Experiencing Sola Scriptura

The following Hymn is a translation of simple words overheard as they were sung by German farmers. The tune can be heard here.

What has always struck me about this hymn is the imagery and its ready recognition and association with imagery used by the Lord Himself - and indeed that runs throughout the written Word. Thus the plowing and scattering of seed, and its feeding and watering by God lend themselves immediately to the memory of the parable of the sower or of Paul's words about himself and Apollos as agents or means of God's working towards His ends.

Simple words as recurring themes make a great Bibliclal study. In the first three chapters of Genesis, for example, one finds words such as light, darkness, wind (or spirit), dust (earth, soil), seed and fruit. Tracing these words and their symbolism throughout the Bible - all the way to Revelation - can provide rewarding insights and show supernatural cohesion within the initially seeming disparity of the whole Book.

When I hear theologically oriented saints speaking (rightly) about the Word of God being the sole source of our knowledge of God and His will, then such things as this Hymn remind me of what sola scriptura really includes. Since we do not live in an ivory tower nor a vacuum, it means that all things in our experience must be brought to scripture for validation. Or, all things must be received in the light of scripture. Since scripture is the measure of all things then all things bring us there through faith - whether the echo of a Biblical theme (as in this hymn) or the need to undertsand some event or experience that troubles or confuses us.

It's not a cold, academic scrutiny that I'm thinking of here. It's a joyful receipt through the things God has ordained and revealed in our own individual lives, which either remind us of, or call us to, the Word of Truth upon which we stand. Because it is through the Word and by the Spirit's illumination of it, that we know the Lord Who saved and upholds us.