Why believe Sola Scriptura?

Question

If you believe in Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone), or are knowledgeable about it, why do you believe in such a doctrine and can you show me where in the Scriptures it says Sola Scriptura and is not referring exclusively to the Septuagint? If you can't find a verse, then explain how you can accept Sola Scriptura if it isn't in Scripture.

Answer 1

for d-rock,

"Hold fast to the traditions you have learned be it by word or this epistle" I believe that is in thessalonians.

The scripture is as you and the bible say "profitable" but it is not the" spirit and ground of the truth", which is also in timothy.

and it was Peter who was given the keys to heaven and earth. if you understand jewish imagery, giving the keys is to confer authority. so the authority goes to the church with its human head as peter. Peter appointed a successor to himself , the papacy continues.

The ethiopian eunach even said in pauls epistle that he could not understand the scriptures unless someone instructed him. it is not a writing that can be completely understood by untrained people. who better than the apostles and other disciples to help us understand the scriptures which were recorded and written by these very people?

what did the church do for worship for the 497 years before the new testament was compiled? they heard the gospel by word of mouth, teachings, traditions. the new testament is not exhaustive, "it is useful for teaching"(not self teaching) allowing its followers to understand what goodness is. But like jesus needed to teach after preaching so the church must teach what is being preached in the bible.

sola scriptura is an invention. peter is obviously the head of the apostles, the apostles were created to extend authority to a few souls who were to be given the mission by christ to preach and teach the gospel. without sola scripture , protestantism has no firm ground to stand on and thus denies its right to exist as sepaarte from the church establish by christ on the apostles.

Answer 2

I'm not a history scholar, but I do believe that Sola Scriptura originated with Martin Luther. And, I do believe that the first few books of the Bible were written long before the rest of the Bible was penned. Scripture alone doesn't really apply until we have scripture to follow, so they were following Moses because he was the leader appointed by God, not because of the Bible.

Answer 3

Only the Holy Scriptures are the inspired and revealed Word of God. They are inerrant and infallible. There isn't a specific verse that contains the exact wording you are looking for, even though the Scriptures make it clear that they are the only source of authority which we are to follow and use to guide us in righteousness. If you read 2 Timothy 3:16-17, we are very clearly taught that the Scriptures equip us for every good work. So, if the Scriptures equip us for every good work, what good works do they not equip us for that we need to find another source for? Any other works we may do that are not in the Scriptures are not good according to God, because He says that we are prepared to do all good works by the Scriptures. That passage very clearly teaches us that we need no other authority. Either that passage is true or it isn't. If it is true, then it's true. If it isn't, then how can we believe anything else in the bible? And how can we believe mere human tradition as a source of authority? We are to hold everything up to the light of Scripture. If what we are examining or exploring contradicts Scripture, then it, not Scripture, must be discarded. Nowhere in Scripture are we instructed to follow any kind of teachings of the Pope, legislations of the church, or traditions.

Of course, there are far more Scriptural verses that reinforce the sole authority of Scripture. The issue boils down to this: the bible tells us that all of us have sinned and fallen short of God's glory, that we must repent of our sins and put our faith in Christ alone for salvation, for there is no other name under heaven by which we may be saved. The vast majority of traditions and teachings that argue against sola scriptura try to alter that simple fact, in an attempt to remove the grace by which we have been saved, and introduce our works as a means of salvation. Why? Because if we can be saved by our works, then God will somehow owe us salvation. That way, we can continue to excuse the sins we want to live with, we can make up for our sins by doing enough good works, and still have eternal life with Christ.

Answer 4

When the Reformers used the words sola Scriptura (“Scripture alone”) they were expressing their concern for the Bible’s authority, and what they meant to say by those words is that the Bible alone is our ultimate authority—not the pope, not the church, not the traditions of the church or church councils, still less personal intimations or subjective feelings, but Scripture only. Other sources of authority may have an important role to play. Some are even established by God—such as the authority of church elders, the authority of the state, or the authority of parents over children. But Scripture alone is truly ultimate. Therefore, if any of these other authorities depart from Bible teaching, they are to be judged by the Bible and rejected.

Sola Scriptura has been called the formal principle of the
Reformation, meaning that it stands at the very beginning and thus gives form or direction to all that Christians affirm as Christians. Evangelicals abandon sola Scriptura when they reinterpret the Bible to fit modern notions of reality or ignore it on the basis of supposed private divine revelations or leadings. —Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace?


For example, Deuteronomy 31:9 states: “Moses wrote down this law. . . .” Moses instructed the people by writing down the law and then ordering that it be read to them “so they can listen and learn to fear the Lord your God and follow carefully all the words of this law,” Deuteronomy 31:9, 12.

Moses declared to all Israel: “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. They are not just idle words for you, they are your life,” Deuteronomy 32:46, 47.

Notice the clear elements in these passages:

1. The Word of which Moses spoke was written.
2. The people can and must listen to it and learn it.
3. In this Word they can find life.

The people do not need any additional institution to interpret the Word. The priests, prophets, and scribes of Israel certainly function to help the people ministerially. But the Word alone was sufficient for salvation. The prophets, who were indeed inspired, came very much in the spirit of Micah who said, “He has shown you, O man, what is good,” Micah 6:8. The function of the prophets and priests was not to add to or even clarify the law; rather, they applied it to the people who were sinfully indifferent.

Answer 5

Martin Luther (1483-1546) is given the credit for Sola Scriptura (Bible Only or Bible Sufficiency).

He had separated himself from the authority of the Papacy and the Magisterium, and thereby so doing lost all authority regarding Church matters. He then turned to the Bible, a book, as the sole source of authority.

Answer 6

If Scripture is the ultimate authority, why is it that those who look only to that ultimate authority invariably fragment into hundreds of conflicting manmade denominations, teaching untruths and partial truths (conflicting beliefs necessarily mean false beliefs, since truth cannot conflict with truth), while those who look first to the Church have a history of 2,000 years of unity in belief, unity in teaching, unity in worship, exactly as Christ stated it should be? Maybe that's why the Bible tells us that the Church Christ founded - not a book compiled by that Church centuries later - is "the pillar and foundation of truth".

Answer 7

The Catholic Church existed for hundreds of years BEFORE there was a Bible.

The last book in teh New Testament, Revelation was not written until the year 100 and the books of the New Testament were not put together until around 300 AD

The authority is the Church, which gave us the Bible.

Here is tiger's Scripture:

This is how you can know the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the flesh be longs to God, and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus does not belong to God. This is the spirit of the antichrist that, as you heard, is to come, but in fact is already in the world.

1 John 4; 2-3

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves.
By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit.
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit.
Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
So by their fruits you will know them.
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, 10 but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?'
Then I will declare to them solemnly, 'I never knew you. 11 Depart from me, you evildoers.'

Matthew 7:15-23

"If you say to yourselves, 'How can we recognize an oracle which the LORD has spoken?',
know that, even though a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if his oracle is not fulfilled or verified, it is an oracle which the LORD did not speak. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously, and you shall have no fear of him.

Dueteronomy 18:21-22

At the beginning I foretell the outcome; in advance, things not yet done. I say that my plan shall stand, I accomplish my every purpose.

Isaiah 46: 10

Sorry, but I do not see how these verses support the idea that Scripture is the ONLY source of doctrine.

Answer 8

Isaiah 8:20 "To the law AND to the testimony if they speak not according to THIS word it is because there is NO light in them."

Answer 9

It's kind of like idolizing the bible huh?

Answer 10

I don't. I can't. Neither did the Church for the first 1,500 years.