Sola Scriptura: An Introduction
"To be ignorant of the Scripture is not to know Christ." Such are the powerful words of Saint Jerome, a Catholic priest, historian, and theologian of the fourth and fifth centuries who gave us the Vulgate, his translation of the Bible from the original Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic into the vernacular language of the time, Latin. As Catholics, we are firmly committed not only to studying Sacred Scripture but also to defending it as the Word of God for that is its true identity: The God-breathed texts whose authorship was overseen and guided by the infallible protection of the Holy Ghost.
In this post (as the title indicates), we will begin to discuss the Protestant doctrine of 'Sola Scriptura' or 'Scripture Alone'. As Catholics, we do not hold to, believe in, or practice this doctrine. Many Christians might be appalled at this declaration and might wonder just why we as Catholics reject this doctrine held to by those in the Protestant communities. The simple answer: Sola Scriptura is not taught either by Our Lord or by the Church He established here on Earth. And so, this doctrine is not true and therefore should not be held by Christians.
Now, before we get too far into this post, it would behoove us to define what exactly the doctrine of Sola Scriptura means and entails. This undertaking will be somewhat tricky, however, because it means several different things for many different denominations, pastors, and theologians in the Protestant world. Despite this fact, I will do my best to provide several definitions from famous Protestants upon which we can build an adequate treatment of this doctrine here on my blog.
Let's start with the words of an essay from the 1943 Lutheran Synod Convention which declares, "Now the Bible itself clearly, repeatedly, and emphatically declares that God’s Revelation to man, His Revelation in Scripture, is the sole source and norm of all saving knowledge." Also, the famed Westminster Confession of Faith said that "The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture."
Now, we ought to ask ourselves a couple of vital questions about the nature of Scripture and authority: Does the Bible makes up the entirety of our rule of faith? How do we know which books belong in the canon or collection of Sacred Scripture? How do we know which interpretation of Scripture is right and which one is wrong? Finally, who has the authority both to identify which books are Scripture and also which interpretation of Scripture is the correct one?
As Catholics, we have answers to all of these important questions. As I said before, we do not believe that the Sacred Scriptures (though they are essential to the Christian life and worthy of all our respect) compromise the whole of our rule of faith nor do we believe that they replace either the unwritten teachings of Our Lord (Sacred Tradition) or an authority outside of the text, namely, the teaching authority of the Holy Catholic Church founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let's consider a few statements from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
"Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up a single sacred deposit of the Word of God in which, as in a mirror, the pilgrim Church contemplates God, the source of all her riches."
"The Church, in her doctrine, life and worship, perpetuates and transmits to every generation all that she herself is, all that she believes."
"The task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been entrusted solely to the Magisterium of the Church, that is, to the Pope and to the bishops in communion with him."
As Catholics, we believe that God's Divine Revelation comes to us by two means: Sacred Scripture (God's Revelation in written form) and Sacred Tradition (God's Revelation in an unwritten form). We must note here that all of God's Revelation to man is indeed tradition for the word 'tradition' merely means 'that which is handed on'. We know that Christ never told any of His Apostles or disciples to write anything down. Rather, by word of mouth, Our Lord handed on the entirety of the deposit of faith to His twelve Apostles, commanding them to teach all the nations and to baptize them into the New Covenant family of God, the Church.
We know that the Divine Revelation given to us by Christ has come down to us in a written and an unwritten form. As the Apostle Paul says in 2nd Thessalonians 2:15, "Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours." Indeed, in places like 2nd John 12 and in 1st Corinthians 11:2, we hear the Apostles affirming the necessity of following the spoken, oral Traditions (notice the capital 'T') of the Church. I must quickly distinguish between the capital 'T' Traditions of the Church and the lowercase 't' traditions of the Church. The former must be believed because it was commanded by Our Lord, being Divine Revelation, while the latter consists more of customs adopted at various times in History by the Church. Such practices would be things like priestly celibacy or the recitation of the Rosary.
I must also point out the fact that all of those revelations handed on by Our Lord which are not found in Sacred Scripture can be found in writing nonetheless. What do I mean by this? I mean that from the earliest years of the Church, the practices and doctrines of Sacred Tradition were put into writing and thus preserved by the Fathers of the Church, the men who were either direct disciples of the Apostles or disciples of these said disciples. We find the teachings of Our Lord which were handed on orally by His Apostles onto their successors in places like the writings of the Doctors or Fathers of the Church, the decrees of the Popes or Church Councils, and in the liturgy of the Church as we find in the early Missals, rituals, or prayers.
In fact, for several years, all the Christians had of the Word of God was found solely in the oral Tradition of the Church. This is because both the Gospels and many of the other New Testament works weren't written until several decades after the Ascension of Our Lord into Heaven and even then, the New Testament as we know it today wasn't put together in a definitive canon until the Council of Rome in the year 382. Also, I might add, after the canon of Sacred Scripture was finally decided, no one in the entirety of Christendom sought to reduce all of Christ's Revelation to the written word alone nor did they seek to replace the Church Christ established with the mere private interpretation of the individual believer. In fact, as we shall see in future posts to come, Christ and His Apostles did not teach that Sacred Scripture is the sole rule of the Christian faith. In this series on Sola Scriptura, I will prove that Our Lord did not establish the Christian life on the Bible apart from either the unwritten Divine Revelation or the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church He founded, the pillar and foundation of truth as Paul says in 1st Timothy 3:15.
Finally, to close this treatment of sola scriptura, I must strongly affirm the fact that Catholics are indeed Bible Christians who both love and read the Bible, venerating it as the true Word of God. The Bible is the greatest book in all of History and every man ought to read it for his great benefit. In the Scriptures, we can dive into the depths of God's plan of salvation for man and His great love that He shows for us in dying on the cross to save us. And so, when Catholics hold to the fact that sola scriptura is false, they do so not because they dislike the Scriptures or don't read them, but because we recognize that the true and living Word of God is Our Lord Himself who gives us both Tradition and Sacred Scripture, handed down to us through the Church which is His very Body.
In this post (as the title indicates), we will begin to discuss the Protestant doctrine of 'Sola Scriptura' or 'Scripture Alone'. As Catholics, we do not hold to, believe in, or practice this doctrine. Many Christians might be appalled at this declaration and might wonder just why we as Catholics reject this doctrine held to by those in the Protestant communities. The simple answer: Sola Scriptura is not taught either by Our Lord or by the Church He established here on Earth. And so, this doctrine is not true and therefore should not be held by Christians.
Now, before we get too far into this post, it would behoove us to define what exactly the doctrine of Sola Scriptura means and entails. This undertaking will be somewhat tricky, however, because it means several different things for many different denominations, pastors, and theologians in the Protestant world. Despite this fact, I will do my best to provide several definitions from famous Protestants upon which we can build an adequate treatment of this doctrine here on my blog.
Let's start with the words of an essay from the 1943 Lutheran Synod Convention which declares, "Now the Bible itself clearly, repeatedly, and emphatically declares that God’s Revelation to man, His Revelation in Scripture, is the sole source and norm of all saving knowledge." Also, the famed Westminster Confession of Faith said that "The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture."
Now, we ought to ask ourselves a couple of vital questions about the nature of Scripture and authority: Does the Bible makes up the entirety of our rule of faith? How do we know which books belong in the canon or collection of Sacred Scripture? How do we know which interpretation of Scripture is right and which one is wrong? Finally, who has the authority both to identify which books are Scripture and also which interpretation of Scripture is the correct one?
As Catholics, we have answers to all of these important questions. As I said before, we do not believe that the Sacred Scriptures (though they are essential to the Christian life and worthy of all our respect) compromise the whole of our rule of faith nor do we believe that they replace either the unwritten teachings of Our Lord (Sacred Tradition) or an authority outside of the text, namely, the teaching authority of the Holy Catholic Church founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let's consider a few statements from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
"Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up a single sacred deposit of the Word of God in which, as in a mirror, the pilgrim Church contemplates God, the source of all her riches."
"The Church, in her doctrine, life and worship, perpetuates and transmits to every generation all that she herself is, all that she believes."
"The task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been entrusted solely to the Magisterium of the Church, that is, to the Pope and to the bishops in communion with him."
As Catholics, we believe that God's Divine Revelation comes to us by two means: Sacred Scripture (God's Revelation in written form) and Sacred Tradition (God's Revelation in an unwritten form). We must note here that all of God's Revelation to man is indeed tradition for the word 'tradition' merely means 'that which is handed on'. We know that Christ never told any of His Apostles or disciples to write anything down. Rather, by word of mouth, Our Lord handed on the entirety of the deposit of faith to His twelve Apostles, commanding them to teach all the nations and to baptize them into the New Covenant family of God, the Church.
We know that the Divine Revelation given to us by Christ has come down to us in a written and an unwritten form. As the Apostle Paul says in 2nd Thessalonians 2:15, "Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours." Indeed, in places like 2nd John 12 and in 1st Corinthians 11:2, we hear the Apostles affirming the necessity of following the spoken, oral Traditions (notice the capital 'T') of the Church. I must quickly distinguish between the capital 'T' Traditions of the Church and the lowercase 't' traditions of the Church. The former must be believed because it was commanded by Our Lord, being Divine Revelation, while the latter consists more of customs adopted at various times in History by the Church. Such practices would be things like priestly celibacy or the recitation of the Rosary.
I must also point out the fact that all of those revelations handed on by Our Lord which are not found in Sacred Scripture can be found in writing nonetheless. What do I mean by this? I mean that from the earliest years of the Church, the practices and doctrines of Sacred Tradition were put into writing and thus preserved by the Fathers of the Church, the men who were either direct disciples of the Apostles or disciples of these said disciples. We find the teachings of Our Lord which were handed on orally by His Apostles onto their successors in places like the writings of the Doctors or Fathers of the Church, the decrees of the Popes or Church Councils, and in the liturgy of the Church as we find in the early Missals, rituals, or prayers.
In fact, for several years, all the Christians had of the Word of God was found solely in the oral Tradition of the Church. This is because both the Gospels and many of the other New Testament works weren't written until several decades after the Ascension of Our Lord into Heaven and even then, the New Testament as we know it today wasn't put together in a definitive canon until the Council of Rome in the year 382. Also, I might add, after the canon of Sacred Scripture was finally decided, no one in the entirety of Christendom sought to reduce all of Christ's Revelation to the written word alone nor did they seek to replace the Church Christ established with the mere private interpretation of the individual believer. In fact, as we shall see in future posts to come, Christ and His Apostles did not teach that Sacred Scripture is the sole rule of the Christian faith. In this series on Sola Scriptura, I will prove that Our Lord did not establish the Christian life on the Bible apart from either the unwritten Divine Revelation or the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church He founded, the pillar and foundation of truth as Paul says in 1st Timothy 3:15.
Finally, to close this treatment of sola scriptura, I must strongly affirm the fact that Catholics are indeed Bible Christians who both love and read the Bible, venerating it as the true Word of God. The Bible is the greatest book in all of History and every man ought to read it for his great benefit. In the Scriptures, we can dive into the depths of God's plan of salvation for man and His great love that He shows for us in dying on the cross to save us. And so, when Catholics hold to the fact that sola scriptura is false, they do so not because they dislike the Scriptures or don't read them, but because we recognize that the true and living Word of God is Our Lord Himself who gives us both Tradition and Sacred Scripture, handed down to us through the Church which is His very Body.
Comments
Post a Comment