The "Bible Alone" is Not Enough

Answers to 25 Questions on the History of New Testament which completely refute the Protestants' "Bible Only" Theory.

Did Our Lord write any part of the New Testament or command His Apostles to do so? Our Lord Himself never wrote a line, nor is there any record that He ordered His Apostles to write; He did command them to teach and to preach. Also He to whom all power was given in Heaven and on earth (Matthew 28-18) promised to give them the Holy Ghost (John 14-26) and to be with them Himself till the end of the world. (Matthew 28-20).

Comment: If reading the Bible were a necessary means of salvation, Our Lord would have made that statement and also provided the necessary means for His followers.

How many of the Apostles or others actually wrote what is now in the New Testament? A few of the Apostles wrote part of Our Lords teachings, as they themselves expressly stated; i.e., Peter, Paul, James, John, Jude, Matthew, also Saints Mark and Luke. None of the others wrote anything, so far as is recorded.

Comment: If the Bible privately interpreted was to be a Divine rule of Faith, the Apostles would have been derelict in their duty when instead, some of them adopted preaching only.

The Protestant Bible expressly states that Christ founded a teaching Church, which existed before any of the New Testament books were written.
   Romans 10-17: So then faith cometh by Hearing and hearing by the word of God.
   Matthew 28-19: Go ye therefore and Teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
   Mark 16-20: And they went forth, and Preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.
   Mark 16-15: And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and Preach the gospel to every creature.

Was there any drastic difference between what Our Lord commanded the Apostles to teach and what the New Testament contains? Our Lord commanded His Apostles to teach all things whatsoever He had commanded; (Matthew 28-20); His Church must necessarily teach everything; (John 14-26); however, the Protestant Bible itself teaches that the Bible does not contain all of Our Lords doctrines:

John 20-30: And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book.
John 21-25: And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.

Comment: How would it have been possible for second century Christians to practice Our Lords religion, if private interpretation of an unavailable and only partial account of Christs teaching were indispensable?

Does the New Testament expressly refer to Christs "unwritten word"? The New Testament itself teaches that it does not contain all that Our Lord did or, consequently, all that He taught.

Comment: Since the Bible is incomplete, it needs something else to supplement it; i.e., the spoken or historically recorded word which we call Tradition.

What became of the unwritten truths which Our Lord and the Apostles taught? The Church had carefully conserved this 'word of mouth teaching by historical records called Tradition. Even the Protestant Bible teaches that many Christian truths were to be handed down by word of mouth.

2 Thessalonians 2-14: Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.
2 Timothy 2-2: And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

Comment: Hence not only Scripture but other sources of information must be consulted to get the whole of Christs teaching. Religions founded on 'the Bible only are therefore necessarily incomplete.

Between what years were the first and last books of the New Testament written? The first book, Saint Matthews Gospel, was not written until about ten years after Our Lords Ascension. Saint Johns fourth gospel and Apocalypse or Book of Revelations were not written until about 100 A.D.

Comment: Imagine how the present-day privately interpreted 'Bible-only theory would have appeared at a time when the books of the New Testament were not only unavailable, but most of them had not yet been written.

When was the New Testament placed under one cover? In 397 A.D. by the Council of Carthage, from which it follows that non- Catholics have derived their New Testament from the Catholic Church; no other source was available.

Comment: Up to 397 A.D., some of the Christians had access to part of the New Testament; into this situation, how would the 'Bible-only privately interpreted theory have fitted?

Why so much delay in compiling the New Testament? Prior to 397 A.D., the various books of the New Testament were not under one cover, but were in the custody of different groups or congregations. The persecutions against the Church, which had gained new intensity, prevented these New Testament books from being properly authenticated and placed under one cover. However, this important work was begun after Constantine gave peace to Christianity in 313 A.D., allowing it to be practiced in the Roman Empire.

Comment: This again shows how utterly impossible was the 'Bible-only theory, at least up to 400 A.D.

What other problem confronted those who wished to determine the contents of the New Testament? Before the inspired books were recognized as such, many other books had been written and by many were thought to be inspired; hence the Catholic Church made a thorough examination of the whole question; biblical scholars spent years in the Holy Land studying languages of New Testament writings.

Comment: According to the present-day 'Bible-only theory, in the above circumstances, it would also have been necessary for early Christians to read all the doubtful books and, by interior illumination, judge which were and which were not divinely inspired.

Who finally did decide which books were inspired and therefore belonged to the New Testament? Shortly before 400 A.D. a General Council of the Catholic Church, using the infallible authority which Christ had given to His own Divine institution, finally decided which books really belonged to the New Testament and which did not.

If the Church was infallible then, why is it not infallible now? If the Church was not infallible then, in that case the New Testament is not worth the paper it is written on, because internal evidences of authenticity and inspiration are inconclusive and because the work of this Council cannot now be rechecked; this is obvious from reply to next question.

Comment: In view of these historical facts, it is difficult to see how non-Catholics can deny that it was from the (Roman) Catholic Church that they received the New Testament.

Why is it impossible for modern non-Catholics to check over the work done by the Church previous to 400 A.D.? The original writings were on frail material called papyrus, which had but temporary enduring qualities. While the books judged to be inspired by the Catholic Church were carefully copied by her monks, those rejected at that time were allowed to disintegrate, for lack of further interest in them.

Comment: What then is left for non-Catholics, except to trust the Catholic Church to have acted under divine inspiration; if at that time, why not now?

Would the theory of private interpretation of the New Testament have been possible for the year 400 A.D.? No, because, as already stated, no New Testament as such was in existence.

Comment: If our non-Catholic brethren today had no Bibles, how could they even imagine following the 'Bible-only privately interpreted theory but before 400 A.D., New Testaments were altogether unavailable.

Would the private interpretation theory have been possible between 400 A.D., and 1440 A.D., when printing was invented? No, the cost of individual Bibles written by hand was prohibitive; moreover, due to the scarcity of books, and other reasons, the ability to read was limited to a small minority. The Church used art, drama and other means to convey Biblical messages.

Comment: To have proposed the 'Bible-only theory during the above period would obviously have been impracticable and irrational.

Who copied and conserved the Bible during the interval between 400 A.D. and 1440 A.D.? The Catholic monks; in many cases these monks spent their entire lives to give the world personally-penned copies of the Scriptures, before printing was invented.

Comment: In spite of this, the Catholic Church is accused of having tried to destroy the Bible; had she desired to do this, she had 1500 years within which to do so.

Who gave the Reformers the authority to change over from the one Faith, one Fold and one Shepherd program, to that of the 'Bible-only Theory? Saint Paul seems to answer the above when he said: 'But though we, or an angel from Heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. Galatians 1-8 (Protestant version).

Comment: If in 300 years, one-third of Christianity was split into at least 300 sects, how many sects would three-thirds of Christianity have produced in 1900 years? (Answer is 5700.)

Since Luther, what consequences have followed from the use of the 'Bible-only theory and its personal interpretation? Just what Saint Paul foretold when he said: 'For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears. 2 Timothy 4-3 (Protestant edition). According to the World Almanac for 1953 there are in the United States 20 different organizations of Methodists, 22 kinds of Baptists, 10 branches of Presbyterians, 13 organizations of Mennonites, 18 of Lutherans and hundreds of other denominations.

Comment: The 'Bible-only theory may indeed cater to the self-exaltation of the individual, but it certainly does not conduce to the acquisition of Divine truth.

In Christs system, what important part has the Bible? The Bible is one precious source of religious truth; other sources are historical records (Tradition) and the abiding presence of the Holy Ghost.

Comment: Elimination of any one of the three elements in the equation of Christs true Church would be fatal to its claims to be such.

Now that the New Testament is complete and available, what insolvable problem remains? The impossibility of the Bible to explain itself and the consequent multiplicity of errors which individuals make by their theory of private interpretation. Hence it is indisputable that the Bible must have an authorized interpreter.

    2 Peter 1-20: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
   2 Peter 3-16: As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
   Acts 8-30: And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Isaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? 31. And he said, How can I, except some men should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.

Comment: Only by going on the supposition that falsehood is as acceptable to God as is truth, can the 'Bible-only theory be defended.

Who is the official expounder of the Scriptures? The Holy Ghost, acting through and within the Church which Christ founded nineteen centuries ago; the Bible teaches through whom in the Church come the official interpretations of Gods law and Gods word.

    Luke 10-16: He that heareth you heareth Me; and he that despiseth you despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me despiseth Him that sent Me.
   Matthew 16-18: And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
   Malachias 2-7: For the priests lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.

Comment: Formerly, at least, it was commonly held that when individuals read their Bibles carefully and prayerfully, the Holy Ghost would guide each individual to a knowledge of the truth. This is much more than the Catholic Church claims for even the Pope himself. Only after extended consultation and study, with much fervent prayer, does he rarely and solemnly make such a decision.

What are the effects of the Catholic use of the Bible? Regardless of what persons may think about the Catholic Church, they must admit that her system gets results in the way of unity of rule and unity of Faith; otherwise stated, one Faith, one Fold and one Shepherd.

Comment: If many millions of non-Catholics in all nations, by reading their Bible carefully and prayerfully, had exactly the same faith, reached the same conclusions, then this theory might deserve the serious consideration of intelligent, well-disposed persons -- but not otherwise.

Why are there so many non-Catholic Churches? Because there is so much different interpretation of the Bible; there is so much different interpretation of the Bible because there is so much wrong interpretation; there is so much wrong interpretation because the system of interpreting is radically wrong; you cannot have one Fold and one Shepherd, one Faith and one Baptism, by allowing every man and every woman to distort and pervert the Scriptures to suit his or her own pet theories.

Comment: To say that Bible reading is an intensely Christian practice, is to enunciate a beautiful truth; to say that Bible reading is the sole source of religious Faith, is to make a sadly erroneous statement.

Without Divine aid, could the Catholic Church have maintained her one Faith, one Fold, and one Shepherd? Not any more than the non-Catholic sects have done; they are a proof of what happens when, without Divine aid, groups strive to do the humanly impossible.

Comment: Catholics love, venerate, use the bible; but they also know that the Bible alone is not Christs system but only a precious book, a means, an aid by which the Church carries on her mission to 'preach the Gospel to every living creature and to keep on preaching it 'to the end of time.

Were there any printed Bibles before Luther? When printing was invented, about 1440, one of the first, if not the earliest printed book, was an edition of the Catholic Bible printed by Johann Gutenberg. It is reliably maintained that 626 editions of the Catholic Bible, or portions thereof, had come from the press through the agency of the Church, in countries where her influence prevailed, before Luthers German version appeared in 1534. Of these, many were in various European languages. Hence Luthers 'discovery of the supposedly unknown Bible at Erfurt in 1503 is one of those strange, wild calumnies with which anti-Catholic literature abounds.

Comment: Today parts of the Bible are read in the vernacular from every Catholic altar every Sunday. The Church grants a spiritual premium or indulgence to those who read the Bible; every Catholic family has, or is supposed to have, a Bible in the home. Millions of Catholic Bibles are sold annually.

During the Middle Ages, did the Catholic Church manifest hostility to the Bible as her adversaries claim? Under stress of special circumstances, various regulations were made by the Church to protect the people from being spiritually poisoned by the corrupted and distorted translations of the Bible; hence opposition to the Waldensians, Albigensians, Wycliffe and Tyndale.

Comment: Individual churchmen may at times have gone too far in their zeal, not to belittle the Bible, but to protect it. There is no human agency in which authority is always exercised blamelessly.

Reprinted from the Juluy 1995 edition of
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"Meanwhile, Jesus gets down on his knees and washes feet.

If the Catholic Church ever displayed this type of humble leadership, ... many more might be inclined to follow."

Pssst! I've got a little secret for you. Catholics do this, literally. I've been a Catholic for a short two years and have literally washed someone else's feet twice, and once had my feet washed by a priest. It's a tradition that has been practiced by all levels of church leaders, including Popes. There are plenty of humble leaders in the Catholic Church, anyone who would say otherwise hasn't looked. Unfortunately, not all of them are, authority is abused by some, too many, in fact. But until all protestant leaders are humble, it's rediculous to make accusation of that kind against Catholics.

Pssst! I've got a little secret for you. Catholics do this, literally. I've been a Catholic for a short two years and have literally washed someone else's feet twice, and once had my feet washed by a priest. It's a tradition that has been practiced by all levels of church leaders, including Popes. There are plenty of humble leaders in the Catholic Church, anyone who would say otherwise hasn't looked. Unfortunately, not all of them are, authority is abused by some, too many, in fact. But until all protestant leaders are humble, it's rediculous to make accusation of that kind against Catholics.

You need to let the secret out ... this is not what the rest of the world sees in Catholic leadership.

Yes, and the common RC response is, "But The Church {tm} encourages us to read the Bible!" To which the response is that indeed it does — AND it throughtfully tells you what you are and are not permitted to see in it.
IF you should see something other than what The Church {tm} says is there (i.e. salvation by grace alone through faith alone, the sufficiency of Scripture, the superiority of Scripture to tradition, etc.), then it's a choice: The Pope, or your lying eyes.
In my experience, RC's pick The Pope every time.

I believe on doctrine you are correct.But we must keep in mind that Catholics get "good time" (indulgences ) for reading the bible .
That would encourage me if I believed in Purgatory .

"An indulgence of 3 years is granted to all the faithful who read Holy Scripture at least a quarter hour with the veneration due to the divine word and as a spiritual reading "
Enchiridion Indulgentiarum 694

It is my thought that most Bible believing protestants have already paid all their due (if there would be a purgatory) .

So we stand on good ground :>)

Me: If you really think the Bible tells you which books belong in it, you need to point out where it gives you the list. Otherwise, you need to acknowledge your reliance on extra-scriptural authority, and drop your "Bible alone" posturing.

You: You don't like my illustration? Ok. I think it's a good one. How about this... Did the Church confer authority on the OT? Or was it already the authoritative Word of God?

You still are dodging my question. Can't you give a straight answer? As your crawfishing demonstrates, you are caught in an inconsistency. You loudly trumpet your devotion the "Bible alone" dogma but in fact you rely on extra-scriptural authority. Without the authority of the Church, or perhaps some other authority you haven't told us about, you would not know which books belong in the Bible and which ones don't.

Followers of Jesus, who is Truth himself, should be able to give reason for their beliefs, rather than being embarassed by logical inconsistencies.

...To assert the Bible is the end of all scripture was precisely the intent of the early church fathers.

Surely a person can attempt to argue that very point. All you have done in doing so, however, is underscore my assertion that it is an unbiblical stance to do so.

Also, you need to consider that even if it could somehow be indisputably shown that God intended the Bible as we have it today to be the end all of that volume of scripture, that doesn't necessary imply that God has not or will not create other volumes of scripture.

pseudogratix @ In Him All Things Hold Together

Or is this guy saying that we should ignore the bible, because it isn't the true word of god, and that we should lead our lives in what ever sinful pursuits that we want.

Personally, I will continue to pursue knowledge whether it be human, spiritual, or worldly knowledge. Because, I feel that knowledge makes me a better person, in that I am able to adapt to the situations that I face in my life every day. So, I will continue to read and study my bible, and if you think that I am going to go to hell because of it, well to bad. Because I really don't care, what you think of my Protestant beliefs.

I'm afraid I don't see how the early church fathers' action of closing off the Bible is unbiblical. There were numerous heretical documents floating around and, as Augustine writes, they wanted to ensure the genuine documents could be distinguished from the false.

Also, some individuals were asserting their documents were inspired although written hundreds of years later. Augustine mentions the inspiration of future insertions is questionable the farther out in time you move. Thus many writings were rejected because, at that time, they were too new.

While Augustine's and the other early church fathers writings are not inspired, these were wise and godly men who took great care and sacrificed much to record and preserve the thought, history and record of the early church. And although at times they had their differing points of doctrinal views, the church fathers were unanimous on compiling and closing the Bible just as the Jews closed the writings of the Old Testament.

The church fathers were subjected to all the frailties of men and their works must be read with a discerning eye. But I’d hesitate to say they're action of closing off the Bible to which they all agreed was unbiblical.

***If you really think the Bible tells you which books belong in it, you need to point out where it gives you the list.***

1. I haven't claimed that the Bible gives a list of the books in the Bible.

2. A definition (as opposed to a caricature) of "Sola Scriptura" would benefit our discussion. For our purposes lets use this definition:

Scripture alone is the primary and absolute source of authority, the final court of appeal, for all doctrine and practice. Scripture is infallible, sufficient, and clear in all it's major doctrines.

***Can't you give a straight answer?***

You are a very zealous person and that is an commendable thing in the lukewarm days in which we find ourselves. But just because I'm not giving you the answer that you want doesn't mean I'm not giving you answers.

I hope you do not perceive my comments as a personal attack on you. They are not intended to be so. I am enjoying our conversation as it is (hopefully) causing us to examine the grounds of our faith.

What I am doing is giving you principles from the scripture that cast a different light than you may be use to on the subject we are discussing. You are claiming sacred tradition gives the scriptures their authority. I am claiming that the scriptures and authoritative intrinsically and that the Church recognizes that intrinsic authority. The issue, of course, is authority.

***should be able to give reason for their beliefs, rather than being embarrassed by logical inconsistencies.***

Let me restate the principles regarding authority I have used so far (and I have many more) in case I haven't been clear.

The example of John the Baptist and Jesus illustrates the principle that community of the faithful (i.e. church) can RECOGNIZE the direct intervention of God in the world (i.e. in the life of Jesus or in the Holy Spirit's work in men to produce the God-breathed scriptures) but they do not have AUTHORITY OVER Gods direct intervention.

The example of the Old Testament is that the books of the Old Testament were recognized by Jesus and even by the OT authors themselves to be the Word of God BEFORE THE CATHOLIC CHURCH EXISTED. Therefore to claim that only the Catholic Church can decide what is and what isn't scripture is shown to be false. This illustrates that there is a large body of scripture that is out from under the requirements of being recognized by the Catholic Church as scripture. The people who recognize this body of scripture as the Word of God are people that the Catholic Church recognizes as authorities (Jesus, Moses, Jeremiah, Isaiah etc..) and therefore the Catholic Church can not disagree with their opinion - but can only recognize it.

Here is another one for you to consider. You claim that sacred tradition is true, inspired and authoritative. On what extra-scriptural authority do you basis your belief in the legitimacy of sacred tradition?

***Yes, there was scripture, but not the New Testament scripture***

Here is the basic argument as I have stated it elsewhere;

The example of the Old Testament is that the books of the Old Testament were recognized by Jesus and even by the OT authors themselves to be the Word of God BEFORE THE CATHOLIC CHURCH EXISTED. Therefore to claim that only the Catholic Church can decide what is and what isn't scripture is shown to be false. This illustrates that there is a large body of scripture that is out from under the requirements of being recognized by the Catholic Church as scripture. The people who recognize this body of scripture as the Word of God are people that the Catholic Church recognizes as (inspired and inerrant) authorities (Jesus, Moses, Jeremiah, Isaiah etc..) and therefore the Catholic Church can not disagree with their opinion - but can only recognize it.

Paul addresses them as "Sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy..."

Yeah, and he also says:

"Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly--mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it." (I Cor 3:1-2) Clearly, they were not sophisticated, educated or wise, albeit they may have been "Sanctified in Christ Jesus." As to their beliefs and followings, Paul says:

"For when one says, 'I follow Paul,' and another, 'I follow Apollos,' are you not mere men?" (I Cor 3:4)

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