Scripture alone is core of Protestant Reformation
I appreciate the responses to my recent “Faith & Family” articles leading to the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Beyond Martin Luther’s belief that “the righteous man shall live by faith,” my focus was his adherence to Sola Scriptura – Scripture alone – the formal foundation of the Reformation’s biblical theology.
To clarify: The Bible is the only infallible rule of faith and practice. Luther didn’t invent it; his teaching – and that of other Reformers – recovered its truth as taught by prophets, Jesus and the apostles.
The Bible is the only divinely inspired, inerrant book. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God ” (2 Timothy 3:16-17); 2 Peter 1:20-21 reveals God alone is the source of Scripture.
The significance of a Bible passage is understandable only through Holy Spirit illumination. “Now we have received … the Spirit who is from God that we might know … not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches ” (1 Corinthians 2:12-16).
The Bible is about Christ and his righteousness.
It’s not Reformation phraseology but biblical truth that a believer is justified by grace alone through faith in Christ alone. The Bible tells me so.
Gordon Hall
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Reformation not the primary schism
In his letter of Nov. 12, Father David Carter addresses the Protestant Reformation as if it were the primary schism of the Christian church. Not so.
The greatest and first was the Schism of 1054 resulting from Greek East and Latin West theological disputes and differences, one of which one was the claim of papal supremacy. This resulted in what came to be known as the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Church of which Father Carter is a priest.
Martin Luther and John Calvin certainly had legitimate claims in separation from Rome because of such abuses as the sale of indulgences. Their followers rejected transubstantiation and many other Roman Catholic doctrines such as Purgatory, the roots of which are found in Plato and other ancient pagan writers, and these they believed to be unsupportable in anything that could be found grounded in Holy Scriptures.
Other Christians such as Anglicans proclaim that they and all denominations are but a part of the one catholic or universal church of which we Christians all are members by the grace of our baptism.
John Bratton, Sewanee, Tenn.
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U.S. deserves more than Twitter ‘rhetoric’
Exactly 100 years ago the U.S. government established the Committee on Public Information. Its role was to create a public enthusiasm for entering World War I using various forms of propaganda.
Among other things to ensure cooperation, the Congress passed the Sedition Act making it punishable with 20 years in prison to “utter, print, write or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous or abusive language about the form of government of the United States.”
A leading adviser wrote, “Truth and falsehood are arbitrary terms … The force of an idea lies in its inspirational value. It matters very little if it is true or false.”
I submit that these times are upon us again as we have an attorney general who “cannot recall,” politicians who threaten lawsuits against legitimate public discourse in the media and the soap box rhetoric via Twitter of an incessant and provocative nature.
We are better than this, we deserve better than this and we had better do something about this.
Peter L. Steyn