Didn't the protestant reformers "Invent" Sola Scriptura?

Question

Where in the Catholic Church or Orothodox Church were there anyone who said that the Bible was the ONLY source (rule) of faith before the 16th century?

Many seem to be trying to say that Sola Scriptura was there all along. But this is unhistorical, unproveable in theology and seems to be protestants inventing a doctrine and then claiming it existed. But no where in the millions of Catholics and Orthodox Christians over 1500 years, is this doctrine of Sola Scriptura even alluded to in an indirect way. There is not one Church father, doctor, or for that matter heretic, before 1500 who ever claimed Scripture ALONE.
To say that it was the protestant reformers that saw it first, is just false. They invented it. Protestantism as a cause was invented in the 16th century and so was Sola Scriptura. .

St Paul says the scriptures are used to teach, reprove etc, but no where do the gospels or the Espistles ever say that Scripture ALONE is the rule of faith..

Answer 1

They didn't invent it.
They simply recognized it was there all along.

Answer 2

I'm not sure if they "invented" the concept of Sola Scriptura, but some of the Protestant churches have certainly done their best to heavily promote the idea. Historically, no, people weren't talking much about Sola Scriptura before the Reformation. Prior to the Reformation era, few laypersons were educated and able to read Scripture for themselves, much less debate the merits of Sola Scriptura theology. Also, Bibles were not widely distributed as they are today. The interpretation of sacred writings was largely the domain of the Church. The magesterium of the Church was relied upon, in addition to Scripture.

Answer 3

I think the creeds were pretty much based on the New Testament, so they were in effect applying the Sola Scriptura principle to prevent people mixing pagan ideas into christian beliefs.

I suppose in the 16C the reformers thought that the Roman-bishop-led church had gone seriously against some core New Testament beliefs, so felt they had to make the New Testament the basis of belief. Certainly it must have seemed that supposedly wise guiding ideas from church leaders had distorted the gospel message, so it seemed wise to subordinate the additions and interpretations of church leaders down the ages to the original text.

Answer 4

Sola Scriptura was the cry of Luther in response to the Catholic teaching that Scripture alone was NOT sufficient as a source of information on attaining salvation.

Crawl out of your box and do a little research.


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Answer 5

"Invent"? No....it was just unheard of for the first 1,500 years of the Christan Faith. It became a new way of looking at the faith...and the idea was certainly not believed by the Early Church.

How can I say this? There was a Church LONG before there was a codified canon of Holy Scripture.

The Church "gave birth" to Holy Scripture...NOT the other way around.

Answer 6

Sola Scriptura is a heresy.

Answer 7

They may have coined the term, but the doctrine can be supported by the Bible. We needed extra-biblical knowledge before the Bible was completed. That came from apostles and prophets. Once the Bible was completed there was no longer a need for additional knowledge as the Bible contained all that God decided we needed to know.

Answer 8

I have not heard of sola scriptura but do believe the bible is God revelation and looking to men or the pope is dodgy as all men are sinful.