https://thethink.institute/ HOMERESOURCES FELLOWSHIP STORECO NTACT DONATEABOUT BACKPODCASTBLOGFACEBOOK GROUPAPOLOGETICS RESOURCE DIRECTORYBIBLICAL STUDY GUIDEFREE APOLOGETICS RESOURCEWORLDVIEW MASTERCLASSNEWSLETTERCATECHISMF AMILY WORSHIP PLAYBOOKCHURCH TRAININGPREMIUM PODCAST BACKJOIN THE HAMMER & ANVIL SOCIETYTHE HAMMER & ANVIL SOCIETY COURSES BACKCONTACTSPEAKING REQUESTS & BOOKING BACKABOUT USSTATEMENT OFFAITHOUR PEOPLEOUR STORY JOIN THE APOLOGETICS FOUNDATIONS COURSE STARTING APRIL 1! Is Sola Scriptura Biblical? by Joel Settecase / August 20, 2022 There is one question that has occupied both Protestants and Catholics alike over the last 505 years. I'm talking about the question of Sola Scriptura. In Latin, it means "Scripture Alone." This was one of the five pillars of the Reformation—the others being Sola Fide (Faith Alone), Sola Gratia (Grace Alone), Solus Christus (Christ Alone), and Soli Deo Gloria (to the Glory of God Alone).Martin Luther called Sola Scriptura "the formal principle of the Reformation." His Roman Catholic opponents rejected the doctrine then, and down to this very day it remains a contested teaching between the two camps. Right away maybe you are asking, "Hey if Protestant and Catholic scholars have been debating this for more than half a millennium, what chance do you have to suss it all out?" And yet, suss it you must. Why must you suss it? Let me give you two reasons. But first, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Joel Settecase. | am a Bible teacher and former pastor, who used to defend the Christian worldview thecompletely wrong way. Then God changed my attitude and my approach. Now | help Christian fathers, families and students of all ages defend their faith with confidence, and pass it on to the younger generation. Now, | want to help you answer the question, Is Sola Scriptura True? And the first reason you should be able to answer it is this: Sola Scriptura directly affects your life as a follower of Jesus Christ. This doctrine deals directly with Scripture, which is God's written word to His people. Properly understanding Scripture and its importance is a huge part of what it means to know God. The second reason is that your kids need to understand Sola Scriptura. They are going to ask you about it some day. Or youknow what? Even if they don't ask you, someone is going to ask them about it. You want your children to grow up ready to answer the world's questions. That's a big part of how you're going to build a worldview legacy for your family. Sola Scriptura is bound up with that. Probably the best book | can recommend on Sola Scriptura is James R. White's book, Scripture alone. A lot of what | say here is drawn directly from that book. It's available on Amazon. | personally benefitted from that book when | was asked a question about Sola Scriptura during a recent Apologetics AMA (Ask Me Anything) that | did on the chat app, Discord. Here's how it was asked to me:"How can Sola Scriptura be true, if Scripture never lists the books of the canon?" (The canon is the official list of books included in the Bible). Can you see the dilemma here? We Protestants believe in Scripture alone—that means Scripture is "sufficient." It has all we need. But in order to say that, we have to define what Scripture is—which books are in, and which are out. But Scripture itself never gives us that list. So it seems like Sola Scriptura doesn't work. Are you wondering about the answer to this? How would you answer? This is why we need to do a deep dive into Sola Scriptura. Along the way, | will share with you what | said during that AMA, with someadditional notes. So to help us answer the big question—is Sola Scriptura true—let's look at the following five questions together. 1. WHAT DOES SOLA SCRIPTURA MEAN? 2. WHAT ARE SOME CHARACTERISTICS THAT SCRIPTURE HAS, THAT NO OTHER BOOK HAS? 3. IF SCRIPTURE IS SUFFICIENT, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR ALL OTHER "AUTHORITIES?"4. HOW DO WE REALLY KNOW WHICH BOOKS SHOULD BE IN THE CANON OF SCRIPTURE? If, at the end, you still have more questions —and if this is the kind of stuff you like learning about—you need to know about my free community. It's called the ThinkSquad, and it's where you can join over 600 others on the same journey toward building a legacy for their family— where husband, wife, and kids can share their faith with confidence and answer the world's questions from the Bible. I'll tell you more about that at the end. Now let's tackle our five questions in order. 1. What does Sola ScripturaMean? In chapter two of his book Scripture Alone, James White starts with several things Sola Scriptura does not mean: * It does not mean the Bible is a universal encyclopedia. + It does not mean the Bible contains every detail about the life and ministry of Jesus. * It does not mean the Bible is a preventative against multiple denominations springing up. * It does not mean the Bible must produce perfect agreement of opinion among believers* It does not mean the Bible prevents problems arising from not reading it. * It does not mean the Bible is all we have. * It does not mean our only options are (1) me under a tree in the woods alone, or (2) the infallible Pope in Rome. * It does not mean the Bible was sufficient prior to its being written. * It does not mean the Bible muzzles the Spirit. So, how is Sola Scriptura actually defined? Sola Scriptura is the doctrine that Scripture alone is the sole, infallible rule of faith for the church.A rule of faith is that, which according to James White, that which governs and guides what we believe and why. In other words, Sola Scriptura affirms, in White's words, the freedom of Scripture to rule as God's word for the church, disentangled from papal and ecclesiastical magisterium, and tradition. So, a corollary to this is the idea that, again, James White's words, all a person must believe to be a follower of Christ is found in Scripture and in no other source. Sola Scriptura means that Scripture doesn't need any help from the Pope or the rulers of the Roman Catholic Church, in order to tell us everything we need to follow Jesus. And the Bible doesn't need their permission, either. There is nothingthat needs to be added to God's written word, the Bible. Now let's look at question two. 2. What are some characteristics that Scripture has, that no other book has? Scripture has three attributes that no other source of religious authority can even touch: Sufficiency. Certainty. Infallibility. Scripture testifies this about itself. Jesus said that Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35). 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, "All Scripture isbreathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." So scripture's testimony about itself, in its entirety, is that it is all we need—for every good work—if you're a man of God. Scripture says that Scripture is sufficient. What do we need for faith and godliness? Scripture alone. Sola Scriptura. Bound up with this truth is the truth that Scripture is certain. It is from God, and God cannot lie. If He has said something, that something is true. And furthermore, Scripture is also infallible. It cannot fail. Jesus saidScripture cannot be broken (John 10:35). Everything God says in Scripture will be accomplished—as Jesus Says again in Matthew 5:18: "For truly, | say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished." Scripture is sufficient. It is certain. It is infallible. What else has these three characteristics? Nothing, because nothing else is "breathed out by God" in the same way (2 Timothy 3:16) On to question three. 3. If Scripture is sufficient, what does that mean for allother "authorities?" Faith in Jesus Christ is not a salvific (saving) work, but trusting in Jesus every day, orienting your life around Jesus, is is one of those good works that Scripture equips us for. So once we see that Scripture itself testifies to its own sufficiency, that right there knocks every other source of authority off any pedestal. This is because, if we needed an external source to the Bible to authenticate Scripture for us, then Scripture would not be our sufficient source, fully equipping us for every good work. In that case, Scripture would get us, maybe, most of the way there, but wewould still need the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic church to authenticate Scripture. But it's Scripture that tells us about how to live for Jesus! So if we needed the Roman Church to authenticate Scripture, then we would need the Roman Church in order to live for Jesus. We would need something else, other than Scripture, to equip us for "every good work." The first step of living for Jesus each day is knowing and believing God's word. If knowing and believing God's word was dependent on the Roman Church, what then? So faith in Scripture itself would still be a good work that we would need to go outside of Scripture in order to be able to perform.In other words, if we needed the Roman Church, or any other authority to authenticate Scripture, then the Scripture itself would be false. Because Scripture tells us that Scripture is sufficient for every good work. The sufficiency of Scripture—which is what the Bible itself teaches, negates all other authorities. If the Bible teaches that it is sufficient (and it does teach that), then it is sufficient. Scripture negates all external authorities. Now let's look at question four. 4. How do we really know which books should be inthe canon of Scripture? There are four facts which help us answer this. FACT #1: THE OLD TESTAMENT CANON WAS SET BY JESUS' DAY. KEEP IN MIND THAT THE BIBLE IS DIVIDED INTO TWO PARTS, THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW TESTAMENT. THE OLD TESTAMENT HAD BEEN FINISHED PRIOR TO JESUS' DAY. The Old Testament canon—which did not include the Apocrypha by the way—also known as the Hebrew Scriptures or the"Tanakh,' was recognized and solidified by Jesus’ day. And during that 400 year period prior to Jesus, it was well known within Israel within second temple Judaism, that there had been no new revelation from God. What about the New Testament? FACT #2: THE NEW TESTAMENT CANON TOOK SHAPE VERY EARLY, AS IT WAS BEING WRITTEN. We begin to see it take shape even within the pages of Scripture itself. Peter authenticates the writings of Paul, for example. He says that some twist the Scriptures. He said that some twist Paul'swritings as they do the other Scriptures (2 Peter 3:16). Jesus himself also authorized the writings of the gospels and the epistles. When he said that the Holy Spirit would remind his apostles of everything that he did (John 14:26), that's the Gospels. Jesus also said that the Holy Spirit would guide them into all truth. That's the epistles. Fact #3: As the Early Church would meet for various councils to discuss the books that were part of Scripture, they had criteria by which they could judge. These rules, | would say, are consistent with Scripture itself. FIRST RULE: It had to be apostolic, meaning it had to bewritten at the time of the apostles by an apostle or an apostolic associate. It was to the Apostles that Jesus gave His promises that the Holy Spirit would help them write the New Testament (John 14:26; 16:13). A book could also be written by an apostolic associate, however. Why? Because they were in a position to get firsthand testimony directly from the apostles. So for example, Luke was not an apostle per se, but he was a companion of Paul. So Luke's gospel is canon. SECOND RULE: It had to be theologically consistent with other scriptures.So this is why right off the bat, books like the "Gospel of Thomas,’ the "Gospel of Mary Magdalene,’ and the "Gospel of Jesus’ Wife"—which is a forgery that came out a couple years ago)—these are all off the table. They were not apostolic. They weren't written during the times of the apostles, and they are not theologically consistent with the other Scriptures Consistency is a biblical criterion, because Scripture cannot contradict itself. That would make God a liar, and the Bible says God is true is not a liar (Romans 3:4) and does not change (Malachi 3:6). THIRD RULE: They also had to be recognized by all the churches. That was important as well.Why that criterion? Because that was strong evidence that the Holy Spirit had guided the Lord's church, universally, to accept a book as being breathed out by God (1 Timothy 3:16). God's truth is communicated to God's people by God's Spirit, as 1 Corinthians 2:13 says: "And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.” The Canon was determined by the Holy Spirit. It is His idea. It did not come into existence by an official statement by the Roman Catholic Church. It was produced and authenticated by the Spirit of God. This is not the same thing as a magisterium in Rome or some central authority declaring by fiat (arbitrarydecree) that these books are canon. The Pope and Rome do not have the authority to declare which books are Scripture. Neither did the emperor Constantine. God's not real big on these big centralized authorities. They can recognize what God has done, but that is the extent of it. Scripture itself gives us the ability to determine which books are from God. And this ability has been granted to the church and exercised throughout history. Someone might push back that this is something Christians disagree upon. That's true. However, that does not disprove the work of the Holy Spirit or the truth of Sola Scriptura. As we have seen,when it comes to sufficiency, Scripture itself negates all other authorities. So no pope, or magisterium, or council, has the right to override Scripture or invalidate the principle of Sola Scriptura. If you want to learn more about this, James White does a deep dive this in his book, Sola Scriptura. He also answers the question, "Where did the canon of Scripture come from?" | recommend you go read that book. So let's recap: 1. WHAT DOES SOLA SCRIPTURA MEAN? Sola scriptura is the doctrine that scripture alone is the sole infallible rule of faith forthe church. 2. WHAT ARE SOME CHARACTERISTICS THAT SCRIPTURE HAS, THAT NO OTHER BOOK HAS? Sufficiency, certainty, and infallibility. 3. IF SCRIPTURE IS SUFFICIENT, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR ALL OTHER "AUTHORITIES?" It means they are negated. 4. HOW DO WE REALLY KNOW WHICH BOOKS SHOULD BE IN THE CANON OF SCRIPTURE?We can know the Old Testament, because we know what books Jesus recognized as authoritative in His day. We can know the New Testament because the New Testament itself hints at which books are authoritative, and the Holy Spirit guided the Early Church to recognize—not authorize—which books are included, based on criteria which are perfectly in line with Scripture itself. One thing James White says over and over in His book is that the canon of Scripture is an artifact of revelation. That means that it is God's idea. God has a purpose for Scripture, and He Himself has decided which books are included in that purpose. Your kids are going to ask you this. Or they will be asked this. You need to know howto answer, and now you know. There is a free community that discusses questions like this—and how to answer them for yourself, your home and local area —and you are invited to join. Get connected to others who are on the same journey as you. And get access to the resources that we share, and stuff to help you pass on your faith. Join the ThinkSquad group. All you have to do is go here. Answer the short membership questions, and that's all it takes.