Can anybody explain "sola scriptura" or only Scripture Only? What biblical reference is there to that?

Answer 1

I. Scripture Alone Disproves "Scripture Alone"
Gen. to Rev. - Scripture never says that Scripture is the sole infallible authority for God's Word. Scripture also mandates the use of tradition. This fact alone disproves sola Scriptura.

Matt. 28:19; Mark 16:15 - those that preached the Gospel to all creation but did not write the Gospel were not less obedient to Jesus, or their teachings less important.

Matt. 28:20 - "observe ALL I have commanded," but, as we see in John 20:30; 21:25, not ALL Jesus taught is in Scripture. So there must be things outside of Scripture that we must observe. This disproves "Bible alone" theology.

Mark 16:15 - Jesus commands the apostles to "preach," not write, and only three apostles wrote. The others who did not write were not less faithful to Jesus, because Jesus gave them no directive to write. There is no evidence in the Bible or elsewhere that Jesus intended the Bible to be sole authority of the Christian faith.

Luke 1:1-4 - Luke acknowledges that the faithful have already received the teachings of Christ, and is writing his Gospel only so that they "realize the certainty of the teachings you have received." Luke writes to verify the oral tradition they already received.

John 20:30; 21:25 - Jesus did many other things not written in the Scriptures. These have been preserved through the oral apostolic tradition and they are equally a part of the Deposit of Faith.

II. "All Scripture is Inspired"- 2 Tim. 3:16-17
2 Tim. 3:14 - Protestants usually use 2 Tim. 3:16-17 to prove that the Bible is the sole authority of God's word. But examining these texts disproves their claim. Here, Paul appeals to apostolic tradition right before the Protestants' often quoted verse 2 Tim. 3:16-17. Thus, there is an appeal to tradition before there is an appeal to the Scriptures, and Protestants generally ignore this fact.

2 Tim. 3:15 - Paul then appeals to the sacred writings of Scripture referring to the Old Testament Scriptures with which Timothy was raised (not the New Testament which was not even compiled at the time of Paul's teaching). This verse also proves that one can come to faith in Jesus Christ without the New Testament.

2 Tim. 3:16 - this verse says that Scripture is "profitable" for every good work, but not exclusive. The word "profitable" is "ophelimos" in Greek. "Ophelimos" only means useful, which underscores that Scripture is not mandatory or exclusive. Protestants unbiblically argue that profitable means exclusive.

2 Tim. 3:16 - further, the verse "all Scripture" uses the words "pasa graphe" which actually means every (not all) Scripture. This means every passage of Scripture is useful. Thus, the erroneous Protestant reading of "pasa graphe" would mean every single passage of Scripture is exclusive. This would mean Christians could not only use "sola Matthew," or "sola Mark," but could rely on one single verse from a Gospel as the exclusive authority of God's word. This, of course, is not true and even Protestants would agree. Also, "pasa graphe" cannot mean "all of Scripture" because there was no New Testament canon to which Paul could have been referring, unless Protestants argue that the New Testament is not being included by Paul.

2 Tim. 3:16 - also, these inspired Old Testament Scriptures Paul is referring to included the deuterocanonical books which the Protestants removed from the Bible 1,500 years later.

2 Tim. 3:17 - Paul's reference to the "man of God" who may be complete refers to a clergyman, not a layman. It is an instruction to a bishop of the Church. So, although Protestants use it to prove their case, the passage is not even relevant to most of the faithful.

2 Tim. 3:17 - further, Paul's use of the word "complete" for every good work is "artios" which simply means the clergy is "suitable" or "fit." Also, artios does not describe the Scriptures, it describes the clergyman. So, Protestants cannot use this verse to argue the Scriptures are complete.

III. Other Passages used to Support "Sola Scriptura"
John 5:39 - some non-Catholics use this verse to prove sola Scriptura. But when Jesus said "search the Scriptures," He was rebuking the Jews who did not believe that He was the Messiah. Jesus tells them to search the Scriptures to verify the Messianic prophecies and His oral teaching, and does not say "search the Scriptures alone." Moreover, since the New Testament was not yet written, the passage is not relevant to the Protestant claim of sola Scriptura.

John 10:35 - some Protestants also use this verse "Scripture cannot be broken" to somehow prove sola Scriptura. But this statement refers to the Old Testament Scriptures and has nothing to do with the exclusivity of Scripture and the New Testament.

John 20:31 - Protestants also use this verse to prove sola Scriptura. Indeed, Scripture assists in learning to believe in Jesus, but this passage does not say Scripture is exclusive, or even necessary, to be saved by Jesus.

Answer 2

Sola Scriptura is latin - term of the church, not the Bible

Martain Luther believed that the Bible, the Word of God held the keys to salvation, not the acts of the sacraments. Sola Scriptura. This is why there are many protestant faiths that do not view or use sacraments but rather call them memorials or ordinances

Answer 3

The belief, is that because the Bible is God's infallible Word, it is sufficient means for salvation.

To a Catholic or Muslim it doesn't make sense.

Here's why:
Tradition.
The religions of the world have passed on worship practices and oral traditions for hundreds or thousands of years. Sola Scriptura proudly throws this aside.
Revelation.
Those placed over their "flocks" to protect them will be able to issue new "laws" or "revelations" in order to better guide their people.

In actuallity every new church follows both of these to some extent, so they even forsake sola scritura so that they can make their own rules.

Answer 4

The Bible teaches that Scripture alone is the supreme and infallible authority for the church and the individual believer. This is not to say that creeds and tradition are unimportant, but they Bible alone is our final authority. Creeds and tradition are man-made.
Jesus said, "Scripture cannot br broken" (John 10:35). He said, "I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished" (Mat 5:18). He said, "It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law" (Luke 16:17).
Jesus used Scripture as the final court of appeal in every matter under dispute. He said to some Pharisees, "You nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down" (Mark 7:13). To the Sadducces He said, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God" (Mat 22:29). To the devil, Jesus consistently responded, "It is written..." Mat 4:4-10). So, following Jesus lead, the Scripture alone are our supreme and final authority.

Answer 5

Most answers have been right. See, Martin Luther never meant, "Scripture Only with no other thing, period." He continued to rely on tradition, he translated the bible from Hebrew and Greek texts, and he continued to study tradional writings, church Fathers, prayer, etc. He was trying to say that the scriptures should take authority over tradition, where tradition contradicts the bible.

Answer 6

Sola Scriptura is just plain old unscriptural.

Answer 7

This came out of the Reformation, along with the slogan "faith alone." I'm not sure if there is a specific Biblical reference. The Protestant reformers were trying to return to what they percieved to be Biblical practices of the early Church.

Answer 8

Its a verse commonly used on thesolonians - test all things to the truth of the bible, if they are not of one accord then there is no truth in that thing.

Basically the bible is a universal tester. If a preacher says he has a message from God to murder people, you know in the bible it says not to murder, so ther eis no truth in him and he is not of God. A lot of people are confused that there is so many forms of Christianity, but if the truths of a church a tested against the bible, eventually it will lead you to only one church body

Answer 9

some declare Revelation 22:18-19 approximately including or substracting from "words of the e book of this prophecy" potential the Bible on my own is sufficient. the priority lies with the actuality that the Bible itself references different works no longer interior the stable canon, as an occasion the e book of Enoch in the Epistle of Jude at verse 14.