Unbelief and Sola Scriptura

by Mike Ratliff

Sola Scriptura       In Sacred scripture alone we find

Sola Gratia              Salvation is by grace alone

Sola Fide                  Through faith alone

Solus Christus       In Christ alone

Soli Deo Gloria!    For the glory of God alone!

Then came to him the tempter, and said, If thou be the Sonne of God, commande that these stones be made bread. But he answering said, It is written, Man shall not liue by bread onely, but by euery worde that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:3-4 Geneva)

Unbelief is the fruit of arrogance. I hear nearly every day from some Emergent/Post-Modern know-it-all that certainty is the product of pride and the only ones who are truly humble are those who view uncertainty in all things as a virtue. What is unbelief in this context? To define it we must first define its opposite, belief. In John 6:35 Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” So those who “believe in Jesus” are those who do what? Those with belief come to Jesus to partake of this promise instead of seeking fulfillment elsewhere. These believe God; therefore, those in unbelief are those who do not believe God. They may believe Him in some things, but they do not do so to the level that causes them to place all their trust in Him and His promises as their Lord. Those in belief live within the context of Jesus Christ being their Lord while those in unbelief do not. Oh, they compensate to be sure. They create their own Jesus who is more to their liking. Since they created him, they have him being “lord” in their context, but most certainly not according to that which we are clearly given in Sacred Scripture.

As the self-styled post-modern thinkers apply their wobbly belief system to Christianity they run headlong into something I am sure they never thought would cause them any problem whatsoever. There are those in Christ who believe God, have believed their Lord and are in Him. He has saved them and they live their lives within the context of Him being their Lord over every part. Those who are in Christ are changed. They are new creations. They are regenerate. One of the primary ways they know their Lord and learn about their God is through His Word. From it, they learn that there is a huge problem with any attempt to reconcile post-modern indefiniteness with Sola Scriptura. God’s Word says something is true and God’s people believe it. They live according to the truths they learn from His Word. They learn that true Christianity is exclusive and precise. This is not arrogance, but belief. The epitome of arrogance is displayed by those who refuse to believe God and, instead, attempt to blend together various belief systems that please them. This is, of course, unbelief in action.

The enemy of God and His people, Satan, is a liar and a murderer. His goal is to deceive people and draw them into unbelief and spiritual darkness. He uses temptation to do this. These temptations are rooted in the world.

For all that is in this world (as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life) is not of the Father, but is of this world. (1 John 2:16 Geneva)

The lust of the flesh pertains to personal gain or physical comfort in place of being satisfied in Christ. The lust of the eyes pertains to physical appetites as a distraction from pursuing fulfillment from God. The pride of life pertains to personal power in the world instead of living within the Lordship of Christ. Satan used these three temptations against Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3). He promised her that if she ate of the fruit that she would not die (lust of flesh), that it was actually okay to eat of any tree in the garden (lust of the eyes), and that if she ate of the tree then she would be like God, which is an appeal to the pride of life. Interestingly, when our Lord began His earthly ministry, He went into the wilderness to be tempted as well and Satan used these same three temptations, which are rooted in the world.

Then was Iesus led aside of the Spirit into the wildernes, to be tempted of the deuil. And when he had fasted fourtie dayes, and fourtie nights, he was afterward hungrie. Then came to him the tempter, and said, If thou be the Sonne of God, commande that these stones be made bread. But he answering said, It is written, Man shall not liue by bread onely, but by euery worde that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:1-4 Geneva)

This is a direct temptation to the “lust of the eyes” made by our tempter against our Lord. What did our Lord use to counter the temptation? He quoted scripture from Deuteronomy 8:3 telling Satan that it is a sin to place physical appetites above obedience to God’s Word, being fed and sustained by Him.  I would imagine that this is not something being preached or taught a great deal in our churches in our time. In fact, the name it and claim it crowd would be all over this one, seeing no problem placing personal gain over self-denial and obedience to God’s Word. But you see, this is what God’s Word says and, therefore, we must learn this, take it to heart, and ask God to change us accordingly.

Then the deuil tooke him vp into the holy Citie, and set him on a pinacle of the temple, And said vnto him, If thou be the Sonne of God, cast thy selfe downe: for it is written, that he wil giue his Angels charge ouer thee, and with their hands they shall lift thee vp, lest at any time thou shouldest dash thy foote against a stone. Iesus saide vnto him, It is written againe, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. (Matthew 4:5-7 Geneva)

This temptation was according to the lust of the flesh and in this, we see that our enemy can quote Scripture too. Satan’s quote is from Psalms 91:11, 12, but it is out of context and he twists the meaning. On the other hand, our Lord’s response, from Deuteronomy 6:16, recalls the experience of Massah, where the grumbling Israelites put the Lord to the test. They demanded that Moses produce water where there was none. This reminds me of these loose-mouthed preachers on TV who blaspheme God and tempt Him in ways that I find hard to understand why He does not just zap them. Our application here is that we should never presume upon God for when we do, we are guilty of giving into a temptation of the lust of the flesh. It is sin. Those who believe God are submitted to His truth from His Word (Sola Scriptura), while those in unbelief try to do things according to their own “reason.” Go here then scroll down to the bottom to the video. In the video, you will hear this sort of stuff. As I listened to the conversation I kept hearing myself say, “God is not to be trifled with!”

Againe the deuil tooke him vp into an exceeding hie mountaine, and shewed him all the kingdomes of the world, and the glory of them, And sayd to him, All these will I giue thee, if thou wilt fall downe, and worship me. Then sayd Iesus vnto him, Auoyde Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lorde thy God, and him onely shalt thou serue. Then the deuill left him: and beholde, the Angels came, and ministred vnto him. (Matthew 4:8-11 Geneva)

This temptation is according to the pride of life. Satan offers our Lord all the world’s kingdoms for the price of Him worshipping our enemy. There are plenty of “Christian” leaders in the history of the Church who have fallen for this. There are some today as well. Well, we must combat this temptation as our Lord did. He quoted Deuteronomy 6:13, 14. The Word of God is our source of God’s Truth. What it says is the Truth and is the Truth no matter who argues about it or tries to sell a
“better truth” in its place. Sola Scriptura is under attack by our enemy in all three of these temptations for he is saying his truth is higher and better than God’s Truth, which is His Word. Our Lord’s response was perfect and teaches us that the way we defeat Satan is to worship the Lord our God and Him only shall we serve. If we do this as we subject ourselves to His Truth, then we not only prove we are His children, but we will be able to withstand all of the wiles of the Devil and turn away from his attempts to deceive us through the temptations of the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. We will be able to do this because we will have a godly focus instead of a fleshly, temporal focus.

Sola Scriptura is under severe attack in our day by those with their own “religious” agenda. However, this is really nothing new as we saw in these passages from the Old and New Testaments. I encourage all reading this to commit yourselves to living in God’s Word, praying for both discernment and wisdom while walking in repentance. Be alert my brethren, our enemy is seeking to cause us to stumble and fall, but no matter what he does to us, if we are truly in Christ, He will sustain us and keep us in His sheep fold.

Soli Deo Gloria!