In our last video, we saw that Sola scriptura means that the Holy Scriptures is the only authority for the Christian faith and practice. The very legitimate question arises: is Sola scriptura a biblical concept or did someone simply make it up? Would be pretty embarrassing if a concept that legitimizes a book can’t even be found in the book itself. If Sola scriptura is a biblical concept, then we would have to find the opinion of the greatest authorities on this subject. Let’s take a look at Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul.
What was Jesus Christ’s relationship to the Word of God? He was the Word of God in persona and his whole life was the single fulfillment of the written Old Testament. But even at the very beginning of Christ’s ministry, Satan was questioning his authority. Did Jesus hark to the words of Satan or to the Word of God? The devil came to him and said “do this and that” and the interesting thing is: Jesus did not answer him as the eternal Son of God, which he was, but as a man. As a man, he showed his complete dependence on the written word of God. Three times he said “it is written.” It was the written word that had full authority for him as the incarnate Son of God. In John 10:35, he confirms his argument with the words “scripture cannot be broken”. This shows us that Jesus Christ lived and talked Sola scriptura. It was and is the basic prerequisite to live dependently as a human being on earth.
How about Paul? When he has to give answers before the government for his faith in Acts 24:14, Paul bases his position exclusively on the written word of God. He says “But this I confessed to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets.” Paul’s life from the beginning to the end was completely under the authority of the word of God. One of Paul’s last words to Timothy was “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) What he says here is that the written word is completely sufficient to direct everything in the life of someone who wants to live under God’s guidance. In 1 Corinthians 4:6, he even warns against going beyond what is written.
We have seen that both the Lord Jesus as well as the greatest apostle gave exclusivity, power and authority to the written word. I hope I was able to show simply and clearly that Sola scriptura is without a shadow of a doubt taught in the Bible itself.