The hermeneutical foundations of Sola Scriptura: a critical examination of Luther's Christocentric method of interpretation

This chapter offers a critical evaluation of those principles which defined Martin Luther’s hermeneutical method. Emphasis is given to the internal consistency of Luther’s literal historical-grammatical hermeneutic with his Christocentric method. The first part of the chapter includes a summary of those Protestant principles of biblical interpretation upon which the cries of ‘Sola Scriptura’ rest, including: (1) the authority of Scripture; (2) the sufficiency of Scripture; (3) the perspicuity of Scripture; (4) the requirement of faith and spiritual illumination; (5) an affirmation of the literal or grammatical-historical interpretive method; (6) the rejection of allegory as a valid interpretive method; and finally (7) the Christocentric principle which perceived the centrality of Christ in all of Scripture. The latter part of the chapter offers a critique of the compatibility of the seventh point listed above with the six which precedes it. In other words, it assesses the consistency of Luther’s appeal to a normal historical-grammatical hermeneutical method with his Christocentric principle of biblical interpretation.