Welcome to answers from an apostolic faith.
In the name of the Father and Son, the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.
What is Scriptures Alone or what is Sola Scriptura? It is a doctrine believed in by our fellow brothers from the Protestant denominations that means that the Bible is the Christian’s only source of faith. It is often combined, if not always, with a belief that the Scriptures will declare personally to the reader everything regarding the truth of the Gospel.
Often, it leads our Protestant brothers and sisters to ask the question: Where is this written in the Bible?, implying that everything should be included in the Bible. We have already dealt with this misconception in a previous video that I invite you to watch, called Does the Bible state everything related to the Christian Life? In this video, however, we will address the danger of the doctrine of Sola Scriptura itself.
Unfortunately, the main consequence of Sola Scriptura is division in the Church. This doctrine is the reason for the thousands of denominations that we see today within the Protestant Christianity. It stems from the fact that each of our Protestant brothers and sisters is permitted to say: God told me so and so from the Bible. Therefore, in the hopes to work toward unity for the Church, it is a must that we look at this doctrine that is so foundational to the faith of so many Christians today.
Let us start with an easy question: Who wrote the New Testament? Well, the apostles, St. John, St. Matthew, St. Paul, etc. So, as a few decades passed by, there was a need for the apostles to write down the life that they had been living since Pentecost. But who were these apostles? They were the leaders of the Church. Simply put, the Church is the one that wrote the New Testament. Therefore, she had the authority to choose the canon or the rule of the New Testament.
What does that mean? Since there were many more books available, like the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary and others, the Church chose which ones belonged to the life and faith she was living, meaning the New Testament, and which books were not applicable. She had this authority to choose, because the Church is the one that wrote the Scriptures through the Holy Spirit, as God told the apostles in John 16:13 that the Holy Spirit will guide them into all truth.
For someone now to take the Scriptures and to assume that he can decide on his own the meaning of the words is the equivalent of taking a book that His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, or any of our fathers, the bishops, wrote and decide on his own what is the meaning of the
content and sticking to his opinion in spite of receiving clarifications from the author himself. That wouldn’t make much sense. Only the author of the book has the authority to explain the meaning behind his own writings. Similarly, the ancient Church should be the one to go to for the proper explanation of the Bible.
As St. Paul told St. Timothy in 1 Timothy 3:15, the Church is the pillar and ground of the truth. It is for this reason that St. Hilary of Poitiers says the following:
''The Church is the Ship outside of which it is impossible to understand the Divine Word, for Jesus spoke from the boat to the people gathered on the shores.'' (St. Hilary of Poitiers)
The truth is found in the ancient Church, in the Orthodox Church. She has been living this truth since the 1 st century and for the sake of unity, we should be looking at how this Church lived in the first centuries of Christendom and converge to this faith.
Surprisingly, the Scriptures do not support a Sola Scriptura model. The verse used to support this belief is found in the second Epistle to St. Timothy, as St. Paul says:
'' 15 (...) from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.'' (2 Timothy 3:15-17)
Now, the conclusion that is made is that since the Scriptures are profitable and can make the man of God complete, then this man does not need anything else. But that is not what the verse is saying. Yes, we need the Scriptures to be complete, but it doesn’t say only the Scriptures. What this verse is saying is that we cannot be complete apart from the Scriptures. It is very different.
But which Scriptures is St. Paul referring to here? We have a hint in the beginning of verse 15, where St. Timothy's told that from childhood he has known the Holy Scriptures. It is known that St. Timothy was born in 17 A.D.. Since St. Timothy is referred to as a child in the verse, I will assume that he was maximum 20 years old. 17 plus 20 equals 37 A.D.. All scholars agree that there was nothing written from the New Testament this early. Therefore, the Scriptures St. Paul is referring to here are the Old Testament books. How can we take the verse and apply it to the New Testament? It is not a matter of interpretation anymore, but of simple math.
In contrast, we have examples in the New Testament that show that we cannot understand the Scriptures on our own. For example, when Christ was speaking to the disciples of Emmaus
after the resurrection in Luke 24, the Gospel says that Christ explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Also, in Acts 8, we find the Ethiopian eunuch reading Isaiah and requesting from St. Philip some guidance. And most importantly, St. Peter, in his second Epistle, addressing the believers, he says:
'' 20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.'' (2 Peter 1:20-21)
As the letter unfolds, we find that there were heretics at the time teaching something apart from the truth, a different so-called gospel. St. Peter made it a point to clarify that the prophecies are not for private interpretation, since it is probably what these heretics were attacking. That same verse spelled out by St. Peter regarding the Old Testament prophecies applies as well to the New Testament Scriptures in general: the Gospel is not meant for private interpretation; it is meant to bring the one truth of the Good News. I must reemphasize, however, that the principal evidence against Sola Scriptura is the current divisions within the Church. We need to re-become one body.
OK, but wait a second! Doesn’t the Bible say not to follow the traditions of men? For sure, there are references to the bad traditions of men in the Scriptures. Indeed, at this time, the Jews had many flawed traditions, but does that mean that the entire tradition, the life of the Church in itself, is to be abolished? No, it does not. The evidence for this is plenty and I will list a few verses at the end of the video that confirms that tradition is a good thing and that in fact we are ordered to keep it. But in the meantime, let us look at one verse only. St. Paul speaks to St. Timothy and says the following:
'' 1 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things that you have heard from me [meaning the holy tradition] among many witnesses [meaning in public, not privately], commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.'' (2 Timothy 2:1-2)
Here he's saying this tradition or this life of the Church should be passed on from generation to generation as the Orthodox Church still does till today.
The final point we ought to understand in this summary of such a complex topic is that traditions cannot be avoided. Everyone has traditions, even our Protestant brothers. Let us imagine the Christian Protestant world constituted of many denominations. Let us put them on a horizontal line. So, let us say our brothers, the Evangelicals, are here, the Baptists are here, the 7 th Day Adventists are here, and the Pentecostals are here. They are four different denominations that believe in Sola Scriptura, but each denomination holds a different faith from the others.
However, within each denomination, so vertically, the people hold the same faith. This is not because all those people read the Bible the same way, since most people that join the churches
for the first time do not know their Bible. The Christians within the denominations hold the same faith, because they are taught the faith, each as per their respective traditions.
So, in other words, the pastor, when he's at the pulpit, he is teaching his Protestant tradition, whether Evangelical or Pentecostal. The question therefore becomes: Which tradition should I choose? The one that started within the last few centuries or the one to which St. Paul refers to in second Thessalonians?, when he says..
'' 15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast [meaning be immovable] and hold the traditions [meaning do not change them] which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.'' (2 Thessalonians 2:15)
Remember: Know your faith, live your faith, and teach your faith. And glory be to God forever. Amen.
Note (on screen only)
Please also refer to:
2 Thessalonians 3:6 1 Corinthians 11:1-2 2 Timothy 1:13-14 Philippians 4:9