1 Scripture Alone Sola Scriptura Genesis 1:3; John 1:3 (Psalm 119:165-176) Trinity Sunday June 11 th, 2017 Pastor Ryan www.redeemerlutheran.us I like that bulletin insert we have printed as a beginning of our Celebration of the 500 th anniversary of the Reformation. Sola Scriptura. Sola Gratia. Sola Fide. Solus Christus. Latin. Ironic, isn t it? A movement that resulted in the liturgy and the Bible in our language (not Latin) is remembered by Latin phrases. By Scripture alone, by grace alone, by faith alone. Through Christ alone. Alone. Without your help. Without human tradition. Without anyone s assistance. God acts alone through Jesus. This weekend we are reflecting on the Sola statement, Sola Scriptura. By Scripture Alone. If you had to risk your life for what you believed in your heart about who God was, the Lord who you worshiped and prayed to, what would be your foundation for such faith. As Lutherans, our answer is simple, by Scripture Alone. We believe as Lutherans that the Bible is inerrant and infallible. In simpler terms, God s Word is the truth. The Holy Spirit the very words of the original manuscripts. He used the authors and their vocabulary and word selections, the different 66 books that compile the Holy Bible. This view of inerrancy has been a part of the Lutheran faith since the 17 th century. "Scripture remained [Luther's] sole authority. Though many things in the Bible puzzled and amazed him, he admitted no error in its original MSS. At the same time he emphasized the human part in its writing." (Lutheran Cyclopedia) Here are a few verses that summarize how we see the inerrancy of God s Word.
2 NIV 2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. NIV 1 Peter 1:24-25 For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25 but the word of the Lord stands forever." And this is the word that was preached to you. We believe that God s Word needs to be rightly divided between Law and Gospel. 1. Law - do this. 2. Gospel God did this. This distinction is important to us, as we read God s Word and study it. Martin Luther said: The Law discovers the disease. The Gospel gives the remedy. Because if we were confuse the two parts, we could lose the free gift of God s grace. C.F.W. Walther s most popular book is entitled, The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel. If we let believe become a work, we can easily confuse faith to be a good work, something that mankind can do for themselves. All of the statements about performing good works, reflecting God s image and love to others around us, being good stewards of the blessings we have been entrusted with, all of our actions that we choose to do by our willpower. These are works, they flow out of the faith we have in our hearts, but they can never save us. Human works can never add up to enough righteousness to atone for our complete depravity of sinfulness. Remember the Law says, do this, and the Gospel proclaims what God did for us. Our doctrines and teaching of the Lutheran Church are all based on the Scriptures. Jesus told a parable about two houses. 24 "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and
3 does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it." (Matthew 7:24-27) As the Church we stand on God s Word and its truth which is for all generations to gather around. There is a principle we use as we study the Bible. We want to use scripture to interpret Scripture. Instead of just reading a verse or a story from the Bible, and imagining an application for it in our lives, what do other sections of the Bible say about that verse. Is it quoted or referenced in other chapters or books of the Bible. In most self-study Bibles, including the Lutheran Self Study Bible, there are these handy little notes, called cross-references, they list out verses that refer to the same idea or concept described in those verses. When you are deep in Bible study and you come across a difficult passage, my first recommendation is to look at those references to see if other parts of Scripture would give you clarity about that verse you have questions about. So we want to use Scripture to interpret scripture. By Scripture alone, we hear the voice of God, calling through the work of the Spirit the sweet Gospel message. We realize soon that all of Scripture was written for the main purpose of pointing humanity to Jesus Christ, God s Son, our Savior. The majority of the Gospels spend the vast sum of their works to tell the story of the passion and cross of Jesus of Nazareth,
4 because it is the purpose of Jesus incarnation. Why He became God in the flesh for you and for me. Jesus rebukes some hypocritical Pharisees and other Jewish leaders who denied Jesus was the long awaited Messiah. Jesus believes both Old and New Testaments directs its readers to Him. NIV John 5:39-47 You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life. 41 "I do not accept praise from men, 42 but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. 43 I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44 How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God? 45 "But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. 46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. 47 But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?" If we believe the Bible is God s Word, then we are believing the Words of Christ. Jesus also promised us that not one dot or iota will pass away from God s law until he returns. If you want to read a part of Scripture that praises God for giving us the privilege of reading and hearing the truth of Scripture look to the longest chapter of the Bible. Psalm 119. It was written as an alphabetical acrostic, that is what the Aleph and other letters of the Hebrew language are written as headings for each portion of this Psalm. In some ways it is an alphabet song that praises God for the gift of His Word.
5 Let my cry come before you, O LORD; give me understanding according to your word! Let my plea come before you; deliver me according to your word. My lips will pour forth praise, for you teach me your statutes. My tongue will sing of your word, for all your commandments are right. Let your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts. I long for your salvation, O LORD, and your law is my delight. Let my soul live and praise you, and let your rules help me. (Psalm 119:169-174) Think about it for a minute. How readily available is the Bible? It is the all-time bestselling book in the world. Last week I mentioned the important work of Lutheran Bible Translators, working on bringing God s Word into the heart languages of people all over the world. How easy is it to download a Bible app on our computers, ipads or smartphones. Many of those devices can even play audio versions of the Bible. In a few weeks we will sharing another ministry that is called, Faith Comes By Hearing, which is equipping chaplains in our militaries with audio Bible Sticks so that soldiers can listen to God s Word while they are deployed. Every book store, even on the shelves of stores like Walmart you can find a copy of the Bible. God s Word is all around us, may we never take it for granted. May we treasure it as a priceless gift, entrusted to us in order to make us dynamic disciples of Jesus. I chose for our readings today on Trinity Sunday, two creation accounts recorded for us, one is in the Old Testament, and other is in the New Testament. Genesis chapter 1, and John chapter 1. On Trinity Sunday when we celebrate the mystery of the Trinitarian God of the Bible. There is only one God, but there are three persons in one Godhead. The word Trinity is a word that doesn t occur in the Bible, but all throughout the pages of Scripture there are references to God as Father, as Son, and as the Holy Spirit.
6 The Creation of the world we read of the Spirit of God hovering over the waters of the deep then in verse 3 of chapter 1, And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. God created the heavens and the earth simply by His Word. And using our principle of scripture to interpret Scripture, let s look at John chapter 1:3. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. The Him John was referring to was the Word made flesh, the Word who was with God in the beginning and who was God. We know this Word as Jesus Christ. All three persons were at the creation of the universe, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, all working together in perfect harmony. We hear them discuss their plurality, when they say to each other, 26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26-27) There is also some usefulness to using the creeds like the Athanasian Creed on Trinity Sunday. It was written in memory and honor of a Church Father, Athanasius who fought against a church heresy that taught Christ was not fully God called Arianism. Creeds are useful to summarize key points of scripture all the while they must remain faithful to the words of Scripture. They are useful in worship and in reflection on the centrality of God s Word. Today I want to end by quoting a rather poetic part of the Athanasian Creed. We worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance. For the Father is one person, the Son is another, and the Holy Spirit is another. But the Godhead of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is one: the glory equal, the majesty coeternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit: the Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, the Holy Spirit uncreated; the Father infinite, the Son infinite, the Holy Spirit infinite; the Father eternal, the Son eternal, the Holy Spirit eternal.