Sola Scriptura: the Religion of the Book?

One of the major points of demarcation between Catholics and Protestants is found in differences in the level of authority each places on the Bible.

By Deacon Frederick Bartels
15 January 2016

Protestant and other non-Catholic Christians often claim that the Bible is the “sole rule of faith” (this Protestant doctrine is otherwise known as sola scriptura, one of the five pillars of the Protestant revolution, and consequently finds its origin in the 16th century). Protestants, for example, will often deny Catholic dogmas or doctrines, such as Purgatory, the sacrifice of the Mass, the Eucharist as the Real Presence of Christ, or the perpetual virginity of Mary. In defense of such position, Catholics are asked by Protestants to “show me where that is in the Bible.” The idea is, if a particular Catholic theological or moral teaching is not found explicitly in Scripture, it must therefore be false or at the least unbiblical.

While both Catholics and Protestants believe in common that the Bible is the inspired word of God, and therefore of immense importance, Catholics do not hold to sola scriptura. An informed Catholic will never insist that every matter of faith, every aspect of Christian theology and morality and religion, must be explicitly spelled out in the Bible. Catholics accept with equal honor and reverence both Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, of which each, while distinct, is closely connected and bound together as two modes of God’s one divine revelation (cf. CCC 78, 80). Said another way, Catholics believe that not absolutely everything God revealed to his Church was written down in Sacred Scripture. Scripture itself, in fact, says as much: Not everything Jesus did was written down (see Jn 21:25).

Catholics understand that the key to accessing the gospel in its entirety is found in embracing the message of salvation in its entirety, within the context of the living body of the Church, which must include by necessity both Tradition and Scripture. One without the other is inadequate. That means, with respect to the fullness of what God has deposited in his Church as divine revelation, Scripture in itself is incomplete or insufficient. This is a reasonable, logical belief and/or conclusion to draw for a number of reasons.

Protestants often ask what Sacred Tradition is, exactly. That question is most easily answered by looking into history. Christ left his Church with a deposit of faith, which, in simple terms, refers to what the Church believes and hands on to all generations. Often used as a synonym for the deposit of faith is the gospel message (although there are distinctions to make here, I will not go into them). All Christians agree that Christ called the apostles to himself, instructed them by his deeds and words, and, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, sent them out into the world to teach whatsoever he had commanded:

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age. (Mt 28:19-20)

In keeping this command of Christ, the apostles went out and preached the gospel. This means that the deposit of faith was transmitted orally. This oral transmission is Tradition. The gospel, then, was presented in unwritten form. Further, the New Testament was not yet written. In fact, it would not be completed before about sixty or more years had passed since the death of Christ. It would not be formally canonized by the Church until centuries later. Most biblical scholars do not think much of anything was written for about twenty years after the crucifixion. Although precise dating of all the books of Scripture is impossible, it is clear that oral preaching was the primary method of handing on the faith for quite a long time after Jesus died, was resurrected and ascended to the right hand of the Father.

Therefore the gospel message was first orally transmitted. Later, some of it was written down as Scripture. The Catechism explains:

In keeping with the Lord’s command, the Gospel was handed on in two ways:

• orally by the apostles who handed on, by the spoken word of their preaching, by the example they gave, by the institutions they established, what they themselves had received—whether from the lips of Christ, from his way of life and his works, or whether they had learned it at the prompting of the Holy Spirit;
• in writing by those apostles and other men associated with the apostles who, under the inspiration of the same Holy Spirit, committed the message of salvation to writing. (CCC 76)

In order for the “full and living Gospel” to be preserved intact and free from error in the Church, the apostles ordained bishops as their successors. In this way, apostolic preaching and what was written in the inspired books of Scripture would be preserved “in a continuous line of succession until the end of time” (CCC 77). This, too, makes sense. That is, the only way to preserve the teaching of Christ infallibly, without corruption, guaranteeing its transmission to future generations without loss or dilution or alteration, would be a line of Spirit-guided successors in the living body of the Church. In other words, a Spirit-guided Church is necessary for guarding and transmitting the gospel in its full integrity.

The Catechism provides us with a fitting summary:

Sacred Scripture is the speech of God as it is put down in writing under the breath of the Holy Spirit. And [Holy] Tradition transmits in its entirety the Word of God which has been entrusted to the apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit. It transmits it to the successors of the apostles so that, enlightened by the Spirit of truth, they may faithfully preserve, expound and spread it abroad by their preaching. (81)

As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, “does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence. (82)

Under the section on the “Inspiration and Truth of Sacred Scripture,” the Catechism reminds the faithful that, although God is the author of Sacred Scripture, the “Christian faith is not a religion of the book,” but is the “religion of the ‘Word’ of God, a word which is not a written and mute word, but the Word which is incarnate and living” (108).

It is important to remember also that the New Testament was written by the apostles and other men associated with them (CCC 76). These men were members of the one Church of Jesus Christ, the Catholic (universal) Church. This means that the New Testament is a Catholic document. Pope Paul VI wrote, “It is right to say, therefore, that if it was the Word of God that summoned and brought forth the Church, it was the Church, for its part, that was in a certain way, the womb of the holy Scripture, . . .”

As stated above, for non-Catholic Christians who adhere to sola scriptura, all matters of faith must be explicitly spelled out in Scripture. The Bible is, then, the only authoritative document with respect to the Christian faith and religion. The Bible dictates, so to speak, the entire content of what the follower of Christ is to believe, how he is to act and behave. This means the Bible is therefore viewed as totally sufficient in directing the Christian in all aspects of his or her life of faith. In other words, the Bible is not merely the final authority on matters of faith in the life of the Christian; it is the only authority.

However, that idea, one in which the Bible is the final authority on faith, does not harmonize with the deeds and words of Christ. Consider the two following passages found in the New Testament. The former shows that Jesus gave power and authority to St. Peter as the leader of the apostles and earthly head of the Church; the latter shows how Jesus gave authority to the Church herself:

And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Mt 16:17-19)

If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (Mt 18:15-18)

If everything one believes must flow directly from the Bible, as those who adhere to sola scriptura believe, the Christian religion becomes the religion of the Bible—the religion of the book.

But is that a logical, reasonable way to approach the Bible? There are many reasons why sola scriptura is not only problematic but entirely erroneous. Below is a brief yet far from exhaustive list of a few of them:

1. The Bible does not contain divine revelation in its totality. The whole gospel message consists of both Tradition and Scripture, which are two distinct modes of revelation having one common source. Vatican II noted that all the deeds and words of God and his Son in history are sources of divine revelation.
2. While we can point to periods in the history of the early Church in which Scripture was used as a primary tool to argue specific theological positions (an example of this is found in a catholic.com article no longer available on St. Cyprian, Firmilian and others with regard to the validity of baptism by heretics and schismatics), sola scriptura as a doctrine as it is used today did not appear, practically speaking, until Martin Luther and the Protestant revolution in the 16th century. It is important to remember that sola scriptura, as a pillar of the Protestant revolution, was used as means of rationalizing a break from the authority of the divinely instituted Church. The first Protestants were previously Catholics who rejected the Church in communion with the bishop of Rome.
3. If every phrase or word or concept used in Christian theology must be found explicitly in Scripture, then Protestants must throw out the word “Trinity.” Nowhere is this term found in the Bible (although, of course, the doctrine of the Godhead as three divine persons is found in Scripture). There are other examples. In fact, the word “bible” is not found in the Bible.
4. The Bible itself does not teach sola scriptura. Therefore the principle of sola scriptura is self-refuting.
5. The Bible cannot defend itself. Therefore an authorized interpreter is necessary in order to guard and transmit the inspired word of God in its full meaning and integrity, without corruption or mutilation. Apart from such an authorized interpreter (which is the magisterium of the Church), the result can be nothing other than division, disagreement, uncertainty, and loss and corruption of doctrine. This is precisely the case in Christendom today with tens-of-thousands of denominations and a plurality of diverse and even contrasting beliefs.

Protestants often say that Scripture prohibits the use of oral tradition. That is incorrect. Consider the following:

• • Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is living in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. (2 Thes. 3:6).
  • Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. (2 Tim 1:13).
  • I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold fast to the traditions, just as I handed them on to you. (1 Cor 11:2).
  • Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours. (2 Thess 2:15).

Some of sola scriptura’s best opponents are Protestants themselves:

• • About one short year after Martin Luther established the Lutheran church, a former Catholic priest and German theologian who is often pegged as the catalyst triggering the Protestant revolution, he confessed that there are “nearly as many sects as there are heads” (De Wette, op. cit., III, 61).
  • Given the historical truth behind the origin of the New Testament as a Catholic document, as well as the canon of Scripture as formally defined by the Catholic Church, this quote, again from Luther, displays the gratitude all Christians owe to the Church for having access to the written and inspired word of God: “We are obliged to yield many things to the Papists [Catholics] – that they possess the Word of God which we received from them, otherwise we should have known nothing at all about it” (Martin Luther, Commentary on St. John, chapter 16).

While there is much more that can be said on this topic, it is clear that sola scriptura is untenable and has produced a great deal of turmoil and division. It is responsible in a number of ways for ongoing rupture and disunity among Christians and is not an element of historical continuity between the first Christians and those of contemporary society. If anything, history shows a conspicuous absence of sola scripture from the belief of the early Church. Consequently, it cannot be said to be positively the will of God. Sola scriptura is a man-made doctrine that, for all practical purposes, was intentionally forged in the dissenting fires of the 16th century.

Although reading the Bible is certainly a good thing, and Scripture can be a source of unity between Catholics and Protestants or non-Catholic Christians, true unity of faith and belief leaves no room for the Bible as the “sole rule of faith.” Until all people of faith see the Church as the mother of the Bible and not its child, as Rev. John O’Brien noted in his book The Faith of Millions, separation and division will not be counted as things of the past.

Christ’s peace.

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