The Heresy of Solo Scriptura

Independent from Continental Socinianism, John Biddle, an Oxford tutor, developed ingenious arguments denying the deity of Christ through his own reading of the Bible. What made both Socinians and John Biddle more noxious was that they claimed themselves the true heirs of the sola Scriptura of the Reformation. They accused the early church of allowing Greek philosophical concepts and language to intrude into Christian theology and so developing many doctrines that compromised with heathen philosophy. According to Biddle, such words and phrases as “divine circumincession,” “eternal generation,” “hypostatical union,” “communication of properties,” or “meritorious obedience both active and passive” were antithetical to true Christianity. The solution they suggested was to return to the bare text of Scripture.

 

Youngchun Cho, Anthony Tuckney, Theologian of the Westminster Assembly (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2017), 110