We continue on with our series “Rediscovering Biblical Christianity”, having considered what has happened to the church universal as well as considering what individuals can do to get back into the Bible and sound doctrine for themselves. But even with that, there exists a small and somewhat subtle problem.

You see, there is one thing to say we want to rediscover Biblical Christianity – in and of itself a wonderful and admirable aim, but it is something entirely different to acknowledge the foundational principles of a robust, Biblical faith.

The Reformers understood that, and it was this realisation which powered the Reformers during (arguably) the greatest revival of truth since the days of the Apostles – the Protestant Reformation. The Reformeation soon crystallised what it perceived to be the essential foundations of that robust. Biblical faith.

For them, there were five bedrock truths which informed their understanding of the faith:

Sola Scriptura – that Scripture alone is authoritative for all matters of faith, practice and life

Sola Fide – Salvation is by faith alone, apart from the works of the law

Sola Gratia – Salvation from start to finish is entirely a work of the free, unmatchless and sovereign grace

Solus Christus – Christ alone is pre-eminent, serves as Head of the Church and is the only mediator between God and men

Soli Deo Gloria – All of life is to be lived to the glory of God. As the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, “What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.“

In later posts, we’ll tackle the rest of these, but fundamental to the rest of what is commonly referred to as “Five Solas of the Reformation” is our view of Scripture. To put an incarnational context around our thoughts, allow me to share a little of my story.

Being an overly curious and dopey child growing up, I read a lot of cult literature. The Jehovah’s Witnesses were first up to bat, and they made much of being Biblically rooted – but of course, without the Organisation to show you the way, the Bible is dark and hard to understand. The Mormons were next up on my spiritual acid trip, and they were a little more open with who the authority was – boasting not one book, but four (the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price), which they claim are as authoritative, if not more authoritative, as the Scriptures. I read a lot of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s material. Now, the Adventists were subtle in that they professed to Bible to be the “greater” light but that wasn’t the end of the story, as they say. You see, the Adventist Church views Ellen G. White to be the “spirit of prophecy” and an authority on spiritual things. In fact, in doctrinal controversies, it wasn’t odd to notice that Ellen White was called to be the final arbiter in such controversies. Now, all of these groups were odd, but then the tradition I grew up in wasn’t all that great.

I grew up Pentecostal – and not the scholarly type of Pentecostal like a Gordon Fee or Donald Gee. Now I should be clear here – my parents told me to take the Bible seriously (I even owned a study Bible – albeit a Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible…). I attended mid-week Bible study religiously, feverishly taking notes, but I had also been taught that the Bible on its own wasn’t quite enough and that God spoke today in prophecies, dreams, visions and the like. At first, I took my parents at their word and accepted that, at times, new revelation was being given direct from the throne room of heaven by those who the “insight to tap in” (my father’s own terminology) and share the “mind of God”. Well, eventually I became disillusioned with keeping up with these “revelations”, particularly when I was hearing one thing…and reading the polar opposite of it in the Word. Finally it dawned on me, after much study and help, that Scripture was, well, sufficient.

How did a 16-year-old Pentecostal teenager come to the earth-shattering realization that Scripture is fully sufficient? Well, that will be the focus of the next part of the series, as we begin to interact with three texts of Scripture which tell us what the Bible says about itself.

To be continued…

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