Body: | Defining Sola Scriptura correctly.
It means just what it says, the bible alone!
Is your church a "Pseudo-Sola Scriptura" church?
Beware of both anti-sola Scriptura churches and Pseudo-Sola Scriptura
churches
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Sola Scriptura home page
Click to View Top ten list of why the Roman Catholic and Orthodox take the
wrong view of tradition
A. Defining Sola Scriptura: "Bible Only"
Latin: "Sola" = Alone
Latin: "Scriptura" = Scriptures
Latin: "Sola Scriptura" = Bible/scriptures Only/alone = using the
Bible only!
Greek: "Anti" = (Anti-Sola Scriptura) "against, opposite or opposed
to using the Bible only
Greek: "Pseudo" = (Pseudo-Sola Scriptura) "Apparently similar,
counterfeit, pretended, spurious, false" They claim to use the Bible only,
but in fact do not!
B. Sola Scriptura means:
The Bible alone without creeds. (ie Apostles creed, Nicene creed.)
The Bible alone without councils. (ie Ecumenical Councils.)
The Bible alone without church canons. (ie Canons of Dort.)
The Bible alone without statements of faith. (most churches create
one.)
The Bible alone without oral tradition. (unless it is found in the
Bible.)
The Bible alone without church tradition. (unless it is found in the
Bible.)
The Bible alone without a "church interpreter". (Catholic, Orthodox,
Jehovah's Witnesses all say only the church can correctly interpret the
Bible, not the individual.)
The Bible alone without individual illumination of the Holy Spirit.
(Evangelicals, Baptists, Charismatics and Calvinists believe they are
personally guided by the Holy Spirit to correctly interpret the Bible.)
The Bible alone without modern day prophecy and inspiration.
(Pentecostal, Charismatic and most of the 19th century cults, (Mormons,
Seventh-day Adventists) all claimed to have living prophets.)
C. Pseudo-Sola Scriptura churches
Catholics, Orthodox, Jehovah's Witnesses claim an infallible
organization.
Pentecostals and Charismatics claim infallible pastors.
(inspiration)
Evangelicals, Baptists and Calvinists claim infallible individuals.
(Illumination of the Holy Spirit)
Sola Scriptura: Fallible Christians claim an infallible book!
D. Sola Scriptura and the infallible book!
Sola Scriptura rejects the false doctrine of infallible church
organizations, pastors and individuals and claims only the Bible is
infallible... and we best start reading it to know exactly what it says!
While Catholics claim and infallible organizations, Charismatics
claim infallible pastors, Baptists claim infallible individuals, Christians
claim an infallible book.
Beware of Pseudo-Sola Scriptura churches
Sola Scriptura means just what it says: the Bible alone!
E. Many claim Sola Scriptura but in practice deny it by using creeds
If your church claims to use the Bible only, but uses creeds, they
are not sola Scriptura, even if they claim they are!
Click to View Classic Reformers like Keith A. Mathison complains
that Christians have altered the definition of "sola Scriptura" and seek to
restore the definition back to the way their founder, Calvin defined it.
While Mathison wants "his boy" (Calvin) to be the standard by which all
others are judged, we skip over Calvin back to the Bible itself and the
earliest apostolic Fathers who did not use written creeds as universal
standards of doctrine.
F. Beware of anti-sola Scriptura churches
Click to View A list of Anti-sola Scriptura churches:
All Roman Catholic family of churches
All Eastern Greek Orthodox family of churches
G. Beware of Pseudo-Sola Scriptura churches
Click to View A list of Pseudo-Sola Scriptura churches:
Any church that claims to speak in tongues. (Charismatics and
Pentecostals
Most TV preachers.
Any church that believes in Evangelicals, Baptists
All Reform churches, (Dutch Reformed, Christian Reformed, Classical
Reformed) because they not only believe in personal illumination of the
Holy Spirit, but also accept the Nicene creed as inspired.
All Calvinist churches that adhere to John Calvin. (personal
illumination of the Holy Spirit)
H. Various types of churches who reject sola Scriptura:
Ecclesiastically Illuminated, Traditionalist, Creedalists: Roman
Catholic and Orthodox churches maintain that the scriptures can only be
interpreted in light of what the current church organization proclaims. The
scriptures are not understandable by the common man in the pew and that the
Holy Spirit communicates with the organization to correctly understand
truth. Extra-Biblical, oral tradition doctrines are seen as equal to
scripture itself. These churches are heavy users of creeds. In buffet
style, they pick and chose which doctrines of the apostolic fathers they
feel are authoritative, while rejecting others.
Click to View Quotes:
"But the appeal to antiquity is both a treason and a heresy. It is a
treason because it rejects the Divine voice of the Church at this hour, and
a heresy because it denies that voice to be Divine. How can we know what
antiquity was except through the Church? ... I may say in strict truth that
the Church has no antiquity. It rests upon its own supernatural and
perpetual consciousness. ... The only Divine evidence to us of what was
primitive is the witness and voice of the Church at this hour." (Henry
Edward Manning, The Temporal Mission of the Holy Ghost: Or Reason and
Revelation, 1865, p 227-228)
"The idea that the Scriptures are self-interpreting is patently absurd. It
assumes a degree of absolute objectivity that would make the most ardent
positivist cringe with embarrassment. ... this is exactly what the doctrine
of sola Scriptura assumes: a bare text that somehow imposes its meaning on
the reader." (THE WAY: What Every Protestant Should Know About the Orthodox
Church, Clark Carlton, 1997, p 100)
Ecclesiastically Illuminated, Anti-Traditionalists, Creedalists:
Jehovah's Witnesses, like Catholics believe only the leaders of the church
(ie. the Governing Body who write the Watchtower magazine) can understand
scripture. The common "slave class" Jehovah's Witness (the ones who knock
on your door) cannot understand scripture themselves apart from what the
Watchtower says. Like Catholics, they believe the Holy Spirit guides the
organization to understand the Bible. Yet unlike the Roman Catholic and
Orthodox churches, Jehovah's Witnesses generally reject all traditions and
creeds as false doctrine. While Jehovah's Witnesses reject the historic
creeds, the Watchtower magazine itself, is their creed, which is updated on
a weekly basis, as the Holy Spirit brings "new light" to a blind people.
Click to View Quotes:
"The Bible cannot be properly understood without Jehovah's visible
organization in mind." (Watchtower, Oct 1, 1967, pg. 587)
"He does not impart his holy spirit and understanding and appreciation of
his Word apart from his visible organization." (Watchtower, July 1, 1965,
pg. 391)
"Only this organization functions for Jehovah's purpose and to his praise.
To it alone God's Sacred Word, the Bible, is not a sealed book." (The
Watchtower; 7/1/1973, p 402)
"We all need help to understand the Bible, and we cannot find the
scriptural guidance we need outside the 'faithful and discreet slave'
organization.'" (Watchtower, February 15, 1981, p.19)
"Avoid independent thinking...questioning the counsel that is provided by
God's visible organization." ... "Fight against independent thinking."
(Watchtower, Jan. 15, 1983 pg. 22, 27)
"The evidence of the holy spirit in the quality and content of the writings
published by the Watchtower Society (Watchtower magazine) should be the
thing that satisfies, that convinces, together with a comparison of these
things with the inspired Word of God, the Holy Scriptures." (Watchtower,
Oct. 1, 1959, p. 607-608)
Ecclesiastically & Inward Witness Illuminated, Creedalists: Most
Protestant churches (Baptist, Reformed, Pentecostal, Calvinist,
Presbyterian) believe the Bible cannot be understood without the direct
illumination of the Holy Spirit to guide the individual to the correct
interpretation. Yet, like Catholics, they also believe the Holy Spirit
guides the corporate church to correct understanding of truth. All these
churches heavily endorse the use of creeds, both historic and modern which
they believe to be "functionally equivalent" to scripture. Some say their
creeds are revelations of the Holy Spirit, while others would deny this,
yet all believe creeds are an acid test of orthodoxy. We call these
churches "pseudo sola Scriptura" organizations because although they claim
to use the Bible only, they certainly do not in practice since they use
creeds, believe the Bible is not understandable apart from the illumination
of the Holy Spirit, both in the individual and the corporate church.
Click to View Quotes:
"It is only within the Church that we find Scripture interpreted rightly,
and it is only within the Church that we find the gospel." (The Shape Of
Sola Scriptura, Keith A. Mathison, Reformed Protestant, 2001, p 268)
"the Holy Spirit is promised to guide the people of God into the knowledge
of the truth, and therefore that which they, under the teaching of the
Spirit, agree in believing must be true." (Charles Hodge, Systematic
Theology, Presbyterian Calvinist, 1873, 1:113)
"Nevertheless, we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God
to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed
in the Word" (Westminster Confession of faith, 6:6)
"The ecumenical creeds represent the hermeneutical consensus already
reached by the Church. They declare the basic essential truths which have
been confessed by all Christians from the first days of the Church until
today. They represent that which the entire Church has seen in Scripture.
... if the Holy Spirit has been promised to guide the Church into the
knowledge of the truth of Scripture; if the entire Church for thousands of
years confesses to being taught by the Spirit the same essential truths in
Scripture, then it follows that those truths are what Scripture says." (The
Shape Of Sola Scriptura, Keith A. Mathison, Reformed Protestant, 2001, p
280)
The Holy Spirit is the ultimate criterion of truth, but He bears witness to
the truth through this reciprocal relationship between Christian Scripture,
the Christian Church, and the Christian creed. Each of these three relates
to the other two in a unique way. The Scripture is the Spirit-inspired Word
of God that bears witness to the truth of the regula fidei and bears
witness to the identity of the Church. (The Shape Of Sola Scriptura, Keith
A. Mathison, Reformed Protestant, 2001, p 267)
Inward Witness Anti-Creedalists: Although the views of Sebastian
Franck, 1499 - 1542 AD, did not endure, he is an interesting example of a
man who saw the flaws of Protestant churches. Initially a Lutheran pastor,
he rejected all creeds, councils and traditions, and taught that God
communicates with individuals without the help of human institutions
through the personal illumination of the Holy Spirit. Franck said the Bible
"is a book sealed with seven seals which none can open unless he has the
key of David, which is the illumination of the Spirit." ... "Foolish
Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, Gregory-of whom not one even knew the Lord, so
help me God, nor was sent by God to teach. Rather, they were all apostles
of Antichrist." (Sebastian Franck, 1530 AD) Frank also rejected the almost
universally held idea that the corporate church was guided by the Holy
Spirit. We observe that had Franck eliminated the final evil (illumination
of the Spirit) he would have been one of the first to restore the true sola
Scriptura of the early church and the apostolic fathers.
I. Genuine Scriptura churches
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TRUTH: Sola Scriptura:
"that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I
wrote before in brief. By referring to this, when you read you can
understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other
generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been
revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit" Ephesians 3:3-5
"For we write nothing else to you than what you read and understand,
and I hope you will understand until the end" 2 Corinthians 1:13
"from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to
give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in
Christ Jesus." 2 Timothy 3:15
This is the truth.
The scriptures, being written by the Holy Spirit, are understandable by
every man on the planet in the same way a common newspaper is. We reject
the idea that the Holy Spirit prevents non-believers from understanding the
Bible, until they are illuminated. Give a list every verse in the Bible on
a single topic to 100 people and they will all agree. This, in fact, is how
our thousands of churches all over the world operate and we have no central
organization, no organization larger than the local church. We use no
creeds, catechisms or statements of faith. Oral tradition doesn't bring
about unity because the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches both claim
they have oral tradition yet their doctrines are so different, they are not
even in fellowship (communion) with each other. The fact they also both
claim "apostolic succession" yet differ powerfully refutes any such notion.
Appealing to creeds, as a rule of faith brings one into irreconcilable
contradiction both with the Bible and between the various creeds
themselves. The inward illumination of the Holy Spirit to understand
scripture is proven a false doctrine because the Holy Spirit is not going
to reveal different doctrines to different people. Those who believe in the
inward illumination of the Holy Spirit are therefore self-deceived into
thinking that whatever they believe, is truth, because the Holy Spirit led
them to that belief. Our view is that scripture alone, is the only way
unity can be attained world wide.
We view scripture itself as our only creed and statements of faith.
We use no man-made creeds, catechisms, statements of faith.
Reject all councils and canons not because they contain error, but
because they compete with the authority of the Bible. We reject the
"apostles creed" even though we agree with it, because it is not needed,
since we have the Bible itself!
Accept scripture is a complete inspired revelation from God in order
to determine all essential matters of faith, liturgy and worship.
Strongly believe God was smart enough that He could write the Bible
in such a way, so as to be understood when read.
We believe that, who God created man, wrote the Bible in such a way,
so that man would be able to understand the Bible unaided. It is ridiculous
for Catholic traditionalists to write a book to prove we cannot understand
the divinely authored Bible ourselves, while expecting us to understand
their humanly authored book itself.
We believe it is insulting to God to think that Catholic and
Orthodox defenders can write a book and be understood by the common man
unaided, but God cannot write the Bible and be understood unaided.
We believe it is insulting to God to think that "personal
illumination" defenders can write a book and be understood by the common
man unaided by the Holy Spirit, but God cannot write the Bible and be
understood unaided.
We utterly reject the idea that only the church organization (which
is nothing more than a few fallible men at the top) can understand the
Bible.
We utterly reject as false doctrine that the Holy Spirit directly
illuminates each individual into a correct understanding of the Bible. Such
a doctrine is not taught in scripture. If it were true, then why do the
"Pseudo-Sola Scriptura" churches that claim such "personal illumination"
differ as greatly in their doctrine, as the "Anti-Sola Scriptura" do in
regards to their tradition.
Click to View Click here to locate a genuine sola Scriptura church in your
own home town.
J. Sola Scriptura vs. Infallibility
In the table below you can see the way different non-sola Scriptura
churches claim their doctrine is correct and their general view of
scripture.
Denomination
Is
Organization Infallible?
Are
Leaders Infallible?
Is
Individual Infallible?
Unaided
Personal
Interpretation?
Bible
All-Sufficient?
Bible
Corrupted?
Continuing revelation?
Doctrinal Development?
Written
Extra-biblical Authority?
Unwritten
Extra-biblical Authority?
Truth: Sola Scriptura
No
1 Tim 4:1
OT captivity, crucifixion
No
Gal 2:11
Lam 2:14
Jer 29:8
No
Col 2:18
Ezek 13:1-7
Yes
Eph 3:3
Yes
2 Pe 1:3
No
1 Peter 1:23
No
Jude 3
No
Gal 1:6
None
1 Cor 4:6
None
Mt 7:21
Catholic
Yes
Yes: Pope and successors
No
No:
Organiz Needed
No
No
Yes
Yes
Fathers, Tradition
none
Mormon
Yes
Yes: Joseph Smith and successors
Yes: HS guides
No: HS needed
No
Yes
(BoM not corrupted)
Yes
Yes
Book of Mormon
HS confirms feelings
Jehovah's Witness
Yes
Yes: Governing Body
Yes: HS guides
No: Organiz needed
Yes
Yes, except for NWT
Yes
Yes
Watchtower
HS confirms feelings
Seventh-day Adventist
Yes
Yes: Ellen White
No
No: HS needed
Yes
No
Yes
No
White's 10,000 pages
HS confirms feelings
Pentecostal & Calvinistic
Indirectly through HS guiding leaders
Yes: Pastor/ Prophets
Yes: HS guides
No: HS needed
Yes
No
Yes
No
Creeds, catechisms, statements of faith
HS confirms feelings
Calvinistic non-Pentecostal
Indirectly through HS guiding to that church
Yes: but in no way different from non-leaders
Yes: HS guides
No: HS needed
Yes
No
No
No
Creeds, catechisms, statements of faith
HS confirms feelings
Wesleyan- Armenian
Indirectly through HS guiding to that church
Yes: All leaders have "entire sanctification"
Yes: "entire sanctification"
No: HS needed
Yes
No
No
No
Creeds, catechisms, statements of faith
HS confirms feelings
Click to View Click here to locate a genuine sola Scriptura church in your
own home town.
by Steve Rudd
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