, Luther denied the infallibility of Church councils and claimed that they had erred in the past. When pressed to recant at the Diet of Worms in 1521, he famously responded: “Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason... I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.” Luther had no desire to throw out tradition altogether. Throughout his writings, it’s clear that he valued church history; he often quoted church fathers and affirmed the early creeds. But he believed that tradition must be held accountable to Scripture, not placed above it or beside it with equal weight. For Calvin, Scripture’s authority came not from the church’s endorsement but from the Spirit of God bearing witness to its truth. In Institutes of the Christian Religion, he wrote: “The law and the prophets are not given to us to blur our understanding with uncertainty but to guide us aright, and with a sure and steady rule. We must, therefore, not only keep to its teaching but be armed against all deviations.” (Institutes 1.6.3) Human teachers could help explain Scripture but could never bind the conscience. Only God’s Word had that power. The Reformers did not promote nuda Scriptura, the idea that all tradition should be discarded and that Christians should read the Bible in a vacuum. They believed in the value of history, reason, and community. What they rejected was any source of authority that could override the clear teaching of Scripture. In its classical form, Sola Scriptura is not a rejection of tradition. It is a conviction that Scripture stands above all other voices and that every claim—whether doctrinal, ethical, or institutional—must be tested by the revealed Word of God. The Protestant-Catholic Divide While the Reformers affirmed the authority of Scripture as supreme, the Catholic Church has historically held a fundamentally different view. The Catholic position is that the Church’s authority consists of three interconnected elements: Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the Magisterium (the teaching authority of the Church, embodied most visibly in the Pope). Catholics argue that these three form a single, unified source of truth. Scripture is essential, but it cannot be rightly understood apart from tradition and the authoritative interpretation of the Church. In official Catholic teaching, only the Church’s Magisterium has the right to definitively interpret Scripture. This claim is rooted primarily in their interpretation of Matthew 16:18–19, where Jesus tells Peter: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church... I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.” Catholics view this passage as establishing Peter as the first pope and granting his successors (the papacy) ongoing authority to define doctrine and interpret Scripture for the entire Church. For the Reformers, the heart of the matter was simple: no church council, bishop, or Pope had the right to override Scripture. They believed the true church was the one that listened to and submitted to the Word of Go...