Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone).  It’s a phrase originally made famous by the reformer Martin Luther.  I’m not clear on the historical precedent, but today I hear it most often from those who consider themselves part of the Reformed tradition–which now seems largely to mean modern Calvinism–when they recite it as one of the Five Solas.  Aside from the irony of having five “onlys” in anything,  the claim of Sola Scriptura is that only the Biblical texts are authoritative for matters of doctrine/dogma in the church.

Sola Scriptura.  Not “Scriptura et magisterium,” scripture plus the authority of the church.  Not “scriptura et patres,” scripture plus the authority of the early church fathers.  Not “Scriptura et Aquinas,” “Scriptura et Augustine,” not “Scriptura et Calvin” (and sorry, I don’t know how to make those names properly Latin).  Not Scripture plus John MacArthur or John Piper or Mark Driscoll or N.T. Wright or Rob Bell or Greg Boyd either (and I hope I have enough “liberals” and “conservatives” to satisfy the reader that I’m not taking aim at a “side” here).  And not “Scripture and my pastor or my bishop or my elders,” for these are merely a part of the local incarnation of the Body of Christ, and while we should seek to understand Scripture together in the local body, there is no valid hierarchy or authority among human leaders in biblical interpretation.  To the contrary, these and all of the body should have their words evaluated over against Scripture, by all their hearers.

Sola.  Scriptura.

No doctrine or dogma or teaching or credal test dare be claimed with certainty, that is not clearly derivable solely from the properly-exegeted text of the Bible.  My choice of the word “derivable” is deliberate.  It’s not enough to determine that a doctrine is not inconsistent with scripture.  It’s not even enough that the doctrine, once framed, can be supported by scripture, although in reality I find such claims often fail to withstand careful scrutiny anyhow.  I suggest rather that any doctrinal claim should be subjected to the following thought experiment:

Imagine we could find a reader who knew nothing about church history or dogma…one who had never heard of the various heresies and controversies and schisms of the church throughout the century.  Imagine further that, though ignorant of the faith, this reader was fluent in Biblical Hebrew and Greek, and was able to read the texts and study them carefully.  Would this hypothetical reader be able to come up–solely from studying the biblical texts–with the doctrine at hand?  If yes, then we can and should ascribe it serious weight.  If no, then however helpful it may be in understanding a difficult passage or concept, it must be considered optional and not core to the faith.

(Even with “core” doctrine, I caution the reader with my previous warning about creeds).

The recent debate around the blogosphere as to whether or not Rob Bell is a universalist, has got me to thinking.  There seems to be a substantial contingent within conservative Christianity, that is extremely dedicated to the notion of a hell where those who do not “believe” will suffer unending, conscious torment.  Many of these people–dear friends of mine, some of them–are not angry, vindictive people in real life; in fact some of them are downright compassionate.  So why, I wonder, do they get so upset about the suggestion that there might NOT be eternal torture awaiting those who do not believe the right things about Jesus?

The simplistic answer, of course, is that they are passionate about the literal truth of the Bible, and since the Bible speaks of a literal hell, to discount it is to disrespect the rest of Biblical truth as well.  As I’ve pointed out before, however, the scriptural case for eternal, conscious torment is far too thin to support a dogmatic claim, and in fact a legitimate case can be made in scripture for annihilation or conditional immortality (a term I only recently encountered, but which accurately characterizes a perspective I found in the gospels).  The same can be said for the other simplistic answer: “that’s what the church has always taught,” because in fact a survey of church fathers reveals a far more nuanced and diverse perspective than that on display today.

So why the obsession with hell?  Although I have absolutely no proof for this speculation, I wonder if it really comes down to salesmanship.  I have known a number of “believers” whose initial entree to Christianity was a fear of the condemnation they believed awaited them if they did not believe.  I still remember the first time a Christian (this one was a Baptist missionary in Honduras) explicitly told me “If I did not believe there was a hell, I wouldn’t be a Christian.”  Combined with the definition of faith as assenting to certain truths, and the doctrine of eternal security to keep those who have “believed” in the “saved” column, it becomes reasonable to try to convince people to “believe,” as Malcolm X said of a very different struggle, “by any means necessary.”

I am the way , and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

There are, I suppose, a variety of possible candidates, but today I submit John 14:6 as the single most blatantly misquoted saying from Jesus’ entire ministry.  Lifted completely out of context, Jesus’ statement is usually presented as “Exhibit A” for Jesus’ establishment of the exclusive religion of Christianity as the sole route out of hell…and the reason everyone who doesn’t acknowledge the speaker’s version of orthodoxy is clearly hellbound.

Someone once said “a text out of context is merely a pretext,” and nowhere does this statement apply more forcefully than to John 14:6.  The context is a long heart-to-heart that Jesus had with his disciples at the Last Supper (see the beginning of John 13), on the subject of his impending crucifixion.  This particular discourse actually begins at John 13:31 and continues unbroken through chapter 17.  In it, Jesus is talking about his death and encouraging his disciples to stay strong, faithful, and together through the trials that are coming.  His disciples aren’t exactly tracking with his message, though…at least not at the beginning of chapter 14.  Having just told the disciples he’s going to prepare a place for them, Jesus reminds them that they know where he’s going and how to get there (John 14:3-4).  Thomas, not so much “the doubter” as the guy who’s willing to admit his lack of clue, blurts out that he has absolutely no idea what Jesus is talking about:  “Lord, we haven’t a clue where you’re going, how could we possibly know the way?”  It is in response to Thomas’ spoken (and, I supect, the others’ unspoken) question that Jesus states “I AM the way…”

Jesus did NOT say “I am starting a new religion with you guys, and this religion is the only way to avoid hell.”  Hell’s not even part of the discussion.  Nor did Jesus say “no one can be saved unless he thinks in his mind that I am the son of God and I am dying for his sins.”  No, Jesus says “I AM the way” directly in the context of his having just told his disciples “you know the way.”  The life they have lived with Jesus during the past three-plus years of his earthly ministry, the jobs he has set them to do, the miracles they have witnessed, the teaching they have absorbed; all these things wrapped together have taught them “the way” to the Father, which is the person of Jesus himself.  When Jesus goes on in John 14:11-14 to encourage the disciples to believe that the Father is in him, even this is not for “salvation” the way we think of it…it’s so they can do what they’ve seen him do and more, “so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”

When Christians loudly proclaim “no man cometh to the Father but by me,” they are not talking about following Jesus.  They’re not talking about obeying Jesus.  They’re certainly not talking about staying faithful under hardship and persecution.  No, they’re talking about how wrong Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Liberal Christians, Humanists, and sundry other “infidels” are.  They’re usually talking about their certainty that all of the above are destined to burn forever in hell.  (For a current example, take a look at the discussion on my friend Kurt’s blog today!)

The gospel of Jesus Christ claims things about him that are true of no one else.  Nobody else is Jesus, and no other teaching holds the stunning uniqueness of the One who rose from the dead.   I am not advocating for the feel-good universalist straw man so often the target of the self-righteous quoters of John 14:6.  But to properly frame those places where Jesus’ words confront society, or other faiths, or the Christian church, we have got to start by representing Jesus’ own words faithfully.  Using John 14:6 to club “unbelievers” and universalists over the head is categorically NOT faithful to Jesus’ message.