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Sola Scriptura - A fundamental belief among many Protestants, especially evangelicals, is "sola scriptura" - that is, the belief that the Bible alone is the sole authority for Christians. This belief is sometimes associated with "sola fide" - "faith alone", as necessary and sufficient for salvation.
Challenge 1) Evangelicals claim that Catholics add to the Bible, the Word of God, and in doing so replace
the Word of God with their human traditions. They sometimes believe that we fulfill the condemnation of Jesus:
[Mk 7:7] "… in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men."
The claim continues that Catholics violate the Word of God in adding their "traditions", which they hold as equal to God's Word. The Bible, they understand, forbids this:
[Rev 22:18] I warn every one who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if any one adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book,
[19] and if any one takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
A Catholic Response: These critics are not consistent.
1) Some (not all) Protestants take the passage above to forbid adding anything to divine revelation, beyond what
"God wrote" in the Bible. We note, of course, that the Book of Revelation is not the first book of Scripture
to forbid additions or deletions. Moses commanded something similar to the people of Israel:
[Deut 4:1] "And now, O Israel, give heed to the statutes and the ordinances which I teach you, and do them; that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, gives you.
[2] You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it; that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.
Did God forbid "adding anything" to Scripture beyond the Book of Deuteronomy? Even these evangelical critics don't stop their Bibles with Deuteronomy! No, God continued speaking (and writing) to His people even to include the New Testament, and God continues to speak to us today, by the Holy Spirit.
2) Also, most Protestants do accept the development of understanding of Scripture to include the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. The Trinity is never mentioned in the Bible, and our first recorded reference to the term is 180 AD. (It was in common use a century later, for example in the writings of Origen. The Nicene Council (325) defined the Son as consubstantial with the Father; the Council of Constantinople (381) defined the Holy Spirit as God. Our understanding of Trinity has continued to deepen ever since.) These Protestant critics accept development in the early Church - why do they resist it now?
Jesus promised that the Spirit would be sent to His Church to teach us.
[Jn 14:26] But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
This Counselor is the Spirit of Truth itself, and He will remain with us for all time - not merely to the completion of the Bible!
[Jn 14:16] And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you forever,
[17] even the Spirit of truth,….
We can hear clearly the continuing nature of His role as teacher. Jesus said,
[Jn 16:12] I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
[13]When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
Also, Paul clearly alludes to the increase in understanding of the mysteries of God as he wrote,
[1Cor 13:9] For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect;
[10] but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.
[11] When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
[12] For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.
The teaching of the Church is explained in the Catechism:
CCC 66 "The Christian economy, therefore, since it is the new and definitive Covenant, will never pass away; and no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ." Yet even if Revelation is already complete, it has not been made completely explicit; it remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of the centuries.
Also, we need to distinguish public revelation, which is complete even though our understanding of it continues to develop, and private revelation, which may continue:
CCC 67 Throughout the ages, there have been so-called "private" revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ's definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history.
The Church asserts the authority, guided by the Spirit, authentically to interpret the teachings of Christ, and thereby to teach in His Name. The Catechism explains, "Growth in understanding the faith":
CCC 94 Thanks to the assistance of the Holy Spirit, the understanding of both the realities and the words of the heritage of faith is able to grow in the life of the Church:
-"through the contemplation and study of believers who ponder these things in their hearts"; it is in particular "theological research [which] deepens knowledge of revealed truth".
-"from the intimate sense of spiritual realities which [believers] experience", the sacred Scriptures "grow with the one who reads them."
-"from the preaching of those who have received, along with their right of succession in the episcopate, the sure charism of truth".
CCC 95 "It is clear therefore that, in the supremely wise arrangement of God, sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture and the Magisterium of the Church are so connected and associated that one of them cannot stand without the others. Working together, each in its own way, under the action of the one Holy Spirit, they all contribute effectively to the salvation of souls."
There are three channels of Divine Revelation, through which God teaches us:
- Holy Scripture,
- Sacred Tradition, and
- the Magisterium, or teaching authority of the Church.
Catholics distinguish between Sacred Tradition, which hands down what the Apostles received from Christ,
and ecclesial traditions, which the Church has adapted to help us life the truth in our time. Sacred Tradition
cannot change, but ecclesial traditions may and do change.
Sacred Tradition is part of Divine revelation given by God, and will not change. Scripture is given by God, and
it cannot change (although our understanding of Scripture will continue to deepen and grow). There are seven sacraments,
and these will not change (although parts of the rites celebrating the sacraments may change). Infallible definitions
of the Pope cannot change, and are part of divine revelation by the Holy Spirit (but ordinances of the Church created
by the Church to help worship in particular times may change: meatless Fridays, the fast before Eucharist, whether
clergy may or may not be married, parts of the Liturgies, and so on can be changed).
A final argument against "sola scriptura" is the fruit it has brought. Ever since individuals have claimed the Spirit is teaching them independent of the Church, and is leading them out of the Church, the number of sects, divisions, denominations, "Christianities" and "gospels" has multiplied. This is plainly contradicted and refuted by the Bible. As Scripture insists,
[Eph 4:4] There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call,
[5] one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
[6] one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all.
Division in the Body of Christ is a contradiction in terms, and is an insult to Christ Himself. He called us
into a unity in Him, in love. The Spirit cannot lead people into divisions and sects, because He leads people to
Jesus, to the one Gospel.
Sola scripture appeals to our individualism, and to our pride: why should "I" need a "church"
to tell me what to believe? Yet this is God's way, leading us into a communion in truth, and in love, and in Him
- our entry in the Beatitude of the Holy Trinity.