2 Timothy 3:1-4:5 (Sola Scriptura)

Introduction

On this date (Oct. 6) in 1536, William Tyndale was killed for violating the imperial command that no one should translate or read the Scriptures in their native language. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs put it this way, “[Tyndale was] condemned by virtue of the emperor's decree… and… brought forth to the place of execution. [He] was there tied to the stake, and then strangled… by the hangman, and afterward [consumed] with fire.”

More than 100 years earlier, civil and religious leaders across Europe enacted various laws, prohibiting common use of the Bible. For example, in 1408, the Archbishop of the English clergy (at that time still numbered among the Roman Catholic Church) published a decree that no one was allowed to “translate any text of the Holy Scriptures into the English tongue… nor let any such book or treatise… composed in the time of John Wycliffe…” (John Wycliffe was an earlier figure or pre-reformer or forerunner to the reformers who came later)… the decree said that no English translation of the Scriptures nor anything written by John Wycliffe should “be read in whole or in part, in public or in private, under the pain of the greater excommunicatio.”

They believed that the Scriptures should not be accessible to the common man because he would not understand, and he would run into error. For the Roman Catholic leadership, priests and popes were the necessary interpreters of the Bible, and they did not want anyone else to go meddling in things beyond their purview. This latin term “excommunicatio” was not only excommunication (or disciplinary removal from membership in the church), but it also included fines, imprisonment, and (in many cases) death. And this was no idle threat – the history of the Reformation is full of Protestants who died in prison or by execution.

Unlike many others who spoke out against the Roman Catholic Church during the 1300s, 1400s, and 1500s, John Wycliffe died of natural causes – he was the one named in the decree I just mentioned, and he was not executed. This is quite possibly because there were two rival popes at the turn of the 15th century, who were fighting with each other, so their focus wasn’t on an obscure English pastor). Wycliffe died 24 years before that 1408 decree was issued, but his writings had already been outlawed a couple of years before his death.

John Wycliffe is known as The Morning Star of the Protestant Reformation for three main reasons: (1) he was the first to attempt a full translation of the whole Bible (his was from Latin to English) – and he did personally translate a lot of it, (2) he believed and taught that the Scriptures are the ultimate authority in matters of doctrine and practice (100 years before Martin Luther was born!), and (3) his life and teaching had a big impact on at least some of the future reformers.

William Tyndale (who lived about the same time as Martin Luther) certainly embodied the same high view of Scripture and the same passion to make it known to the common people of England. Just before Tyndale was strangled to death, Tyndale cried out, "Lord, open the king of England's eyes!" His dying prayer was a plea that God would reverse the king's present actions against the circulation of Tyndale's English translation of the original Greek and Hebrew Scriptures. Indeed, he wanted all Englishmen (even young boys and girls) to be able to read the Scriptures for themselves, and he worked tirelessly to make that a reality.

Today, all English readers of the Bible owe a great deal to William Tyndale. He never finished his translation work, but he did complete the New Testament and several books of the Old Testament. The 1611 King James Version of the Bible is word-for-word from Tyndale in at least one-third of its text, and other English translations have been heavily influenced by Tyndale's work.

Thank you, William Tyndale! I look forward to shaking your hand one day, after the resurrection.

It has been said that the material (or practical) cause of the Protestant Reformation was the question of justification – “How can guilty sinners be justified before a holy God?” But because the Roman Catholic Church was answering this question differently than the reformers, the fundamental question became one of authority – “Who says?” or “Who decides?” or “How do you know?” This was the formal (or fundamental) cause of the Reformation.

Rome said authority mutually resides with the Scriptures and the Church.

Protestants said ultimate authority is in the Scriptures alone, and all else (including the institution and leadership of the church) must submit.

Throughout the month of October, we will focus on what have become known as the five “alones” or the five “solas” of the Protestant Reformation – Scripture alone, faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, and all glory to God alone.[i] The reformers did not summarize their teaching this way (the “five solas” didn’t become a thing until sometime during the 1800s), but theologians and historians have looked back on the Reformation to see these five convictions or beliefs as common among all Protestants.

Still today, these “alones” or “solas” are shared by Protestants who have remained within the doctrinal stream of their forebears – Reformed folks, Baptists, Presbyterians, Anglicans, and Lutherans. And, still today, these “five solas” are a pretty good summary of what divides Protestants from Roman Catholics. Of course, not every church or person along these denominational lines have maintained the historic faith and practice of the those before them; but there is real continuity among historically grounded Protestants, and there remains a real divide between the official teaching of Rome and that of Protestants.

This month, we will focus on these “five solas” as a way (1) to lay bare the burning heart of the gospel message, (2) to learn a bit of church history (so that we will know that our Christianity as older, richer, and more significant than just our own church or just our own experience), and (3) to urge us all to embrace a conviction that the reformers modeled so well – the conviction to always be reforming… always going back to the Scriptures and regularly recommitting ourselves to believe and live as God has revealed the what and how in His word.

Let’s begin by reading a passage of Scripture that speaks to the unique nature of what Scripture is and how it is to function in the life of a church.

Scripture Reading

2 Timothy 3:1–4:5 (ESV)

3:1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.

Avoid such people. 6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. 9 But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.

10 You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11 my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me.

12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

4:1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Main Idea

Scripture is our only infallible and inerrant rule for all we ought to believe and do; therefore, it is our supreme authority, deserving our best attention, consideration, and obedience.

Sermon

1. Reformation Reality

Our main passage of Scripture today is a portion of the second letter from the Apostle Paul to his pastoral apprentice (Timothy), while Timothy was serving as (what we might call) the senior pastor of the church in Ephesus. Though Timothy was Paul’s apprentice, he was no novice; he was the one Paul depended on to lead among difficult churches during challenging times. In fact, Paul warned Timothy that there would be “times of difficulty” for him and for the church, and Paul called those “times” “the last days” (2 Tim. 3:1).

As we’ve been reading through the book of Revelation on most Sundays this year, we’ve noted (repeatedly now) that the NT phrase “last days” refers to the entire period between Christ’s first coming and His second. It’s the “last” of the “days” in the sense that the only part of God’s plan of redemption that we are still waiting to unfold is the bodily arrival of the resurrected and glorified Christ… and the complete salvation and judgment that He’s promised to bring at that time.

The days of Adam and Noah and Abraham are passed, the days of Moses and the old covenant are passed, and even the days of Christ’s earthly ministry are passed… Jesus did live and die and conquer death, and He now reigns as the King of glory, orchestrating all human events according to the plan of the triune God, which was decreed and set in motion before the foundation of the world.

We (like all NT Christians before us) are living in the “last days,” awaiting that final day when Christ shall return to make all things new.

Indeed, Paul’s description of the “last days” in our main passage is a description that fits every generation and every geographical location on the planet (to one degree or another). People everywhere (since Genesis 3) are “lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (2 Tim. 3:2-4).

In the face of such sinful and self-centered desires, the biblical instruction for Timothy (in our passage) – and the prescription for all who “desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:12) – is to “follow” the exemplary “teaching” and “conduct” of the Apostles (2 Tim. 3:10) and to “continue” in the “sacred writings” (2 Tim. 3:14), both practicing or keeping what the Bible teaches (2 Tim. 3:16-17) and patiently teaching others to do the same (2 Tim. 4:1-2).

Friends, there is a sense in which every generation of Christians has the same impossible task. We live in a world that is bent toward sin, and even Christians continue to wrestle with sinful tendencies and desires. But we must cling to the truths of God’s word, we must honor and follow those among us who are exemplary Christians, and we must urge sinners to turn away from the sin they love and follow Jesus toward a better life, a better order, and a better reward.

But the recurring question for every generation is: “Where can we find a transcendent or universal standard of truth and goodness?” If everyone has their own ideas about what is true and what is good, and if various people or groups might make completing claims about what we ought to believe and we ought to do, then how do we know which is right? Who or what is the final or ultimate judge?

During the Medieval period of Western history (around 500 to 1500 AD), the Roman Catholic Church had developed an official answer to this question. And in the 1500s, Rome published a formal statement to codify their answer as dogma (or that stuff which one must believe in order to be Roman Catholic).

The Council of Trent was a meeting of Roman Catholic leaders that lasted (off and on) for nearly 20 years (1545-1563). And when all was said and done, the Council of Trent issued a book-full of statements, decrees, and canons (or rules).

The decree concerning Scripture and tradition said that the word of God and the rules He has given us for living “are contained in the written books, and the unwritten traditions which, received by the apostles from the mouth of Christ himself…have come down even unto us, transmitted as it were from hand to hand; [we] receive and venerate with equal affection of piety, and reverence, all the books both of the Old and of the New Testament [and] the said traditions…preserved by a continuous succession in the Catholic Church.”[ii]

In other words, both the written Scriptures and the unwritten traditions (which the Roman Catholic Church alone defines)… both of these are to be received and honored with equal respect and obedience. And this decree (like all the others at Trent) came with the threat of excommunication and eternal damnation against anyone who rejects it.

In theory, this placed Scripture and church tradition on the same level, both equally authoritative in the life of the Christian. But in practice, church tradition ruled over Scripture, since anyone who might interpret Scripture differently than Rome was declared a heretic or a non-believer or an enemy of Christ.

Friends, this was the reality of Christian life in Europe during the early 1500s. Almost no one had access to the Bible, and the Roman Catholic Church had placed itself between the people and the only written words of God. I’m not trying to pick on any of our friends and family who may be Roman Catholic; I am simply describing the historical reality as it was.[iii]

In some ways, we find ourselves in a similar situation today. The official teaching of Rome on this point has not changed; it’s only been reinforced… but that’s not what I’m talking about right now. If you want to discuss the differences between Rome and Protestants today, then let’s hang out after the service.

Today, we are not denied access to the Bible (like our Christian ancestors)… we have multiple English translations of Scripture, we have digital Bibles and print ones all around us, and there is no one telling us not to read the Bible for ourselves. But make no mistake. Christians and non-Christians alike in American culture (very often) have almost no idea what the Bible actually says. They don’t read it, they don’t consider it, and they don’t have any idea about how to apply it.

So too, while there is no institution standing between us and God’s word, demanding that we must come to them in order to get a right interpretation or an acceptable application of Holy Scripture, so many Christians today put their own “God spoke to me…” or “I believe God would want…” or “This is the way I’ve always done it!” above the written word of God that plainly says otherwise.

Just as Paul warned Timothy in our main passage, “people [do] not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they… accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and [they] turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Tim. 4:3-4).

Friends, there is much we can learn from the courageous men and women of the past… especially those who lived during the time of the Protestant Reformation… those who came to realize that the Bible itself stands above any person or institution. They recovered access to the Bible, they protested against Rome’s claims, and they put forward a different answer to that perennial question of authority… “Who says what is true, what is right, what is good?”

Their claim… the claim of our Protestant ancestors (though not exactly in these words)… was that Scripture is our only infallible and inerrant rule (or authority, or standard) for all we ought to believe and do.

2. Reformation Recovery

The claim that Scripture is our only infallible (it cannot err) and inerrant (it does not err) rule (or authority) arises from a fundamental teaching of the Bible itself. Certainly, there are reasonable arguments to be made, there is a great deal of archeological and historical evidence to provide, and the whole discipline of textual criticism can particularly contribute well to the conversation about the reliability and trustworthiness of Scripture. But the question of the Bible’s authority rests first and foremost on the reality that God Himself has “breathed out” or “inspired” the very words of Scripture.

In our main passage, the Apostle Paul points Timothy to the words of “Scripture” (2 Tim. 3:16). The “sacred writings” are the words that are “profitable” or “beneficial” or “useful” for “teaching,” for “reproof,” for “correction,” and for “training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16). These are the words “which are able to make [one] wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15). And these are the words that Paul charged Timothy to “preach” or “proclaim” in his pastoral role… even if some people would not endure them… because the words of Scripture are able to “save” both the preacher and the hearer (1 Tim. 4:16).

And all of this is true… because “all Scripture is breathed out by God” (2 Tim. 3:16). These aren’t merely the words of wise men; these are the very words of God… The creator of the universe, the God who reigns over all creation even now, and the very one who made Himself known to guilty sinners through the person and work of Jesus Christ… He has spoken!

Indeed, as the Apostle Peter wrote, “we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty… we ourselves heard [the] voice [of God] from heaven, [and] we were with [Christ] on the holy mountain [where He was transfigured before our eyes]” (2 Pet. 3:16-18). But then Peter wrote, “we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as a lamp shining in a dark place… knowing… that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 3:19-21).

Now, almost every time the NT uses the word “Scripture,” it is referring to the writings of the OT. And that is true of the citation I just gave from 2 Peter, as well as the statement from the Apostle Paul in our main passage.

However, Paul’s point to Timothy (in 2 Timothy 3-4) is to note the unique nature of Scripture itself… not to specify which writings are Scripture and which ones are not. In other words, Paul’s point is that whatever writings are Scripture, those writings are “sacred” or “holy,” because those are the very words of God Himself – He has “breathed” them “out” from His own mouth (as it were), even though God used “men” to write them down. Those men who wrote the words of Scripture “spoke from God” (to use Peter’s language from 2 Peter 3), and they were “carried along by the Holy Spirit” in their writing (3 Pet. 3:21).

Now, I’m not preaching or teaching on the doctrine of inspiration or on canonicity this morning, so I’m resisting the urge to double-click on a lot of stuff here – How God used men to write His own words… the duality of both human authorship and divine… and the historical and theological realities of knowing what is Scripture and what is not… all of these are related subjects to the one we are considering today, but we are staying laser-focused on the subject at hand – the unique authority of Scripture, which is based on the unique nature of Scripture.

Because Scripture (all 66 books of the Bible, both the OT and the NT)… because Scripture is “breathed out by God” (2 Tim. 3:16) or “inspired by God” (NASB) or “θεόπνευστος” (NA28), it is the written collection of His words… and, therefore, Scripture is the highest authority and greatest treasure.

The Protestant reformers were unanimous on this…

Ulrich Zwingli wrote, “[Christians ought to be] led by the Word and Spirit of God… setting aside all [human teachings] and to learn the doctrine of God from His own Word.”

William Tyndale said (simply), “The Scriptures sprang out of God.”

John Calvin wrote, “we owe to the Scripture the same reverence which we owe to God, because it has proceeded from him… the Scriptures alone exist as the means by which God has been pleased to consign his truth to perpetual remembrance.”

Martin Luther said, “The Holy Spirit is the Author of this book,” and “Let the man who would hear God speak read Holy Scripture.”

Friends, the words we read on the pages of Scripture are the very words of God, and this has huge implications for how we understand the value and the authority of this book.

The psalmist wrote of the value of God’s word when he said, “The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward” (Ps. 19:7-11).

In a less poetic way, the Apostle Paul said the same thing in our main passage: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

Friends, do you want a perfect and sure and true and profitable word? Do you want your soul revived and your eyes enlightened and your ignorance turned to wisdom? Do you want to be equipped for every genuinely and everlastingly good work that is to be done in this life?

Then, prioritize the Scriptures! Take up and read! Get around others who are regularly talking about the Scriptures, thinking about the Scriptures, and trying to apply the Scriptures well! Sing songs that echo the Scriptures! Read good books that describe and explain and illustrate the Scriptures!

There are so many applications we might make today, but let me quickly recap before we turn our attention more fully in that direction.

Because the Bible is the written word of God, it stands as supreme over all other words (our own or others’) that might lay claim on what we ought to believe or do… therefore, it is our highest authority and our great treasure… and it deserves our best attention, consideration, and obedience.

3. Reformation Resolutions

Brothers and sisters, most of us do not have the opportunity to spend the majority of our time reading and studying Scripture… and you should not feel guilty for spending less time in the Bible than I have this last week. It’s my job to spend more than a few hours each week reading the Bible, thinking about what I’ve read, reading what other Christians have thought about it, and considering various applications and implications of both the truth-claims and the commands. Like many of you make a living applying your skills and experience in practical and technical ways in your vocation, I make a living applying the skills of a theologian and Bible interpreter and historian and preacher/teacher.

Now, it’s probably true that at least some of us could prioritize Bible reading more in our daily lives, but just putting eyes on the page does not necessarily mean that we are attending to the Scripture, that we are considering it, or that we are obeying it as our highest authority.

In these last several minutes of my sermon this morning, I want to point out three areas where we ought to prioritize the Bible as our chief or unique or highest authority, and various practical ways we might attend to the Scriptures, consider them, and obey them as everyday Christians in each of these areas.

The first area is that of the local church.

One of the main effects of the Protestant Reformation on the local church was the rearrangement of the furniture. In Roman Catholic churches (both then and now), the focal point of the whole room (that which is designed to draw your attention) is an altar in the shape of a table. The altar is the place where the priest performs his duty of calling down a miracle (changing the substances of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ). This “unbloody sacrifice” is the center of Roman Catholic life, and everything else rises and descends from it.

The reformers rejected the notion that Christ could be (or should be) sacrificed repeatedly in such a manner, they denied that there is any substantial change to the elements of bread and wine, and they reoriented the entire church gathering (and all of church-life) to focus on the word of God. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper still play a big role in Protestant churches, but these (like everything else) are defined by, regulated by, and administered under the word of God.

This is why (in Protestant churches) you will see that the focal point of the main church gathering (even in the furniture itself) is the Scripture. The central feature of our church gatherings is the reading of Scripture, the preaching of Scripture, the singing of Scripture, the praying of Scripture, and the seeing of Scripture displayed in the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

So too, in the formal and organized activities of the church, we prioritize Scripture over all else.

Our monthly Sunday evening gatherings focus on singing songs that echo the truths of Scripture, we pray prayers based on the teaching and commands of Scripture, and we sit under the preaching of Scripture by those among us who have devoted time and effort to preparing for it.

Our mid-week Bible study also prioritizes Scripture. Some of us get together in the fellowship hall to read and consider and apply a particular passage of Scripture each Wednesday evening. We practice the skills of inductive Bible study, not only to benefit from studying the passage before us right then, but also to learn how to do this kind of simple-but-profound Bible study on our own. There’s a sense in which those Wednesday nights are really aimed at helping us exercise the basic skills involved in Bible reading… we are learning to be better Bible readers.

At our church, we (the members) also gather 6 times a year to formally practice what we preach – meaningful church membership. There is a lot more to meaningful membership than participating in members’ meetings, but this is a formal and essential feature of it. We have attended to the teaching of Scripture (about what a church is and does), we consider what implications the Scripture has on the decisions before us, and we aim to obey God’s word by making decisions that will honor Christ and serve the faithful ministry of this local church.

Friends, if you believe the Bible is our supreme authority in all matters pertaining to what we must believe and what we ought to do, then you should expect a local church to prioritize Scripture. Churches should prioritize Scripture by making it the main goal (Scripture is what we want to hear; Scripture is what we want to understand; and Scripture is what we want to apply)… Churches should prioritize Scripture by making it the main ingredient (Scripture is what we want to sing; it’s what we want to pray; it’s what we want to be the flavor of everything we’re doing and hearing and seeing)… And churches should also prioritize Scripture by making it the main rule or standard (Does the Bible say we ought to do this or believe that? Then we must. Does the Bible leave us free to do or not do something? Then let’s avoid binding consciences. Does the Bible say we definitely should not do this or believe that? Then let’s make sure we don’t.).

Because Scripture is our only infallible and inerrant rule for all we ought to believe and do, it is our supreme authority as a church, and we want to give our best attention to it, we want to deeply consider it, and we want to aim to obey it.

The second area we ought to prioritize the Bible is in our homes.

There is a lot of overlap between prioritizing Scripture in the church and in the home because the Bible gives explicit teaching and commands for both (the church and the home), though there are some significant differences too.

One of the main effects the Protestant Reformation had on Christian homes was in the way Christians began to understand family discipleship. Before the Reformation, Christian discipleship was centrally located in church activities and related to doing church rituals. But Protestants recovered the concept of family discipleship, where Christian husbands take up the primary responsibility of discipling their own wives and children, and Christian moms and dads share the responsibility of raising up their children in the knowledge of Christ.

In the decades after the Protestant Reformation really got going, there was an explosion of catechisms and common songs that could be sung by everyone (not just monks and nuns). Martin Luther was especially notable on both of these. He believed that pastors ought to catechize the church members, but he (and other reformers) laid the daily responsibility on Christian fathers.[iv] And many Protestant churches still sing some of Martin Luther’s hymns today (A Mighty Fortress is probably the most notable).

I highly recommend the use of catechisms (and there are many good ones to choose from), but whatever tool you use, Christian husbands and Christian parents ought to prioritize the Scriptures in the home. We can do this by setting aside a little time each day to read the Bible together. We can talk a little about what we’ve read. We can ask good questions about how to apply the Bible in our family life. And we can try to make our children understand that even our house rules are based upon the precepts of Scripture.

The Bible is our only infallible and inerrant rule for all we ought to believe and do… as men and women, as husbands and wives, as fathers and mothers, as children and teens… therefore, Scripture is our supreme authority… and it deserves our best attention (we should know what the Bible says about husbanding, wifing, fathering, mothering, obedience, authority, submission, virtue, truth, beauty, wisdom, and a whole host of other things. We should consider what the Bible says about all of this and how it applies to our family life together. And we should aim to obey it… and we should teach our children to do the same.

Finally, the third area we ought to prioritize the Bible is in our lives in general – our lives out in the world.

Another huge effect that the Protestant Reformation had on Christian life and practice was in the way Protestants obliterated the line between the holy and the common, the sacred and the secular. The way we use the word “vocation” or “profession” is a remnant (at least in the Western world) of this change in thinking.

Before the Protestant Reformation, Rome, taught Christians to think of the world as divided into two distinct spheres – the holy and the common. Chruch stuff was holy, and everything else was common or profane. Priests, monks, nuns, church buildings, physical icons (statues, pictures, images, and such), geographical locations… all of this stuff was holy. But moms, dads, children, blacksmiths, farmers, bakers, carpenters, merchants (and the like)… all of this stuff was common, and it didn’t have much to do with Christian living or serving Christ.

During and after the Protestant Reformation, Christians began to understand that their labor (either at home or in the world) was the everyday area of their Christian service… this is where they commonly professed their faith in Christ… this was their common “profession” of faith in Christ… demonstrated by living for Him in all the mundane activities of life.

Martin Luther said, “God is milking the cows through the vocation of the milkmaid.” The word “vocation” comes from the Latin root which means “to call.” And Luther wanted everyday Christians to think of their whole lives as lived under the calling of God.

Friends, because Scripture is our only infallible and inerrant rule for all we ought to believe and do, we ought to prioritize the Bible as our supreme authority. We ought to give the words of Scripture our best attention (in our church-life, in our home-life, and out in the world), we ought to consider what Scripture says about all of this and how it applies, and we ought to aim to obey the word of God in every way… for it is our best guide for a good life now and for eternal life to come.

May God help us.

Endnotes

[i] See this great summary and introduction to the Five Solas: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/what-are-the-five-solas

[ii] The Canons and Decrees of The Council of Trent. “Decree Concerning the Canonical Scriptures.” Accessed October 3, 2024. https://www.ecatholic2000.com/trent/untitled-11.shtml#_Toc385685487.

[iii] The official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church continues to promulgate the same decrees and anathemas of the Council of Trent. See Vatican Archive. “Dei Verbum.” Accessed October 3, 2024. https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html. See also Catechism of the Catholic Church, pg. 31, section 82.

[iv] See Luther’s small catechism, along with other great tools and features, here: https://catechism.cph.org