Hi, this is Josh Montez and welcome back to the Hymn We Proclaim podcast. In this special six-part series, we're revisiting the foundational gospel truths that turn the world upside down. 500 years ago and still shape the Christian life today. We're talking about the five solas of the Reformation.
Sola scriptura, scripture alone, it's our final authority.
Sola gratia, grace alone saves us, not merit.
Sola fide, faith alone, not works, justifies.
Solus Christus, Christ alone, is our only mediator. and solia deo gloria to God alone be the glory. But these aren't just historical slogans, they're fuel for the Christian life. Pastor John unpacks how each one connects directly to our daily battles with sin, our assurance in Christ, and our joy in the gospel. You'll come away not only understanding what these solas mean, but how they free you to live with confidence, conviction, and clarity.
Let's dive into rediscovering and proclaiming the five solas. What if Everything in the Bible isn't true. Room. What if? What if Everything in the Bible Isn't reliable.
What if everything in the Bible isn't from God? How can we have assurance that God loves us? How can we have assurance that? God is for us. Because this assurance is critical, because if you can't.
If you don't have this assurance, you can't love God. You can't obey God. Think about it like this. Can you love God if you think he is your enemy? If he's against you.
And here's another. question how can you know that God does love you. And that He has shown His mercy to you. How can you know these things?
Well, this brings us to what is called Scripture, the first sola of the five solas, sola scriptura. Because the only way we can. No Christ. And his gospel What is gospel what is gospel? means.
It's through scripture. Special. Revelation. Right? The beach is great.
Jacksonville is a beach community. We love going to the beach. But guess what at the beach you don't see Christ Redemption, you don't get told the beach, the waves, the sunset, the sunrise. Right? All of its beauty communicates to us great things about God, but it doesn't communicate to us this.
Christ died for the sins of Christians too. And it doesn't give us the assurance of that. It doesn't give us the knowledge of that. We don't know that nature. And so we come to Scripture.
Scripture, scripture, la scriptura, this first sola. that our conference is going to look at. What is it? What does it mean? mean.
Listen carefully. This is what it is. Scriptural. Scripture. Oh, scripture alone.
is this, it's the final authority for the church. But scripture, what what is it? It's it's the solo scriptura. It is this, is that just Scripture has the authority to speak from God because Scripture comes from God. Did you hear that?
Scripture, sola scriptura, says that scripture has authority to speak. From God because Scripture comes from God. This is what Paul says in 2 Timothy 3, verse 16. He says, all scripture. And he's talking about here specifically the Old Testament.
When he wrote this, He says, but it includes the New Testament now, but the context, he's talking about the Old Testament. He says, but all scripture is inspired from God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training. For training. in righteousness. Scripture is our final authority.
Why? Because Paul says it's inspired, it's God-breathed. And so Paul teaches us that this God-breathed scripture, this God-breathing, this inspiration is the basis of biblical authority. Scripture came from God, therefore it should be received as instruction from God, as truth from God, as a revelation of who Christ is and what Christ has done and what the gospel means to us. The Bible also says that Scripture has a double authorship.
Right? Uh men wrote it. But God wrote it through those men. Listen to what Peter says in 2 Peter chapter 1, verses 20 and 20. Uh uh twenty one.
He says, but know this, first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of ones. own interpretation. He says, For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human.
Well But men moved. by the Holy Spirit. Spoke. From God. And so the consequence of these truths are not in Scripture is that scripture is our final authority.
In all matters of faith and practice. Why is this important? Listen carefully, because we talk about this every week at our church to make the gospel paramount. Why is this important? Why is scripture the final authority?
all matters of faith and practice. Here's why. Because the purpose of Scripture is to save people. It's to disclose Christ. Christ himself said to those two disciples on the Mahasam Road.
All the scriptures, I'm just paraphrasing, okay, all the scriptures are about me. The whole thing is a self is God self revelation. of himself in Christ. We sang it today. We say the cross of Christ see the Father's Love.
If you want to see the Father's love, you must see Christ. And if you see Christ, how do we see him? Scripture. Scripture. Because the only way we can know who Christ is.
The only way we can know what He has accomplished for our salvation. what his gospel means to us. If Through Scripture. Just some historical thought about that. Richard Hooker was a great English theologian.
He calls scripture this, he called it The Word of life. Not listen, is a cognitive exercise to get knowledge. But that's important. But we come to church to have the scriptures unfolded to us. that a message of life.
can be imparted to us. You see. And scripture is our final authority. Listen to what Paul told Timothy. He says from childhood You see catechesis starts with child children in the church.
Right here from childhood. You have known the sacred writings. You see that scripture. Listen, he says, and these sacred writings. Abel.
They possess the capability They have the power Listen, to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation. Through faith. which is in Christ Jesus. Do you know what wisdom is? It's placing your faith.
in Jesus Christ. That's wisdom. Paul says to Timothy, You have known the sacred scriptures, the sacred writings from childhood. And he says, you know that these are able, these are capable, these possess the power to give you the wisdom. What is the most foolish thing a person could do in this life?
Reject Christ. Not have faith in Christ. That's foolishness. That's not wisdom. And he says, these scriptures give you wisdom to leads you to salvation.
Yeah. The scriptures tell you through faith. Faith, which is Christ Jesus. Jesus. Richard Hooker was concerned to protect the supreme final authority of Scripture.
Why? Because he was arguing against the church in Rome. That was his context. The church of Rome, he said, undermined Scripture, the authority of Scripture, by looking to Scripture as an incomplete form of revealed truth.
Now again, you have to keep in mind what is the purpose of Scripture? The purpose of Scripture is to save people. It is to remind people, to assure people, to lead people to faith in Jesus Christ, to give them wisdom, to lead them to faith in Jesus Christ, to show them the Father's love to them. To lead them to Christ who has died for them, the sufficiency of Christ alone for salvation. That's the purpose of Scripture.
anything that undermines that. is counter to the purpose of Scripture. And this is what Hooker was concerned about in his famous work. laws of uh ecclesiastical polities though Hardest thing I've ever tried to read. I don't recommend it.
It would take you a day to read a paragraph to dissect him.
So just take my word for it. He taught some good stuff, but don't read it.
Okay. Um But he says this, which you can get. He says that Rome dangerously asked to the word of God. uncertain tradition. I can get that.
What are these uncertain traditions that obscures the gospel? Undermines the saving purpose of God in Scripture. What is it? Well, our church's confession of faith, which was completed in 1571, addresses this issue. Article 22, the 39 article, lists of these unscriptural traditions.
And it says, quote, the R Roman doctrine concerning purgatory. Pardons. Mm-hmm and uh adoration of both images and relics. The invocation of saints. is a futile thing foolishly conceived and grounded on no evidence of scripture.
That's our church's confession of faith. It says, but on the contrary, these teachings, listen to our confession. This is not my personal opinion. This is our corporate public confession of faith. On the contrary, these teachings are repugnant to the word of God.
That's very strong language. Why? Why is it such strong language? Because we are jealous to guard the scripture, the final authority of scripture, is truthfulness. Why?
To get the gospel right, to save people.
So that people can have, Paul says, wisdom that leads to salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. And so, oh, Article 22 is rejection of the medieval system of prayers to the saints and purgatory. It just goes with the gospel as a corollary to the doctrine of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone. Mr. John Jewell.
He penned a series of sermons on prayer in the second book of homilies, which is again part of our church's corporate public confession of faith. In accordance with Article 22, listen to what Jewel writes. He says: Christ is our only mediator. an intercessor with God. We must seek and run to know Other He's just quoting the Apostle Paul and Timothy.
Where he said Paul says the temp thing we haven't one there is one mediator between god and man Man, Christ Jesus. One. Just Jewel also states that the Christian is not to pray to the saints and is not to pray to the dead. There's no commandment. in Scripture that tells us to pray for the departed.
And he argues that after death in his homily, he says that the judgment of God is final after death. That's it. Purgatory is held to be a fiction, he says. And it's a disastrous fiction because it undermines the cross of Christ as the only sure mediation between God and man. The ideas that our prayers could in some sense speed the soul's passage through purgatory is disastrous because it implies that the cross of Christ is insufficient for that purpose.
He's exactly right. And so no prayers of human beings could release a soul from purgatory, regardless of how much and long you pray for that. It's not going to happen. And so here's the point. We see why these additions of unscriptural traditions obscure the gospel.
If the purpose is to make the gospel paramount in all things, we mean all things. Everything. Because if you obscure the gospel, you undermine salvation. And we're talking about eternity. We're not talking about I gotta hurry up and get home because Jack's kickoff is at 1 o'clock.
That doesn't matter. In the ultimate scheme of things, think about it in light of eternity. That kickoff today does not matter. At all. None!
But I'll tell you what does matter. Not obscuring the gospel. That matters. Not undermining the final authority of scripture. That matters.
Why? Because eternity is forever and people perish without Christ. That matters. And so Article 22 says these unscriptural traditions are foolishly conceived, foolishly, it's not in wisdom. They're grounded upon no evidence of scripture.
On the contrary, this teaching is repugnant to. Word of God.
Now. When we say that scripture, sola scriptura, is our final authority, we're not saying that it's our own. only authority. All right. Scripture, scriptura, does not mean that we do not acknowledge other important authorities for the Christian.
which sh being listened to and followed. For example, I'm going to talk about it, but In just a few minutes, I'm going to confess the what? Nicene Creed. That's not scripture. But we should listen to it and we should follow it and we should confess it.
And I'm going to explain to you why. But listen carefully. We can't confuse sola scriptura with what's called nuda scriptura. Bare scripture, naked scripture. It goes like this.
I have no creed but the Bible. You ever heard that? No creed but the Bible. Anyone ever heard that? I have no creed but the Bible.
This this this this the this this Yeah. Nuda Scriptura, no creed but the Bible, is relying solely on scripture without any additional interpretations or traditions. That's very dangerous. That's very dangerous. I'm going to show you why here in just a second.
Keith Matheson It was a prof that uh I s he studied uh from uh uh some rural school. He says that those who assert such slogans as no creed but the Bible fail to realize that that statement itself is a creed. No creed but the Bible is a creed. It's a statement of what a person believes. You see, that's a statement of belief.
That's what a creed is. It's just a summary statement of what you believe that the Bible teaches. And he says, those who espouse this misunderstanding of the Reformation doctrine of sola scriptura are unaware that it's not the view of the early church nor of the Protestant reformers. It's not what they meant by sola scriptura. In fact, he says, when you encounter this view historically, No creed but the Bible.
He says, you find it in various writings of heretics in the early church. Do you know who was a chief heretic in the early church who said no creed but the Bible? Arius. And who was the modern, the offspring of Arius? Jehovah's Witness.
Arius said to Athanasius, you have your creeds, Athanasius, but I just have the Bible. I teach the Bible. And he taught the Bible and he says that Jesus is not God. But the highest creation of God. But he's not a God.
You also had what's called the Socinians in the 16th and 17th centuries.
So Ian's are Unitarians. Have you ever heard of Unitarians? Unitarians, they're not Trinitarians.
So Sinians had no creed but the Bible. Listen to what that got them. They reject the doctrine of the Trinity. They held that Jesus is not divine. They held that Jesus is just a prophet from God.
They reject original sin and believe that humans are born inherently good without sinfulness. They believe that salvation comes through the imitation of Christ's life, not through faith in his death. That's what no creed but the Bible gets you. Cult in heresy. False religion.
This version of biblicism has been a source of innumerable false doctrines.
So listen carefully. Scripture. Scripture. No, sala scriptura. The Reformation was not scripture versus tradition.
I cannot tell you how many times I've heard that.
Well, we have the scripture, but they just have tradition. That's not the Reformation. What was it? Martin Sella Scriptura. It was this.
We have... Scriptural tradition, which has an apostolic and Catholic, I'm gonna come back to that. This is Don't get Yeah. Yeah. It was scriptural tradition versus unscriptural tradition, which was not apostolic and sectarian.
Apostolic. What is that? What does that mean? It's built upon the doctrine of the apostles. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 20.
All right. what the apostles taught. Catholic All right. Please use this word. Please.
It's just simply easy. Universal. across all times places and peoples. Ephesians chapter 2 verses 14 through 18 is where it comes from. Across all times, places, and people.
We're universal. We're not sectarian. We're not a false religion. We are lower C. Half what?
Own that. Define it for people. Tell them. Gosh, you guys are a Catholic, yes. Yes, I'm Catholic.
Absolutely, which means I'm not a Jehovah's Witness. That's what it means. I'm not a Buddhist. I'm not an Islamist. I'm not a Hindu.
I'm not a Mormon. I'm a Catholic Christian. I'm Catholic. I'm not sectarian. That's what it means.
It's very crucial to understand that. And the five solas are. a return to the Catholic teaching of the Church. I know that that could be very controversial to say that, but that is exactly what it is. Why?
Because as it returns the five solos bring us back to the purity of what the church has always taught about the gospel. Before was corrupted with these added unscriptural traditions. And so, Scripture is not the church's only authority, nuda scriptura. But it is the church's final authority, sola scriptura. The church has creeds and confessions, which serve as these concentrated deposits of tradition affirmed by the church.
And so, creeds and confessions, Nicene Creed, as I said, we're going to confess. What is a Nising Creed? It's called the normed normed. Warm. It has what's called ministerial authority.
But these creeds and confessions that we confess are not The final authority was subject to scripture as the final authority because scripture is the norming norm. You see it has magisterial authority. Again, the Confession of Faith in our Church says this very clearly. I'm just. What I'm doing for you guys is teaching our church's confession of faith today.
Article 8, in the 39 articles, the three creeds, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed. And that known as the Apostles' Creed ought to be wholeheartedly accepted and believed. Why? Listen carefully. This is because their contents may be proved by definite statements of Holy Scripture.
That's why. You're saying And so, creeds and confessions can be accepted, they can be rejected, they can be modified, they can be clarified when they're found to be contrary to the teaching of Scripture, as Article 22 in the 39 articles, the confession of our faith. says And so, for example, unscriptural traditions that have been added to the scriptures, such as purgatory. worshiping and elevation of images and relics. The invocation of saints, the elevation of the Virgin Mary to co-mediatrix with Christ.
Co-redeemer with Christ. Can you believe that? Papal infallibility. These unscriptural traditions that obscure the gospel, that undermine the authority, the final authority of Scripture, they must be cast out. Because these are Not apostolic.
And they're not Catholic, but are non-apostolic. They're sectarian. And so we can think of the church like a teacher. The church teaches us scriptures, but must still submit itself to the authority and content of scripture, because the church does not have any authority in and of itself outside of Scripture. In fact, listen carefully to this.
The Apostle Paul says that the gospel not just creates the church, and sustains the church. He says in Galatians chapter 1, verses 8 through 9, that the gospel, which is scripture, right? It stands in authority. over the church. Listen to what he says about that.
He says, But even if we, that's the apostles, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed. As we have said before, so now again, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you have received, He is to me accursed. God's word is law and gospel, and the gospel stands over the church. The church misunderneath the authority of Scripture. And as we reflect on this first sola, sola scriptura.
We see that scripture is our final authority. It's our sufficient authority. Because Paul told Timothy, you know in the sacred writings, which are able, they're sufficient. able they have the the ability to give you the wisdom. That leads to salvation through faith.
In Christ Jesus. Scripture provides us with all the truth that. We need for salvation and to live out the Christian life. Faith in practice. Going back to the questions that We began with How can we be sure that God loves us?
How can we be sure that God is for us? How can we know that He has shown His love and mercy to us? Listen to the Belgic Confession. It's a great answer. Article 7.
We believe that those holy scriptures fully contain the will of God. And that whatsoever, man. ought to believe Unto salvation. It is sufficient taught therein. It is sufficient.
It is our final authority. It has the ability, the power, the capability to reveal to us the saving purpose and plan of God, the Father's heart for us through Christ by the power of the Spirit. The scriptures do that. Grand Goldsworthy says this ministry of the Spirit. In which he points to Christ led to the preaching of the gospel by the apostles.
And to the making. of a reliable record. I'll bear a witness. The New Testament. This means that What the Bible says is what God wants it to say.
The Bible is infallible in the sense that it is the word of the God of truth, and the Bible will not lead us astray. It's our final authority. It is sufficient. It is reliable. It is God-breathed.
It is inspired. It is powerful. The gospel, which is the word of God. Is that A ministry of the Holy Spirit. And through the preaching of the gospel, God's word.
The Holy Spirit brings life out of nothing. This is what the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6. For God who said, Genesis chapter 1. One, verse three, exreation. Let light shine out of darkness is the one who shined in our hearts to give us the light of glorious knowledge of God in the face of Christ.
You see, scripture is not just dead words on paper. It's God spoken. word that Richard Hooker said is the word of life. It isn't life-giving. A ministry of the Holy Spirit, by which the Holy Spirit takes the gospel, this word of God, and he affects what is spoken.
Peter says that the gospel is the seed of regeneration. It's this word that God speaks that brings life from death. You have man born again. Not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living. an abiding word of God.
And he says. And this word. which has brought you to life. This word which is living and abiding. He says, listen.
It is the Gospel. That was pretty. preached. Yeah. Do you see that?
Why do you have to come to church to have the gospel constantly preached to you? Because it is the living and abiding word of God that is life. Giving because it has been breathed out by God Himself. revealed to us. And that is what Sola Scriptura is about, and that's our conference coming up.
Desperate. Heavenly Father, thank you that you have revealed yourself to us. And when we hear scripture read to us, we do say thanks be to God, because if you have not spoken but left us in darkness, we would be destroyed. We would have no hope, just grope in the darkness. And we thank you that.
Your word. Has man revealed to us By the power of your Spirit, And keep us faithful to it. And help us to proclaim this life-giving word to others. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
John Fawnville sends his thanks for listening today. And before we wrap up, can I tell you about an encouraging book you might want to get soon? It's called Hope and Holiness: How the Gospel Enables and Empowers Sexual Purity. You're not alone if you've tried to conquer sexual temptations and tried all the methods available. only to find yourself feeling defeated again.
This book may be just what you're looking for. With his shepherding heart, John shows that the gospel, not practical steps or more self-discipline, is God's provision for the power to live a life of sexual purity. and it's available to every Christian. What I like is the book is available in three convenient ways. paperback, audiobook, or Kindle.
The links are in our podcast descriptions, or just search for Hope and Holiness by John Fawnville on Amazon. to get a copy for you and it's a wonderful book to go through with a small group. Him We Proclaim is a ministry of Paramount Church in Jacksonville, Florida. You can find us at Paramountchurch.com. We'll talk again soon.
