Sola Scriptura (Bible Alone)
Sola scriptura (Latin ablative, “by scripture alone”) is the assertion that the Bible as God’s
written word is self-authenticating, clear (perspicuous) to the rational reader, its own
interpreter (“Scripture interprets Scripture”), and sufficient of itself to be the final
authority of Christian doctrine. (4)
“And how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are
able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by
God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
(2 Timothy 3:15-17, RSV)
The Bible claims to be the sole and sufficient infallible rule of faith for the Christian
Church. The Scriptures are not in need of any supplement; their authority comes from
their nature as God-breathed revelation; their authority is not dependent upon man,
church or council. The Scriptures are self-consistent, self-interpreting, and selfauthenticating.
The Christian Church looks to the Scriptures as the only infallible and sufficient rule of faith,
and the Church is always subject to the Word, and is constantly reformed thereby. (5)
From a Catholic perspective, having to rely on the Scriptures alone to prove the teachings
of the Church is illogical, unhistorical, inconsistent and unbiblical. This is because we
only know of the inspiration of the Scriptures due to the teaching authority of the Catholic Church.
The Catholic Church, through her Popes and Councils, gathered together the separate books
that the early Christians venerated; formed a collection (drew up a list or catalog of inspired and apostolic writings); and declared that only these were the Sacred Scriptures of the New
Testament along with the Alexandrian Canon (i.e. The Septuagint) of the Old Testament.
The New Testament came into existence in the 4th Century when it was defined by the
Catholic Church. The decisions of the Councils of Hippo and Carthage were later ratified by
the councils of Second Nicaea (A.D. 787), Florence (A.D. 1440), and Trent (A.D. 1525-46).
For over 1100 years, all Christians had the same books in their Bibles. It was not until the
advent of Protestantism that the books of the Canon were called into question. Martin Luther wanted to remove (among other books) James, Hebrews, 2 Peter, and Revelation. A careful
study of the books that were removed from the Protestant Bible reveals that the reason for their removal (or attempted removal) was mainly doctrinal: James 2:21-26 refutes the Protestant doctrine of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ alone apart from perseverance in doing good (Sola Fide); 2 Peter 2:1-3 warned against “false prophets” within the Church who would “bring in destructive heresies”; 2 Maccabees 12:45 perhaps the strongest Scriptural evidence of the existence of Purgatory
The Catholic Church has as its sole rule of faith, the entire Word of God, as it is found in
Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.
Jesus Christ said: “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.”
(Mark 13:31, RV)
How was the Word of God communicated in the Early Church after Christ ascension?
We should remember that it took about 400 years for the books of the Bible to be
compiled and another 1000 years for Johannes Gutenberg to invent the printing press.
The bishops of the Church, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit preached the Word orally.
Jesus commands the Apostles to preach (not write) the gospel to the world.
“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole
creation.” (Mark 16:15, RV)
“He that heareth you heareth me; and he that rejecteth you rejecteth me; and he that
rejecteth me rejecteth him that sent me.” (Luke 10:16, RV)
Here Scripture says, “He that heareth you”, not he that reads you.
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17, KJV)
Here Scripture says “faith cometh by hearing”, it did not say by reading.
“Now I make known unto you brethren, the gospel which I preached unto you, which also
ye received, wherein also ye stand.” (1 Corinthians 15:1, RV)
Not the gospel which you read but the gospel “preached unto you”.
“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in
this book;” (John 20:30, RSV)
Scripture demonstrates that not everything is in the Bible.
“But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be
written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”
(John 21:25, RSV)
In Matthew 15:3, Jesus Christ condemns human traditions that void God’s word. Some
Protestants use this verse to condemn all tradition. But this verse has nothing to do with
the tradition we must obey that was handed down to us from the Apostles.
“Then there come to Jesus from Jerusalem Pharisees and scribes, saying, Why do
thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands
when they eat bread. And he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also
transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God said,
Honour thy father and thy mother: and, He that speaketh evil of father or mother,
let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother,
That wherewith thou mightest have been profited by me is given to God; he shall
not honour his father. And ye have made void the word of God because of your
tradition. Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people
honoureth me with their lips; But their heart is far from me. But in vain do they
worship me, Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men.” (Matthew 15:1-9, RV)
Here, the Pharisees, in their human tradition, gave goods to the temple to avoid taking
care of their parents, and this voids God’s law of honoring one’s father and mother (cf.
Exodus 20:12; Leviticus 19:3; Deuteronomy 5:16; Ephesians 6:2)
The phrase ___ __________ (tas_paradoseis,_Greek)_“hold_to_the_traditions” as used in 2
Thessalonians 2:15 implies traditions that are handed over, both oral and written
traditions of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Some verses in Scripture that St. Paul speaks of oral tradition include:
“So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by
us, either by word of mouth or by letter.” (2 Thessalonians 2:15, RSV)
“and what you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men
who will be able to teach others also.” (2 Timothy 2:2, RSV)
“I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the
traditions even as I have delivered them to you.” (1 Corinthians 11:2, RSV)
“And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of
God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what
it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.” (1 Thessalonians 2:13, RSV)
“Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye
withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the
tradition which they received of us.” (2 Thessalonians 3:6, RV)
“The things which ye both learned and received and heard and saw in me, these
things do: and the God of peace shall be with you.” (Philippians 4:9, RV)
The prophecy “He should be called a Nazarene” is oral tradition. It is not found in the
Old Testament. This demonstrates that the Apostles relied upon oral tradition and taught
by oral tradition.
“But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judaea in the room of his father
Herod, he was afraid to go thither; and being warned of God in a dream, he withdrew into
the parts of Galilee, and came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth; that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets, that he should be called a Nazarene.”
(Matthew 2:22-23, ASV)
Jesus Christ relies on the oral tradition of the Jews to acknowledge Moses’ seat of
authority. This is not recorded in the Old Testament.
“Then spake Jesus to the multitudes and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and the
Pharisees sit on Moses seat: all things therefore whatsoever they bid you, these do and
observe: but do not ye after their works; for they say, and do not.” (Matthew 23:2, ASV)
Scriptures are not easy to understand and are often misinterpreted and distorted as Pope
St. Peter commented about regarding the writings of St. Paul the theologian.
“So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,
speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to
understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the
other scriptures.” (2 Peter 3:15-16, RSV)
“Wherefore he saith, Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall
shine upon thee.” (Ephesians 5:14, ASV)
Here St. Paul relies on oral tradition to quote an early Christian hymn
“But Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body
of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing judgment, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.”
(Jude 1:9, ASV)
St. Jude relies on the oral tradition of the Archangel Michael’s dispute with Satan over
Moses’ body. This is not found in the Old Testament. “Then spake Jesus to the multitudes and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and the
Pharisees sit on Moses seat: all things therefore whatsoever they bid you, these do and
observe: but do not ye after their works; for they say, and do not.” (Matthew 23:2, ASV)
Scriptures are not easy to understand and are often misinterpreted and distorted as Pope
St. Peter commented about regarding the writings of St. Paul the theologian.
“So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,
speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to
understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the
other scriptures.” (2 Peter 3:15-16, RSV)
“Wherefore he saith, Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall
shine upon thee.” (Ephesians 5:14, ASV)
Here St. Paul relies on oral tradition to quote an early Christian hymn
“But Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body
of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing judgment, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.”
(Jude 1:9, ASV)
St. Jude relies on the oral tradition of the Archangel Michael’s dispute with Satan over
Moses’ body. This is not found in the Old Testament.
“And to these also Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, Behold, the Lord
came with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all
the ungodly of all their works of ungodliness which they have ungodly wrought, and of
all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” (Jude 1:14-15, ASV)
Again, St. Jude relies on the oral tradition of Enoch’s prophecy which is not recorded in
the Old Testament.
Christians are warned against personal interpretation of Scriptures.
“First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s
own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men
moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” (2 Peter 1:20-21, RSV)
The phrase ε______ε_ _ _____ (edakrusen ho Ie_sous, Greek) literally means “Jesus
wept”(John 11:35, GNT)
This is the shortest verse in the whole Bible. My question is why do Bible believing
Christians have disagreement on the meaning of this phrase?
Some say Jesus wept because of:
1. The sheer human sympathy of his heart.
2. The lack of faith that the people had.
3. A deep sense of the misery sin had brought upon human nature. Etc.
One of the main arguments that Protestants use to explain away the differing positions on
doctrine due to the use of Sola Scriptura is the fact that supposedly, ‘well, we may have
many differences on minor issues, but we agree on the essential doctrines’. Well, besidesOne of the main arguments that Protestants use to explain away the differing positions on
doctrine due to the use of Sola Scriptura is the fact that supposedly, ‘well, we may have
many differences on minor issues, but we agree on the essential doctrines’. Well, besides
sounding nice, and having no Biblical basis for that rationale, the issue at hand is, “What
are the essential things?”
As Phillip Blosser notes:
Nor will it do to fall back on the assertion that Protestant conservatives, at least, are
united on “essentials”; for the question as to what is “essential” and what is not, is itself
part of what is at issue. Lutherans consider baptism essential, while Quakers do not.
Baptists consider an “adult” profession of faith to be an essential prerequisite for baptism,
while Presbyterians do not. Presbyterians consider the predestination of the elect to be an
essential doctrine but Free Methodists do not. Nazarenes consider personal holiness an
essential prerequisite for salvation, while Lutherans do not. Calvinists consider the
“irresistability of grace” an essential belief, while Lutherans do not. Episcopalians
consider sacraments essential, but the Salvation Army does not. Presbyterians regard the
belief in the “total depravity” of man essential, but Methodists do not. The Dutch
Reformed consider creeds and confessions essential, but Baptists do not. Baptists
consider “altar calls” essential but Presbyterians do not. (6)
Question: Why do Protestants pick-and-choose what to believe and follow and what to
reject in The Scriptures? Are they truly “Bible Christians”?
eugenio jr.'s space 