Lord's Day: Nov 16, 2025  Preacher: Carlos Montijo  Series: It Is Written: Scripture Alone  Topic: Scripture  Scripture: Acts 17:10–13; 2 Timothy 3:15–17; Colossians 2:2–3; Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18; John 17:17; Psalm 119:160; Hebrews 8:6; 2 Thessalonians 2:15; Jude 3; Titus 1:1–3

10And the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. 12Therefore many of them believed, along with not a few prominent Greek women and men. 13But when the Jews of Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in Berea also, they came there as well, shaking up and disturbing the crowds. Acts 17:10–13

15and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be equipped, having been thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:15–17

• These are among the clearest passages which reveal to us the ultimate authority of Scripture alone, of what God breathed out and wrote down.
• The Bereans practiced the same Reformation principle that we do today as Protestants—Scripture alone—because they examined and submitted what they heard from others, even the oral preaching, teaching, tradition of the Apostles themselves, which became the New Testament writings, to the written words of God.
• Sign the Reformation Day Statement & the Declaration:
  
  • https://www.trinityfoundation.org/state.php
  • https://www.trinityfoundation.org/state_declaration.php

I.  Sola Scriptura: The “It is written” principle

• What is written by God Himself is the most authoritative word, this is the doctrine of sola Scriptura.
• "The Holy Scriptures are the only sufficient, certain and infallible rule for saving knowledge, faith, and obedience."
• Many who oppose the Protestant faith (including professing Protestants) distort what the doctrine of Scripture alone actually means
• Scripture is our first principle of knowing, our ultimate authority for all knowledge, because Scripture grounds and justifies all our knowledge, all truth, because in Christ, who is the full knowledge of God’s mystery, are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:2-3).

II. The Bereans had examined the Scriptures that they already had.

• Even though the New Testament was still being written at the time, even though it took time for the early church to compile what the Apostles and their companions had handed down to them.
• Progressive Revelation: Scripture alone means that the Scriptures which had been revealed to the people of God at that specific time, even during the Old Testament, those written Scriptures are the final authority of God’s Word, even when the full biblical canon was not yet completed.

III. But don’t we need both the oral and the written traditions? “Whether by word of mouth or by letter”?

• Correction: I meant 2 Thessalonians 2:15, not 2 Timothy 2:15.
• Irenaeus (ca. 130-203), Against Heresies (ca. 180AD): “III.I.1. We have learned from none others the plan of our salvation, than from those through whom the gospel has come down to us [the Apostles], which they did at one time proclaim in public, and, at a later period, by the will of God, handed down to us in the Scriptures, to be the ground and pillar of our faith."

IV. All Scripture is God’s breath

• 2 Timothy 3:15–17
• There is no difference between the oral and written traditions revealed in Scripture, except that the written is more permanent.
• The Apostles and their associates wrote down and passed on to the early church as the ultimate, God-breathed, sufficient authority “for every good work”—Scripture alone.
• Examine any and all extra biblical traditions with the Berean Test, the Jesus Test (Mark 7).

We meet on Sundays for worship at 10:00am:

• ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church
  4712 Montana Ave
  El Paso, Texas 79903

Contact us at:

• web: ThornCrownCovenant.Church
  call/text: (915) 843-8088
  email: [email protected]

Scripture quotations marked LSB are from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com