Why is it important for Christians to affirm “sola Scriptura”?
We can talk about the primacy of the doctrine of God, which is certainly true. However, the authority question is where we need to start because it is from God’s authority that we construct all of our doctrines. It is like a domino chain. If the doctrine of Scripture falls in the wrong direction, every single one of your dominoes is going to fall in the wrong direction.
R.C. Sproul was on the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy, which wrote the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy in 1978. That statement was crucial for a lot of denominations, particularly the Southern Baptist Convention. So, the doctrine of Scripture is absolutely crucial, as is the authority of Scripture because that is ultimately what sola Scriptura means: Scripture alone is our authority.
This transcript is from a live Ask Ligonier event with Stephen Nichols and has been lightly edited for readability. To ask Ligonier a biblical or theological question, email ask@ligonier.org or message us on Facebook or Twitter.