A question about Sola Scriptura (Bible only) to Mormons, Evangelical and Fundamentalist Protestant,?

Question

The idea that all revealed truth is to be found in "66 books" is not only not in Scripture, it is contradicted by Scripture
In addition to this, for 400 years, there was no defined canon of "Sacred Scripture" aside from the Old Testament; there was no "New Testament"; there was only Tradition and non-canonical books and letters.

2 Thessalonians 2:14-15
Therefore, brethren, stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by our epistle. 15 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God and our Father, who hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation, and good hope in grace,

"Traditions"... See here that the unwritten traditions are no less to be received than their epistles.


2 Thessalonians 3:6
And we charge you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother walking disorderly, and not according to the tradition which they have received of us.


1 Timothy 3:15
But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

"The pillar and ground of the truth"... Therefore the church of the living God can never uphold error, nor bring in corruptions, superstition, or idolatry.

2 Peter 1:20-21
20 Understanding this first, that no prophecy of scripture is made by private interpretation.
21 For prophecy came not by the will of man at any time: but the holy men of God spoke, inspired by the Holy Ghost.

"No prophecy of scripture is made by private interpretation"... This shows plainly that the scriptures are not to be expounded by any one's private judgment or private spirit, because every part of the holy scriptures were written by men inspired by the Holy Ghost, and declared as such by the Church; therefore they are not to be interpreted but by the Spirit of God, which he hath left, and promised to remain with his Church to guide her in all truth to the end of the world. Some may tell us, that many of our divines interpret the scriptures: they may do so, but they do it always with a submission to the judgment of the Church, and not otherwise.


2 Peter 3:16
As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are certain things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction.

Answer 1

Protestants claim the Bible is the only rule of faith, meaning that it contains all of the material one needs for theology and that this material is sufficiently clear that one does not need apostolic tradition or the Church’s magisterium (teaching authority) to help one understand it. In the Protestant view, the whole of Christian truth is found within the Bible’s pages. Anything extraneous to the Bible is simply non-authoritative, unnecessary, or wrong—and may well hinder one in coming to God.

Catholics, on the other hand, recognize that the Bible does not endorse this view and that, in fact, it is repudiated in Scripture. The true "rule of faith"—as expressed in the Bible itself—is Scripture plus apostolic tradition, as manifested in the living teaching authority of the Catholic Church, to which were entrusted the oral teachings of Jesus and the apostles, along with the authority to interpret Scripture correctly.

Answer 2

Well put.

One cannot have God for his Father, who will not have the Church for his Mother, and likewise, one cannot have the Word of God for his faith who will not have the Church for his teacher. It is the infallible teaching authority of the Church, as promised by Christ, which alone preserves God's Word from erroneous interpretation.


The authority of the Church rests on three pillars:


Scripture: The Bible is the inerrant word of God and is to be read as the earliest Christians read it: in the light of Tradition and under the guidance of those ordained to teach. The Books of the Old Testament were put together by the Hebrews in the Septuagint (ca 300 B.C.), which includes the seven Books called "Deuterocanonical" by Catholics and "Apocryphal" by Protestants, and was the Old Testament used by the Apostles.

Tradition: the teachings which the Church has preserved and passed down from Christ, His Apostles, and the unanimous teachings of the early Church Fathers (1 Corinthians 11:2, 2 Thessalonians 2:15, 2 Thessalonians 3:6).


Magisterium: the teaching authority of the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The teachings of Catholic hierarchs have three different levels of fallibility:

Extraordinary Magisterium
Ordinary Magisterium
Authentic Magisterium

For the Holy Spirit was promised to the successors of Peter not so that they might, by His revelation, make known some new doctrine, but that, by His assistance, they might religiously guard and faithfully expound the revelation or Deposit of Faith transmitted by the Apostles.


Our Lord founded a Church (Matthew 16:18-19), not a book, which was to be the pillar and ground of Truth (1 Timothy 3:15). We can know what this Church teaches by looking not only at Sacred Scripture, but into History and by reading what the earliest Christians have written, what those who've sat on the Chair of Peter have spoken consistently with Scripture and Tradition, and what they've solemnly defined. To believe that the Bible is our only source of Christian Truth is unbiblical and illogical.

Answer 3

That verse in Timothy is just the definition of scripture. Inspiration from God, for the benefit of man.

Answer 4

Cashelmara, astonishing exegesis on 2:Tim 3:16-17. It obviously does no longer say what Protestants provided that Luther might want to wish it to way. It says that scripture writers were inspired, and that the scripture is "rewarding," meaning neither infallible nor sufficient. As extra heritage, "scripture" today meant the old testomony. lots of the recent testomony had no longer even been written, a lot less popular as canon by utilizing unique Christians. Paul is telling us something about the old testomony that would want to correctly be glaring to all present day readers: That even as inspired, the old testomony won't be able to be taken at face fee. Jesus obviously recognized this even as he made statements like that recorded in Matthew 19:8: "Jesus spoke back, 'Moses accepted you to divorce your different halves because your hearts were troublesome. besides the undeniable fact that it replaced into no longer this way from the start.'" unique Christians and their present day heirs word of that the interest of God isn't the Bible, yet Jesus Christ himself (John a million:14: The word grew to change into flesh and made his residing between us). Our expertise of the interest of God isn't restricted to a e book. If a e book were paramount, Jesus might want to have written one. instead, he taught by utilizing oral word and celebration. The exaltation of the accrued writings interior the Bible over the entire revelation of Jesus in scripture and interior the committed custom of the Church to which Jesus entrusted his revelation is one of those idolatry. Cheers, Bruce

Answer 5

The BIble is not the only source of scripture. There are modern prophets who can give us revelation.

For I deign to reveal unto my church things which have been kept hid from before the foundation of the world, things that pertain to the dispensation of the fulness of times.

Answer 6

for 2000 years since YESHUA arose from the dead, men
have had revelations from ADONAI through the RUACH
HAKODESH. even though these books are not scripture
we can learn from them. EX: Billy Grahams many books
and insights. if they follow the scriptures then we know
that these people have opened their hearts to the RUACH
HAKODESH and they can be added to our knowledge
of how we as christians should conduct ourselves.
nothing can match the Bible but we can learn from those
whom follow the Bibles laws.