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ola criptura
by
Joe Morecraft
Again today it can be said
that
no
one
has expressed the
Roman
Catholic
view
of
the Bible
as Roman
priest
Henry
G.
Grahame
in
his
book,
WHERE
WE
GaT
THE iH"BLE, which
has
gone through
about
20 printings since it
was
first
published in
1911,
(Rockford: Illinois, Tan Books and
Publishers, Inc.)
".our Blessed Lord Himselfnever, so far as we
know, wrote a line of c r i p t u r e ~ e r t a i n l y none
that has been preserved.
He
never told His
apostles to write anything. He did not command
them to commit
to
writing what
He
had delivered
to them .. What
He commanded and meant them to
do was precisely what He had done Himself,
viz ..-deliver the Word
of
God to the people by the
living voice
...
not intrust their message to a dead
book .. and so by a iving tradition, preserviDg and
handing down the Word ofGod as they had re
ceived t, to all generations...."- pp. 17-18
''Noihing'was fuItlu;r from the IIlinds
ofthe
apostles and evangelists than the idea ofcompos
mg
works wmch should be collected and formed
into one volume, and so constitute the Holy Book
ofthe Ghristians ...No one would have been more
shocked at the idea ofhis letters usurping the place
of
he authoritative teacher-the church, than the
greatapostle ..."- pp; 19-20
"The Gospels, then, are incomplete and frag
mentary, giving us certainly the.most important
tilings to know about our Savior'S earthly life, bllt
still not telling us allwe might know,
or
much we
da know jn fact now and understand better, through
the teaching of he Catholic Church, which has
preserved traditions,handed down since the time of
the Apostles ...When, now, what I said about the
Gospels is equally true of he Epistles .... "- pp. 24-
25 ,
" ... they [the Scriptures] nowhere claim to state
the whole of Christian tmth, or to be a complete
guide ofsalvation to anyone... the Church existed
and did its work before they were written, and it
would still have done so, even though theyhad
never been written at all ... andwe may confidently
assert that the very last place We should expect to
find a complete summary ofChristian doctrine is in
the Epistles
ofthe
New Testament."- p. 27
"Venerable and inspired as Catholics regard the
Bible, great as is their devotion to it for spiritual
reading and support of
doctrine, we yet do not
pretend to lean upon it alone, as the Rule offaith
and morals. Along with it we take that great Word
that was never written, Tradition, and hold by both
the one and the other interpreted by the living voice
of he Catholic Church speaking through her
Supreme Head, the infallible Vicar ofChrist."- p.
152
Grahame has not
exaggerated
the official
position of the
Roman Catholic
Church as
any can see if he reads the statements of
the
Council of Trent in the 16
th
Century,
Vatican II in the 20
th
Century, and the
recently published
CATECHISM .OF THE
CATHaLiC CHURC, (CCC).
The Roman Catholic Church "receives and .
venerates with a feeling ofpiety and reverence aU .
the books
of
both ofthe Old and NeW Testaments;
since one God is the author
of
both; also the '
traditions, whether they relate to faith or to morals;
as having been dictated orally by Christ or
by
the
Holy Ghost, and preserved in the Catholic Church
in unbroken succession." - H.J. Shroeder (trans.),
CANaNS AND DECREES
.OFm
caUNCIL
.OF
TRENT, (Rockford, IllinoiS: TanBool
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mation hearkened back to
the testimony
of
the apostolic and early church,
clarifying
that position, and declared Sola Scriptura
which
slogan of
the Reformation, the West
minster Confession of Faith sought to de
fine as precisely and as Scripturally as
possible.
.. .it pleased the Lord, at sundry times, and in
divers manners, to reveal Himself, and to declare
that His will unto His
Church; and afterwards, for
the better preserving and propagating of the truth,
and for the more sWe establishment and comfOlt of
the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and
the malice of Satan and of he world, to commit the
same wholly unto writing, which maketh the Holy
Scripture to be most necessary; those former ways
of
God's revealing His will unto His people being
now ceased. - I, 2.
The whole counsel
of
God, concerning all
things neceSSalY for His own glory, man's salva
tion, faith and life,
is
either expressly set down in
Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence
may be deduced from Scripture: unto which
nothing at any time is
to
be added, whether by new
revelations of he Spirit, or traditions ofmen. - I, 6.
The Old Testament in Hebrew .. and the New
Testalnent
n
Greek ... being immediately inspired
by God, and by His singular care and providence
kept pure in all ages, are therefore authentical; so
as
in all controversies
of
religion, the Church is
finally to appeal unto them. - 1, 8.
The infallible rule of interpretation ofScripture
is the Scripture itself; and therefore, when there is
a question about the true and full sense ofany
Scripture, (which is not manifold, but one,) it must
be searched and known by other places that speak
more clearly. - I, 9.
The supreme Judge, by which all controversies
of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of
councils, opinions ofancient writers, doctrines of
men, alld private spirits, are to be examined, alld in
whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but
the Holy
Spirit speaking in the Scripture. -I, 10.
In an
attempt
to refute
the
Reformation 's
sola
Scriptura
Modern
Roman.Catholic
apologetes try to turn
our
greatest
strength
into
an
argument against the Reformation.
The Protestant teaching that the Bible is the
sole spiritual
authority sola
Scriptura-is
nowhere to be found in the Bible. - From an article
by George Sim Johnston posted on the Catholic
Infornlation Network alld quoted in SOLA
SCRIPTURA, p. 183, (Morgan,
PA
: Soli Deo
Gloria Publications, 1995).
The Bible nowhere teaches that it is the sole
authority in matters ofbelief. n fact, the Bible
teaches that Tradition-the oral teachings given by
Jesus to the apostles and their successors, the
bishops-is a parallel source ofauthentic belie f.
From a tract issued by Catholic Answers and
quoted in SOLA SCRIPTURA, p. 183.
Sola Scriptura contradicts the clear teaching
of
God's Word that there exists, alongside Sacred
Scripture, a divine Tradition and a Teaching Au
thority (the Magisterium of the Church) which
must equally be heeded alld without which Scrip
ture is inevitably misinterpreted. - Gerald
Matatics,ANTITHESIS, Vol. I, No .5, September/
October 1990, p. 50.
My
intention
is to try to show that
our
Sola
Scriptura doctrine is in fact the teach
ing
of the written
Word
of God and by doing
so refute
the
Roman Catholic viewpoint by ,
the
grace of God.
But
first let me quickly
poin t out what
we
do NOT mean by Sola
Scriptura.
I.
We
are not arguing that all truth, such as
mathematics, physics, industrial science, etc., is to
be found in the Bible.
2. Or that the Bible is the only'form in which
God's truth has come to His
people-
God .. spoke long ago to
the
fathers
in the
prophets
in many
portions
and in many ways,
Hebrews I: 1.
3.
Or that every verse in the Bible is equally.
clear
to
every readeI'. Some passages are less
clear than others to be sure, viz. Revelation 20.
4. Or that the church in its preaching-teaching
office
is not of great value and assistance to the
people ofGod in wlderstallding the Bible, for
preachers and teachers are gifts of the ascended
Christ for
the equipping
ofthe saints
for the
.
work of service to
the
building
up of the bOdy
of Christ , Ephesians4: 10-12.
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5. Or that
all
extra-biblical knowledge is unnec
essary, like
how
to'cook a meal or how to perform
brain sUtgery, .
6
. r that there is lio need for textual and
historical studY ofthe Bible.
7. Or that
theo,lo&)'
is merely a matter ofproof-
texting. '
8. Or that Christian living was impossible before
the invention of he printing press. .
. 9. Or that God has failed to reveal Himself
elsewhere, .as in creation. .
10. Or
that
we only study
the
Bible and never
read theologians or early church fathers, as if we'
do not appreciate them. Listen to John Calvih's
insig)1tful comnients'on the value of he early
church fathers to Christians today, taken frOni his
prefatory address to King Francis I bfFrance in
hisINSnTUTES
OF THE CHRISTlANRELI
GION, VoL l, pp : 18-19, (Battles Edition):
"
...
hey (the Roman Catholic Church) unjustly
set the ancient fathers against us ... as if in them
they
hadsuppoitersoftheir
own impiety. lfthe
contest were to be determined by patristic author
ity, the tide ofviCtory-to put it very modestly- .
would turn to
Our
side. Now, these fathers have
writtentnaDy wise and excellent thiIigs. Still, what
commonly happens to:men has befallen them too .
,
.
', . . . : '
:
' . , . _ .,,', .'. - '
m some mstances. For these so-called pious
'children Of theirs, with all their sharpness ofwit
aiidjudgment and spirit, worship only the faults and
errors of he fathers. The good things that these
fathers have written they either do not notice,
or
misrepresent or peJ,'Vert. You might say that their
only care is to gather-dung amid gold. Then, with a
frightful to-do, they overwhelm us as despisers and
adversaries of he fathers
But
we do not despise
them;
in
fact,
ifitwere
to our present purpose, I
couldwith
no trouble at all prove that the greater
part
of
what
we
are s lying today meets their
approval. Yet we are so versed in their writings as
to remember always that all things are ours
.
, to
serve us, not to lord it over us. " and tbat we all
belong to the one Christ . , whom we must obey in
all thiIlgs without exception ... "
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Word for you; indeed it is
your
life. And by "
this Word you shllll prolong your dllYS in the.
.land., ..- D ~ u t e r o n o m y 32:46-47
In these two
passages
we can see soml'l
'obvio\1s principles:
(I).
The Word Moses
)received from ODd and spoke to the people
';was
written
down. (2). The
people
,them- .
s:elves were commanded to read it
andit
. "
.was plain enough
that they were
able to .'
read and understand it
with
the ,Spirit's
assistance.
(3).
In this
written
Law-Word
the people could find life in the fullest
sense. (4). The covenant
people
do
not
need any additional institution to interpret
correctly the Word of Ood. The priests ; ,
prophets and
scribes
oflsrael certainly
function to help people ministerially. But
the Word
alone
was
sufficient for salvation.
.;.... The function of the prophets and priests
was
not
to add to or even clarify
the
rather, they
applied
it to the
people
who
were sinfully indifferent."-
Rober
t Godfrey,
What Do We Mean By Sola
Scriptura?
in SOLA
SCRIPrURA;
p . 4. Thc;refore
we
.see that .during the days of Moses, the
written Law-Word
of ODd
was .
clear enough
anq'oomprehensive enough
that
it wasthe
s)lfficientn le of faith and practice. 9 s
J:. aw
never directs
the
priests
r
the
people
;
to
give equal reverence to some e c c l e ~ i a s t j
cal orpriestly
tradition
; instead, they a f l ~
repeatei;lly
pointed back
to the
clear
r ~ v e l a .
tionof Ood.'s covenant."- Douglas Jone.s,
ANTITHESIS, Vol. I,
No.5, September
09t()ber 1990, p. 47.
Furthermore,
the
Law itself explicitly
tqrbids
both
c,?venant people and the
Levjtic"l priests from adi;ling another stan- .
dard to ODd's Written revelation: You shall
nO
.t
add
to
the
Word which
I
am com
manding
you, nor take away
from
it,
that
you m ~ keep the c o ~ m n d m e n t s of the
LORD your God
which I command
you,
Deuter
onomy4
:2. This commandment Was
given to all of Isra'eJ, Deuteronomy 4:1.
The
people therefore
were
expected
to .
understlmd and apply God's Word for thein
selveswitho
'ut abddging
or supplementing
i f
with human or priestly traditions, even
if
the priests were unfaithful and added to it
God alone has the authority to add to His Word,
and, at this point in redemptive history, He directs .
them to His written Word as their supreme stan
dard alone and not
to
another Biblical institutionor
tradition. The law then, serves
as
exemplary
support for the doctrine
of
Sola Scriptura
and
since the Law serves as the standard in the histori
cal revelation that follows Moses, we shonld
expect to see the written Word as the standard of
faith andpractice there
as
well, and we do (cf.
Joshua 1:7- do not turn from it to the right or .
to the left - [loSiall] Go,
inquire
ofthe
LORD
,
- -'
for me and the people and all Judah conCern
ing the words of this book that has been
found, for
great
is the wrath of
the
LORD that
burns
against us, because
our
fathers
have
n ~ t
listened to thewords
of
this booli, to do .
according to all
that
is
written
concerning us,
rrKi gs
22: 13.
.
- -'
" ...the Old Testament does not contain anything
close
to
a body ofauthpritative tradition or an ' .
infallible institution on par with Scripture. ,No... ..
where in the Old Testament will You tind a body
of
living tradition like that advocated by Roman ...., \
Catholicism, i.e., a non-revelatory, secondary . .
explication . .. This sort
of
arrangement is unknown
in the Old Testament. Nowhere will [you] find
ti1e
.people ofGod appealing to o n - r e y e l a t o r y i n t e I P . ~ e
t a t i o n ~
or institutions
as
a norm on par with Scrip-.
..
- .
.. .
ture ."- Douglas Jones, ANTITHESIS, pp, 4 7 ~ n d , ;
55
" 1. . ,"
The New Testament case for Sola "'.
Scriptura has basically four points:
'r
1. The contrast between the wisdom of Ood
and the wisdom ofman: ""
2. The relation.ofthe Word ofGod to
t r j d i t i o n
in the teaching ofJesus. .
,
;
3. The nature
of
apostolic tradition. "
.
4: The ilecessity for the inscripturation Oftllll
Word
of
God.
'
.
' "
First, the contrast between the wisdom '
of God and the wisdom of men. Our 'cb'n
vitticHis and beliefs are not to be
b a
s ~ d o n "
w i ~ d o m and insights th at originatewjt1i
.
:.:
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man; because,human wisdom is fallible and
not
a sufficient foundation for believing
anything about God, because God alone is
qualified
to testify ,regarding
HimselL
As
Paulwrote :
Even
so
the
'
thoughts of
God
noone,
knows except
the Spirit of God, I
Corjnthians 2:
11.
'
, I Corinthians 2:5 informs,the Coririthfan
church that your faith
should
not rest on
die
wisdom
of men, buton the power of
God
. ',
Here
we see in opposition
to
one another '
the power of God and the wisdom
orman
showing that
our faith
is not to
stand in
the
wisdom Of man , but in the power of God.
For that
reason
Paul's message and
preaching were not in persuasive
,words i
of wisdom, but ln demonstration of the '
Spirit
'
andafpower,
2:4
, '
Wisdom
based
,
bnthe,autonomy of fallen '
man always
leads
away from God, but the revealed wisdom of
God is a sufficient basis and a sufficient ,,',,
powedo
build
one ' s life
andworldview
For
since
in
the wisdom ;of God the
world ,
through
its
wisdom
,
did
,
no
,t ,come"
to
;know
God, God was
'weIJ ,
pleased
, through the foolishness of preaching to
slivethose who
believe, I Cor
,inthian >
, '
1:21.
'
.
...
"PaUl continues
thiscoiltrast
between the
wisdom of man and the wisdom of God,in ,
2:12.I'J-,;Now we
bave
received,
noitbe :
spfrU oHhe world, but the
SpirHwho;is f
from Gdd,
tbat 'we mtghtknow ' the
tilings :
freely given to
us
by God, which
,
' things w,e speak, not in words':taught by '
h ~ m n
wisdom, butiri
those
taught by; ,
tb'
eSpirit, combining p i r i t ~ p r o d i t c e d
tboughts ;with Spirit-produced words.
The'contnlstnow is
drawn
in terms of;
,,:
""ords 'and ideas about God and ilife' that '
Qriginate,;
with
the .spirit of w o r l ~ a n d
human wisdom versus words, and ideas
of
' . ,
,
" _ '
-
.
,
truth
,and.life that
are
the actual words and
h i e ~ s
of ,the ~ p . i r i t
of God
b r Q 1 , l g h ~ t Q ~ a n -
f r o ~ t ~ e m i n d , o f God, Plj-pl is sayi ).g
that
a P Q ~ t o l i c m e s ~ a g e didnot
in
allY way
Qriginatc;:
with
the wisdom
of
man, nor were
,
:.,.
,
,.'
., ....
-;
';',.,
..
. , " .. . ... ..
'-
0 ,
his words taught him by human wisdom, but
, both
the
message he
proclaimed
and
the
words by whioh he proclaimed that message
were
from God, .For this reason Paul .'.
praises God for the Thessalonian chur:ch
be'cause when you rec 'e.ivedJrom ns the "
Word of God's
message,
yon
accepted
i t
'
not as
thewo,d
of
m,en,
but
for wbat i t
.
-
- ' ,
.
: . : ,
.
reallY
'
is,
the
Word
of God, wlllch .also
per,fDrmslts wor,li
in
yo,u
WllO
.believe" I ,
Thessalonia
,ns.2:11.
Paul
s ,words were his
words, but
they
w e r e n i ~ c h more, theY,
we
i e
the wor
.ds
of the hying
9od,.His fllyssage , ,
was s o ~ e t h i n g he
t l l O U g ~ t
about
deep;1y
; b\l,(
His message di4 1;10t o r i g i ~ a t e with
thoughts, it originated.with 004, 50 that . i ;
what he p r e a c h ~ d was very \Vordj()f
God,
andt4at
is
~ o w
t,
he
chuTGh
of
: ; h r j
is,
to receive. the.
aposiolicwo,rd,not
;as t h ~ . ,'
wQ,dOfJIlen, but as the Wor.d of ,God.
'.'
" . ,
.
..
\ . .. .
The contrast comeSQut also,
iri
CotoSs- ,
ians 2: &=See ',tD
i t that no
one ,takeyou,
captive through
philosopby
and
empty
deception,accDrding
to the;fraditillD: ,Df '
men, accDrding to the ,
elemenfary
prin- "
ciples of the
wDrld,
rather than accDrd .
.
ing to
C l ; 1 ~ i s t The e((hort,a,.iol b e r ~ ,
to
.t
he
C()losSiancliufch is
r ~ g a
r 4 i I i g p ~ ~ c M i
the believers
~ a v e b e f o r e t h e m :
al1o\Y
:
i'
;
theD;lselves to be
enslaved to
human, entpty"
deceptive
h i l o s ~ p h y t h a t d o ~ s
n o t ~ o w e " .
from Ood
or
'leij.dto GOd, wq..kh,is
fpund
the
t:r;ad(tipnsof
~ A ,
.p.
e.
#rJ ,IYr\,o.
teq
;
a n d
. b u i l t
up
jn
Christ,
h e I l ) ; -
selves in t r ~ d i t i ( m
that
o r i g i n a t ~ d ~ i t h ,
Christ alld is about Christ. Jes.usHi,lIlself . \
: 1
_ .
\ .
, , . ' , : . I ,
mad,e:
he
, a m . t ;
c o w p a r . i s o p
w e e n
the
,
"
J;
l
traditioJ?saIldp,rec,?pts
q
nwn y
m us
,
the
;,
commandment 1;lDd word
of
God. whi.ch the"
,. , ,
,
, ,
,.
. " ' , . . , j
Jews had
invalidated
for
the sake
ofthtjir
,
human traditions,
Matthew
15:3-9.
,
. . , , .
.
" ' . .
; , ' ,
And so, the contrast. cannotpe any o ,
stronger
or c 1 ~ a r e r (I.). The') 'j
sdo]l1 ;
.
power of
G,od yerS\lS
* e l ; 1 q L i m p o t " ' \ t
wisdom of men;
(2).'
T,;J.1 ;: won;is &.ideas . ,
" . , " '
,
. .
that
originate
.
with
God. versas the words,,&'
e a , ~ t ~ a t o r i g i A e ~ i llle.n;J ?) : ~
30-
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' < . -....
: . '
.
.
.
'
tradition of
Chrjst
versus the
tradition
of
men; (4). The divine authority of Christ
versus thepseljdo-authority
of
men; (5).
The Word (If
God versus the word of men.
Ancl .theapostolic command to Christ's
church is. that your
faith
should not
rest
on the
whd(lm
of men,
,>ut on
the power
of .God.
.. Or as the prophet Jeremiah teaches us,
God's people
must not submit themselves
to
the
uninspired
words of men:
Thus
says
the .LORD of bosts, Do Dot listen to
the
'wordsof the prophets
who
are
propbesying
to you.
They are leading
YOl . into
futility;
they
speak
a vision of
their own imagination,
not from the
mouth of the LORD,
Jeremiab
23: 16.
And now
the
contrast is
portrayed
as
that
claims to
truth that
originate with the
imagination
of men, even religiOUS men
who boast tl1at.they aFe chosen by Godto
speak for
God, and
those
claims to truth
that
originate:with .the mouth of
the
LORD.
The church
isnot to listen even to
prophets.in the church,
who speak .ex
ca-
hedra
if
their
message does not come
froOl the
mouth
.of God.
Second, the .relation
of
the Word
of
God
to '
traditions in
the
teaching
of
Jesus.
Ad
dressing
the
.
Pharisees
He
said
regarding
. thc;:m and their religious practices: " .. .in
Vain do they worship Me,
teaching
as '
doc
'trines tile precepts of inen.' N e
glectingthe c o J D ~ a n d m e n t
(If God,
you
b o l ~ t o
t h e trjldition of men.
He
was .
also
saying
to thelll;
You nicely set aside
the commandmentofGoll
in
order to
k'eep
your
tradition ... thus invali'dating
the Word
of G.
od
by
your traditions
which you
have
handed down
...
- Mark
7 : 7 ~ 3
.
The
pharisees
added
rabbinical traditions
to the written .Law- Word
of God
so' as' to
protect that Word from
misinterpretation
.
J
eSIjS told
them
that rather than
protecting
the Law-Word
of
God
they were
neglecting ...
niCely setting aside . ., in-
validating the Word of God by your
traditions which
you have
handed
down
... They had
empti
ed
the
Scripture
of
meaning and authority
.
Having placed
their:
traditions alongside Scripture as the final :
authority
for the
people,
they
had
in
effect
supplanted Scripture, loweri
ng
the preroga-.
tives of
Scripture
and
raisin
g
the
value.
of
'
traditions originating in human wisdom :
"Protestants do not beg-the-questionagainst "" ,
Roman Catholicism by arguing that Christ's con"
demnation of Pharisaical traditions, (e:g., to Mat,,:
thew 15:3) also applies to Roman Catholic tradi-
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Christ and rest secure that
that
testimony
is
trustworthy?
Jesus commissioned certain
men
to act
as
His authorized representatives in the
church and world,' to speak for Him in His
name. An apostle
of
a person,
in
the an
cient
legal
sense of the term , was viewed
as
that
person
himself
whom
he
represented
in a court of l1iw. The apostles word
were
legally
received
as the
words
of the one
who commissiooed
him. Christ's apostles
were His apostles
in this sense.
The
apostles' word was Christ's word, and it
was
to be
received
as Christ's
word,
and
not
merely
the word
of men.
To receive
their message is to receive
Christ,
and to
reject
their message
is to reject the
Christ
who commissioned them.
T
he apostles'
word was Christ's
word,. and. it was to be received as
Christ's
word, and
not
merely
the
word
of
men ,
To
receive
their
mes
sage
is to receive
Christ,
and to
reject
theif
message is to reject the Christ
who
commissioned them.
In Johri 14:26, Jesus promised His
apostles that after
His
death
,
resurrection
and
ascension:
the Helper,
the Holy
Spirit,
whom the Father will
send
in My
oame,
He
will teach yon
all things,
and
bring to yonr remembrance all that I
said
to
you. Jesus
inspired
His apostles
with
His
Word by His Holy Spirit. Now
Jesus passed
on
to the world through His
apostles, not their own insights and
o p n ~
ions, but His own Word abouJ ,Rimself by ;,,
the
inspiration of
the
Holy
Spirit, who
wOltl,d
teach them everything
and cause
them
to
remember everything that
He
qad taught
them.
t was His Word they were to com- .
inunicate. The apostolic message
a
.
Christ and
it
was from Christ by the S:pirit d
of ChriSt.
Jesus said to His apostles: He who
receives you receives Me, and he who
receives Me receives Him who sent Me,
Matthew
10:40. From this statement we
learn that ,
just
as
Jesus
was sent and com
missionedby
God to speak for Him and to
represent
Him as the
Father
's apostle, so
Jesus with the Father's authority sent and
commissioned
His apostles to speak for Him
and to be His authoritative spokesmen
to.
speak His Word and the Word of His Fa
c
ther, and only that Word. What
they
com
municated therefore was according to the
revelation of God the
Father
and God the
Son.
This
is
what JeSus
meant
when He said
to Peter, who confessed for all the apostles
that
Jesus is the Christ, the,Son
of
he
living
God-Blessed
are you,
Simon
Barjonas,
because flesh
and
blood
did
not
reveal
this to yon, but My
Father
who is in heaven, Matthew 16:17. Paul
gives a similar
testimony
in Galatians
I: I I , I2 For 1wonld have yon know,
brethren, that the gospel which was '
preached by me is not according to man.
For I neither received i t
from
man, nor
was
I
taught it, but
I
received i t through
a revelation of Jesus Christ. So then,
God the Father and
God
the Sonincarnate
reveal the
Word
of
God
to
the
apostles
directly who are taught that Word by the
Holy Spirit, so
that
they can teach
that
Word in all its purity and entirety to the
Church with infallible divine authority.
Christ builds His
church
.upon His
apostles as
receptors
and transmitters
of
His own
revelation.
Paul speaks of the
church
of Christ as
God's
Househoid,
havi'ng been built upon
the foundation of
.
the
a'
postles
and prophets,
Christ
Jesus
Himself being the cornerstone, Eph
esians 2:19-20. He said to Peter, who
had
just
confessed
Him to be the divine Christ,
And
1
also
say to you that you are Peter,
and 'Upon 'this
rock
1
wiWbuild My
church; and the gates of hell shall not
overpower
it
, Matthew 16:I8 .The rock
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upon
which
Christ will build His church
cannot
be the
person
of
Peter, for
just a
few verses later in the same chapter, Jesus
calls
Peter
Satan, because, confused
about the word
of
Christ concerning His
death and
resurrection,
Peter
wants
to keep
Christ
from accomplishing
what
God sent
Him to accomplish, 16:21-23. The church
of Christ is not
built
on Satan,
which
it
would be if it were
built
on the human
personality
of Peter. What,
then,
did
Jesus
mean in His
response
to Peter'sconJession
of
faith in Him?
Its context helps us see what He
meant.
After asking the apostles what
other
people
were saying about
Him,
He
said to them,
But who do you say that am? - Mat
thew 16: 15.
Notice that Christ
was not
speaking to Peter
alone
but
to
them,
i.e.,
to
all the apostles. And you
in
His
question
is
plural,
so
that
He was
not asking Peter
what he as an individual believed about
Himself,
rather He was
asking
all
the
apostles what
they
thought of Him. And
Peter
answering for all the
apostles
said,
Thou art the
Christ
.. , ' 6:16.
Then Jesus
says to Peter, speaking to
him
as a
repre
sentative of
the
apostles in whose
behalf he
had spoken, and not merely for himself
Upon
this
rock
I
will
build
My
church,
6 :18.
What
then is this
rock, this
'
''foun
dation upon which Christ will
build
His
church? t
is
none other than the confess
ing apostles, who are faithful and truth
confessors of
revealed '
truth,
As a
person
Peter
could
become Satan,
when
he
departed from Christ's
truth,
but as
Spirit
inspired vehicles and transmitters of
Christ's truth ,
the
apostles
are the solid,
rocky foundation of the
church of
Christ
that
is
faithful
to
that foundation
.
. The teaching of the apostles then was
received
as a
body
of truth bearing
divine
authority, the criterion and
standard
for
truth and life in the church of Christ. What
the apostles spoke and wrote
as truth
while
inspired by the Spir it did not originate with
them
or
with the wisdom of men
in
any
sense. t was God-breathed,
just
as is all
holy Scripture,
II
Timothy
3: 16.
It was the
revelation
of God, both in its doctrines and
in
the verbal expression of those
doctrines.
How did the
church
learn of the apos
tolic truth that
was
from
God
the Father,
Son
and
Spirit, this
body
of
dogma
of
divine
authority?
It
was
passed down to the
apostles from Christ,
which apostles
then
passed it
down
to and through the church
of
Christ; and
therefore
it
was
called
in
the
New Testament, that which was deliv
ered, or
the
deposit, or the pattern
of
sound words,
or
the tradition,
paradosis
that which was handed over and passed
down, that
which is
transmitted
by one
person to another , that which is entrusted ,
.
deposited,
and
passed
on. The
apostles
delivered to the
church
that deposit
of
truth
they
received from
God
the Father, Son
and
Holy
Spirit.
Paul's
exhortation to Timothy
was:
Re
tain
the
standard of
sound words which
you
have
heard
from
me,
in
the
faith
and
love which
are
In
Christ
Jesus.
Guard
through
the
Holy Spirit who dwells
in
you,
the
treasure (the
good
deposit)
which
has
been entrusted to you, II
Timothy
:
13-14.
What does this
exhorta
tion tell us
about
the
nature
of apostolic
tradition? The
standard
or pattern
of
sound
words,
i.e., the revealed system of
theology
and ethics, is what Timothy re
ceived
from
the
apostle Paul.
Paul
re-
ceived this
deposit
of truth, this trea
sure
of
sound
doctrine from
Christ
and
passed
it on, or delivered it, to Timothy who
in
turn was to
retain
it ,
guard
it and
preach it to Christ's church. Timothy
was neither
to
abridge
it
or
supplement
it
with ideas of his own, he was to keep the
commandment without stain
or
re
proach,
until the
appearing
of
our Lord
Jesus Christ, I
Timothy
6: 14.
He was
to
guard that which had
been
entrusted
to
him
to
retain
and
preach in
all its pristine glory
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just
as it had
been delivered
to him from the
apostle, just
as the
apostle
had
retained it
in
all
its
purity
as he
had
received it from
Christ.
Paul's intensity and
sense
o urgency is
seen
in his concluding exhortation to Timo
thy
in his
first epistle: 0 Timothy, gnard
what has
been
entrusted
to
you, avoid
.
ing worldly and empty chatter and the
opposing
arguments of what
is falsely
called knowledge- which some have
professed and
thus gone astray
from the
Faith. Grace
be
with you, I
Timothy
6:20-
21.
Ministers o the
gospel and
the
church
of Christ are to guard the precious treasure
of the
standard
of
sound words," the
apostolic tradition received from Christ,
which
Christ has entrusted to them without
synthesizing
it
in
any
way with anything
that originates with
man
in the
church
or in
the world, because
to
fail
to
guard it and
to
retain it in pure and entire form is to aposta
tize from
the Faith,
i.e., the pattern of
sound
words to be believed received from
the
apostles
who
received it
from Christ.
That treasure-deposit is
to
be the
church's one standard of faith and life,
theology and
ethics.
In guarding the apostolic deposifoftruth
pure
and entire, the apostle
Paul
commands
us that
in the
name of our
Lord
Jesus
Christ,
that
you keep
aloof from
every
brother who leads an unruly life a.nd not"
a.ccording to the
tradition
which
you
received from
us, II Thessalonians 3:6.
The
church
is to
separate
itself from
every
professed Christian or
minister who
by
his
life contradicts the tradition which you
received from us, i.e.,
the
apostles,
be
cause that apostolic tradition, that divinely
rev() iled
body
of
truth is
the churCh's
one
standard for
Christian
living.
I t is a
serious
and terrible
thing
to
turn
away in thought
or
life from the apostolic
deposit of
divine truth, as the
apostle
Peter
has
written: For i t
would be better for
them not to have
known
the way of righ-
teousness, than having known it, to turn
away
from
the
holy commandment deliv
ered to
them,
II Peter 2:21.
Here the
apostolic tradition is called the holy com
mandment that
wa.s
delivered
to hem.
I t is given this designation because of its
divine source, Godin Christ, whodelivered
it
to the
apostles
who
delivered
it to the
church. That )l.Oly commandment is the
way
ofrighteousness
in which the church
is always to walk. And God hates and
punishes
apostasy so severely,
that
it would
be
better for a person
not
to
have
known
that way
at
all,
than
to
have known
the
apostolic
doctrine,
and
then to turn away
from it
in
defiance. God describes such a
person
as a dog
returning
to its
own
vomit,
2:22.
This
apostolic deposit
of
verbal revela
tion
from God was
not
only to be the stan
dard for truth and life in
the
first century
,
it
was
to
continue
as such a standard govern
ing all the teaching
of
the church through
out the future. In II Timothy 2: 1-2, Paul
instructs Timothy: You therefore,my son,
be strong in the grace that is
in
Christ
Jesus.
And
the
things which
you
have
heard
from me
in
the presence of many
witnesses, theseentrilst to Jaithful men,
who will
be able to
tC/lCh
others
also.
In these verses
we see that the
apostolic
church had a class of officers called the
ministers
of the Word, distinct from church
members,
who were set apart to their
work
.
by the ordination
of
the
presbytery,
and
whose
duties included
the
preaching and
teaching of the Word of God. These minis
ters were
placed
in the
church
' by the divine
institution and divine authority of Christ the
head
o
the church through the ministry
of
the apostles. Acting under
Christ's com
mission and authority they, these apostles,
as we see here,
ordained men
to this office.
This office
of
ministry
was to be a
perma
nent institution in the Church, and the
apostles never
'
intended for
the
church after
their
death
to be
left destitute of iostrue-
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tors, who were not to be received as
apostles themselves with infallible apostolic
anthority, but who
were
to be received as
ministers of
the things
which
you have
heard
from
me in the presence of many
witnesses, i.e., the apostolic tradition from
God, which is entrusted to them to keep
pure and entire and to propagate throughout
the world.
This text says
nothing
at all about
apos
tolic succession nor does it suggest
that
Paul is passing on to Timothy continuing
infallible apostolic authority. What these
words
are describing is
the
process of
discipleship and the ordinary training re
quired for the office of the miuistry of the
gospel.
"Far from imparting
to
these men some apos
tolic authority that would guarantee their infallibil
ity, Timothy was
to
choose men who had proved
themselves faithful, teach them the gospel [Paul
taught him], and equip them in
the principles
of
church leadership he had learned from Paul. -
Nothing in these verse suggests that the truth
Timothy would teach other faithful men would be
preserved without error from generation
to
genera
tion."- John MacArthur in SOLA SCRIPTURA, p.
169-70.
How did the apostles pass down imd
transmit this deposit
of
divinely revealed
truth to the church of Christ? II
Thessalonians
2:
15 gives us
the
answer : So
then, brethren, stand firm and hold to
the
traditions
which
you
were
taught,
whether
by
word of
mouth
or
by letter
from
us.
t
was transmitted orally
and
in
written form from the apostles to the
church .
This text speaks
of
ONE deposit
of
truth
transmitted
in TWO ways. The
apostles
handed over this deposit to the church by
word
of mouth or by letter from us.
There
is not
the
slightest hint in this text
that part of the apostolic traditions came
orally
and part of
them
came
in written
form so that both must be kept
together
because it is only in both together
that the
church
has
the complete
Word
of
God . Not
the slightest hint Our text does
NOT
say
that there are two things
that came
to the
church-scripture and oral tradition; rather
it clearly says
that
there is one thing-the
apostolic deposit
o f
divine
truth,
that came
to
the
church in two ways
orally
and
inscripturated. I f a person or church
has
'
received that one deposit
from
the apostles
in
either
way, he has
one and
the
same
. .
system
of
doctrine.
".: .thereal thrust
of
what Paul is writing here is'
antithetical
to
the spirit
of
Roman Catholic Tradi-
tion. Paul is not encouraging the Thessalonians to
receive some tradition that had been delivered to
them via second or third hand reports. On the
contrary, he was ordering them to receive as
infallible truth only what they had heard directly
from his own lips."- MacArthur, SOLA
SCRIPTURA, p. 177
Why was the oral .
transmission
of the
apostolic traditio.ns
by the
apostles as
authoritative in the church in the New .
Testament as the
inscripturated form
of
those
traditions?
Because
the one orally
communicating those traditions had
tolic authority directly from Jesus,
the
revelation of the Father, and the inspiration
of
the Holy Spirit, and that authority bound
. the church to believe and obey
what
was
contained in the treasure of
sound
doctrine.
And
what must be said time and again is
that
no one but Christ's
apostles and
apos
tolic authority, so that when they taught the '
church
in sermons or
letters, the
church
was to receive their words as truth from
Jesus
Christ
Himself passed on to His
church through them . ' Therefore, we who '
are members
of
Christ's church today, as
always, are
under obligation
to
submit
to
the Spirit-inspired oral teaching of
Christ;s
apostles,
if they
were still alive, but
they
.
are all dead And according to
the
Bible
this apostolic authority that is foundational
to
the
church has not been passed on to
anybody.
The
apostles have no successors.
There
is no apostolic succession
of the
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apostolic
office .
Rome's
claim that the
popes are the successors of the
apostles
has
one problem:
it
is not and cannot be
rounded
n
the Bible, or in the
apostolic
deposit of divine
truth
and life. Timothy
was
Paul's
"son" in the ministry, and yet
Timothy is never
given the
name
apostle,
nor
does he function as an apostle,
nor
is he
treated as
an
apostle . The apostolate was
not a permanent and continuing office in the
church. t was foundational. Paul himself
said he was the "last" of the apostles in I
Corinthians 15:9. Moreover, it is impossible
for anyone
after
the
First
Century to be an
apostle because according to the apostolic
deposit of
divine
truth, two prerequisites
are necessary for one to be an apostle: (I).
He
had to have seen the
resurrected
Christ,
and (2).
He
had
to
be
called
to
office
personally by Jesus Christ.
So then, the authority of the apostles
continuing in the church today is only
through their "deposit" of God-breathed
doctrine. And the only way now that we
can receive that
deposit
is in
writing
for
one obvious reason: Christ's apostles are
all dead and have been dead for almost 2000
years There
has
not been
any oral apos
tolic instruction since the las t apostle died ,
and
contrary
to
Rome's
contention,
the
apostolate transmitted their apostolic au
thority
on to
NO successors.
Therefore, what the apostles wrote is to
be
received
by
us
as the very Word of God.
As Paul
wrote: f
anyone
thinks he is a
prophet
or spiritual, let him recognize
that the things which I write
to
you are
the Lord's commandment, I
Corinthians
15:37. Their writings have the same divine
authority as the rest of the God-breathed
Scriptures.
Peter urged
his
readers
to
regard
the patience of our
Lord
to be
salvation; just as also our
beloved
brother Paul, according
to
the wisdom
giveil
him, wrote to you, as also in all
his
letters, speaking in them of
these
things, in which
are
some things hard to
understand,
which the
untaught and
unstable distort as they do also the rest
of the Scriptures,
to
their own
destruc
tion,
II
Peter 3:15-16.
Peter, in other words, puts Paul's writing
on par with the Old Testament Scriptures,
just as Paul puts Luke s writing on par
with
the Old Testament,
when
in I Timothy 5:18,
he writes: For the Scripture says, "You
shall not mUZZle the ox while he is
threshing," (which s from Deuteronomy
25:4) , and
"The
laborer
is worthy of
his
wages," (which is from Luke 10:7).
There is no continuing oral apostolic
traditions
because
there have been no
apostles for almost 2000 years.
Now
the
authority
of Christ's apostles continue to
govern the church through their written,
objective instruction. .
The author of the epistle of Jude lived
when the apostle's were still alive and still
transmitting
the
truth
of God orally, and yet
he could still urge his readers to contend
earnestly
for the faith
which was once
for
all
delivered to
the
saints,
vs. 3. He
knew of a body of revealed truth, callea ,
the
Faith, i.e. , that which is to be believed
because it
ll
divinely revealed. He knew
that this
had been
once
for all
delivered
to the church of Christ. Therefore all
claims to additional revelation-oral or
written
- are false
claims.
This "Faith" was
accomplished and completed in the genera
tion
of the
apostles.
Since the,death of the
last apostle, the apostolic
tradition
is not a
growing tradition, continuing to develop, nor
is it a "living tradition",which can be
supplemented by the ex cathedra declara
tion of the Roman pope.
Paul
warns in
Galatians
I :6-9 that
if
anyone preaches another gospel other than
the
one
that originated
with
Christ and was
passed down to him by direct revelation and
inspiration, i.e,
the faith
which was once
for all delivered to the saints, he will be
cursed of God.
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"What this demonstrates is that the gospel
in
Paul's time was a completed message which would
not be subject to "development" over time, in the
sense that there could be dogmas added to the
truth
of
he faith which were not clearly taught by
the apostles. It was a body of truth whose contents
were defended by the apostles and which were
preserved in the New Testament epistles. - The
Church of Rome , of course, partly defends its
tradition under
the
notion of "development
of
doctrine." That is, that the apostles left truth in
genn in
tlle
Scriptures which took centuries to
develop fully .Teachings,inlplicitly recorded
in
Scripture, are slowly over time more fully revealed
by the Spirit of God
as
he gives de eper understand
ing. This is a clever theory. No one denies that
tllere can
be
a development in understanding the
deep truths of Scripture over time, but the theory
now under consideration cannot legitimize Roman
Catholic tradition for it fails
as
we have seen] in
two very important
tests-the
test
of
Scripture and
the test ofhistory."- William Webster, THE
CHURCH OF ROME AT THE BAR
OF
HIS
TORY,p.18-l9.
So then, to repeat: what governs the
church today? Oral apostolic tradition? No
Why ? The
apostles
are dead. What
about
the teaching of the apostles in
objective
written
form? Yes Praise God for it
Although
Peter
was
on the
Mount
of
Trans
figuration and heard God speak audibly
from the
heavens
, he wrote in
his second
epistle that he would rather have the di
vinely revealed book
than the
audible
and
oral divine voice. He said
that
in the Bible
we have the prophetic word made more
sure,
II
Peter
1: 19. Why is
the
written
Word more sure ? Because no
prophecy
of Scripture
is a matter
of one's
own
interpretation,
for
no
prophecy was ever
made
by
an
act of
human
will,
but
men
moved by the
Holy Spirit
spoke
from
God
[in the
Scripture],
II Peter 1:20-21.
Third, the necessity for the
inscripturation of the
Word
of
God. God
has revealed Himself
in a
variety
of
ways
in the history of redemption since the cre-
ation: orally through the prophets , audibly
and
directly
from Heaven, through the
Angel
of
the Lord, in dreams and
visions
, in
apostolic preaching and in writing, from
Moses
through John .
From tablets
of stone
to epistles God has rev ealed
Himself in
written
form
. Why?
The
Word of
God
that
was originally delivered in oral form needed
to
be reduced
to
writing
in order
for
the
rest of
God's
people to know the truth
about
Him and His will for
them,
so it
could
operate as an effective standard for faith
and
obedience,
truth and
life,
theology and
ethics. In
writt
en Jorm t is an objec
tiv
e
inJallible
standard
to
govern
th e church
through all gen era t ions to test
the
truth
claims oj
prophets
and
teachers
Jar
the
establishment
oj the church in
all
ages
to guard
against Satan
to give
the
a
ss
ur-
an ce
o
salvation
again
s t human
opin
ion
expres
sed
by preachers or prie
st
s. As the
Westminster Confession
of Faith
states:
" ... for the better preserving and propagat
ing of the truth, and for
the more sure
establishment
and comfort
of the Church
again
st the corrupti on of
the
flesh, and
malice of
Satan
and of
the
world , to
commit
the
same [i.e. , the re velation of God and
His will] wholly unto writing;
which
makes
the
Holy
Scripture
to
be most
llecessary;
those
fanner ways
of
God's revealing His
will
unto His people being
now ceased. -
I,
I
That this confessional statement
has
solid Scriptural support can be shown from
the following texts :
So that your trust may be
in
the LORD, I
have taught you today, even you. Have I not
written to you excellent things, of counsels
and knowledge, to make you know the cer
tainty
ofthe
words
oftruth that
you may
correctly answer to him who sent you?- Prov
erbs 22: 19 21
Inasmuch as many have
undertaken
to
compile
an
account
ofthe
things accomplished
among us,
just
as those who
from the
begin
ning were eyewitnesses and servants of t)Ie
April/May, 2000 - THE COUNSEL ofChalcedon -37
8/12/2019 2000 Issue 3 - Sola Scriptura - Counsel of Chalcedon
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