Theological Term of the Week

For the next five week, I’ll be defining each of the five solas.

sola scriptura
Literally, “scripture alone.”  The reformation slogan meaning that scripture is the only infallible rule of faith,  the absolute authority in all things, revealing all knowledge necessary for salvation and all knowledge necessary for the church.

• From Acts 17:11:

  These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.
  

• From The Westminster Larger Catechism, Question 3:

  Q3: What is the word of God?
  A3: The holy scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the word of God,[1] the only rule of faith and obedience.[2]
  
  1. II Tim. 3:16; II Peter 1:19-21
  2. Eph. 2:20; Rev. 22:18-19; Isa. 8:20; Luke 16:29, 31; Gal. 1:8-9; II Tim. 3:15-16

• From Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures:

  This seal have thou ever on thy mind; which now by way of summary has been touched on in its heads, and if the Lord grant, shall hereafter be set forth according to our power, with Scripture proofs. For concerning the divine and sacred Mysteries of the Faith, we ought not to deliver even the most casual remark without the Holy Scriptures: nor be drawn aside by mere probabilities and the artifices of argument. Do not then believe me because I tell thee these things, unless thou receive from the Holy Scriptures the proof of what is set forth: for this salvation, which is of our faith, is not by ingenious reasonings, but by proof from the Holy Scriptures. (Source: What Did the Early Church Believe about the Authority of Scripture?)
  

Learn more:

1. Sola Scriptura by A.A. Hodge
2. Grover Gunn: Sola Scripture (pdf)
3. Irish Calvinist: What sola scriptura is…and what it is not…
4. ChristianAnswers.Net: What Did the Early Church Believe About the Authority of Scripture?
5. Update: From Mark Dever, The Authority of Scripture (mp3 from New Attitude Liveblog)

Related theological terms:

• Authority of scripture
• Sufficiency of scripture

Have you come across a theological term that you don’t understand and that you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

 

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order.

Sunday's Hymn

I’m supposed to be posting one of the congregational hymns we sang in church this morning, but I’m going to post a hymn that the choir sang instead. And just to be even more contrary, instead of posting the words as we sang it, I’m going to post the words as they appeared in the Olney Hymns, as they were originally written by John Newton, and I’ll let the song go by its original title, too.

 

Hymn 41: Faith’s review and expectation.

Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, hut now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believed!

Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

The LORD has promised good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But GOD, who called me here below,
Will be for ever mine. 

My favorite YouTube version of this hymn is done by the Utsunomiya Girls Choir.

 

Other hymns, worship songs, etc. posted today:

• The First Sunday after Trinity at Magic Statistics
• God, the Hope of Those Who Pray at The Happy Wonderer
• Praise the Savior at Hiraeth
  
• How Deep the Father’s Love for Us at Seasoning of the Heart
• There Is a Rock on Which I Stand at Whatever Things…
• Blessing and Honor and Glory and Power at Field Stone Cottage
• Lord’s Day 21, 2008 at The Thirsty Theologian
• In Memory of the Savior’s Love at Conjubilant With Song
• Beneath the Cross of Jesus at Light Came
  

Have you posted a hymn today and I missed it? Let me know by leaving a link in the comments or by emailing me at the address in the sidebar and I’ll add your post to the list.

Saturday's Old Photo

 

This one of the few photos we have of my Grandfather Russell, my dad’s father. His name was Bruce Russell and he was a banker in Tribune, KS. Sadly, he died of a ruptured appendix while he was still in his twenties, leaving his two little boys, three-years-old and one-year-old, without a dad.

 

Not too long after he died, my grandmother married my Grandpa Vogt, the one you saw in the last two old photos, so my Grandpa Vogt is the only father my dad knew. And a very good father he was.

 

Do you notice that Grandfather Russell is holding a camera while he has his photo taken by someone else with another camera? That’s a little curious, don’t you think? Were they taking photos of each other? Comparing cameras?

 

And was this the camera that took my dad’s baby picture in the rocking chair? So many questions and no one to answer them.

 

We have a collection of love letters between my grandma and this grandpa, letters written before they were married, while she was still in high school and he was a working man. Most of the letters were only a paragraph long, a few sentences, but they wrote faithfully, twice a day. Those were the days, remember, of twice a day mail delivery, so if she wrote in the morning, he was reading her letter in the afternoon.  Almost like email.