Sola Scriptura
Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone)
We agree with all Protestants who claim that God’s Word is the final authority for all matters of faith and practice. Indeed, the Word of God alone should guide all our life and thinking in this world God has created. His Word, not man’s word, must always remain the final and supreme authority in our thinking when judging between truth and error.
Roman Catholicism at Odds with this Truth
Such authority extends to all things even within the Church, contrary to what Roman Catholic teaching has claimed since at least the Council of Trent (1546-64), due to a false understanding of Jesus’ words to Simon Peter (and their purported ongoing import for church authority) in Matthew chapter 16:
{15}[Jesus] said to [the disciples], “But who do you say that I am?” {16}Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” {17}Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. {18}And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. {19}And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
A deeper look at what Jesus says to Simon Peter…
While these words are addressed to Peter on this occasion, since Jesus is responding to the confession He has heard from Peter’s own lips, Jesus also gives a similar promise to the other disciples on two separate occasions:
{18}“Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 18:18)
And again here:
{21}So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” {22}And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. {23}If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (John 20:21-23)
Far from establishing a new source of authority (Tradition) that is on a par with the Word of God (Scripture), these words of our Lord Jesus establish the Sacrament of Penitence (Confession and Absolution) or the Power of the Keys, which belongs not just to one apostle, but is given to all the Apostles and thus to the Church of every generation to be wielded with great care through the power of the Holy Spirit among God’s people.
Why Jesus gives undersheperds (pastors) to the church…
While it does seem wise, in accord with ancient precedent, that pastors bear the primary responsibility of examining and absolving penitents, remembering that Christ gives pastors and teachers for building up the body of Christ (Eph. 4:4-6), this right and duty to exercise the Office of the Keys certainly extends beyond Peter alone, for the same authority of binding and forgiving is given to the other apostles (Matthew 18:18 and John 20:19-23).
It seems certain as well that this Office must extend beyond the first century believers too (cf. Matthew 18:18-20 “where two or three are gathered in My name”), even to all Christians (who are, according to 1 Peter 2:9, “a royal priesthood” as well) by the power and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, but never in a way that undermines the authority of God’s Word or that minimizes the important role of shepherds, who proclaim that Word in connection with their public call to the ministry.
Jesus says nothing in any of these texts of Scripture about a priestly class nor about an unbroken line of bishops beginning with and headed up by Peter. Moreover, inferring such a notion introduces something that Jesus clearly never intended, that the truth of God can be entrusted solely to an hierarchical unit within the church (for the faithful transmission and interpretation of God’s revelation) and that that same truth of God can be managed by a human entity (i.e., the Pope), who stands in Christ’s place as Christ’s vicar on earth. Nevertheless, such is the position of Rome in interpreting these passages whenever it insists that the Papacy (the office of the Pope when making pronouncements ex cathedra) may define doctrinal truth.
Roman Catholic rejection of sola scriptura…
What Jesus gives to Peter and to the other apostles, and thus to all Christians, is much more narrow in scope, specific to forgiving or retaining sins. Not even Christ would take such a station wherein He would set Himself above the Word of God already given.
{17}“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. {18}For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. {19}Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:17-19)
And Jesus’ words and teaching everywhere establish this truth beyond any doubt:
”…the Scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35b)