SOLA Scriptura versus Solo Scripture

Within the body of Christ, there is a misunderstanding of the difference between Sola Scriptura and Solo Scriptura. This may be due the desire to fully distance themselves from Roman Catholicism where in Roman Catholicism; it is taught that tradition is on par with scripture.

Sola Scriptura means “by Scripture alone”. It is the belief that the Scriptures are fully and completely sufficient for everything that we need for faith, life and godliness. It is the authority of Scripture alone.

Solo Scriptura is the belief that the church is not an authoritative interpreter of Scripture. In other words it is only authoritative when “I agree with it.” Solo Scriptura can be restated as the belief that all I need to interpret the Scriptures properly is “Me, My Bible and the Holy Spirit.”

Regrettably, there is an increasing amount of evangelicals that are moving more toward the solo scriptura camp. It may be due, in part, to the misunderstanding of what ‘tradition’ means or implies.

In Roman Catholicism, tradition is considered to be equal to scripture. In other words, tradition holds equal authority with the word of God. It is a belief in the seven sacraments (communion, baptism, confirmation, penance, holy orders, matrimony and anointing of the sick). It is believed through these sacraments that God’s grace is conveyed. The authority of tradition is alongside and on equal footing with scripture, the Word of God.

It is probably a good idea to understand the meaning of the word “tradition.” The word comes from tradition, from tradere meaning to give up, transmit. It means the act of delivering into the hands of another. Traditions may be good or bad, true or false.

When one comes to Christ, they are not in a vacuum. For instance, when we are taking the Good News to an unbeliever, we are practicing sola scriptura, not solo scriptura. Paraphrasing the Word of God is sola scriptura. Our paraphrasing is not inspired yet, we are using the Word of God as the authority. This is contrary to Roman Catholicism in which their tradition is believed to be equal to the Word of God in matters of faith. Tradition and the Word of God sit side by side and are of equal authority.

Throughout the history of the Church, God has used His people to teach His word. There are doctrines that the essence of what evangelical Christians hold as truth yet they are not articulated as such in Scripture. An example would be the trinity. The doctrine of the trinity, while found throughout scripture, was not articulated until the Council of Nicea. While there are extra-biblical writings that speak of the trinity (Athenagoras (c. 175, E), 2.141, Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), 2.295, Tertullian (c. 213, W), 3.598, 599), it was not articulated. The Council of Nicea in articulating the doctrine of the trinity adhered to sola scriptura as the authority. And we now have the classic definition of tradition – the delivering from one to another.

God, in His wisdom, raised up teachers for the edification of the body of Christ. And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, (Eph 4:11-12 ESV)

It is not ‘me, my bible and the Holy Spirit.” To make that claim, one must reject all teachings, start from scratch and build doctrine on our own and eventually come to the same conclusions that God’s people have taught throughout the Church history. There would be no need for God to raise up teachers for equipping the saints as solo scriptura is “me, my bible and the Holy Spirit.” Tradition, or the handing down from one to another must align with the Word of God. That is what it means “the authority of scripture alone.” Scripture will interpret itself. Doctrinal truth comes only from the bible.

The source of doctrinal truth from scripture alone is in opposition to the teachings from the Catholic Church. The Second Vatican Council has three criteria for the interpretation of Scripture.

(1) Be especially attentive to the content and unity of the whole Scripture.’. . . (2) Read the Scripture within the living Tradition of the whole Church.’ . . . (3) Be attentive to the analogy of faith.” (Par. 111, 112, 13, 114).

In other words, The Second Vatican Council has declared that scripture must be interpreted within Catholic Church Tradition whereas evangelicals hold that tradition must be interpreted by Scripture alone.

Tradition may be good or bad, true or false. Tradition (the handing down of matters of faith) is how God operated throughout the ages. Tradition must be derived from the authority of scripture alone versus the Roman Catholic teaching that scripture must be read through the lens of tradition.

Related posts:

1. Spiritual Authority versus Natural Authority
2. Positive Commandments versus Negative Commandments
3. Do Not Bow Down to Idols
4. Odd and Strange Teachings in Christianity
5. What is our job as Christians