ACT TRACT ON SOLA SCRIPTURA

One of the scandals of Christianity is the fragmentation and division among different churches. According to a 1994 study, there are 22,000 distinct denominations in USA alone, ie. on average, 1 new denomination has been springing up every week since the time of the Protestant “ Reformation” in the 1500’s. These different denominations hold different views in regard to many articles of faith and morals.

What has happened to the “one faith, one baptism” which St. Paul talked about in Eph 4:5? (see also 1 Cor 1:10: “... I urge you... not to have factions among yourselves but all to be in agreement in what you profess; so that you are perfectly united in your beliefs and judgments.” )

Ironically, what separates the Catholic Church from the Protestant churches is something which should be uniting us with them, the Bible!

The Bible

The word “bible” is derived from the Greek “biblio”, meaning “book”. The Church has always venerated the Bible, eg. St. Jerome even went so far as to declare: “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” All Christians agree that the Bible is important, but disagree on the actual role or place of the Bible in the Church.

Protestant Christians profess to believe in sola scriptura, ie. “The Bible and the Bible alone”, while Catholics believe in sola Dei verbum, ie. “The word of God and the word of God alone”. The Bible is merely the written Word of God.

Believers in the doctrine of sola scriptura are, in effect, saying 2 things:

a. All Christian revelation must be found in the Bible, ie. there is no revelation apart from the Bible. Catholics believe that Sacred Tradition (the unwritten word of God) co-exists with the Bible and forms part of Christian revelation.

b. There is no need for an infallible teaching authority in the Church to understand the Bible. Catholics believe that the Teaching Authority (the Magisterium) cannot be separated from Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition (refer to Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum 11), since it is the authentic guardian and teacher of the Christian faith.

How The Bible Was Formed

The first NT document to be written was probably the 1st letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians (c. AD 50); the first Gospel was probably St. Mark’s around AD 60.

By the end of the 1st century, the rest of the 27 books of the NT were probably all completed.

In the Early Church, there were other (non-inspired) Christian writings being circulated along with the Inspired Writings, eg. the Shepherd of Hermas, the Gospel of St. Thomas, etc. For a time, there was some confusion as to which writings were inspired, and which were not, until the matter was decisively settled at the Councils of Hippo (AD 393) and Carthage (AD 397), ratified by the Council of Trent (16th century).

“Common Sense” Problems With Sola Scriptura

It is clear that the Early Christians did not believe in sola scriptura:

a. AD 33-50: not a single word of the NT had been consigned to writing: how can anyone stake their faith in a non-existent document?

b. AD 50-100: the NT was gradually being written, but all 27 books would not exist until AD 90-100; therefore, one would have to wait (at least) until the end of the 1st century before all the contents of the Bible was in existence; before then, the belief in “the Bible and the Bible alone” is clearly impossible.

c. AD 100-400: during this period, there was no decisive list of Inspired Writings: if one cannot say for certain what constitutes the Bible, how can one also believe in “the Bible and the Bible alone”?

d. AD 400: it was only around the 4th century that the canon of the Bible was finally fixed: but if Christianity was established, spread and grew for nearly 400 years without needing to rely on sola scriptura, why should the modern. Christian believe in it?

In addition to the above, there are the problems of dissemination, printing, illiteracy, and most importantly, the canonicity of the Bible.

We have the Bible only because we first have an infallible Church with the authority to teach on God’s behalf, and it was this infallible Church which told us what books are in the Bible and what books are not!

Sufficiency Of The Bible?

Protestant Christians claim that the Bible is “sufficient”, ie. that there is no other source of Christian revelation apart from the Bible, neither is there need for one.

However, even looking at the 27 books of the NT, it seems unlikely that the Bible could contain all the teachings of Christ and the Apostles. We are told in Matt 4:4 to “... live... on every word that comes from the mouth of God”, and in Mark 13:31 that Jesus’ “... words will not pass away.” Yet we have numerous incidents in Scripture where the words or teachings of Jesus were not recorded, eg. John 4:40-42 (3 days at the Samaritan village), Mark 6:34 (whole day before the 1st miracle of the loaves), and more importantly, 40 days after the Resurrection until the Ascension of Our Lord. John 21:25: “There was much else that Jesus did; if it were written down in detail, I do not suppose the world itself would hold all the books that it would be written. “

The “proof-text” commonly used to support the “sufficiency of the Bible” is 2 Tim 3:16: “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching the truth, rebuking error, etc...”

a. First, the verse does not say that Scripture is “sufficient”, but that it is “useful”: the 2 words are not the same thing.

b. Secondly, the “Scripture” referred to by St. Paul is clearly a reference to the OT, and not the Bible as we know it (refer to 2 Tim 3:15: “... remember that ever since you [ie. Timothy] were a child, you have known the Holy Scriptures, etc...”).

Another commonly used “proof-text” is Rev 22:18-19: “... if anyone adds anything to [the prophetic words in this book], God will add to his punishment the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes anything away from the prophetic words of this book, God will take away from him his share of the fruit of the tree of life and of the Holy City, which are described in this book.”

a. This is a clear reference to the Book of Revelation, rather than the Bible.

b. Furthermore, the message of St. John was simply that you should not distort the meaning of the Book of Revelation by adding, removing or changing the words: he said nothing about the sufficiency of the Bible.

Even the Bible attests to the fact that there is revelation outside of the Bible, ie. what we call Sacred Tradition:

a. 1 Cor 11:2: “I congratulate you... for maintaining the traditions exactly as I passed them on to you.”

b. 2 Thes 2:15: “Stand firm, brothers, and keep the traditions that we taught you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.”

c. 2 Tim 2:2: “Pass on to reliable people what you heard from me... so that they in turn will be able to teach others.”

No Need for Teaching Authority?

Protestant Christians also hold that Scripture can be interpreted by anybody in the light of the Holy Spirit. However, they fail to realise that not everybody is given this particular charism or gift of infallibility, ie. the inability to teach error.

In Christ’s Church, not everybody is a teacher: in fact, private interpretation is condemned in 2 Pet 3:16. The fact that one possesses the Bible does not guarantee that the reader will himself be infallible or correct in interpreting it, eg.

a. Luke 24:13-35: the disciples on the road to Emmaus needed Jesus to explain Scripture to them.

b. Acts 8:30-31: the Ethiopian eunuch who was reading the prophet Isaiah needed Philip to explain the passage to him.

The only infallible authority on earth is “... the Church of the living God, pillar and support of the truth.” (1 Tim 3:15)

It is quite clear from the Bible that the Father sent Our Lord on His Mission, and that Our Lord delegated His Mission to the Apostles, who in turn delegated their mission to their successors, the Bishops of the Catholic Church.

a. Even before His death and resurrection, Jesus was already sending His disciples to preach with the following divine mandate: “Anyone who listens to you listens to me; anyone who rejects you rejects me...” (Luke 10:16)

b. At the Last Supper, Jesus delegated His authority and mission to the Apostles with the following words: “[A]nd now I confer a kingdom on you, just as my Father conferred one on me.” (Luke 22:29)

c. This delegation was ratified after Christ’s Resurrection on Easter Sunday, when Jesus told the Apostles: “As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.” (John 20:21).

d. Again on Ascension Thursday, Jesus affirmed that the authority and mission entrusted to the Apostles is identical to (not less than) what was given to Him by the Father, see Matt 28:18-20: “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations; baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And look, I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.”

Certainly, the Apostles believed that they were infallible teachers, eg. Acts 15:28: “It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and ourselves.” 1 Thes 2:4: “... God has approved us to be entrusted with the gospel, and this is how we preach...” 1 Thes 2:13: “... as soon as you heard the word that we brought you as God’s message, you welcomed it for what it really is... God’s word...” 1 Cor 2:10: “... to us... God has given revelation through the Spirit...” Other relevant verses are Gal 1:8-9, 2 John 10, Acts 10:9-16 & 28, 15:7 & 20:28, 1 Cor 11:2, 2 Thes 2:15 and 2 Tim 2:2.

Hence it is on the infallible authority of the Catholic Church that Catholics accept the Bible as the written Word of God, and also on that authority is the canon of the Bible (the official list of the books) accepted as infallible. In other words, by rejecting the infallibile authority of the Church, the Protestant cannot explain how they can know infallibly that they have the infallible canon. You need an infallible Church to produce an infallible Bible!

Consequently, the Catholic Church teaches with the same binding authority with which Christ Himself taught! Guided by the Holy Spirit, the Church has never erred in teaching faith and morals, and continues to preserve and transmit “the Faith of Our Fathers”; however, the “fruits” of private interpretation are division and dissent as each Christian sets himself up as a “mini-Pope” who will decide for himself how he interprets the Bible and what he wants to believe from it.

Conclusion

The belief in sola scriptura can be refuted by common sense, on historical grounds and by Scripture itself. As Catholics, we can learn much from our Protestant friends in their reverence towards the Bible, but we must never put the Bible above the Church, nor should we discard the Church in favour of the Bible.

“It is clear therefore that, by God’s most wise design, Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture and the Church’s teaching authority are so linked and so associated together that one cannot stand without the others, and that all together and each in its own way contribute effectively to the salvation of men under the action of the one Holy Spirit.” (Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum 11)

www.catholic.org.sg/ACT