Many times you will see the core Lutheran beliefs stated in the Latin form that they were first presented (at the time, Latin was the language of scholarship, and if you were going to be taken seriously you needed to write in Latin). These Latin terms were:
- Sola Scriptura
- Sola Fide
- Sola Gratia
- and later “Solus Christus” and “Soli Deo Gloria”
The word “sola” in Latin can mean “alone” or “only”. While you may have difficulty in seeing the difference between those right off the bat – we think there is an important difference there. It has been common practice to translate those things as:
- Sola Scriptura = Scripture Alone
- Sola Fide = Faith Alone
- Sola Gratia = Grace Alone
When we say that we believe in “Sola Scriptura”, we’re saying that we believe that Scripture is the only place to get our theology, but it is not alone. To say that it is alone is to automatically discount all of the people who have thought about and written about the Bible. Their thoughts help us to interpret Scripture, which is a good thing. What Lutherans watch out for is that any person who is writing about the Bible is always been guided and corrected by it and not coming up with their own interpretations that go against or abuse other parts of the Bible.