• Sola Scriptura – Scripture Alone (sermon audio below)

• Sola Gratia – Grace Alone
• Sola Fide – Faith Alone
• Solus Christus – Christ Alone
• Soli Deo Gloria – Glory of God Alone

Sola Scriptura

For the first 1,500 years of the church, almost no one had a personal copy of the Scriptures.  The church was always the custodian of the physical copies of the Scriptures.

Early Church – In the opening centuries of early church history the canon of Scripture had not yet been agreed upon.  Churches would have copies of the individual gospels or letters that had been written and would eventually be incorporated into the Bible.  Greek was the common spoken language of the Roman Empire while Latin was the official or formal language.  There was a widely circulated Greek translation of the OT (called the Septuagint) and the NT was written in Greek, the language that everybody could use.  It was cost and time prohibitive to create copies of the Scriptures by hand.  A church would have to employ a scribe and the pace of copying would be a few chapters per day.  Thus, individuals did not have copies of the Scriptures but could read the copy that the church had.

Middle Age Church – When the Roman Empire finally fell in the 5th century, the Latin language developed over the centuries into the various Latin-based languages of Europe (Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese).  As well the Germanic languages were widespread.  All of these became the common language of the people over the centuries, but the Roman Catholic Church maintained the use of Latin in all aspects of church life and writing.  As the centuries progressed a significant problem developed from this.  The church was still the custodian of all the physical copies of the Scriptures, but the general population could no longer read the Scripture when they went to the church because the copies of the Scripture were not written in the common language but in Latin.

Given time (centuries to develop traditions), power (church and state closely linked), and the ignorance of the population (stated above) the Roman Catholic Church slowly began to elevate two other sources to an equal level of authority with the Scripture.  The Pope and Church Tradition began to be as authoritative as the Scripture over the church and people.  Gregg Allison writes in his book Historical Theology, “all multiple-source views of authority are unstable, giving preference to one source rather than to another.  As seen in the Catholic Church, tradition takes preference over Scripture; thus, tradition becomes the church’s ‘final authority’.” (p. 87-88)

So, by the time of the Reformation in the 16th century, the Roman Catholic Church had completely suppressed the Scripture under the Pope’s edicts and interpretation of Scripture because the Pope’s edicts and interpretation often ran contrary to Scripture.

Reformation Church – “Scripture Alone” became the central principle of the Reformation churches.  Martin Luther made his famous stand at the Diet of Worms in 1521 where he declared,

Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. May God help me.

The doctrine of Sola Scriptura demands a Bible in the language of the common people so that the common person can discern truth.  So, Martin Luther put his mind and hand to the task of translating the Bible and, aided by the invention of the printing press, the NT was printed in the German language in 1522.  For the first time in the 1,500 years of church history the Bible was now unchained from the pulpit.

What does “Scripture Alone” mean?

Sola Scriptura means 2 things (taken from Allison’s Historical Theology, p. 88)

1. Scripture, because it is the Spirit’s writing, is the final judge of Christian doctrine and practice, standing above everything else.
2. Anything that lacks biblical warrant cannot be authoritative or binding for Christians.

Do you appreciate the copy (or copies!!) of God’s Word that you have in your native language sitting in your house?  I hope so.  Now pick it up and read!

• Introduction
• Overview
• Part 1 – Character Qualifications (positive)

In this post we’ll consider the negative character qualifications for a pastor.  The usage of “negative” character qualifications could be misunderstood.  I am using this terminology to signify character traits that are not to be present in a pastor’s life.  These are undesirable character traits that should not be found in the pastor.  Thus, in the Scriptures, all of these begin with “not.”  Some of these are listed in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and others are listed in Titus 1:5-9.  There are 7 negative character traits.

Not a Drunkard.  This should be fairly self explanatory.  The pastor cannot be a person who habitually drinks too much alcohol.  The Bible does not say that the pastor must be a total abstainer of alcohol.  The issues of total abstinence and moderation are issues of wisdom and restraint of rights, not issues of Biblical commands.

Not Violent.  Pastors generally don’t have a problem with physically assaulting people.  But often pastors can be eager to argue, quarrel, or fight to get the things they want.  This is nothing but the flesh showing through.  We cannot get things done in the flesh.  We must get things done in prayer, on our knees.

Not Quarrelsome.  The pastor must be a man of peace.  He must be disinclined to fight. This would be in reference to the strife that arises from our passions, desires, and preferences.  We cannot fight over these things.  However, there are times when we must fight.  Things like the doctrinal purity of the church, issues of holiness within the church, etc.  These demand that church leadership take a strong and unmovable stand.

Not a Lover of Money.  Hebrews 13:5 says, “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.’” The pastor is not to be a greedy man.  But please notice that “not a lover of money” does not equal “must be poor”.  Pastors are to be an example of faithful stewardship of everything that God gives.  But, most of all pastors are to be lovers of God, not money.

Not Arrogant.  Arrogance is a form of pride.  Arrogance is extremely self-centered.  Self-centered would be the opposite of what a pastor is to be.  Pastors are to be God-centered men in all things.  We’re not supposed to be self-assured.  We are designed to have confidence in God, not in self.  Rather than arrogance in our own abilities, let us have great faith in God’s abilities.

Not Quick-Tempered.  In the positive character list we saw that pastors are to be gentle.  A man who is inclined to anger and quickly boils over will not serve well as a pastor.  The sheep do not need a beating from the shepherd; they need the gentle touch of the shepherd.

Not Greedy for Gain.  This would go hand-in-hand with not being a lover of money.  The picture of a man who is greedy for gain is that of a person who has no shame in the means that he uses to acquire money or the place from which his money comes.

As I wrote at the end of the previous entry, this list should serve all Christians and not just pastors.  This is not something a man starts living by once he becomes a pastor.  It is a list of things that is true of him and the church identifies him as a potential pastor.

In this post we’ll consider all of the positive character qualifications for a pastor.  Some are found 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and others are listed in Titus 1:5-9.  There are 10 positive character traits, so this post will be a little long.

ABOVE REPROACH.  The pastor is to be a person who cannot be criticized or accused of doing wrong.  That is not to say that there is not a person who just wants to criticize the pastor because those people will exist.  This is saying that the pastor’s lifestyle is such that he in no way invites criticism by the things he does and says.

SOBER-MINDED.  The question that this qualification addresses is not alcohol (Paul addresses that issue by saying that the pastor is not to be a drunkard).  To be sober-minded means that the pastor is to be a man who acknowledges the truth presented in God’s Word and faithfully discharges his resulting ministry.

• 2 Timothy 4:5, “As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”  Fulfilling ministry is a result of being sober-minded.
• 1 Peter 1:13, “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
• 1 Peter 4:7, “The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.”  Paul says that correct thinking is critical for your prayer life.

SELF-CONTROLLED.  You let your mind guide your body in that you are sensible and moderate in your behavior.  You are in control of you.

• Titus 2:11-12, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.”  Self-control is a characterization of the way you live the Christian life.
• It is the same Greek word-family that is used in Mark 5:15 when it says the demon possessed man that Jesus healed was in his right mind, “And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind…”

RESPECTABLE.  The pastor is to be a man who is worthy of being given respect.  That is, he lives in such a way that people respect who he is.

HOSPITABLE.  The pastor is to be a man who shows kindness towards people.  The Bible also tells us that hospitality is focused on strangers as well as on our well-known friends and fellow believers.  Jesus teaches us that God is hospitable (Luke 12:37; 13:29; 14:16-23).

• 1 Peter 4:9, “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.”
• In the parable of the sheep and goats in Matthew 25:31-46 the single difference between the sheep and the goats is that the sheep are hospitable while the goats are not.

GENTLE.  In the text, “gentle” is set up as the alternative to “violent” (1 Tim. 3:3).  The pastor is to be a man who is yielding and does not speak evil and is not quarrelsome.  Gentleness is a quality of Jesus that complements his heavenly majesty.  He was gentle as he gave himself for us (Isaiah 53:7; Philippians 2:5-8).

A LOVER OF GOOD.  Titus 1:8 contains this only use of this word in the New Testament.  The question we can ask ourselves here is, “What do I rejoice in?”

• 1 Corinthians 13:6, “[love] does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.”  Do we long for good?  Do we desire truth?  Or do we secretly rejoices when a bad thing happens to someone we don’t like?

UPRIGHT.  We focus much on the gospel, and rightly so.  But we must have both the law and the gospel.  The pastor is to be a person who truly keeps the law.  He is to be righteous and just in his dealings.

• James 5:16, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”  Pastors are to be men of prayer, and their prayers need to get something done.  Therefore, a pastor need to be a righteous (or upright) person.

HOLY.  Holiness is God’s primary characteristic. Revelation 4:8 tells us that in heaven there is an unending declaration of God’s holiness.  The pastor is to be a man who lives a holy life.

DISCIPLINED.  The Greek word enkrates used here means “having power or dominion over the self”.  This would be similar to the idea presented above that the pastor is to be a man who is self-controlled.

• 1 Corinthians 9:25, “Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.”  We, too, are running a race in our Christian lives and ministries.  There is a particular, disciplined lifestyle that we must maintain if we are to live and serve well.

As we finish this, I want to remind you that these should be a goal for all Christians.  The church uses this list as a means for identifying those who will serve as pastors.  My guess is that you’ve got something on this list you can work on…get started.

For the month of May we read the NT in the English Standard Version (ESV).  I am very familiar with the ESV because it is my regular study and preaching translation.  So, there’s no doubt that I love the ESV.  Here’s the main reasons why I use the ESV…

1. It is a literal translation of the Bible.  There is no way that a thought-for-thought translation or a paraphrase could fit well into text-based, expository preaching.  When I preach, I often refer the congregation to the text.  And when they look down at the page of their Bibles, I want them to look at a translation that is as transparent as possible and allows them to see the original text.  So, we have encouraged the congregation to get the ESV.
2. It uses modern English.  It’s important to have and use a translation that I can give to a new Christian that will be easily understood by the 21st century English speaker who did not grow up in church.
3. It stands in the stream of of King James English.  So, the ESV will sound familiar to those who grew up on a steady diet of the King James Version.  This is important to me as I am ministering in a small rural town in the South.  The majority of all adults in the rural South grew up in church reading from and memorizing the KJV.

June starts our reading with the HCSB – Holman Christian Standard Bible (or Hard Core Southern Baptist, if you prefer, lol)

Download June calendar here… NT June Calendar

Before actually diving into each of the specific qualifications for being a pastor, I want to do an overview of all the qualifications and make a few general observations.  Here are the qualifications for a man to become a pastor, as laid out for us in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1.

Character Qualifications (positive)

• above reproach (x3)
• sober-minded
• self-controlled (x2)
• respectable
• hospitable (x2)
• gentle
• a lover of good
• upright
• holy
• disciplined

Character Qualifications (negative)

• not a drunkard (x2)
• not violent (x2)
• not quarrelsome
• not a lover of money
• not arrogant
• not quick-tempered
• not greedy for gain

Family Qualifications

• husband of one wife (x2)
• children are believers
• children are not open to the charges of debauchery or insubordination
• manages his own household well
• with all dignity keeping his children submissive

Faith Qualifications

• not a recent convert
• holds firm to the trustworthy Word

Skill Qualifications

• able to teach
• able to give instruction in sound doctrine
• able to rebuke those who contradict sound doctrine

Civic Qualifications

• well thought of by outsiders

Here’s the major observation that I had while looking at this list after I first organized it like this in my personal journal.  God is much more concerned with who a pastor is than what a pastor does.  There are 22 qualifications dealing with the pastor’s character and family compared to the astonishing fact that there are only 3 qualifications for a pastor’s skill set.

These qualifications are not things that a man drums up in himself upon becoming a pastor.  These are characteristics that should be present in a man and then his church recognizes that he could be a man God is desiring to use in pastoral ministry.  In both Scripture passages, Paul is telling Timothy and Titus how to recognize a potential leader.

In the next post I will begin working through each of the specific qualifications on the positive character list.

This will be a 7-part series based on Apostle Paul’s writings to 2 young men, Timothy and Titus, who would carry the torch after he dies.  The writings are found in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9.

As you can see from reading the above passages, the list is quite daunting.  So, I’ve tried to take all of the qualifications and organize them into a format that we can look at a little easier.  Here’s how this series will shape up…

• Overview
• Character Qualifications (positive)
• Character Qualifications (negative)
• Family Qualifications
• Faith Qualifications
• Skill Qualifications
• Civic Qualifications

I just wanted to send out a congrats to all the kids who attend AWANA at First Baptist in Smithville.  We finished our year this Wednesday.  The AWANA year runs with school (August-May).  Here’s some numbers that will blow you away…

• Cubbies (preschool 3-4 years old) – 14 children, 190 Bible verses learned
• Sparks (grades K thru 2) – 26 children, 518 Bible verses learned
• Truth & Training (grades 3 thru 6) – 40 children, 805 Bible verses learned

Total AWANA – 80 children, 1,513 Bible verses learned

Adults, how many Bible verses did you memorize since August???

Deuteronomy 6:4-9, 20-25 – God lays out his plan for how the faith is to be passed down.  The plan???  God has designed the family to be the place where the faith is passed down.  These commands are given to Moses and his generation.

Deuteronomy 6:10-15 – A warning: watch out for prosperity – it will cause you to forget God.

Joshua 1:7-8 – Moses is dead.  Joshua has been chosen as the leader of Israel.  God commands him to be strong in the Word.  This word from God would naturally be passed on from Joshua to the other leaders of the nation of Israel.

Joshua 24:14-31 – Joshua has led the people well.  He and his family set a good example (v. 15).  He calls the people to serve God and they respond.  The Bible records that Israel served faithfully all the days of Joshua and his contemporaries (v.31).

Judges 2:6-10 – Key in on verse 10 – another generation arose that did not know the Lord or the mighty works he had done on behalf of Israel.  What follows is one of the most morally void books of the Bible.  Judges records generation after generation that did not pass down the faith.

The faith was lost in one generation…for all of Joshua’s good leadership, the faith was not passed down from his generation to the generation after him.

Parents…you have the job of passing down the faith to the next generation.  Churches…you have the job of helping parents do this.  Start young.  Pray hard.  Sow gospel seeds at every opportunity.  This is particularly difficult in a day and time of prosperity (thus God’s warning in Deut. 6).  As a parent, I want my kids to have every opportunity.  I feel the pull to answer yes to everything my kids want to do.  What if this is not best for them?  Don’t become so busy with sports and activities that there is no time in your family for the Bible and prayer.  Let us make the most of every day with our children!!!  We don’t get our days back.  We don’t get to retry.  God must be central in our homes today.

That said, I really liked the NLT and found myself reading it to our kids in the evenings.  I think the NLT does its best work with narrative sections of the Scripture (gospels, historical books) because the NLT is designed to be read aloud and tell the story.  The narrative sections of Scripture focus on just that…telling the story of Jesus, telling the story of Israel’s history.  I also really liked the modern equivalents of measurements (distance, weight, money, etc).

Here’s a reading schedule for May – NTMay.

This month we’re using the English Standard Version (ESV).  This is the translation that I normally read and preach from.

The NLT is firmly in the thought-for-thought philosophy of Biblical translation.  This simply means that rather than try to translate the actual words from the original language into English, their goal is to translate the idea or meaning of the original language into English.  In other words, rather than pass on the difficulty of the original text to the reader, and thus allow the reader to make a decision about the meaning of the text, the translators of the NLT have made interpretive decisions for the reader.  One example…

In Matthew 8:22 Jesus says to someone who wanted to follow him but was also wanting to return home and bury his father, “Follow me now. Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead.”

The original Greek text actually says, “Let the dead bury their own dead.”  The word “spiritually” is not in the original Greek text.  The translation committee made a decision to interpret the (difficult) verse for the reader rather than simply pass the translation and difficulty on to the reader.

The big question is, “Did the NLT correctly identify the meaning of the text?”  If not, then instead of clarifying the meaning of the text, they have in fact, made the text harder to understand.

I’ll do another review after completing the New Tesatment at the end of the month.