CATHOLICISM, ORTHODOXY, AND “SOLA SCRIPTURA”

Catholicism and Orthodoxy (C&O) maintain that we shouldn’t be limited by the Scriptures. Since the Apostles had taught authoritatively both orally and through their writings, the Church should not be limited to just what the Apostles had written:

·       2 Thessalonians 2:15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.

However, we do not have their oral teachings, only their written ones. Nor do the Scriptures authorize that the writings of their students or the Church Fathers as Scripture. Nevertheless, C&O claim that theirtraditions are authoritatively equal to the Scriptures. They also erroneously claim that “Sola Scriptura”—Scripture reigns supreme over every other truth claim—isn’t Scriptural. However, there are many reasons that it is. Nothing can be added comparable to it

·       Deuteronomy 12:32  “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.”

However, by elevating their traditions to the level of Scripture is precisely what C&O are doing. The OT authors spoke from God. However, there is no indication that the Church Fathers made such a claim:

·       2 Peter 1:20–21 (NLT) Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.

Furthermore, we are warned against going beyond the Scriptures:

·       1 Corinthians 4:6 I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.

·       Isaiah 8:19–20 And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn [light of truth]

Nor do we need to go beyond the Scriptures:

·       2 Timothy 3:16–17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work

·       Deuteronomy 4:2 You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you.

Jesus consistently upheld the Scriptures as supreme:

·       Luke 24:44–45 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

Jesus even condemned placing tradition on an equal standing with the Scriptures:

·       Matthew 15:3–9 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

Our faith has to be between ourselves and our Savior and not an organization or even a pastor. Consequently, we shouldn’t invest our faith in any human institution or leader, even if they provide sound guidance. Ultimately, it must be based upon the Words of God:

·       Romans 14:22–23 The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

C&O both claim that Christ built His Church upon their oral teachings (2 Thess. 2:15). Therefore, their traditions and proclamations should be regarded as authoritative as the Scriptures themselves. However, with the passing of the Apostles, we no longer have their oral teachings, just the unsupportable claims of both Catholicism and Orthodoxy that they possess their oral teachings, which their early Fathers have accurately recorded. (Interestingly, the Rabbis also erroneously claim that they have God’s oral teachings, which had not been recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures but had subsequently been recorded in the Talmud.) This is also true of the cults like Mormonism and Jehovah Witnesses, which value their institutional proclamations above the Scriptures.

While the writings of the Orthodox Church Fathers might be quite valuable, they do not have the authority of Scripture, which is held supreme by the entire Bible:

·       Ephesians 2:20 [The Church is] built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.

There is no indication from the Scriptures that the teachings of the Church Fathers should be regarded as authoritative as is the Scriptures; nor did they claim such:

·       Matthew 4:4 But [Jesus] answered [Satan], “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Not human traditions, just the Word of God! However, when the C&O elevate their traditions and saints as authoritative, they are adding to the Word (Deuteronomy 4:2), thereby detracting from the teachings of the Scriptures:

·       Matthew 5:17–19 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

While the Bible commissioned the Apostles to serve as foundation of the Faith, nowhere did Jesus tell us to regard the disciples of the Apostles as part of this foundation.

Although the Bible doesn’t mention “sola scriptura,” (Scripture as our highest authority) it is part of everything that the Bible teaches. If we love God, we are to abide (hold fast) to His Word above any philosophy, institution, or church hierarchy:

·       John 14:23–24 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.

·       John 15:7–10 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.

This has been the teaching of the entire Bible. The Scriptures never suggest that we put our trust in man, a Church Council, or a human institution, which leads to many contradictions and fights (Look at the way the Orthodox condemn the Catholics!). When it is no more a matter of the Bible being the ultimate authority, then irresolvable traditions and human resolutions inevitably fill the gap. This is also true about many Protestant churches and becomes a matter of trusting in men and their institutions:

·       Jeremiah 17:5–7 Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.

C&O also invoke:

·       1 Timothy 3:15 if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.

However, there was no Orthodox or Catholic Church when this was written, around 62 AD. “Church” must then refer to the various churches of the believers whose behavior would serve as the testimony and support of the truth—“a pillar and buttress”—of the Gospel rather the source of its truth.

Even our own pastors, who derive their sermons directly from the Word, cannot be fully trusted. Even they must be judged by the Word. If this is so, then even Catholicism and Orthodoxy must also be subject to the Word.

C&O justifiably claim that, lacking a central controlling body, Protestantism has  spewed out thousands of denominations. Nor has this disunity been curbed, but this doesn’t mean that our foundation of “Sola Scriptura” and “Sola Fide” is not Scripturally sound as C&O claim. Perhaps this is the necessary price of our freedom from organizational constraints?