Is Sola Scriptura true?

St. Jerome translating the Bible into Latin

Before I do make a statement on Sola Scriptura, let me just say my experience. When I was an anti Catholic, I am always trying to lead people astray and even my siblings by saying, “The Bible alone is the authority we have! We don’t need Popes, Councils or Bishops to interpret this for us! God guides us in the Bible”. I always quote Psalm 119:105 which is always my favorite verse which says, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path”. I use this to prove Sola Scriptura and also scenes when Jesus Himself quoted Scripture in Matthew 4:1-11, the Temptation story.

Jesus tempted by Satan

But as I study the Bible, I have this question, If the Bible alone is the sole authority, then why there are billions of interpretations? As I was criticizing the Church, I am becoming a pope myself, deciding dogmas and doctrines for myself. With all the sects around me, I then began to question and ask the Lord, “Which one of these sects is the right one?”, until I have read the Bible myself, and read that not everything that Jesus said is written in the Bible, based on John 21:25. So now, I will expose the myth of Sola Scriptura using both Bible and history.

Just because Deuteronomy 12:32 says, “not to add or subtract anything”, doesn’t mean it refers to the Bible. We ought to look at the timeline of this verse. Moses was actually referring to the Torah (The Five Books of Moses). If we are to accept that it refers to the Bible, it would conclude that books after Moses were adding to what he said like Joshua up to Revelation.

Moses, the Lawgiver in the Old Testament

Second, in Jeremiah 36:2, just because it was said to write on a scroll, it doesn’t mean that it refers to the whole Bible. First, we must understand that it refers to the book of Jeremiah only and the Canon of Scriptures wasn’t compiled yet.

The Prophet Jeremiah and Baruch the scribe, writing God's commands to Israel. The Canon of Scriptures wasn't compiled during their time.

Thirdly, Jesus quoted Scriptures to Satan, not to prove Sola Scriptura, but rather to counter Satan and prove His authority in the Scriptures. It proves here the material sufficiency of the Scriptures as in 2 Timothy 3:16 wherein it says, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for correction, reproof, doctrine and instruction in righteousness”. The same applies when He was also quoting Scripture to the Pharisees, to correct their interpretation.

Another is in John 5:39. Jesus wasn’t asking the Jews there to “search the Scriptures”. He was rebuking them since they opposed Jesus who is the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. 

In Acts 17:11, the Bereans “searched the Scriptures” for the purpose of verifying Paul’s statement concerning Jesus to be the Promised Messiah.

John 21:25, "Now there are many other things that Jesus did. If I will write them down one by one, I suppose that the whole world could not hold the books that would be written"

In 1 Corinthians 4:6, that verse has nothing to do with Sola Scriptura. If we are to examine the verse in the light of the context, St. Paul was using himself and Apollos as examples of humility so that none of the Christians in Corinth would think high of each other, but think of the abilities they have as God's gift in the light of 1 Corinthians 4:7 since he said that they are Christ's servants in charge of God's secret truths (1 Corinthians 4:1) and that as servants, they are expected to be loyal to their Master (1 Corinthians 4:2). When Paul said, "not to go beyond what is written", he was quoting a Jewish idiom. Protestant scholars themselves argue as to whether or not Paul was referring to the Scriptures or quoting a proverb from ancient Jews. But if for the sake of argument it refers to the Scriptures, what was Paul referring? The Old Testament Scriptures of course! The New Testament wasn't written yet and scholars may agree that the Pauline Epistles were written before the Gospels and before Revelation.

The same applies in 2 Timothy 3:16-17. Scripture itself is profitable but never sufficient. In fact, if the verse is read from v.14, Paul is making an appeal to Timothy to Sacred Tradition.

St. Peter was also warning us that no prophecy in Scripture is of private interpretation in 2 Peter 1:20-21. It debunks Sola Scriptura and he added that Paul’s letters and the rest of the Scriptures can be quoted by unschooled men to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:16).

Also, in Revelation 22:18-19, St. John says something about adding or subtracting "from this book". But this does not refer to the Bible per se, it refers to the book of Revelation since during this time that St. John wrote this book, the Canon of the Bible wasn't written yet. The same applies in Revelation 1:3.

St. John writing the book of Revelation in Patmos

Mark 7:6-7 doesn’t condemn all traditions. If we are only to look at the context, it is referring to the Jewish Corban, which the Pharisees concocted as an excuse to disobey the fourth commandment in Exodus 20:12, “Honor thy father and thy mother”. There are Traditions that are also Biblical like in 2 Thessalonians 2:15 wherein Paul says, “Stand firm and hold fast to the Traditions taught to you, both in mouth and in letter”.

Jesus attacking the Korban tradition of the Pharisees

St. Paul (to the Christians in Corinth): "Now I praise you brothers because you have remembered me in all things and have obeyed the Traditions I give to you" (1 Corinthians 11:2)

Historically speaking to refute Sola Scriptura, it would have to be like this: After the death of the last Apostle, were the New Testament and the Old Testament compiled? Early Christians at this time had the Gospel of Judas, Gospel of Thomas, Shepherd of Hermas. So how did we know which books really belong to the Bible? If we are to study Early Church History, Christians didn’t have Bibles with them, all they have is the teachings they received from the Apostles. It was only in 493 A.D. when the Bible was compiled into 73 books (46 from OT, 27 from NT). And even if the Bible were compiled, it was not accessible to the public since first of all, not all of them are literate. Most are illiterate and having a copy of the Bible would cost a lot of money and you would have to kill sheep, goats for you to produce a paper. This was the time of the Middle Ages.

Sample of the stained glass images in the Middle Ages

Johannes Gutenburg, a Catholic who invented the Printing Press and translated the Bible into English

That is why the Catholic Church figured out a solution. Using images to remind Christians of the truths of the Faith. And some of them are still preserved to this day. There was no printing press yet until Gutenberg. And even when the Bible was produced to to the public, there was no guarantee that the Bible would be interpreted by the common people without error. That is why during the Reformation, Martin Luther said before his death, “There are as many interpretations as there are heads”. Luther removed the 7 books of the Deuterocanonicals and it was only at the Council of Trent that the decision of Carthage was affirmed.

"There are as many interpretations (of the Bible) as there are heads"- Martin Luther

Speaking of burning Bibles, the Catholic Church burned Bibles that are not faithful to the original Hebrew and Greek texts but she didn't burn vernacular Bible versions that are faithful to the original tongue in which it was written. But Protestants also do the same too, they burned also Bibles that are not in compatibility with their teachings. One example is John Calvin. He burned the Servetus Bible versions in 1522 since these does not suit Calvin's teachings. He even burned Michael Servetus to death for bring a Unitarian (the belief that either the Father alone is God or Jesus Christ is God in Three modes of existence). The Catholic Church only did the burning of corrupt Bible versions to preserve the sanctity of the Holy Scriptures.

John Calvin also burned Bible versions that are not in common with his teachings

Let’s use logic to debunk Sola Scriptura. I’ll take it from a student teacher example:

A student was given a math book by his teacher. The question, does the student really know how to understand the concepts in his book? Of course not! He needs the teacher for them to be of one understanding of concepts in the math book. The same applies with the Bible and the Church. They are not enemies, they are best friends.

When a person reads his Bible, there are some passages there he cannot understand. That is why he needs the Church who is the Magisterium, from the Latin word, “magistra” which means, “to teach”.

Philip teaching the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:30-31)

To conclude, the Bible itself debunks Sola Scriptura, whose issue is authority of the Bible alone. Remember, Jesus Himself only promised two things, the Holy Spirit and the Church as Scripture says:

Matthew 16:18, “You are Peter, and upon this rock, I will build My Church, and the fires of hell will not prevail against it”

John 16:13, “But when He, the Spirit of Truth is coming, He will guide you to all truth. He will not speak of His own, but He will speak of what He hears and tell you of things to come”

About the Church, the Lord Jesus says that the Church is authoritarian as He says in Matthew 18:18

Matthew 18:18, “And I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loosed on earth will be loosed in heaven”

That is why the Church is called by the Bible as, “The Pillar and Ground of the Truth” (1 Timothy 3:15) which teaches Apostolic Tradition in 1 Corinthians 11:2, “Now I praise you brothers because you have always remembered me, and have obeyed the Traditions that I have given you”.

St. John says, “But we are of God. Whoever is of God listens to us. That is how we can tell the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:6).

"You are Peter, and upon this rock, I will build My Church and the fires of hell shall not prevail against it" 

(Matthew 16:18)

"But when He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you to all truth" (John 16:13)

"Where the bishop is, let the people gather and where Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church"- St. Ignatius of Antioch (Epistle to the Smyrnaens)