Sola Scriptura: Difference between revisions
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=== "Bible" in the Bible === | === "Bible" in the Bible === | ||
Where [["Bible" in the Bible|variants of the word "bible" appear in the sacred scriptures,]] they ''never'' refers to the combination of the Old Testament and the New Testament as outlined above. The variants are only applied to components of those scriptures considered individually, such as "the book of the prophets" or "the book of Moses," or to other books such as the little scroll in the book of Revelation or the book of Revelation itself. | Where [["Bible" in the Bible|variants of the word "bible" appear in the sacred scriptures,]] they ''never'' refers to the combination of the Old Testament and the New Testament as outlined above. The variants are only applied to components of those scriptures considered individually, such as "the book of the prophets" or "the book of Moses," or to other books such as the little scroll in the book of Revelation or the book of Revelation itself. | ||
=== Jesus left a Body, not a Book === | |||
When Jesus ascended into Heaven, ''none'' of the 27 books of the New Testament were written. The apostles preached Jesus from what they knew of Him personally. They did not hand out copies of the New Testament or tracts to converts; they spoke with them directly and personally about the faith. | |||
=== The Bible is not a "book" === | |||
The temptation to think of the Bible as a "book" is understandable. The word "bible" comes from the Greek word for "book" (biblos). In our 1400 years of spiritual warfare with the Muslims, there has been a tendency to treat the Scriptures as if they constituted one "book" in contrast to the one and only book of Islam, the Koran. From the time of the Fathers, the three scrolls of the Jews ([[TNK|Torah, Nebi'im, and Kethub'im]]) were written out on papyrus or vellum and bound together with the books of the New Testament in one large volume. The invention of the printing press made this error even more likely because the Bible looks like a book, smells like a book, opens like a book, and sits next to other books on a bookshelf. | |||
The Bible is not a "book" but two distinct collections of books: the scriptures of the Old Testament and the scriptures of the New Testament. Unlike the books with which we are so familiar nowadays, the materials in the Sacred Library were written and rewritten over a period of (perhaps) 1400 years. Different authors wrote in different languages at different times and in different places to different audiences with different needs, using different literary techniques, different genres, and different vocabulary to address different issues. God, the Holy Spirit, inspired all of these human authors, but He did not eradicate their humanity. It is a serious error to read the book of Jonah the same way we read the Gospel of John or to read the letters of St. Paul the same way we read Deuteronomy. | |||
== Scripture verses == | == Scripture verses == | ||
Revision as of 02:56, 9 November 2010
Sola scriptura is Latin meaning "by Scripture alone." It is a slogan of Martin Luther's from the Protestant Schisms which denied the authority of the Magisterium.
No Magisterium, no canon
"Sola scriptura" is a failure from the beginning.
No scripture lists the scriptures inspired by God.
It is an entirely extra-scriptural judgment that "these writings are the Word of the Lord" which, in turn, provides the canon of the scriptures.
If extra-scriptural judgments are banished by "sola scriptura," then we cannot tell which writings are sacred scripture and which are not. And if we do not know which works are "scripture," we can't apply the principle of "sola scriptura" to anything.
"Sola Scriptura" is not Sola Scriptura
If every teaching must be based solely on what is written in scripture, the teaching that "every teaching must be based solely on what is written in scripture" is false. There is no verse in the Bible (however it is defined) that says every authentic teaching must come from "Scripture alone."
"Bible" is not a biblical word
Definition of the word "Bible"
What we mean today by "The Bible" is a compound collection of the Scriptures of the Old Testament (TNK or LXX) and the Scriptures of the New Testament.
For those Protestants who only accept the books of the TNK as inspired by God, there are 39 books in the Old Testament.
Roman Catholics accept 46 books of LXX as inspired by God.
The Eastern Orthodox accept another 2 books from the intertestamental period as inspired by God, for a total of 48 books in their version of the Old Testament.
Almost all Christians nowadays accept 27 books of the New Testament as inspired by God.
So the definition of the word "Bible" refers to three different collections of scripture, depending on whose Bible is being considered.
| OT | NT | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protestants | 39 | 27 | 66 |
| Roman Catholics | 46 | 27 | 73 |
| Eastern Orthodox | 48 | 27 | 75 |
"Bible" in the Bible
Where variants of the word "bible" appear in the sacred scriptures, they never refers to the combination of the Old Testament and the New Testament as outlined above. The variants are only applied to components of those scriptures considered individually, such as "the book of the prophets" or "the book of Moses," or to other books such as the little scroll in the book of Revelation or the book of Revelation itself.
Jesus left a Body, not a Book
When Jesus ascended into Heaven, none of the 27 books of the New Testament were written. The apostles preached Jesus from what they knew of Him personally. They did not hand out copies of the New Testament or tracts to converts; they spoke with them directly and personally about the faith.
The Bible is not a "book"
The temptation to think of the Bible as a "book" is understandable. The word "bible" comes from the Greek word for "book" (biblos). In our 1400 years of spiritual warfare with the Muslims, there has been a tendency to treat the Scriptures as if they constituted one "book" in contrast to the one and only book of Islam, the Koran. From the time of the Fathers, the three scrolls of the Jews (Torah, Nebi'im, and Kethub'im) were written out on papyrus or vellum and bound together with the books of the New Testament in one large volume. The invention of the printing press made this error even more likely because the Bible looks like a book, smells like a book, opens like a book, and sits next to other books on a bookshelf.
The Bible is not a "book" but two distinct collections of books: the scriptures of the Old Testament and the scriptures of the New Testament. Unlike the books with which we are so familiar nowadays, the materials in the Sacred Library were written and rewritten over a period of (perhaps) 1400 years. Different authors wrote in different languages at different times and in different places to different audiences with different needs, using different literary techniques, different genres, and different vocabulary to address different issues. God, the Holy Spirit, inspired all of these human authors, but He did not eradicate their humanity. It is a serious error to read the book of Jonah the same way we read the Gospel of John or to read the letters of St. Paul the same way we read Deuteronomy.
Scripture verses
Jesus identifies with the teachers--not the text
"Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me" (Lk 10:16).
Binding and loosing
"Amen, 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 18:17-18).
Make disciples by teaching
"Then Jesus approached and said to them, 'All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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 behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age'" (Mt 28:18-20).
Another Advocate
"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you.
"I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
"In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.'
"Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him, 'Master, (then) what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?'
"Jesus answered and said to him, 'Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me.
"'I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name--he will teach you everything and remind you of all that (I) told you'" (Jn 14:16-26).
Hold fast to oral traditions
"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 Thes 2:15).