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Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Martin Luther's Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone) is it Scriptural? Is it Historical?


These 11 episodes of On the Journey with Matt Swaim and Ken Hensley are a deep dive in to the Protestant doctrine of scripture alone (sola scriptura).  Read the description below the video and decide which videos might address your questions.  


On the Journey With Matt and Ken, Episode 3: Is Sola Scriptura Scriptural? Part I

When it comes to discussions between Protestants and Catholics, a lot of them tend to stall because not only are there disagreements on certain issues; there are also disagreements when it comes to how to decide the issues in the first place! Perhaps on no topic is this more apparent than the question of "sola Scriptura." For Matt Swaim and Ken Hensley, the idea of the Bible as the sole and sufficient infallible rule of faith was foundational to their Protestant understanding of Christian authority. But if "sola Scriptura" WASN'T Christ's plan, if Jesus DIDN'T intend the Old and New Testaments to be the sole and sufficient infallible rule of faith for Christians, then how DID Our Lord intend His followers to settle matters of faith and morals? Matt and Ken discuss how these questions began to take shape for them in the first part of a multi-episode series on the question of "sola Scriptura."


On the Journey with Matt and Ken - Episode 4: Is Sola Scriptura Scriptural? Part II
Authority Under the Apostles 

In the latest episode of On the Journey, Matt and Ken look at the Acts of the Apostles and the New Testament epistles to see how authority functioned in the earliest days of Christianity, and whether the doctrine of "sola Scriptura" can be demonstrated from the practice of the apostles. They share how what they found led them to reconsider the way they approached their reading of the Bible.



On the Journey with Matt & Ken - Episode 5: Is Sola Scriptura Scriptural? Part III
 Authority After the Apostles

For both Matt Swaim and Ken Hensley as Evangelical Christians, their general assumption was that once the last apostle died, it was as though a switch flipped, and the whole of Christianity shifted to a view that Scripture alone was the sole and sufficient rule of faith. But does the testimony of the New Testament give any indication that Peter, John, Paul and the other apostles were setting up the Church to be governed by the doctrine of "sola Scriptura" after their deaths? Or is there another understanding of authority, found not only in the pages of Scripture, but also the historical record of early Christianity, that better explains how the apostles intended their successors to operate?

 

On the Journey with Matt & Ken - Episode 6: Is Sola Scriptura Scriptural? Part IV
The Arrogance of Catholicism

In their many years as Evangelical Christians, Matt Swaim and Ken Hensley both assumed that the Bible alone was the sole and sufficient infallible rule of faith. But as they studied the New Testament, they saw other ways that authority functioned in Scripture: through councils (Acts 15 The Council of Jerusalem), and through the people appointed and sent by the apostles. Ultimately, both Matt and Ken realized that "sola Scriptura" could only be true if the Church described in the New Testament no longer existed. But what does Scripture actually say about the way the Apostles exercised and preserved the gifts that had been bestowed on them personally by Christ? And how do we see them passing on that authority in the New Testament?


On the Journey with Matt & Ken - Episode 7: Is Sola Scriptura Scriptural? Part V 
Reasoning in a Circle

Does the Bible teach "sola Scriptura" over and against Christian tradition? Or is "sola Scriptura" itself one of the "traditions of men" that Scripture warns against? As Evangelical Christians, both Matt Swaim and Ken Hensley looked to the Bible as the sole and sufficient infallible rule of faith. But as they re-examined their belief in the doctrine of "sola Scriptura," they realized that they had inadvertently been pitting the Scriptures against the tradition that produced the Scriptures, and that their defenses of "Bible-only" theology ended up running in circles. In the latest episode of On the Journey, Matt and Ken discuss how their exploration of the Christian tradition (Corinthians 11:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:15, 3:6) that produced the Bible helped give them more solid grounding as to what the first Christians were thinking about when they preserved and compiled the canon of Scripture.
 

On the Journey with Matt and Ken - Episode 8: Is Sola Scriptura Scriptural? Part VI 
Not by Wonder Bread

What passages from the Bible give the strongest support for the doctrine of "sola Scriptura?" As Protestants, Matt Swaim and Ken Hensley would have pointed directly to the example of the Bereans in Acts 17, but most especially to 2 Timothy 3:16-17, which states that "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." Matt and Ken share how after examining these verses more closely, they came to believe that rather than clearly demonstrate the Reformation doctrine of "sola Scriptura," these Biblical texts seemed to give forth a different perspective on the role of Scripture in the Christian life.
 

On the Journey with Matt and Ken - Episode 9: Is Sola Scriptura Historical? Part I
How Old is Sola Scriptura

If "sola Scriptura" is meant to be the guiding principle of Christianity, then why did it take nearly 400 years for the canon of the New Testament to be formally established? As Protestants, both Matt Swaim and Ken Hensley took for granted that "sola Scriptura" was the historic Christian rule of faith, but had never really inspected that claim. How is it, for example, that the Nicene Creed, established in 325 A.D., was formalized some 50 years before the official table of contents for the New Testament? Matt and Ken share what they found when they searched through the history to find evidence for the doctrine of "sola Scriptura" in the first centuries of Christianity.
 

On the Journey with Matt and Ken - Episode 10: Is Sola Scriptura Historical? Part II
The Bible or the Church

The doctrine of "sola Scriptura" was one of the battle cries of the Reformation. But is there evidence that it was practiced and taught in the first centuries of Christianity? Matt Swaim and Ken Hensley, who both used to profess "sola Scriptura," share what they found when they explored the first centuries of Christianity. What does the witness of the early Church fathers tell us about the way that authority functioned in the Church?
 

On the Journey with Matt and Ken - Episode 11: Is Sola Scriptura Workable? Part I
A Blue Print for Anarchy

A question that bothers even many adherents of "sola Scriptura" is this: if the Bible alone is to be the sole rule of faith, and any individual Christian can understand its plain meaning, then why are there so many divisions in Christianity? Do people disagree because they've not studied the Scriptures hard enough? Or because they're not as committed to holiness, and so haven't received the truth from the Holy Spirit about the correct interpretation? Or is there another possibility: that when God gave us an authoritative and inspired set of Scriptures, He also granted to the Church who curated and defended those Scriptures for centuries with an authoritative and inspired interpretation of those Scriptures?
 

On the Journey with Matt and Ken - Episode 12: Is Sola Scripture Workable? Part II
The Protestant Inquisition

One of the core beliefs of Martin Luther at the start of the Reformation was that each individual Christian should have a right of private judgment when it comes to Biblical interpretation. But what did Luther do when some of his followers used that principle to disagree with him, and start their own branches of Christianity? Matt Swaim and Ken Hensley, who both spent the majority of their lives as Evangelical Protestants, share what they discovered when they explored the practical ways in which the doctrine of "sola Scriptura" unfolded in the earliest days of the Reformation.

 

On the Journey with Matt and Ken - Episode 13: Is Sola Scriptura Logical?
 The Canon Problem

Over the past several episodes, Matt Swaim and Ken Hensley have taken a look at several aspects of the core Reformation doctrine of "sola Scriptura." Is it Scriptural? Is it historical? Is it workable? In this episode, Matt and Ken tackle another part of the question: is "sola Scriptura" even logical? Is it possible to reject councils and apostolic tradition, but then place your full trust in the New Testament's table of contents, which were preserved and recognized by councils and apostolic tradition?

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