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One of the charges I often hear from my non-Catholic Christian friends is that I seem to be undermining the inspiration and sufficiency of Scripture in my constant critique of the Protestant doctrine of Sola Scriptura. Nothing could be further from the truth! To quote the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
The inspired books teach the truth. “Since therefore all that the inspired authors or sacred writers affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures. (CCC, Para. 107)
But even more, listen to how our Pastors talk to us about our own responsibility to read, understand, and obey the teaching of Scripture as faithful Christians.
The Church “forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful … to learn ‘the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ,’ by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. ‘Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.’ ” (CCC, Para 133).
My challenge to my Protestant friends is not centered on whether or not the Scriptures are inspired by God, or whether or not they are materially sufficient (which is different from saying they are formally sufficient) to teach the truth. My challenge is regarding the claim that the Bible is “the sole and final authority in matters of faith.” Often, when discussing this question, my Protestant friends will go right to the “Sola Scriptura Silver Bullet” text in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, which says,
16 All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work. (2 Tim. 2:16-17, NABRE)
Here are eight questions that I ask my non-Catholic friends when they quote this verse to me in order to try to prove that the Bible teaches that “the Bible is the sole and final authority in matters of faith.”
- Do you really understand this verse to be saying that scripture, alone, is our sole and final authority in matters of faith? Can you point to any language like that in this text at all, or even demonstrate how it is implied?
- What “Scripture(s)” is Paul talking about when speaking to Timothy in his second letter? [1]
- If the New Testament is included in what Paul means by “all God-breathed Scripture” how many N.T. documents were available to the Church when II Timothy was written? [2]
- At the time that he wrote it, did Paul think his second letter to Timothy was Scripture, or that it (or any of his other correspondence with people and churches) would ever be considered Scripture? [3]
- Do the other 9 documents that were not written yet count as “all Scripture” in Paul’s conclusion? If so, then how could Timothy (needing “all Scripture” and “only Scripture”) be “thoroughly equipped for every good work?” What if the other 9 documents that were not written yet had doctrinal content in them that Timothy would need as the sole and final authority?
- If Paul was only talking about the Old Testament [4], then why do we need a New Testament if the Old Testament, alone, was sufficient for all of these things? Think about it; if this text teaches Sola Scriptura before the N.T. is complete, and is in force at the time it was written, then at least 9 books, and perhaps all 27 of the books of the New Testament were not needed in order for Timothy to have had all (and more to the point, only that which) he needed.
- If Scripture, alone, is sufficient, why does Paul say “all Scripture” but not “only Scripture”? Could something in addition to Scripture be necessary (like Apostolic teaching from Apostles in their letters and their in-person teaching as in 2 Thes. 2:15)?
- In light of the above seven questions, do really believe that Paul and the rest of the Apostles, and the earliest Christians believed anything like, “The Scriptures, alone, are the sole and final authority in matters of faith?” How would this have been possible without (1) all of the texts of the New Testament, and (2) formal and universal agreement on which of the New Testament texts were inspired for over 300 years?
It’s pretty obvious to anyone who is thinking about it carefully that there was a Church long before there was anything like what you and I think of as The Bible today. In fact, the Bible emerges up out of the Church over the course of hundreds of years, and not the other way around. Additionally, the Church never taught or believed anything like the later, novel, and even heretical doctrine of Sola Scriptura. Such a doctrine is taught nowhere in the actual Bible – nor could it be. So, to drive home the point — if we have only the Bible to authoritatively guide us on what is and is not true, then Sola Scriptura fails the most basic test that everything we believe has to be taught in the Bible. To use a favorite phrase of Protestants — “It’s unbiblical.”
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Cheat Sheet
[1] The 46 books of the Old Testament, which, in Paul’s Old Testament, would have included the Deuterocanonicals.
[2] Around 18 of the 27, or, only 2/3 of the New Testament before this letter to Timothy was written.
[3] No.
[4] He was.