Sola Scriptura

Section Four - Sola Scriptura

Sola Scriptura (from Wikipedia) - Sola scriptura, meaning by scripture alone, is a Christian theological doctrine held by most Protestant Christian denominations, in particular the Lutheran and Reformed traditions of Protestantism, that posits the Bible as the sole infallible source of authority for Christian faith and practice.

Some protestants have a slightly varying view of Sola Scriptura, such as its the highest source of authority instead of sole source.

This is a huge topic, and ironically I won't spend too much time on it. The reason is that Sola Scriptura is made up. Where does the idea for SS come from? Guess what, it doesn’t come from the Bible. The sole authority doesn’t describe itself as the sole authority. No where in scripture is it found.

Think back a few sections ago about the early church. In 47 AD, how can scripture alone be the basis of Christianity when the NT scripture did not exist? How about 104 AD, same story. Christ never said “write that down”, nor wrote anything down himself (except in the sand where they were about to stone the woman for adultery).

The Bible wasn't even officially recognized as the entire book until 382 with the Council of Rome, which solidified the 73 book cannon. Yes, it was assembled by mortal men of the Catholic Church, and had the Catholic old testament with 46 books and not 39 books (more on that later). It was the Catholic Church that Protestants follow giving the final assembly the authority of scripture.

Scripture alone is false because:

It’s nowhere in scripture.
Christ came to Earth to die for our sins and establish scripture the church.
The world was mostly illiterate until the printing press in the mid 1500s. The church was the sole authority by logistical standards until then.
Scripture was in many forms or non-existent until 350 years after Christ’s death.
It’s nowhere in scripture.

Now don't misunderstand, scripture is the Word of God, no doubt. But it is not the sole authority. Someone/something must interpret it properly or false teachings such as Sola Fide or “LGBT Christian” or “Jesus was pro-choice” (or Mormonism or Jehovas Witnesses plus a million other false teachings) can go unchallenged due to misinterpretation.

Acts 8 describes where Philip asks the Ethiopian, who is reading scripture, if he understands what he is reading. The Ethiopian replies “How can I unless someone explains it to me?” If anything, what an odd thing to include in scripture?

Or consider Paul's message in 2 Thessalonians 2 - 13 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits[b] to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

15 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.

16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

There is it, traditions were passed on to the church in Thessalonica from the Apostles. This is at least an Apolostic Tradition mentioned in scripture, and the command was to stand firm and hold fast to those traditions. (Also notice more talk of sanctifying work of the spirit, and good deeds and words - the rejection of Sola Fide is everywhere!)

Finally, which Scripture are we talking about? The Catholic scripture with 73 books or the protestant scripture with 66 books. Yes, Protestants will say “Catholics added 7 books to the old testament!” when in fact it was Martin Luther who removed 7 books! If Martin Luther has the power to determine what is scripture, how is his authority NOT as high as scripture itself? Protestants just choose to ignore the authority of the Catholic Church (except when they compiled the bible), give authority to Martin Luther, and completely add to scripture saying scripture alone. The mental gymnastics become too much.

No, Sola Scriptura is not true, and it is up to the Protestant to prove that it is true.