Sola Scriptura- this is a Latin phrase from the time of the reformation. It was the primary Sola of the 5 solas that defined the main differences between Roman Catholicism and the new protestant faith that was forming. The other solas were Sola Fide- faith alone, Sola Gratia- grace alone, Solus Christus- Christ Alone, and Soli Deo Gloria- the Glory of God alone. While all of these solas are important, the one that was emphasized the most was Sola Scriptura, or Scripture Alone.

You see, this doctrine had been so diluted that people were placing other things ahead of scripture as authorities in their life. Under Roman Catholicism, the church was the ultimate authority. When there was a conflict between the Bible and the church, the church’s voice was stronger than scripture. Men like Martin Luther and John Calvin had a problem with this. They said that Holy Scripture must be the foundation of truth because it came from God, and this is a truth we continue to hold dear in our church today. It is the foundation for what we teach and how we live.

Without Sola Scriptura we leave room for worldly philosophy, tradition, culture, or our own ideas to become the main authorities in our lives. When that happens we begin to interpret the Bible based on our view of the world, rather than interpreting the world based on our understanding of scripture. This can have a huge impact on how we understand truths like Creation, salvation, God’s attributes, and the unseen realities we’ve been learning about like heaven and hell.

It is also important to have this foundation when attempting to figure out the tangled maze of God’s sovereignty, or how God manages the circumstances and creatures of His creation. The balance between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility, or free will, is a very complex set of ideas. When we try to untangle this idea with our own opinions as the main authority, we come to a very different conclusion than what scripture presents.

When we approach a passage like Job 1-2, we are confronted with God’s sovereignty as it relates to two creatures.  A man named Job and a being named Satan. In light of the truth of Sola Scriptura, we must let scripture speak for itself and see what God is really trying to tell us about Himself, Satan, and us. It will be tempting at times to say, “That can’t be right” or “How can that possibly true.” However, we must accept that if scripture says it, we need to believe it, even if we can’t understand it. Often times God will reveal something to us that is too complicated for us to understand, as we might try to explain a concept like how a car works to a 4 year old. John Calvin said that God uses “baby talk” to explain these tough truths to us. Just try to comprehend a God that has always existed and you’ll understand how we can know something to be true, even if we don’t understand exactly how it works.  However, the inability to understand something does not make it untrue.

Well, now that we agree with Socrates that true understanding comes in knowing that we know nothing, we’ll attempt to understand this passage about God, Satan, and Job this Sunday during the morning message.