Why “Sola Scriptura” never meant “Just me and my Bible”

Have you ever wondered why so many cults sprang up in the 1800’s? I believe this quote from Turning Points  by Mark Knoll sheds some light on that question:

“…only in the eighteenth century does the Protestant watchword  Sola Scriptura, or ‘the Bible alone,’ begin to mean ‘no authority EXCEPT the Bible,’ instead of the meaning ‘no authority OVER the Bible,’ which had earlier prevailed in Protestantism.

This attitude laid the groundwork for cults of all kinds.  Luther feared this, and that’s why he so emphasized he was not starting a new religion from scratch, but reforming the errors and extremes of the existing Church. He felt strongly about keeping as much as he could from existing tradition and kept as much of the liturgy as possible. Thus, his rantings and warnings about the “radicals” as he called them. Some of his fears came true as time went on and Protestants moved farther and farther away from any tradition at all, to the point of not being familiar with any church history, even the ancient Creeds.

Comments from Luther on John 1:29 – “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world”

 

“There is no greater bondage than that of sin; and there is no greater service than that displayed by the Son of God, who becomes the servant of all, no matter how poor, wretched, or despised they maybe be, and bears their sins. It would would be spectacular and amazing, prompting all the world to open ears and eyes, mouth and nose in uncomprehending wonderment, if some king’s son were to appear in a beggar’s home to nurse him in his illness, wash off his filth, and do everything else the beggar would have to do. Would this not be profound humility? Any spectator or any beneficiary of this honor would feel impelled to admit that he had seen or experienced something unusual and extraordinary, something magnificent. But what is a kingor an emperor compared with the Son of God?”

“He (Christ) says to  me: ‘You are no longer a sinner, but I am. I am your substitute. You have not sinned, but I have. The entire world is in sin. However, you are not in sin; but I am. All your sins are to rset on Me and not on you.’ No one can comprehend this. In yonder life our eyes will feast forever on this love of God. And who would not gladly die for for Christ’s sake? The Son of Man performs the basest and filthiest work. He does not don some beggar’s torn garment or old trousers, nor does He wash us as a mother washes a child; but He bears our sin, death, and hell, our misery of body and soul. Whenever the devil declares: ‘You are a sinner!’ Christ interposes: ‘I will reverse the order; I will be a sinner, and you are to go scotfree.’ Who can thank our God enough for this mercy?”

“The Law, to be sure, can command to do this and that; it can also prescribe rules of conduct for life. It says, ‘Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, his goods, his honor; do not kill;do not commit adultery, etc; give alms.’ And it is laudable and good to comply with these Commandments. By doing so we abstain from outward sin in the world. But it is futile to try to expunge sin before God through the Law. The one thing that is effective in this respect is spoken of here: ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’ And in Is 53:6 we read: ‘The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.’ “

Reminds me of Russell

“It seems odd, that certain men who talk so much of what the Holy Spirit reveals to themselves, should think so little of what he had revealed to others…. A respectable acquiantance with the opinions of the giants of the past, might save many an erratic thinker from wild interpretations and outrageous inferences.”  — Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Another Misleading NWT Revision

A WT publication says:

“Jesus was anointed with holy spirit after his baptism in water and he thus became Christ or Anointed One, so too with his disciples.” (“Holy Spirit – The force behind the coming new order,” 1975, p. 113.)

A good verse to refute this view would be I Peter 1:11.  Starting with verse 10 before, it says, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.”

The prophets being referred to here are Old Testament prophets. It is said that the one speaking in and through them was the Spirit of CHRIST.  How could this be, if Michael the Archangel, aka Jesus, did not become Christ until his baptism?

The New World Translation has changed the phrase “the Spirit of Christ in them” in their mis-translation of this verse.  Here it is: “They kept on investigating what particular season or what sort of (season) the spirit in them was indicating concerning Christ when it was bearing witness beforehand about the sufferings for Christ and about the glories to follow these.”  They changed it from “the Spirit of Christ in them” doing the indicating, to the spirit in THEM doing the indicating. Big difference.

Where is Our Focus?

“To focus on how I’m doing, more than on what Christ has done, is Christian narcissism (an oxymoron if I ever heard one) – the pioson of self-absorption which undermines the power of the gospel in our lives. Martin Luther noted that ‘the sin underneath all our sins is the lie of the serpent that we cannot trust the love and grace of Christ and that we mus take matters into our own hands.’

Moral renovation, in other words, is to refocus our eyes away from ourselves to that Man’s obedience, to that Man’s cross, to that Man’s blood – to that Man’s death and resurrection!

‘In my place condemned he stood, and sealed my pardon with his blood – hallelujah, what a Savior!’

Learning daily to love this glorious exchange, to lean on its finishedness, and to live under its banner is what it means to be morally reformed.”

(Jesus Plus Nothing = Everything  by Tullian Tjividjian)