Article 7: Sola Scriptura and the Necessity of a Preserved Bible – How Preservation Undergirds Protestant Epistemology
Introduction
Among the defining cries of the Protestant Reformation, Sola Scriptura—“Scripture alone”—stands out as both the hinge and heartbeat of evangelical theology. By insisting that the Bible is the highest authority in matters of faith and practice, the Reformers established a distinct epistemological framework: believers derive certainty about God, salvation, and ethical standards primarily, if not exclusively, from Scripture. Yet Sola Scriptura assumes a crucial corollary: that Scripture itself has been preserved from destructive corruption. If the biblical text were fundamentally compromised, it could hardly serve as the normative rule for Christian belief and life.
In this article, we will unpack why Sola Scriptura is inseparable from the doctrine of providential preservation. We will see that the Protestant conviction that “God’s Word alone” governs the church relies on a parallel belief that God has safeguarded His Word. In doing so, we will draw insights from:
- Richard A. Muller (Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 2) on the historical and theological development of Sola Scriptura within Reformed orthodoxy.
- Garnet Howard Milne (Has the Bible Been Kept Pure?) on how the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) explicitly articulates the link between Scripture’s authority and its purity over time.
- John Owen (Works, Vol. 16), who demonstrates that the trustworthiness of Scripture stands or falls with God’s active preservation of its essential content.
We will first define Sola Scriptura, next explore how a “preserved Bible” is indispensable to this principle, and then survey how Reformed thinkers from the 16th to 17th centuries integrated these doctrines into a coherent epistemology.
I. Sola Scriptura: Scripture Alone as the Final Authority
1. The Emergence of Sola Scriptura
In the late medieval period, the Western church’s authority was understood to reside in three main “streams”: Scripture, Tradition (oral and ecclesiastical), and the Magisterium (the official teaching office). The magisterial Reformers—Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin—disrupted this triad by placing Scripture above all, insisting that while the church’s councils and traditions might be correct or helpful, they were never infallible. True infallibility, they argued, belonged to the biblical text as the inspired Word of God.
Richard A. Muller clarifies that the Reformation’s keystone was more than a rejection of certain Catholic practices; it was a fundamental reorientation of epistemology—how we know spiritual truth. Luther’s famous stand at the Diet of Worms in 1521 (“Unless I am convinced by proofs from Scriptures … I do not accept the authority of popes or councils…”) typified this shift: Scripture alone must hold the final word.
Yet as soon as the Reformers said, “Scripture is the rule of faith,” a practical question arose: Can we trust that the Scriptures we hold in Greek and Hebrew have not been hopelessly corrupted over the centuries? Without some assurance of preservation, Sola Scriptura could be ephemeral, lacking a stable text to serve as the locus of authority.
2. The Reformed Definition and its Theological Requirements
By “Scripture alone,” the Reformers did not deny the value of confessions, creeds, or churchly wisdom; rather, they insisted that these are subordinate to, and must be tested by, the Bible. This approach required a Bible that was accessible in practice and credible in form.
- Accessible: The impetus for vernacular translations—Luther’s German Bible, Tyndale’s English Bible—reflected the belief that laity could confidently read Scripture. In turn, that confidence presupposed the text’s essential integrity.
- Credible: If Scripture’s text were so riddled with scribal corruption as to yield no certainty, the whole premise of Sola Scriptura would be threatened.
In Has the Bible Been Kept Pure?, Garnet Howard Milne demonstrates how the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) codified these ideas. Sola Scriptura is championed in WCF 1:10, “The supreme judge … can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.” Meanwhile, the statement in WCF 1:8 that Scripture is “by His singular care and providence kept pure in all ages” provides the essential textual bedrock to sustain that final authority.
II. The Necessity of a Preserved Bible
1. The Logical Connection
The logic behind linking Sola Scriptura with a preserved Bible is straightforward:
- All Christian truth-claims rest on Scripture’s testimony. If Scripture alone is the ultimate court of appeal, its verdict must be trustworthy.
- A thoroughly corrupted Scripture could not serve as a sure foundation. If we suspect the text is so altered that key doctrines—like the deity of Christ or justification by faith—might have been introduced or removed, then Scripture’s final authority collapses.
- Therefore, if Scripture is God’s Word, He must preserve it. The same God who inspired it (2 Timothy 3:16) would, by consistent necessity, guarantee its availability to the church in a fundamentally unadulterated form.
John Owen expresses this connection in Of the Divine Original of the Scriptures, contending that it would be incongruous for God to breathe out His Word, then allow it to become so mangled that the people of God could never fully rely upon it. This does not imply a mechanical, letter-by-letter miracle in every scribal act, but a broad, providential oversight ensuring the text’s essential stability.
2. Historical Consciousness of the Church
Moreover, a survey of early church practice confirms that from the patristic era onward, believers have treated Scripture as abidingly authoritative. Indeed, the universal condemnation of heretics who “tampered” with texts (e.g., Marcion) implies a working assumption that the genuine text was present and recognizable. In the medieval period, monastic scribes labored diligently to transmit the Vulgate, the best-known Latin version, indicating a communal trust that Scripture’s essential form was not lost. By the Reformation, Greek and Hebrew manuscripts were widely studied, reinforcing the premise that the textual tradition was consistent enough to undergird Sola Scriptura.
Richard A. Muller points out that textual variants were not unknown to the Reformers; they recognized them but concluded these divergences did not erode the fundamental content or message. Thus, the church’s historical posture collectively suggests that God’s Word was always sufficiently preserved for it to remain the rule of faith.
III. Reformed Epistemology Rooted in Scripture
1. Scripture as Principium Cognoscendi
In Reformed orthodoxy, Scripture is deemed the principium cognoscendi, the foundational principle of knowing divine truths. Muller clarifies that for theologians like Francis Turretin, Johann Heinrich Alsted, and others, Scripture is the cognitive foundation upon which all subsequent theological assertions rest. If the text were severely flawed, the entire system of theology would be precarious.
In more pastoral language, Luther’s motto was that the conscience is bound to God’s Word alone, which is the only infallible measure of truth. Yet how can any Christian conscience be so bound unless the text is reliably the same Word that God inspired? This is precisely why Reformed confessions embed the concept of textual purity. Without it, Sola Scriptura lapses into a hollow slogan.
2. The Witness of the Holy Spirit and Preservation
Reformed theology also upholds the internal witness of the Holy Spirit, which enlightens the believer to the divine authority of Scripture. John Calvin especially championed the notion that the Spirit testifies in the hearts of believers that Scripture is indeed the Word of God, rendering them spiritually certain of its truth.
But even this spiritual testimony presupposes a stable text. The Spirit persuades us that the content we read is truly divine. If the content itself were subject to radical suspicion—“Might these words have been added centuries later? Or might we be missing entire revelations?”—the Spirit’s witness would be undermined. Hence, Calvin’s argument about the Spirit’s internal testimony dovetails with the assumption that God has preserved the object of that testimony in a substantially recognizable form.
IV. John Owen’s Contribution: A Preserved Text for an Authoritative Word
A towering figure in the generation following the early Reformers, John Owen (1616–1683) advanced a thorough exposition of Scripture’s origin and reliability, bridging Sola Scriptura with the necessity of textual preservation. In his works, especially Of the Divine Original of the Scriptures and The Integrity and Purity of the Hebrew and Greek Text, he lays out two core points:
Divine Original
- Scripture is “God-breathed,” carrying His authority. From that principle, Owen reasons that the Lord would not permit essential loss or corruption. Abandoning His Word to destructive errors would frustrate its purpose in guiding the church.
Sufficient Uniformity in the Text
- Owen acknowledges scribal variants in extant manuscripts, but draws a line between inconsequential divergences and actual corruption of doctrinal content. He repeatedly states that not one major teaching or narrative is threatened by these variations—an observation that 20th-century textual critics typically confirm.
- This synergy between acknowledging real variants yet affirming fundamental textual wholeness underlies his robust stance that Scripture can remain the final measure of doctrinal controversies, just as the Westminster Confession teaches.
Hence, Owen exemplifies how a Reformed epistemology can accommodate textual criticism—if properly ordered under the assumption of God’s providential guardianship—without forfeiting confidence in the Bible’s authority. In Owen’s view, it is precisely such confidence in preservation that upholds the entire enterprise of Sola Scriptura.
V. Garnet Howard Milne and the Westminster Confession of Faith
1. Milne’s Analysis of “Kept Pure in All Ages”
In Has the Bible Been Kept Pure?, Garnet Howard Milne devotes considerable attention to Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 1, section 8, which declares:
“The Old Testament in Hebrew … and the New Testament in Greek … being immediately inspired by God, and by His singular care and providence kept pure in all ages, are therefore authentical; so as, in all controversies of religion, the Church is finally to appeal unto them.”
Milne stresses that this statement was indispensable to the Confession’s logic. WCF 1:10 affirms that Scripture is the supreme judge in controversies. But that supremacy implies “by His singular care and providence” the text remains pure. If it were not so, how could the church “finally appeal” to Hebrew/Greek manuscripts?
2. The Confession’s Rationale
The Confession, influenced by Owen’s circle and earlier Reformed orthodoxy, recognized:
- Inspiration: Scripture is “immediately inspired by God,” providing its inherent authority.
- Preservation: Because it is so inspired, it stands under “singular care and providence,” ensuring no wholesale corruption of its content.
- Authorship and Utility: The original Hebrew and Greek are “authentical,” so translations must conform to them, not the other way around, thereby preserving the clarity of Scripture’s ultimate source.
Thus, Sola Scriptura—the idea that all matters of faith must be tested by Scripture—becomes operationally possible only if we have a historically preserved text. The synergy of WCF 1:8 and 1:10 consolidates that Reformed epistemology.
VI. Contemporary Reflections: Preservation and Our Epistemic Foundation
1. Modern Textual Criticism
From a modern standpoint, textual criticism has revealed an abundance of ancient manuscripts—Greek New Testament papyri, codices like Sinaiticus or Vaticanus, Dead Sea Scrolls for the Old Testament, etc. They display a wide variety of scribal variants, but ironically reinforce Reformed claims: none of these variants have altered the essential narrative or core doctrines of Scripture. Over 99% of variant readings are matters of spelling, word order, or synonyms.
Believers who embrace Sola Scriptura can thus cite the findings of textual critics as ongoing support of a principle the Reformers derived by theological reasoning. John Owen would likely smile upon how modern scrutiny has only underscored his premise that the text is not ruinously corrupted. Meanwhile, Richard A. Muller notes that the Reformed tradition never insisted on a mechanical, letter-perfect chain of copying, but a broad protective providence ensuring Scripture’s main contents remain intact.
2. Pastoral and Educational Implications
- Preaching: Pastors can proclaim Scripture with conviction that the text is stable and speaks with divine authority. Even addressing textual variants in the pulpit can deepen congregational trust, as it exhibits an honest engagement with historical data, yet stands on the confession that no crucial teaching is threatened.
- Theological Instruction: Seminaries following a Reformed heritage often highlight the synergy between textual criticism and theological presuppositions about preservation. Students learn to approach manuscripts reverently, not fearfully, recognizing that slight divergences do not nullify the text’s identity as the final rule of faith.
- Lay Confidence: For ordinary believers, a robust doctrine of providential preservation answers the worry that the Bible might be manipulated or uncertain. They see that from the earliest centuries, the text was recognized as authoritative, handed down with remarkable consistency, fulfilling the Reformation claim that “God’s Word stands forever.”
VII. Answering Objections to Sola Scriptura and Preservation
“It’s Circular Reasoning to Claim That Scripture Authenticates Scripture”
- Reformed theologians concede that all ultimate authorities involve a form of circularity—without a higher reference, Scripture can only appeal to itself or God’s internal testimony. But the real question is whether such a circle is virtuous or vicious. Reformed epistemology posits the internal witness of the Spirit and the coherence of Scripture’s historical transmission as a basis for that virtuous circle.
“If God Preserves Scripture, Why So Many Variants?”
- The response is that preservation does not imply an absolute uniformity of letters in all manuscripts, but the essential conveyance of the text’s doctrines, commands, and historical details. Minor variants do not dethrone Scripture’s teaching. This is precisely how John Owen navigated the tension, reflecting an approach still widely held in conservative Protestant circles.
“Does Sola Scriptura Marginalize the Role of the Church?”
- On the contrary, Reformed theology acknowledges the church’s significant role as steward of the text—copying, canonizing, translating, and teaching it. But it refuses to vest infallibility in church leaders or tradition, insisting that the written Word remains above them. The preservation of Scripture through the church is one dimension of God’s providential activity, not a competing authority.
VIII. Conclusion
Sola Scriptura—Scripture alone as the final authority—naturally necessitates a Bible that is providentially preserved. From the early patristic era to the medieval scribes, through Erasmus’s Greek NT to the statements of the Reformation and beyond, the Christian church has testified to Scripture’s trustworthiness. This is not naive or unhistorical; rather, it is a tempered conviction acknowledging minor scribal variations while embracing a deep confidence in the Spirit-guided custody of God’s Word.
We see Richard A. Muller describing how the Reformed tradition, especially in its scholastic phase, integrated textual awareness with confessional affirmation, culminating in pronouncements such as WCF 1:8. We see Garnet Howard Milne explaining that this confessional stance crystallizes the logic of earlier theological convictions: if Scripture is Sola Scriptura, God must ensure its accessibility in a reliable form. We see John Owen bridging these threads in an apologetic for Scripture’s “Divine Original” and “Purity,” revealing that variations do not nullify the final rule of faith.
In sum, the Reformation’s distinct epistemology is that we come to theological certainty through Scripture alone, measured and tested in all controversies of religion. But behind that claim stands a stable biblical text, preserved across centuries. Sola Scriptura and divine preservation are thus two sides of the same coin: one describing the Scripture’s authority, the other describing how that authority remains viable across time. The Reformed confessions and major thinkers like Owen do not see them as separate or optional. Instead, they affirm that the God who reveals Himself also secures His revelation, ensuring that the clarity, power, and integrity of Scripture endure for the church’s edification. As Jesus declared, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35)—the bedrock promise that enables Sola Scriptura to flourish as the Protestant rule of faith.
