Catholic: The Why

A Further Discovery of Sola Scriptura in the Bible

2006-03-11T20:33:00.000-05:00

Outside Sources

If Sola Scriptura is true, and all matters of faith are found in the Bible, then it is true, that when we are teaching others about God, we should only teach by the Holy Scriptures, correct? However, a close reading of the Bible shows that when teaching about the faith, writers appealed to works that are not in our current Bible, even non-Christian works!

"For “In him we live and move and have our being”; as even some of your own poets have said,
“For we too are his offspring.”
Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals." - Acts 17:28-29
In this quote, Paul refers to pagan poems to help teach about the Christian God.

"I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral persons— not at all meaning the immoral of this world, or the greedy and robbers, or idolaters, since you would then need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother or sister who is sexually immoral or greedy, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber. Do not even eat with such a one." - 1 Corinthians 5:9-11
This quote shows that Paul had written another letter to the Corinthians (which is not in our Bibles) which is still as authoritative. He refers to it as an important and authoritative letter.

"And when this letter has been read among you, have it read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you read also the letter from Laodicea." - Colossians 4:16
Paul tells the Colossians to read the letter that he wrote to the Laodiceans (which is not in our Bible), which he considers as important as this letter he is writing to the Colossians (which is in our Bible)

"Or do you suppose that it is for nothing that the scripture says, ‘God yearns jealously for the spirit that he has made to dwell in us’?"- James 4:5
James refers to a writing that is not in the Old Testament canon when teaching.

The list goes on and on (Acts 20:35, Ephesians 5:14, Jude 9, Hebrews 11:37, Jude 14-15, etc.)

It is not only the books that we now have as our New Testament that are important for teaching, the above quotes show that. The inspired writers refered to writings that are outside our New Testament canon, and even to writings that were outside the Old Testament canon! All throughout the Bible, it is shown that there are inspired writings that are not in our New Testament that are equally important for our faith! For example, in 2 Peter 3:15-16, he calls all of Paul's letters inspired ("the wisdom given to him"), however, from above, we know that not all of Paul's letters are in the Bible. Therefore, it is quite acceptable, unlike what many Non-Catholics say, to refer to works outside the Bible (Tradition) for matters of Salvation and Faith.

After all, even Paul did it!

A Response to 2 Timothy 3:16–17

2006-03-08T18:24:00.000-05:00

Many use this quote in an attempt to prove protestant notions of Sola Scriptura. (And of course this is necessary, because if Sola Scriptura is not found in scripture, it disproves itself) In fact, often, this is the only proof given. But as the question was asked below, what does this quote actually tell us?

Scripture Is:

inspired by God
useful for teaching and correction
for training in righteousness

Where, anywhere does it say what Sola Scriptura teaches, that the Bible is all that is needed, and all matters of faith can be found in it? For example, a man is trying to become a millionaire. Someone then gives him $100,000. Was that "useful"? Of course! Was it all that is needed? Of course not! In fact, how could this quote prove Sola Scriptura? It is important to note that the books in the New Testament weren't meant to be used in a "Bible", but were merely letters to people who were already deep in the faith. These earliest Christians had no Bible to rely on, the books that now make up the Bible were discussed and argued over, "which ones should be inside and which ones should not?". Therefore, if the Bible did not exist at the time this letter was written, how could it be saying that the Bible is all that is necessary? (If this was actually intended to prove sola scriptura, it would only saying that the Old Testament (Torah) is all that is necessary, since the books we now know as the New Testament did not exist)

Many say that the Bible condemns tradition, therefore matters of faith should all be found in the Bible. But is this what the Bible actually teaches?

"But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written." - John 21:25

"So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter." - 2 Thessalonians 2:15

"and what you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well." - 2 Timothy 2:2

"So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ." - Romans 10:17

"There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He will be called a Nazorean.’" - Matthew 2:23 (This quote is not found in any of the books of the prophets in the Old Testament)

"I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions just as I handed them on to you." - 1 Corinthians 11:2

"if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth." - 1 Timothy 3:15

"The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practise what they teach." - Matthew 23:2-3

The last quote from Matthew is very interesting. Didn't Jesus just codemn the tradition of the Pharisees in Matthew 15:6-9?

"So, for the sake of your tradition, you make void the word of God. You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said:
“This people honours me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.” ’" - Matthew 15:6-9

Since Jesus seems to be contradicting himself, it is important to discover what type of tradition he is talking about in the above quote (which is one very often used to "attack" tradition). If one reads closely, one can see that Jesus is only condemning the traditions that "make void the word of God." . This condemnation of traditions that go against God word can also be found in Colossians 2:8. As can be seen, Jesus is not codemning all types of tradition, only bad tradition. The problem is, many, seeing bad tradition being condemned in these quotes, quickly believe that all tradition must be condemned. As shown from the quotes above, this is obviously not the case.

I then leave you with a quote from Catholic Biblical Apologetics, from a outline of the history of the Bible.

Pentecost (30/33AD): The beginning of the Church; the Church exists before a determination of a canon or a definitive list of books of what was later called the Bible. The NT was not even written yet. The Bible is the book of the Church, we are not a church of the Bible.

There is not doubt the Bible is important and crucial in the development of the Christian faith. However, one must not forget and codemn good traditions that have been with us since the time of the Apostles.

2 Timothy 3:16–17

2006-03-06T20:49:00.000-05:00

What does this excerpt mean to you? What does it show?

"All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work."