October 26, 2025 - Reformation Sunday: Sola Scriptura

October 26, 2025 Reformation Sunday
Ladue Chapel Presbyterian Church
Psalm 46      Second Timothy 3:14-17
“Sola Scriptura”
Melissa K. Smith

Around this time four years ago I was deemed “ordination ready”. That meant that I had completed my exams, completed necessary internships and hospital chaplaincy requirements, and I was examined by the Presbytery and deemed ready to search for a call. My search, as you can expect, brought me to the land of St. Louis – a place I had never been, a place where I knew no one, and a place that seemed incredibly foreign to me.

That winter I made the decision to go for it. I scheduled my candidating sermon and was, preemptively, looking at apartments. I was, if the way was clear, getting ready for life in St. Louis, Missouri. At one point a person who is very dear to me, who does not believe in God, but cares deeply for me, came to me concerned. He said, “Mel, are you really going to move to a place where you will be all alone just for a book?” Of course, he was referencing the Bible – the book I have dedicated my life to, that I love, and that is the way that I know who my Lord and Savior is. I was honestly taken aback by the question because the Bible has never been just a book to me.

I looked at him and said, “I am absolutely dedicating my life to this book…even if it takes me to St. Louis.”

The Bible is not just some book. It is the Word of God for the people of God. It is a library of 66 books that contain the story of God’s love for us. It tells us of God’s creation, of our fall into sin and away from God – and that is only the first three chapters! Then for the rest of scripture we see God constantly calling us back to God’s self, urging us to repent, and through Jesus Christ, provides a way for us to enter into relationship with God once more in a way we were not able to before. And the Bible keeps going – telling us of how we can and should continue to repent, continue to lean into the teachings of Christ, and continue to learn of the promises God made to the Israelites and promises that God still keeps with his people. And the Bible continues to the restoration of the world when he will create a new heaven and a new earth and all shall be well once more.

The Bible is not just a book. It is the living Word of God that calls us to love God and love our neighbors as our selves with all of who we are.

Martin Luther understood this to his core. You all know the story – he was a German priest who dedicated his life to the church. At the time, the church was promoting the selling of indulgences to help get yourself or your loved ones out of purgatory. When you visit St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, thank your 15th and 16th century brothers and sisters in Christ who paid for it.

Luther never intended to spark the Reformation – all he wanted to do was call the church back to the essentials: the Word of God, the importance of faith, and the significance of unearned grace.

I am a bit of a Reformation nerd – I love hearing the story of how one man sparked significant change in the life of the Church and in the Kingdom of God. But I do not like hearing a story of division, of schism, or of disagreements that lead to vast chasms of misunderstanding. While the Reformation is an exciting story that leads to learning about John Calvin and John Knox and the creation of our Presbyterian heritage, it is also a harrowing reminder of the cost of forgetting what matters most and forgetting that what we know about God, forgetting what we know about ourselves,  and forgetting what we know about who we are called to be comes from Scripture alone.

Our Scripture reading today emphasizes the significance and importance of the Word of God. Paul is writing to his dear friend Timothy and encouraging him to continue in the work of the Gospel and not in the way of heretics. Paul says, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you’ve learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.”

Timothy knows what he has learned and believed. He knows the Word of God, he knows the Gospel, and he firmly believes it and is working in the church to share it. Who does he know it from? From Paul and his mother and his grandmother. He was raised in the faith to know Jesus Christ.

This program year Lindsay Sonnenberg and I have been working to reinvigorate the children’s curriculum so that they learn the Bible in a way that is tangible, accessible, and applicable. When our children leave these steps each Sunday, they are off to learn the Bible, taught by many of you, so that they can grow up like Timothy and know what they have learned and firmly believe.

Paul continues, “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.” To say that scripture is inspired by God is to say that it is “God breathed”. This wording harkens back to Old Testament imagery of God breathing life into Adam. God has breathed his life into the Word of God for us to have, to hold, to know, to love, and to share.

This understanding of the significance and importance of Scripture is emphasized in the Book of Hebrews, saying in chapter 4:12, “Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts of and intentions of the heart.”

God’s word is living and it is at work. The reference to a sword is not to be understood as though the Bible is a weapon to be wielded. A double-edged sword is one that stabs, in other words, the Word of God will cut through our own human resistance rather than being a weapon of power wielded against others. The text names that our soul and spirit, our joints and marrow will be split. The Word of God is living and is at work in us as we learn it, know it, and share it.

Martin Luther deeply knew of the ways the Word of God was at work piercing his innermost self. He was deeply convicted of the ways he sinned – and he was a priest in a monastery so his level of sin has nothing on ours with unfettered access to goodness knows what. Luther channeled the continuing reformation of his own heart each time he read Scripture to shape how he approached the world and the church.

When Martin Luther taught that we should understand “sola scriptura” he was combatting the balance of Church tradition with scripture. He was asking for the living Word of God to poke and prod at the innermost self of the Church so that the church would be reformed and become who they are called to be by the Word of God.

Yes, I moved to St. Louis without knowing anyone here…but not because of some book: because of the Word of God – the living, breathing, at-work Word that is constantly at work in my heart, my ministry, and my life.

In the Spirit of Reformation Sunday, let us turn back to the Word. In a world where we are hearing all sorts of messages about our faith, about what it means to be Christian, and about who is really a Christian, let us turn to the living, breathing Word and let it pierce our hearts with conviction and love. Let us read the Word. Let us know the Word. Let us share the Word.

God has given us an incredible gift: through the Word of God, and Jesus Christ – the Word made flesh – God is knowable. So let us strive to dedicate our lives to knowing God through the Word of God.

Thanks be to God.
Amen.