One of the great truths recovered during the Reformation was Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone).
But Scripture alone does not mean me alone with my Bible.
There is an important difference between Sola Scriptura and what some call Solo Scriptura.
Jesus prayed to the Father:
-John 17:17
And Paul tells Timothy:
-2 Timothy 3:16
Because Scripture is breathed out by God, nothing else stands beside it as an equal authority.
Church traditions can be wrong.
Pastors can be wrong.
Councils can be wrong.
Confessions can be wrong.
And you and I can certainly be wrong.
That is Sola Scriptura.
But sometimes Christians unintentionally replace Sola Scriptura with something very different:
That is closer to Solo Scriptura.
And that is not how Christ designed His church.
God gives pastors and teachers to the church (Ephesians 4:11-14). He commands Christians to gather together (Hebrews 10:24-25). He calls believers to receive instruction, encourage one another, and learn from faithful brothers and sisters who have gone before us.
The Bible was never intended to create millions of isolated Christians interpreting Scripture independently from the church.
This is also why we value historic creeds and confessions like the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith.
Our confession is not inspired.
It is not equal to Scripture.
It cannot correct Scripture.
Rather, it is an attempt to say together:
And if our confession were ever shown to contradict Scripture, Scripture wins.
Every time.
That is the difference.
“I don’t need the church. I just need my Bible.”
“I need the church, pastors, teachers, creeds, confessions, and the wisdom of Christians who came before me, but all of them must remain underneath the authority of God’s Word.”
There is great humility in this.
We should open our Bibles believing that God’s Word is perfectly true while also remembering that our interpretation of God’s Word is not infallible.
We need one another.
We need faithful teachers.
We need the wisdom of the historic church.
And above all, we need the Scriptures constantly correcting all of us.
This is one reason why we are a confessional church.
We gladly stand with Christians throughout history and say, in effect:
Like the Bereans, we want to receive teaching eagerly while “examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11).
Church family, love your Bible.
Read it.
Study it.
Submit to it.
Bring it with you on Sundays.
Test everything you hear by it.
But don’t try to live the Christian life alone.
Christ has given us His Word, and He has also given us His church.
And what a gift both are.
Ben