Editing Five solae (section)

===''Sola scriptura'' ("by scripture alone")===
{{Main|Sola scriptura}}

''Sola scriptura'' <!--(Latin ablative, ''sōlā scrīptūrā'', meaning "by scripture alone") NO WHERE SOURCED, NOT AT MAIN ARTICLE EITHER, AND SO PURELY WP:OR--> is upheld by Lutheran and Reformed theologies and asserts that scripture must govern over church traditions and interpretations which are themselves held to be subject to scripture. All church traditions, creeds, and teachings must be in unity with the teachings of scripture as the divinely inspired [[Authorship of the Bible|Word of God]].<ref name=solascriptura>{{cite web |url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20090927214527/https://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?1518&cuTopic_topicID=39&cuItem_itemID=12132 |title=Sola Scriptura? |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=15 May 2006 |website=WELS Topical Q&A |publisher=Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod |access-date=26 May 2024 |quote=[M]any passages...state sola scriptura, such as Revelation 22:18-19. If we cannot add anything to the words of Scripture and we cannot take anything away from them, that is Scripture alone.}}</ref>

The doctrine of ''sola scriptura'' affirms that scripture is the only source of normative, apostolic, infallible revelation and that “all things necessary for salvation and about faith and life are taught in the Bible with sufficient clarity so that the ordinary believer can find it there and understand it.”<ref>Reformed Dogmatics, 2:209–10.</ref>

This particular sola is sometimes called the [[formal principle]] of the Reformation, since it is the source and norm of the [[material principle|material cause or principle]], [[the gospel]] of [[Jesus in Christianity|Jesus Christ]] that is received ''sola fide'' (Latin ablative, sōlā fidē, meaning "by faith alone") and ''sola gratia'' (Latin ablative, ''sōlā grātiā'', meaning "by grace alone" or by God's favor). The adjective (''sola'') and the noun (''scriptura'') are in the [[ablative case]] rather than in the [[nominative case]] to indicate that the Bible does not stand alone apart from God, but rather that it is the instrument of God by which he reveals himself for salvation through faith in Christ (''[[solus Christus]]'' or ''[[solo Christo]]'').

It should be emphasized that this doctrine in no way denies tradition, reason, or experience as sources of truth. There is nothing in Sola Scriptura that eliminates other authorities. What it does say is that there is only one authority that can absolutely bind the conscience, that authority is holy scripture and that all controversies about doctrine and theology must be resolved in the final analysis by scripture.