Sola Scriptura?
Sola Scriptura (“Scripture alone”) is one of what have become known as the “five solas” of the Protestant Reformation. The meaning of sola Scriptura is essentially that Scripture alone is our supreme guide for Christian faith and practice. Put another way, the church’s doctrine should be in accordance with Scripture and founded upon Scripture rather than on any mere human tradition. Now this is not to say that tradition has no bearing upon our understanding of doctrine. The Protestant Reformers did not believe in what some have called “nuda scriptura.”[1] This is reading Scripture or developing doctrine without reference to those saints who have come before us. Sola Scriptura simply means that if any conflict emerges between the teachings of the church or the Christian tradition and Scripture, then Scripture wins out—it is the “norming norm” or standard.
In this article I am not questioning this understanding of sola Scriptura. I wholeheartedly affirm it. But I am questioning the notion of “Scripture alone” in another sense. I am questioning whether Christians should be content with reading and meditating upon Scripture alone in our spiritual formation. Consider: If I have been born again through faith in Christ and the regenerating work of the Spirit, is reading the Bible and applying the Bible all that I need to be doing in order to grow in Christ-likeness?
In many ways, the answer to this question is unequivocally “yes.” But considering my own context, and even much of what I know of the North American evangelicalism, my answer to that question is also a nuanced “no.” I say “yes” because if we were actually to read and apply Scripture’s teachings completely, then we’d have a more full-orbed view of spiritual formation. But I’m convinced that we often don’t have a full-orbed view. So, I would offer a nuanced “no” because we often neglect an important part of spiritual formation: patient, careful reflection upon the beauty and immensity of creation and the Creator. We act as if God and His activity can be viewed only in the Bible, when, in fact, we would find ourselves in humble adoration when we realize that God’s authority, creativity, and power are on display in “ten thousand places” if we are willing to look.[2]
The Relationship Between Scripture and Creation
I was struck by the concept at church this past Sunday when Russell Houske preached from Psalm 29 of David’s extoling the LORD for His glory and strength. And how exactly has the psalmist observed the glory and strength of the Lord? He’s done so partly through his observation of the work of the LORD in creation. I often say to students and congregants that a person may reject an account of creation by direct, divine action, but that person absolutely cannot conclude that the psalmists did not attribute every element within the created order to the direct, creative action of God. The psalmists take note of God’s handiwork, ponder it, and arrive at certain conclusions about the creative power of God through observation and reflection.
However, we often do not do the same thing with any regularity. Of course, the world in which David lived was much different than ours; it was more closely tied to the earth, its care, and its cultivation. That is not to say we are necessarily less dependent upon the soil and its production, but we are further removed from our food and its cultivation. Furthermore, the majority of us likely spend more time indoors than the generations that preceded ours. Our lack of connection with the created order, I believe, creates a disconnection between us and certain manifestations of God’s nature and character.
Certainly the Western world has become increasingly pantheistic, but I wonder if evangelical overreaction to a pantheistic worldview doesn’t stem partly from both our lack of interaction with the created order and a misreading of the Bible. The biblical authors don’t seem to have the same “well its all going to go up in flames anyway” mentality that occasionally plagues some Christians. That mentality might lead Christians to take pleasure in the thought of burning a set of car tires on Earth Day, which would’ve never occurred to the biblical authors even if they’d had tires or Earth Day. We often have a different (and wrong) view of creation and what it can teach us about God than the biblical writers did.
A Case Study: Psalm 19
Let’s focus on Psalm 19 in which David brings creation and Scripture together. Here, he points us first to the created order, which displays the glory of God and even reveals some of God’s attributes. The apostle Paul also affirms this in his letter to the Romans: “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made” (ESV). In fact, in Romans 1:18, Paul says that God, through creation, has made enough of Himself known to mankind through creation that He can condemn those who suppress that revealed truth.
One of the fascinating things about Psalm 19 is that it fully affirms the necessity of both creation and special revelation. In Psalm 19 David privileges Scripture in that it accomplishes some things that creation cannot. However, while Scripture may enable us to interpret faithfully the created order and certainly supersedes the created order in what it reveals and accomplishes, does it render creation unnecessary for our growth in the faith? Based on many on the psalms and other passages, I don’t believe it does.
The Heart of the Issue
Let me get to the real heart of my concern: Should Christians be satisfied with a spirituality that is largely devoid of any significant reflection on the Creator and the created order? Far too often as a pastor, I’ve been satisfied if I can merely get people to read their Bible, which I believe is of primary importance to spiritual growth. But I wonder if our understanding of reading and applying the Bible isn’t anemic in this area of enjoying and reflecting on the created order and in turn, of rendering God the glory and honor that He is due as Creator from us as creatures.
Lest you fear that I’m advocating some sort of mysticism foreign to Protestant Christianity, consider John Calvin on Psalm 19 and our duty to worship God as Creator:
There is certainly nothing so obscure or contemptible, even in the smallest corners of the earth, in which some marks of the power and wisdom of God may not be seen; but as a more distinct image of him is engraven on the heavens, David has particularly selected them for contemplation, that their splendor might lead us to contemplate all parts of the world. When a man, from beholding and contemplating the heavens, has been brought to acknowledge God, he will learn also to reflect upon and to admire his wisdom and power as displayed on the face of the earth, not only in general, but even in the minutest plants.[3]
Again, Calvin:
Scripture, indeed, makes known to us the time and manner of the creation; but the heavens themselves, although God should say nothing on the subject, proclaim loudly and distinctly enough that they have been fashioned by his hands: and this of itself abundantly suffices to bear testimony to men of his glory. As soon as we acknowledge God to be the supreme Architect, who has erected the beauteous fabric of the universe, our minds must necessarily be ravished with wonder at his infinite goodness, wisdom, and power.[4]
Or consider Charles Spurgeon, 300 years after Calvin, on Psalm 19:
In his earliest days the psalmist, while keeping his father’s flock, had devoted himself to the study of God’s two great books — nature and Scripture; and he had so thoroughly entered into the spirit of these two only volumes in his library that he was able with a devout criticism to compare and contrast them, magnifying the excellency of the Author as seen in both. . . . He is wisest who reads both the world book, and the Word book as two volumes of the same work, and feels concerning them, “My Father wrote them both.”[5]
Believers who came before us such as King David prioritized intentional reflection upon creation, leading to worship of the Creator, in a way that most American evangelical Christians today do not. That should cause some level of concern.
Conclusion: A Plea for Balance
First and foremost, as a pastor I want the people under my pastoral care to be faithfully reading Scripture. It is in Scripture that God has spoken and speaks with utmost clarity. But I also feel a real need to encourage maturing believers to admire and reflect upon the created order. Furthermore, I believe it is our responsibility to worship God’s “infinite goodness, wisdom, and power” in creation. The person who reads and ponders not only the book of Scripture but also the book of nature is enabled to worship God in a fuller sense, as prescribed in His Word.
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[1]See J. Matthew Pinson, “Confessional, Baptist, and Arminian: The General-Free Will Baptist Tradition and the Nicene Faith,” in Evangelicals and the Nicene Faith: Reclaiming the Apostolic Witness, ed. Timothy George (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2011), 104.
[2]This phrase, and in many ways this idea, has been developed by Eugene Peterson who borrows the phrase from Gerard Manley Hopkins’s poem “As Kingfishers Catch Fire.” See Eugene Peterson, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2005).
[3]John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries, vol. 4, translated by Henry Beveridge (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2009), 308.
[4]Ibid., 309
[5]Charles H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, vol. 1 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2008), 269 Spurgeon is partly criticizing those who would say that the Bible’s account of creation is at odds with science.
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