Sola Scriptura
Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone)
We agree with Christians everywhere who confess 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. God’s 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 vested solely in the Word of God 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…
To be sure, these words are addressed to Peter alone on this occasion. However, keep in mind that Jesus is responding to the confession He has heard from Peter’s own lips when He speaks this way to Peter. Further, Jesus gives a very 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 do carry great weight. By these words, Christ establishes the Sacrament of Penitence (Confession and Absolution) or the Power (or Office) of the Keys, which belongs not just to one apostle, but is given to all the Apostles (see above) 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.
Apostolic Authority under the Scrutiny of the Word of God
Did Jesus really intend by His words spoken in one place in the Gospel (Matthew 16) to establish one human authority on earth to be judge and arbiter over all divinely revealed truth?
It is difficult to imagine that that is what is going on in Matthew chapter 16, especially given the context of chapter 16 (where Jesus later rebukes Peter for “not minding the things of God”), and given the way the Word of God is always held above the authority of the apostles, even among themselves. Look at how Paul confronts Peter openly when Peter fails to walk uprightly about the truth of the Gospel in the Gentile mission “for fear of the Jews” (Galatians 2:11-21).
Clearly Jesus gives no such authority to anyone to establish new teachings or new doctrines that contradict the Gospel as revealed in the God-breathed Scriptures. Paul articulates the sola scriptura principle clearly when he so clearly shuts down any such thought by issuing a double apostolic anathema to those (whether apostle or angel from heaven) who would try such a thing:
Galatians 1:6-8 (Greek and English)
{6}Θαυμάζω ὅτι οὕτως ταχέως μετατίθεσθε ἀπὸ τοῦ καλέσαντος ὑμᾶς ἐν χάριτι χριστοῦ εἰς ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον· {7}ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο, εἰ μή τινές εἰσιν οἱ ταράσσοντες ὑμᾶς καὶ θέλοντες μεταστρέψαι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ χριστοῦ. {8}Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐὰν ἡμεῖς ἢ ἄγγελος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ εὐαγγελίζηται ὑμῖν παρ᾿ ὃ εὐηγγελισάμεθα ὑμῖν, ἀνάθεμα ἔστω. {9}Ὡς προειρήκαμεν, καὶ ἄρτι πάλιν λέγω, εἴ τις ὑμᾶς εὐαγγελίζεται παρ᾿ ὃ παρελάβετε, ἀνάθεμα ἔστω.
{6}I marvel that so quickly you are moved away from the One who called you by the grace of Christ to another gospel, {7}which is not [really] another [gospel], but some would trouble you, even desiring to alter the gospel of Christ. {8}But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel besides that which we preached to you, let him be accursed. {9}As we said previously, so now I speak again, if anyone preaches to you a gospel besides what you received, let him be accursed.
Bishops or Royal Priesthood of Believers
Why Jesus gives undersheperds (pastors) to the church…
While there may be ancient precedent for it, many today will wonder why pastors (overseers, bishops, etc.) bear the primary responsibility of examining and absolving penitents in the church. Here are some thoughts to consider.
If one reads Matthew chapter 16 alone (out of context), one may indeed wonder if Jesus meant only for Peter Himself, during his own finite lifetime, to hold this right and duty to exercise the Office of the Keys in the church alone. But this is not difficult or confusing to understand, for the text of the Gospel of Matthew itself provides the answer in chapter 18. And then again, a similar statement by Jesus is given to the disciples in the Gospel according to John (chapter 20) following the resurrection of Christ.
It is not for Peter alone to bind or loose sins. And that is true, even though Christ only mentions Peter in chapter 16 of Matthew. Those who confuse these facts dismiss the fact that Christ gives the same authority of binding and forgiving of sins to the other apostles (Matthew 18:18 and John 20:19-23). All of these statements by Jesus, taken as a whole, certainly indicate clearly that His intention extends beyond Peter alone.
And that is certainly good for later generations of Christians, who will need this binding and loosing of sins after Peter’s departure from this life! In what form is the Office of the Keys transmitted, and to whom? The text of Scripture does not answer this directly, but much like other commands received by the disciples, e.g., the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20), future disciples continue to regard themselves duty-bound to follow all that Christ commanded.
Surely Jesus indirectly speaks to this when he assures the disciples that “where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:18-20). Peter too can speak of a “royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9) of those who believe. So this authority extends beyond the first-century disciples and pertains to any small or large group of Christians that gathers in Christ’s name. Thanks be to God for this!
Moreoever, we must remember that, as surely as Christ chose certain men to be His disciples during His incarnation and ministry among the lost house of Israel and sent them forth to make disciples of all nations following His resurrection and sending of the Holy Spirit upon His church, Christ Himself also gave pastors and teachers (in those newly-formed churches) for the building up the body of Christ (Eph. 4:4-6).
This Office of the Keys thus belongs to the congregation of saints (that “royal priesthood” addressed by Peter in his epistle) in the body of Jesus, and since Christ gives every generation of Christians undershepherds, who have similar duties for continuing in prayer and the ministry of the Word (like the disciples and later on the apostles), congregations should look to their pastors (undershepherds with a public call to the ministry of the Word in that place) for guidance and instruction in the right use of that Word.
This is especially the case for challenging matters of discipline in the body of Christ. The pastor’s role should be integral to this process, as is his duty and in accord with his training in the Word. This normally and rightly includes the binding of sins (for the impenitent) and the loosing of sins (for the penitent) in the context of his pastoral care of the congregation in the ongoing ministry of the Word there.
However, the authority is not vested in him alone, for it can never be rightly construed apart from the authority of God’s Word, nor unilaterally exercized (by an individual) without the concurrence or confirmation of the body of Christ in which the Word and promise of the Gospel is believed, taught, and confessed.
No where in scripture does Jesus say anything about a priestly class of intermediaries through whom people are brought into the kingdom of God. Rather,
1 Timothy 5:5 (Greek and English)
{5}Εἷς γὰρ θεός, εἷς καὶ μεσίτης θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων, ἄνθρωπος χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς,…
{5}For there is one God, and one mediator between God and humans, a man, [namely], Christ Jesus,…
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, this appears to be the position of Rome (at least at times) when interpreting these passages, expecially whenever Roman Catholic teaching insists that the Papacy (the office of the Pope when making pronouncements ex cathedra) may define doctrinal truth that is binding on Christians to believe.
Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture
Even though the Catholic Catechism assures us that Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture are not two separate sources of revelation, the practical effect of this teaching implies that they are not the same, for the latter cannot be rightly understood without the former, as a person cannot rightly see his own face without seeing the reflection cast by a mirror:
Here is a snippet from Dei Verbum, a dogmatic constitution binding on all Roman Catholics to believe, as solemnly promulgated by Pope Paul VI on November 18, 1965 (excerpted from Chapter II):
But in order to keep the Gospel forever whole and alive within the Church, the Apostles left bishops as their successors, “handing over” to them “the authority to teach in their own place.” (3) This sacred tradition, therefore, and Sacred Scripture of both the Old and New Testaments are like a mirror in which the pilgrim Church on earth looks at God, from who she has received everything, until she is brought finally to see Him as He is, face to face (see 1 John 3:2).
Such a teaching erroneously sets up a source of truth outside of the Word of God, an external source that (it is thought) must be wielded to safeguard the right interpretation and teaching of the truth of that Word, and this second source must therefore be regarded as a source of revelation just as important as, if not more important than, God’s Word. In this way Rome unwittingly, or more likely with full understanding (having dug their heels in for hundreds of years on this point by now), sets Tradition (“truth” as handed down through the church’s Magisterium—the Pope plus the bishops in communion with him—to exercise the sole responsibility and sole authority to interpet Scripture) above that of Scripture.
What Jesus gives to Peter (in Matthew 16) and to the other apostles (Matthew 18 and John 20), and thus to all Christians, is much more narrow in scope, specific to forgiving or retaining sins. Not even Christ would have taken upon Himself such a station wherein He sets 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)