The doctrine we call "sola Scriptura" refers to one of the five solas of the Protestant Reformation.The term "sola" is Latin and means something that stands alone or is completely unique.
What we mean by sola Scriptura is that Scripture alone is the final revelation from God and is the sole authority for the church and for the individual in doctrinal matters and in matters of morality and Christian living (See 39 Articles, Article VI) .
However, this does not mean that we throw out all church tradition and simply interpret the Bible any way we like (Article XX). May it never be.
While Protestants reject the Roman Catholic position that Scripture is insufficient of itself and needs an infallible interpretation they call "Holy Tradition", that does not mean that all tradition is bad and rejected.
The Roman Catholic error is that they have added Tradition as a revelation from God on equal standing with Holy Scripture.
Unfortunately, this "Tradition" changes from one generation to the next and is essentially a form of ongoing revelation resident in the authority of popes and bishops and the magisterium.
The opposite extreme is the radical reformation whereby all tradition is thrown out altogether and a method of interpreting the Bible is so individualized that the collective understanding of Scripture as a communion of saints is rejected. We must remember that there is no private interpretation of Scripture (2 Peter 1:19-21).
However, the Protestant Reformation principle of private interpretation has to do with the placing of the Bible in the hands of every Christian to read and learn for himself or herself what the Bible actually says.
This in no way meant that Christians could re-invent Christianity as they saw fit. Rather it meant that Christians no longer needed a priest to mediate between them and the reading of the Bible. The Protestant understanding is that believers together came to a common understanding of Scripture and the church and church councils were secondary authorities which could and often did err.
In other words, the Protestant Reformation absolutely did not promote a congregationalist approach to ecclesiology or polity. While the focus is on the visible church as a local congregation where the Gospel is rightly preached, the sacraments are rightly administered, and church discipline is rightly administered (Article XIX), this does not automatically negate universal councils of regional churches or associations of church or of presbyteries of churches (Article XXI).
The principle of sola Scriptura upholds a catholic or ecumenical dimension to Christian teaching and doctrine. In fact, this is absolutely essential to the doctrine of sola Scriptura because we would not be able to distinguish false doctrine from true doctrine without it.
The corrective emphasized by the English Reformers was not individuals alone or local churches alone but rather all three together: individual believers, local churches, and church councils/confessions of faith (the 39 Articles very existence testifies to the catholic or ecumenical dimension of the English and Protestant Reformation.).
What makes Christianity true as opposed to Mormonism or Jehovah's Witnesses or other attacks against biblical Christianity? It is in fact a body of doctrinal beliefs which have been handed down to us in and through the canon of Scripture which contains the only authoritative and infallible record of the teachings of Jesus Christ and the original apostles (Jude 1:3-4).
Church councils are held so that we can hash out what is heresy and what is true and biblical teaching. Thus, although church councils err, we cannot lightly throw out church tradition simply on the basis of one individual's opinion on a particular passage of Scripture.
In light of this, we cannot reject the doctrine of the trinity without placing ourselves outside the realm of orthodox Christianity. Protestants do not believe we should re-invent Christianity as we go along. To the contrary, what we must do is to read the Bible and interpret it properly (2 Timothy 2:15). A proper interpretation of Scripture is not a hyper or super individualistic reader response method.
We do not ask, "What does this mean to me?" Rather, a true and accurate understanding of Scripture takes into account the historical and grammatical method of interpretation and not an allegorical method where meanings are changed without regard to the literary context of the verse within the passage, the chapter, the book, and the Bible as a whole. We must also take into account the historical and cultural setting of the Scripture passages in question.
Furthermore, even though tradition could be wrong, we cannot lightly overturn tradition by individualistic interpretations of Scripture. This is how cults and heretical movements are started. Rather we must also consider church tradition in the church fathers, intervening times, the Reformation, and up until today.
Therefore, when the plain meaning of a passage upholds a view that all can see and such an interpretation is also held by most Christians universally in times past and up to today, the onus or burden of proof lies with the individual or group promoting the divisive interpretation to prove that the church and tradition is wrong. I would contend that this is the case with Michael Servetus who challenged the doctrine of the trinity. Even the Protestant Reformers saw that this was not the Biblical doctrine taught from the beginning.
Another example, though not as extreme as the case with Servetus, is David Broughton Knox's rejection of water baptism as a command of Jesus Christ in Matthew 28:18-20 and other passages such as Acts 22:16. Knox's view spiritualizes the references to "baptism" taken universally by the majority of Christians to refer to water baptism. He does this by reading other texts referring to baptism with the Spirit (Mark 1:8-10) on the texts referring to water baptism.
While it is admirable that Knox wishes to refute the doctrine of baptismal regeneration, he went too far in the other direction and in fact adopts an heretical or divisive position which goes beyond what the English and Continental Reformers believed. Knox in fact rejects the sacraments altogether.
This is odd, particularly since the 39 Articles of Religion clearly upholds the doctrine of water baptism and so did all of the English Reformers who gave their lives for the sake of the biblical understanding of the Gospel.
While the 39 Articles are a secondary authority, they are indeed binding doctrine and are not optional for anyone who is a Protestant, low church, and Evangelical Anglican. Unless and until the Articles can be universally overturned on any point of doctrine by Scriptural proofs and an authoritative Protestant council, we are not free to re-invent the Anglican faith.
This applies to the extremes imposed by Anglo-Catholic heresies read into the Bible and the Articles of Religion and it applies to individualistic extremes on the other hand of those who adopt a more Anabaptist or radical approach to the interpretation of Holy Scripture.
Thus, the doctrine of sola Scriptura rules out both the view of "Tradition" as a revelation from God equal to Scripture and it rules out the idea that we can interpret the Bible any way we like. No, the Protestant Reformers had it right. We accept both Scripture and tradition as authoritative sources of doctrine.
The difference, however, is that the Protestant view is that tradition is subject to be corrected by Scripture since sinful humans both individually and collectively are subject to err. This is why the Protestant principle of sola Scriptura also includes the idea of ecclesia semper reformanda, which means "the church is always reforming" itself by the light of Holy Scripture.
So sola Scripture upholds the traditional view of the sacraments as institutions made by Jesus Christ himself in the holy Scriptures and that view is confirmed by the universally held doctrines of water baptism and the Lord's supper in the church since the time of Christ.
While we might disagree on the details of the two sacraments, the force of both Scripture and the catholic or universal Protestant position makes the two sacraments binding doctrine and not merely optional or up to individual choice. We are to follow the example of Jesus in being baptized in water himself (Matthew 3:13-17) and we must recognize that Jesus authorized his own disciples to do Christian baptism (John 4:1-2).
The fact is that water baptism is emphasized over and over again in the New Testament as a sign of a true and lively faith, membership in the visible church, and regeneration.
This does not mean that regeneration is connected to the water or in the power of the water but rather that the water represents what has happened through the ordo salutis principles of election, predestination, regeneration, repentance, conversion, justification, sanctification and glorification.
Taking regeneration out of the context of Holy Scripture, the ordo salutis, or the sacramental sign is to depart from orthodox Christianity and to initiate a divisive and heretical movement away from the church and from the teaching of Scripture.
The simple answer is that the sacraments are outward signs connected to the church while the inward grace is not connect to the sacrament itself but rather takes place in the souls and the hearts of true believers.
This is the doctrine taught by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and the 39 Articles of Religion.
Thus, the sacraments are not absolutely necessary for justification, sanctification or salvation if access to them is denied. This does not mean, however, that the sacraments are optional or unnecessary when in fact they are commanded in Holy Scripture and upheld in our confessions of faith both in apostolic times all the way up to the Protestant Reformation and even until this very day.
It is on this latter point that David Broughton Knox has departed from the English Reformation.
Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Lord have mercy.
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Sotto Voce
(Source: VO)