Bible Study: Sola Scriptura
The following is a bible study I did for Newman. Feel free to use as you see fit.
What Does The Bible Say About: Sola Scriptura?
Definition: Sola Scriptura is the Protestant doctrine that the only infallible rule of faith (and practice) is Sacred Scripture.
Biblical Data:
2nd Timothy 3:16-17 16 All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
Discussion: All scripture is what by God? Inspired. What does inspired mean? This means that God, although he uses man to write the scripture, is ultimately the author of scripture. What is it useful for? Teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. What is the point of teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness? So that we as Christians can be proficient/equipped for every good work. Does this prove that scripture is therefore the only infallible rule of faith? Hardly. While some Protestants have taken the words, “all scripture” to mean all the books of the Bible we currently have, this cannot be true for a few reasons. 1) “All scripture” is earlier defined as being just the Old Testament. v14-15. It would be absurd to think that only the Old Testament is the only infallible rule of faith. No protestant believes this. So the protestant shouldn’t think this proves Sola Scriptura. 2) What equips us for every good work isn’t scripture itself, but the teaching, correcting, and training in righteousness. Scripture is useful for teaching, etc, but that is distinct cause for being equipped for every good work. 3) Taken literally, this list would be incomplete. Where is prayer? Prayer is obviously needed in this process yet it is nowhere to be found. So, this passage is not supposed to give is an exhaustive understanding of what is needed, and so it doesn’t show Sola Scriptura, which is an exhaustive claim about what is an infallible rule of faith.
Biblical Data:
2nd Thessalonians 2:14-15 14 For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.
Discussion: What does the proclamation of the gospel do for us? It allows us to obtain the glory of Jesus. What should we do when we are given that proclamation of the gospel? Stand firm and hold fast to it. But how is the gospel given to us? They were taught as traditions. How are these traditions passed on? Either by word of mouth or by letter. Many times, you will hear Protestants attack the Catholic position of holding onto Traditions (Matt 15:3). But here, the gospel is being taught as a tradition, so not all traditions can be bad. The traditions of the gospel are definitely some of the traditions we should hold on to. And those traditions are also counted as sacred scripture, or “by letter.” In the Catholic view then, there is no hard distinction between sacred tradition and sacred scripture. Scripture is just the written traditions. But is the written tradition the only traditions we have? No, not at all. It also says to hold fast to the traditions taught “by word of mouth.” This is the oral traditions that we consider sacred as well. These are traditions on equal footing with scripture and so demand the same level of adherence. Some examples of these traditions are the assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. You will not explicitly find it in scripture, but you will find it as part of the oral traditions. If scripture was the only infallible rule of faith, then scripture itself wouldn’t command us to hold onto the teachings passed down in non-written form.
Various Problems with Sola Scriptura:
What Does The Bible Say About: Sola Scriptura?
Definition: Sola Scriptura is the Protestant doctrine that the only infallible rule of faith (and practice) is Sacred Scripture.
Biblical Data:
2nd Timothy 3:16-17 16 All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
Discussion: All scripture is what by God? Inspired. What does inspired mean? This means that God, although he uses man to write the scripture, is ultimately the author of scripture. What is it useful for? Teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. What is the point of teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness? So that we as Christians can be proficient/equipped for every good work. Does this prove that scripture is therefore the only infallible rule of faith? Hardly. While some Protestants have taken the words, “all scripture” to mean all the books of the Bible we currently have, this cannot be true for a few reasons. 1) “All scripture” is earlier defined as being just the Old Testament. v14-15. It would be absurd to think that only the Old Testament is the only infallible rule of faith. No protestant believes this. So the protestant shouldn’t think this proves Sola Scriptura. 2) What equips us for every good work isn’t scripture itself, but the teaching, correcting, and training in righteousness. Scripture is useful for teaching, etc, but that is distinct cause for being equipped for every good work. 3) Taken literally, this list would be incomplete. Where is prayer? Prayer is obviously needed in this process yet it is nowhere to be found. So, this passage is not supposed to give is an exhaustive understanding of what is needed, and so it doesn’t show Sola Scriptura, which is an exhaustive claim about what is an infallible rule of faith.
Biblical Data:
2nd Thessalonians 2:14-15 14 For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.
Discussion: What does the proclamation of the gospel do for us? It allows us to obtain the glory of Jesus. What should we do when we are given that proclamation of the gospel? Stand firm and hold fast to it. But how is the gospel given to us? They were taught as traditions. How are these traditions passed on? Either by word of mouth or by letter. Many times, you will hear Protestants attack the Catholic position of holding onto Traditions (Matt 15:3). But here, the gospel is being taught as a tradition, so not all traditions can be bad. The traditions of the gospel are definitely some of the traditions we should hold on to. And those traditions are also counted as sacred scripture, or “by letter.” In the Catholic view then, there is no hard distinction between sacred tradition and sacred scripture. Scripture is just the written traditions. But is the written tradition the only traditions we have? No, not at all. It also says to hold fast to the traditions taught “by word of mouth.” This is the oral traditions that we consider sacred as well. These are traditions on equal footing with scripture and so demand the same level of adherence. Some examples of these traditions are the assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. You will not explicitly find it in scripture, but you will find it as part of the oral traditions. If scripture was the only infallible rule of faith, then scripture itself wouldn’t command us to hold onto the teachings passed down in non-written form.
Various Problems with Sola Scriptura:
- It’s a first world doctrine. If scripture alone is the only infallible rule of authority, then no illiterate man can have an infallible rule of authority. Even today, many people in the world cannot read. Are we supposed to believe only the educated can adhere to the rule of faith?
- It is self refuting. If no passage can be shown to support Sola Scriptura, then Sola Scriptura cannot meet its own standard, and is then self-refuting. And as it so happens, there are no passages to support Sola Scriptura.
- It is insufficient to settle disputes on matters of faith, namely what counts as scripture to begin with. Catholics and Protestants disagree on what counts as scripture. So to appeal to scripture to settle what is scripture is therefore circular.
- No early Christian believed in Sola Scriptura. Though you saw similar ideas pop up in a person here and there, it couldn’t have been true for the Christians in the Bible, like in the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15-16).
- The Bible appeals to unwritten traditions, such as the Seat of Moses (Matt 23:2-3) and Prophecies concerning Christ (Matt 2:23). These are nowhere found in the Old Testament yet are considered binding and part of God’s word.
Comments
Post a Comment