Editing Christianity (section)

==== Qualities of Scripture ====
Many Protestant Christians, such as Lutherans<ref name=solascriptura>{{cite web |url=https://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?1518&cuTopic_topicID=39&cuItem_itemID=12132 |title=Sola Scriptura? |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=15 May 2006 |website=WELS Topical Q&A |publisher=Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod |access-date=26 May 2024 |quote=[M]any passages...state sola scriptura, such as Revelation 22:18-19. If we cannot add anything to the words of Scripture and we cannot take anything away from them, that is Scripture alone. |archive-date=27 September 2009 |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20090927214527/https://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?1518&cuTopic_topicID=39&cuItem_itemID=12132 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the Reformed, believe in the doctrine of ''[[sola scriptura]]''—that the Bible is a self-sufficient revelation, the final authority on all Christian doctrine, and [[Revelation|revealed all truth]] necessary for salvation;<ref name="WELS2014" /><ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w_PHAGr2TfgC&pg=PA15|title=The Shape of Sola Scriptura |first=Keith A. |last=Mathison |publisher=[[Canon Press]] |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-885767-74-5|chapter=Introduction |page=15|title-link=The Shape of Sola Scriptura |author-link=Keith A. Mathison}}</ref> other Protestant Christians, such as Methodists and Anglicans, affirm the doctrine of ''[[prima scriptura]]'' which teaches that Scripture is the primary source for Christian doctrine, but that "tradition, experience, and reason" can nurture the Christian religion as long as they are in harmony with the Bible.<ref name="WELS2014">{{cite web|url=https://www.wels.net/what-we-believe/questions-answers/christian/methodist-beliefs|title=Methodist Beliefs: In what ways are Lutherans different from United Methodists?|year=2014|publisher=Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod|access-date=22 May 2014|quote=The United Methodists see Scripture as the primary source and criterion for Christian doctrine. They emphasize the importance of tradition, experience, and reason for Christian doctrine. Lutherans teach that the Bible is the sole source for Christian doctrine. The truths of Scripture do not need to be authenticated by tradition, human experience, or reason. Scripture is self authenticating and is true in and of itself.|archive-date=22 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140522105449/https://www.wels.net/what-we-believe/questions-answers/christian/methodist-beliefs|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Humphrey|first=Edith M.|title=Scripture and Tradition |date=15 April 2013|publisher=Baker|isbn=978-1-4412-4048-4|page=16|quote=historically Anglicans have adopted what could be called a prima Scriptura position.}}</ref> Protestants characteristically believe that ordinary believers may reach an adequate understanding of Scripture because Scripture itself is clear in its meaning (or "perspicuous"). Martin Luther believed that without God's help, Scripture would be "enveloped in darkness".<ref name="Foutz" /> He advocated for "one definite and simple understanding of Scripture".<ref name="Foutz">{{cite web |last=Foutz |first=Scott David |url=https://www.quodlibet.net/luther.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000414063800/https://www.quodlibet.net/luther.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 April 2000 |title=Martin Luther and Scripture |publisher=Quodlibet Journal |access-date=16 June 2014}}</ref> [[John Calvin]] wrote, "all who refuse not to follow the Holy Spirit as their guide, find in the Scripture a clear light".<ref>John Calvin,[https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom45.vii.iv.iv.html '' Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles'' 2 Peter 3:14–18]</ref> Related to this is "efficacy", that Scripture is able to lead people to faith; and "sufficiency", that the Scriptures contain everything that one needs to know to obtain salvation and to live a Christian life.<ref>{{cite book|last=Engelder |first=Theodore E. W. |url=https://archive.org/details/MN41551ucmf_1 |title=Popular Symbolics: The Doctrines of the Churches of Christendom and of Other Religious Bodies Examined in the Light of Scripture |page=[https://archive.org/details/MN41551ucmf_1/page/n57 28] |location=Saint Louis, MO |publisher=Concordia Publishing House |year=1934}}</ref>