They claim to, but the history and facts say otherwise. The five solas are sola scriptura, sola fide, sola gratia, solus Christus, and soli deo gloria. They are one of the the unifying factors of Protestantism.
The only one of the solas the SDA Church very regularly postures is sola scriptura. The problem is, they don’t even define it correctly. They claim it means that the Bible alone is to be our source of doctrines and practice (which they also don’t affirm as Ellen G. White and the SDA General Conference in session are also sources of doctrinal authority in Adventism). This is incorrect. That is called “biblicism” or nuda scriptura, which is a totally different concept. Sola scriptura is the belief that the scriptures are the sole, infallible rule of faith and practice for the Church.
While none of the Reformers coined the five phrases, those were a 19th century novelty, the meat of the phrases are replete throughout all of the branches of the Reformation (Presbyterian, Lutheran and Anglican). Sola scriptura was said in a context of how many infallible authorities the Church has. The Roman branch was asserting both scripture and the Church were infallible. The Reformers argued that scripture only designates itself as being infallible by virtue of it’s source—which is God’s own words (2 Timothy 3:16). The focus was on infallibility.
It is not the claim that the Bible is the only authority and the Church has no authority. It wasn’t a claim that scripture should be understood completely detached from history and those that came before us. It isn’t even the claim that the Bible is the only doctrinal source for the Church.
The Adventist Church loves riding the coattails of the Reformers, even going so far as to claim they are “heirs of the great truths recovered and proclaimed” by them. However, the facts beg to differ.
