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# Getting the Reformation Wrong
- URL: https://mereorthodoxy.com/getting-the-reformation-wrong/
- Published: 2010-08-03T11:30:19.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-20T21:04:52.000Z
- Description: Getting the Reformation Wrong
- Author: Mere Orthodoxy
- Tags: Matthew Lee Anderson, Book Reviews

James Payton Jr. has a mission.

He thinks that Protestants have gotten the Reformation and its teachings wrongs, and has set about in his latest book to correct the errors. The result is a careful treatment of the origins, history, distinctives, and legacy of a particularly complex season of Western history.

While [*Getting the Reformation Wrong*](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0830838805?ie=UTF8&tag=mereorth-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0830838805&ref=mereorthodoxy.com) offers a substantive treatment of a broad range of questions, my particular interest was in the one *sola* that has (in my opinion) been most widely misunderstood and misrepresented: *sola scriptura.* Thankfully, Payton was at his strongest on this issue.

Payton offers a multi-pronged analysis, which I won't repeat in full here. But I will mention some of the highlights.

1) Luther was a doctor of theology and laid down hermeneutic rules for the proper interpretation of Scripture. He wasn't advocating an unrestrained subjectivism--he was fulfilling his responsibility as a licensed theologian.

2) Luther on the church fathers: "We Gentiles must not value the writings of our fathers as highly as Holy Scripture, *but as worth a little less."* "Little" is, of course, an ambiguous concept--but it's not "a lot."

3) Melanchthon on the councils: "But the authority of councils is so dependent upon Scripture that it is not permissible to decree anything contrary to them." Note that those pesky councils *have* authority.

The case, as I said, is much more extensive than this. I leave the summary to Payton:

"What this boils down to is that for the Protestant Reformers *sola scriptura* did not mean that the written Word of God is the *only* religious authority; rather, it is the *only unquestioned* religious authority. Scripture stands at the summit of religious authority with no rivals. Any other supposed or alleged religious authority is judged by it; most fail to measure up. The only ones that pass muster in this regard, and so the only ones in which a subordinate religious authority inheres, are the church fathers, the ancient creeds and the doctrinal decrees of the ecumenical councils. They are indeed subordinate to Scripture as religious authorities; but they are nevertheless authoritative."

This notion of *sola scriptura* may be wrong (that is, incoherent, unbiblical, etc.). There are other members of the Mere-O team disagree with it, and we're still friends. Our goal here is not to present a specifically Protestant perspective, even though it seeps through in my writing more often than not.

My point is not to defend *sola scriptura*, except in this regard: Payton's argument that this is the doctrine of *sola scriptura* as presented by the Reformers is compelling, and it is important in evaluating it that we articulate it properly.

Payton's book isn't perfect. For a distillation of academic research (as it says in the introduction), it's surprisingly light on footnotes for nerds like me who might like to chase resources.

But as a corrective to some of the misconceptions about what happened in the Reformation, [it's a valuable resource](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0830838805?ie=UTF8&tag=mereorth-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0830838805&ref=mereorthodoxy.com), and one that I would happily recommend to anyone curious to know more about the time period and Protestant theology.

*Disclosure: I received a free copy from the* [*good folks at IVP*](http://www.ivpress.com/?ref=mereorthodoxy.com)*.*