“Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen.” – Martin Luther
How do we determine God’s truth?
This is one of the most crucial questions in life. How can we know with certainty what God has revealed about Himself, about salvation, and about eternal life? Is truth ultimately determined by the Bible alone, or should we also look to living prophets, church tradition, or other sources?
I am convinced that the answer is Sola Scriptura—that Scripture alone is the final and infallible authority for the church and for the Christian life. In this post, I want to explain why. I will argue that the Bible is trustworthy because it is God-breathed, that Jesus and His apostles consistently affirmed its ultimate authority, that the New Testament completes God’s written revelation, and that no other supposed source of divine truth can withstand scrutiny.
What Sola Scriptura Is (and Is Not)
Before moving into the positive case, it is worth clarifying what Sola Scriptura does and does not mean.
- Scripture is the ultimate authority. It stands above every other authority as God’s inspired and infallible Word.
- Sola Scriptura does not reject tradition, reason, history, or even personal impressions. These all have their place and can be valuable tools. But they are secondary and must be tested against Scripture.
- God may still guide His people through prayer or impressions of the Spirit. But such guidance never supersedes or contradicts the written Word.
- When authorities conflict, the Bible is the final arbiter. To borrow the Westminster Confession: “The Supreme Judge, by which all controversies of religion are to be determined … can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.”
In other words, Sola Scriptura is not Solo Scriptura—it is not saying the Bible is the only authority in existence. Rather, it means that the Bible is the ultimate authority.
Four Reasons to Believe in Sola Scriptura
1. Scripture Has a Unique Divine Quality
The Bible does not present itself as merely human words about God, but as God’s own speech written down.
Paul tells Timothy:
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16–17)
Scripture is literally God-breathed. Just as God breathed life into Adam, so He breathed His very Word into the writings of the prophets and apostles.
Peter affirms the same truth:
“No prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:20–21)
The prophets and apostles were not writing down their own ideas or speculations. They were carried along—seized and directed—by the Spirit of God Himself. B.B. Warfield described this as the strongest possible claim: the human writers were fully active, yet God was ultimately in control of every word:
“The men who spoke from God are here declared, therefore, to have been taken up by the Holy Spirit and brought by His power to the goal of His choosing. The things which they spoke under this operation of the Spirit were therefore His things, not theirs.”
Because Scripture is God-breathed, it has a divine quality that no other source can match. It is uniquely trustworthy, inerrant, and sufficient.
2. Jesus and the Apostles Consistently Upheld Scripture’s Authority
Not only does Scripture claim divine origin, but Jesus Himself and His apostles consistently treated it that way. When we look at Jesus’ ministry and the writings of His apostles, we see a consistent pattern: they treated the written Word of God as the supreme authority.
- They viewed Scripture as fully inspired.
- Acts 1:16: “The Scripture had to be fulfilled that the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas …”
- Acts 4:25: “You said through the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of our father David your servant …”
Notice how seamlessly they move between “Scripture says” and “God says.” For them, the Bible was the very speech of God.
- They treated it as fully reliable.
Jesus declared: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35) - They held people accountable to it.
When correcting the Sadducees on the resurrection, Jesus rebuked them: “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.” (Matthew 22:29) - They placed Scripture above tradition.
Jesus condemned the Pharisees for breaking God’s commands by clinging to human traditions: “Why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?” (Matthew 15:3) - They pointed to Scripture as testifying to Christ.
Jesus told the Jews: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.” (John 5:39) - They read the Old Testament as a unified testimony to Christ.
On the road to Emmaus, “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, [Jesus] interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke 24:27) - They embraced the full canon.
Jesus summarized the Old Testament as “the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44)—essentially the Hebrew Bible from Genesis to Chronicles. When He spoke of the blood of Abel (Genesis) to the blood of Zechariah (Chronicles), He was bookending the whole Old Testament (Matthew 23:35).
In short: Jesus and His apostles consistently viewed Scripture as inspired, reliable, authoritative, and Christ-centered. If we are to follow Christ, we must embrace the same view.
3. The New Testament Completes God’s Written Revelation
If the Old Testament and Jesus’ ministry affirm the Scriptures’ authority, the New Testament shows us that God’s written revelation has now reached its fullness.
The Old Testament was God’s Word, but it was not the end of the story. With the coming of Christ and His apostles, God gave the church the final installment of His inscripturated revelation to accompany the inauguration of Christ’s new covenant
- The apostles recognized their writings as Scripture.
Paul quotes both Deuteronomy and the Gospel of Luke as “Scripture” side by side (1 Timothy 5:18). Peter refers to Paul’s letters as part of “the other Scriptures” (2 Peter 3:16). Already withjin the first generation of the church, apostolic writings were recognized as God’s Word. - The apostolic office was unique and unrepeatable.
Acts 1 makes clear that an apostle had to be a witness of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Paul described himself as the “last” called, “one untimely born” (1 Corinthians 15:8). Apostolicity was the key criterion for determining what writings belonged in the canon. - The New Testament claims to bring the fullness of revelation.
- Hebrews 1:1–2: “Long ago … God spoke … by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.”
- Colossians 1:25–26: “I became a minister … to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages … now revealed.”
- Jude 3: “Contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.”
- Galatians 1:8: “Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached, let him be accursed.”
Collectively these verses send a powerful message. Through his apostles God made the fullness of the Gospel of salvation known. It was once for all delivered. And anything or anyone that comes along and preaches a different gospel must be rejected.
- The canon was recognized and preserved by the church.
From the earliest fathers like Clement of Rome and Ignatius, we see a recognition that the apostles spoke with unique authority that no later leaders could claim. Their writings were carefully copied, collected, and read as Scripture from the beginning.
In other words, God has spoken fully and finally in Christ and through His apostles. The New Testament is not open-ended; it is complete.
4. No Other Source Can Claim Equal Authority
Every alternative to Sola Scriptura ultimately falls short.
- We need a single, final authority when authorities conflict. Without this, disputes become endless. Scripture alone has served this function throughout redemptive history.
- The Bereans tested Paul’s message against the Scriptures (Acts 17:11).
- Paul directed Timothy not to future revelations but to the sacred writings (2 Timothy 3:15). This is exactly where we expect that Paul would direct Paul to look to the Bishop of Rome or ongoing prophetic authority, or to personal revelation. But this is where Paul powerfully urges Timothy to look to God’s word.
- The Bible commands us to test prophets and spirits.
- Deuteronomy 13 and 18 lay down tests for prophets: if they contradict God’s Word, they are false.
- Jesus warned: “False christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.” (Matthew 24:24)
- John exhorts: “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.” (1 John 4:1)
- Modern claims of revelation fail these tests.
- I will briefly discuss LDS Church claims here since they are the ones I am most familiar with, but similar critiques could apply to the claims of Mary Eddy Baker or Ellen G. White.
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claims to be led by modern prophets. But Mormon prophets have contradicted themselves and the Bible—whether in teaching that God was once a man, or that Adam was God, or in the racial priesthood ban. Without the yardstick of Scripture, there is no way to test or correct such errors. The result is confusion and instability: what is doctrine today may be repudiated tomorrow.
- Other authorities are inadequate.
- Reason: Human wisdom finds the things of God foolish (1 Corinthians 2:14).
- Science/Nature: While the heavens declare God’s glory (Psalm 19), they cannot give saving knowledge.
- Personal revelation: Often subjective, easily deceived, and inconsistent.
Only Scripture provides an infallible, consistent, and unchanging standard.
The Fruits of Sola Scriptura vs. Its Alternatives
When Scripture alone is our ultimate authority:
- We have a clear, consistent, and unchanging standard.
- We can test all teaching and prophecy.
- We are protected from deception.
- Most importantly, we are driven again and again to Christ, the center of God’s Word.
When anything else is elevated alongside or above Scripture:
- We get shifting standards.
- We get false doctrines later denied.
- We get personal revelations trumping God’s Word.
- We get confusion over what is and isn’t doctrine.
- We get legalism, formalism, and ultimately, instability.
Ultimately, all of the other sources that people point to instead of the written word of God fail to reliably lead us to truth.
Conclusion: Bound by the Word of God
At the end of the day, Sola Scriptura is not just about having the right doctrine of authority. It is about ensuring that our souls are bound not to the shifting sands of human authority, but to the rock of divine truth.
I pray that all of us will like Martin Luther have our “conscience” be “captive to the Word of God”
Endnote: This is an expanded version of the outline I used to present my affirmative case in my sola scriptura debate last year with Hayden Carroll.