SOLA SCRIPTURA

 

"In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by BOOKS the number of the years,

whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet"  (Dan. 9:2.)

 

The above verse should be read and re-read by Protestants and Catholics alike, for what we see here is how one of the Bible's most respected prophets, when in dire straits, doesn't go to his priest, king or even fellow man, but to the WORD of God for HELP and ANSWERS. If only Rome and apostate Protestantism did likewise, than perhaps the Inquisition and Reformation may have been avoided.

"It is not from Sacred Scripture alone that the [Catholic] Church draws her certainty about everything which has been revealed. Both Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture are to be accepted and venerated with the same sense of loyalty and reverence."

Then we have the following and more honest statements from Rome:

"There was far more extensive and continuous use of Scriptures in public service of the early Church than there is among us" (Catholic Dictionary, pg. 509.)

"Our present convenient compendiums-the Missal, the Breviary, and so on-were formed only at the end of a long evolution. In the first period there was no books except the Bible from which lessons we read and psalms were sung. Nothing was written because nothing was fixed" (Catholic Encyclopaedia, Vol. IX, pg. 296.)

While compiling this article, I was in correspondence with an Australian Roman Catholic professor of Asian languages (sounds impressive doesn't it), who was under the false impression that Catholic apologists had rather successfully refuted Christians, that teach Sola Scriptura. He also went on to tell me that the doctrine of Sola Scriptura was a 16th Century one. While it is true the Reformers did take a firm and bold stand for the re-implementation of Sola Scriptura, in their defence however, all they were trying to do was return to the early churches position on this; something that had since become completely lost and confused. 

The early church fathers believed, practised and taught Sola Scriptura. One was Irenaeus who, amazingly, wrote a letter titled, Against Heresy. This was written because of the Gnostics who claimed that they had extra biblical authority/tradition, other than the Church had. 

This early church leader would go on to refute the Gnostics' claim that not only were they and they alone able capable of interpreting Scripture, but that the Bible was not sufficient for all areas of doctrine. 

Yet, incredibly, centuries later, this argument is now reversed with Rome replacing the Gnostics and the Protestants replacing Irenaeus! 

Other church fathers which clearly and distinctly affirmed Sola Scriptura were Tertullian, Cyril of Jerusalem and St. Patrick who, through their letters, went out of their way, to uphold Scripture as their final and ultimate authority! 

Tragically, the Catholic church gives the Bible mere lip service:

"There is no evidence that Christ ever told His disciples to write books, or promised them His help in doing so...so far as we can learn from the pages of the New Testament, the Apostles did not leave any list of inspired writings, and, except in one solitary instance, they never once even allude to the fact that there were any inspired writings at all, except those of old" (A Catholic Dictionary, St. John's Seminary, Wonersh, pg. 168.) 

Yet the same church, that shatters all faith of apostolic authority in Holy Scripture, will fight tooth and nail when it comes to their favourite passages.

Try telling a Catholic, for example, that Matthew 16:18 isn't apostolic or John 20:23. Tell them that we can't be sure whether Matthew actually got the words of the Lord right, or perhaps this whole chapter isn't found in the best manuscripts. Watch them, all of a sudden, become Catholic Fundamentalists who believe the whole Bible to be God breathed (Matt. 15:8.)  

The Bible makes the following statements concerning itself and its TOTAL sufficiency for the man of God:

"I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy WORD above all thy name" (Ps. 138:2.)  

"This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true" (John 21:24.) 

"Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God" (Acts 20:26.) 

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Tim. 3:16, 17.) 

Clearly somebody who knew Jesus wrote this; the church fathers unanimously stated it was John the Apostle.  

"For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book" (Rev. 22:18.)  

So it should be obvious by now, that God takes His word very seriously and will punish those that try and undermine ones confidence in it.

For further information about this subject please read my article One Church.

Conclusion 

The following quote came from Joseph Cardinal Suenens, who said the following in 1974, while attending a charismatic ecumenical convention in Chicago, and this is what Catholics have been trying to get some of our less educated Protestant friends to do, for centuries now:

"Fly as high as you want with Mary for one wing and Peter as the other [typical, no mention of Jesus.] The trouble with you [that those of us that still believe the Bible] is that you are in bondage [that's rich, coming from a priest] to the Bible."      

 

 

James G. Battell, April 2004

Updated, November 2009

(All Rights Reserved)

8th-September-2010