SOLA SCRIPTURA

SOLA SCRIPTURA

                What does it mean? Well, “sola means only” and “scriptura means Scripture” and I would suppose that the language used here is Latin.

                The reformers of the protestant reformation came to the conclusion that their supposedly infallible Pope was teaching a mixture of truth and error and because of it, the church was ruling over people with an iron fist, allowing no personal conviction or study or variation of thought. We know the history of the reformation quite well and how the woman, the church turned from being a pure bride to a harlot, a woman who was riding the beast of the world’s governments.

                But it didn’t begin with the Vatican. In Jesus’ time it was the religious rulers that set out to explain the Torah and ended up with the Talmud. And in time the Talmud became the final authority simply because the Torah must be seen only as the Talmud defined it and so in time the Torah was basically left out and the Talmud took over.

                This is true in much of Israel today. The religious leadership in Israel is largely made up of Cabalists and Talmud followers and just like it was in Jesus ‘day they are still violently opposed to Jesus as the Son of God. They still persecute those who become believers in Yeshua and that persecution is beginning to intensify into something formidable as they feel threatened by the growing number of Messianic Jews in Israel. Therefore they have revived the Sanhedrin and they are seeking as well to enforce Noahide laws in order to flush this growing movement out of Israel.

                In more recent times we see various Christian movements that have splintered off from main stream Christianity with interpretations of scripture that require an “infallible” prophet and in every case, the Bible is forced into a formula. It is made to say what they want said even if it means ignoring large bodies of text to the contrary. And like all who came before them, these religions have much beautiful truth in them because they use the Bible, but they have much error in them because, like the Talmud, in time the extra biblical source becomes the controlling factor rather than the Bible. Every scripture must be interpreted by the ‘Infallible Prophet or leader” and so these religions take on a character of their own in which they must knock on doors and convince the biblically illiterate that they have the” truth” to which the whole world must come.

                The only cure for such a problem is to lay aside all extra-biblical sources and to study the Bible alone and believe what the Bible says and to take everything the bible says on a subject and not just the texts that support our previous view. Above all, a person must pray for guidance from the Holy Spirit and beyond that we must take Jesus advice when He told us that all scripture paints a picture of Him and if we don’t see Him in it, we have missed the point. Luke 24:27, 44. And as John tells us, Jesus is the Word made flesh (John 1:1-14) so when we eat the scriptures we are eating Him, for Jesus said:

                “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day, for My flesh is true food and My blood is true drink; He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in him” (John 6:54-56) and then in verse 63 He explains it saying: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” John 6:63

                In a sense then we must come to the Word, not as intellectuals with preconceived ideas into which we must force the Bible, but as children hungry for the pure word of God unto eternal life. We must come to the Bible hungry to see Jesus in it and to feed upon His Spirit and life. We must humble ourselves before the mighty hand of God… to lay down what we are in order to receive what He is.

                Many well intentioned people have sought to die to self, forcing self-abnegation and self-denial upon themselves as an act of human will, but the truth is if Jesus is dwelling in your heart and you have made Him Lord of your life, then self is dead, because only one or the other can be alive in us. We cannot live in two kingdoms. Either Jesus Christ is King and Lord in us or WE are. Either His will is being done in and through us, or OUR will. One way leads to destruction while the other way leads to eternal life.

                If there is anything that we can learn in this life, it is that the Bible stands alone as being all- sufficient to our every need. The Bible is the Way, the Truth and the Life just as Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and just like Jesus, we must live by His Spirit or even the Bible will become a dead religious book. It is by the Spirit that the bible is living and active and sharper than any two edged sword…” Heb.4:12

                The early church was fraught with many challenges. There were the Gnostics with one point of view. There were the Aryans that denied the deity of Jesus. There were the Judaizers that wanted to force the New Covenant into an Old Covenant mold… in spite of the fact that Jeremiah had told them that the New Covenant would not be like the Old Covenant as it was given at Sinai.

                As time went on there were those who turned the literal prophecies of the Bible into allegories that could be interpreted in any way they saw fit at the time, but Peter had warned the church saying:

                But know first of all that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” 2 Peter 1:20, 21. But what does this mean exactly? It means that the Bible interprets itself and when you seek out without bias all that the scripture has to say on any given subject, with prayer and an earnest desire and an open heart, the Bible will speak to us in ways that convict us of sin and righteousness and judgment and we will be transformed into the image of Christ as we submit to Him.

                As such then an intellectual approach to the Bible will nearly always misses the point. The Bible is Manna from heaven. It is meant to transform us into the image of Christ, not to argue over… not to make formulas by which we divide ourselves into opposing factions. If we use our doctrines as ammunition to shoot at others then what have we gained exactly? If we study the word for information and yet don’t know Jesus then what have we gained? IF we seek to live by His Word, but shun the Holy Spirit, then what have we gained?

                As a watchman, my duty is not to convince you of a certain set of intellectual doctrines by which I think you must live. My duty is to warn you that many are falling away from the faith. They are giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons. They are giving up on the solid Word of God… its sole infallibility… its authority… its call to repentance and new birth and they are beating a path back to Rome and to a Christianity mediated by someone other than Jesus Christ.  They are forming a global government in rebellion against Jesus Christ and His Word. This is the last great apostasy and we are watching it unfold right before our eyes.

                And again, isn’t it amazing that the same Sanhedrin that called for Jesus’ crucifixion 2000 years ago is now active again and calling for the death of His followers? Who could have dreamed of it?

                Therefore we must know our Bibles well and not just as intellectual books full of information, but as life changing power that is forging us into sons and daughters of God who could never betray our Lord and Savior and King… not for money, not for possessions… not for position or honor, or even for life itself. We are part of a royal family… of the royal priesthood of Melchizedek. We are being called to reign with Him as a kingdom of kings and priests unto God.

                Our bylaw is the New Covenant that was paid for by the blood of Jesus. We eat His flesh and blood for they are Spirit and they are life. We have become temples of the Holy Spirit and so we live by His Holy Spirit and not by our flesh. We look at all of the proud religions of the world each with its own particular brand of religion and interpretation and we turn from it to Jesus Himself and to His Word and to His Holy Spirit so that we may live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

                When we look for a place to fellowship with God‘s people we don’t look then for a formula, a prophet, or some unique point of view; rather we look for those who believe in the Word of God, the Son of God and the Spirit of God and we fellowship with them. We don’t need a religion that functions as a mediator between us and God. Jesus is our Mediator. We don’t look for truth… His Word is Truth. We don’t look for a special formula, for the gospel itself is sufficient to our salvation. We can say with Paul:

                “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” In other words, the Gospel is God’s answer to both the Jew and the Gentile. This New Covenant attested to and founded upon the foundation of the Old Covenant is sufficient for our every need, and together, the entire Bible rightly divided is sufficient for our every need. And by rightly dividing, we mean that we come to understand the role of the Old Covenant in bringing us to the death of the cross and the New Covenant as our means of receiving and living by the life of Christ, through His Holy Spirit.

                To this both the Old and New Testaments testify and it is the reason why Moses was not allowed to go into the Promised Land. The Law can only take us to the Jordon and to our death in Christ. Then a new leader, Joshua (Yeshua), must take over and fulfill everything in us pertaining to life and godliness. “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was in the flesh, God did, sending His own Son. If we truly understand these things then we will rightly divide the Word of God.

                Given the times in which we live, it is high time for us to come with humble hearts to the Word of God and to ask Him to transform us into the image of His Son… to make us into a Bride adorned for her Husband… so that when He comes HE will not say “I never knew you”, but He will say, “Well done my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things… I will make you ruler over many. Mt. 25:21.