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Sola Scriptura Needs Sola Fide, and How to Refute Both
One Peter Five ^ | December 11, 2019 | Jacob Tate

Posted on 12/29/2019 1:57:07 PM PST by ebb tide

Sola Scriptura Needs Sola Fide, and How to Refute Both

At the suggestion of Father Dave Nix, I recently read the short work by Joel Peters entitled “Scripture Alone? 21 Reasons to Reject Sola Scriptura.” It is a fast read and probably the most crushing blow to Protestantism I have ever read. You simply cannot argue with Peters’s logic and the historical facts he presents (it is well sourced), not to mention all of the Scripture he cites. Having been a Protestant before converting to the Catholic Church, I was not shocked by anything I read, but I was delighted to have such well researched reasons to back up what I knew to be true: sola scriptura is an intellectual joke created by a man too proud to submit to the Church.

The back of the booklet states that it “[t]otally devastates one of the two pillars of Protestantism.” I want to show that those two pillars, sola scriptura and sola fide, are dependent on each other in such a way that devastating one pillar actually devastates both.

To do this, I want to focus on how Scripture alone is dependent on the doctrine of faith alone; you can easily work the other way as well, but that is for another time. To do this, we need to look at one of the twenty-one reasons Peters gives and how it relates to sola fide, or the teaching that we are saved through faith alone. The booklet explains that without a valid authority — the existence of which would violate Sola Scriptura — to codify and to protect the canon of Scripture, we end up with thousands of versions of the Bible. Many of these versions contain serious theological errors, such as the Jehovah’s Witness Bible [1] and any number of translations that use Luther’s additions and retractions (think adding the word “alone” to Romans 3:28 or removing 1 and 2 Maccabees as well as several other books, whether partial or whole).

I proposed this problem to an intelligent, well read, and faithful Presbyterian friend of mine. This is not the kind of Christian who just goes to church on Sunday and speaks in platitudes about “being saved.” This is the kind of Christian who can quote the Westminster Confession and probably knows more about the early history of the Church than your typical Novus Ordo parish priest. After a long discussion with him, it dawned on me that the only way to refute Peters’s point about the necessity of an outside authority to approve the Bible is to acknowledge that different translations or interpretations and the theological differences that follow do not actually matter.

I proposed to my friend that how we interpret the Bible really does affect our salvation because, for example, if one Christian believes that contraception is acceptable and the other does not, only one of them is truly living according to Scripture. I presented Peters’s argument and said that we cannot leave this matter up to each person because it results in thousands of interpretations and denominations that teach different things about what actions are sinful and what actions are not. We need an authority to tell us which Bible is correct and how to interpret its contents so we can live according to God’s laws, not Luther’s or Zwingli’s or Joseph Smith’s.

His response is what gave me the thesis for this article: “So you have a different view of faith from mine. Outside faith in Jesus Christ (sola fide) by grace alone (sola gratia) there is no salvation. Whether you and I agree or disagree on contraception is not a matter that divides us into believer or non-believer. Could one of us be in error? Yes! Could both of us be in error? Yes! The question [of contraception] is outside of believing in the person and work of Jesus Christ; this is not fundamentally a divide we need to overcome to be saved.”

It hit me like a ton of bricks! Protestants — or at least this one Protestant — do not care if you have different ideas about the morality of certain actions, because to the Protestant, actions do not matter. You can insert any moral question in the place of contraception, and the answer would be the same. The Protestant needs the teaching of faith alone to justify the teaching of Scripture alone and to get around this particular refutation that an outside authority is needed. Sola scriptura is entirely dependent on sola fide. It is manifestly obvious to anyone and everyone that there are countless translations and interpretations of the Bible, so the Protestant has to say this does not matter and that each believer is free to interpret Scripture how they choose and then to live accordingly. And the only way to justify millions of people having different opinions on how to live and what constitutes sin and immorality is to say that their actions do not matter, only their faith in Christ. See how the defense of sola scriptura is just to resort to sola fide? One pillar depends on the other.

Obviously, sola scriptura falls flat and is gravely mistaken, but by destroying its merits so systematically, Joel Peters also destroyed the other pillar of Protestantism because of their inherent interdependence. The two pillars of Protestantism are illogical, and it is so much easier to prove than I ever imagined. The circle of defending one with the other fails, because they are both easily disprovable with Scripture and basic logic, as Mr. Peters aptly demonstrates in his other twenty reasons.


[1] From footnote 32 of the book, which concerns the Bible of the Jehovah’s Witnesses: “Of the numerous examples which could be cited, space considerations confine us to just a few to illustrate the point. In John 1:1, the NWT reads, “… and the Word was a god” rather than “and the Word was God,” because Witnesses deny the divinity of Jesus Christ. In Colossians 1:15-20, the NWT inserts the word “other” into the text four times because Witnesses believe that Jesus Christ Himself was created. In Matthew 26:26 the NWT reads “… this means my body…” instead of “This is my body,” because Witnesses deny the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist[.]”



TOPICS: Apologetics; Theology
KEYWORDS: fssp; hoaxes; occna; occus; oneflowmind; popefrancis; popesays; romancatholic; solafide; solascriptura; splinter; toccusa
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1 posted on 12/29/2019 1:57:07 PM PST by ebb tide
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To: Al Hitan; Coleus; DuncanWaring; ebb tide; Fedora; Hieronymus; irishjuggler; Jaded; JoeFromSidney; ..

Ping


2 posted on 12/29/2019 1:57:32 PM PST by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: ebb tide

No authority is perfect except Christ himself. Even Peter erred. This current Pope errs as have past ones.


3 posted on 12/29/2019 2:03:31 PM PST by Raycpa
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To: ebb tide
I respond with this: Rev. 22: 18-19 18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: 19 and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

These two verses put the lie to what your quoted source is saying.

4 posted on 12/29/2019 2:08:37 PM PST by sauropod (Hold onto that impeachment for a while. It'll get better with age, just like Jennifer Rubin has.)
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To: ebb tide

To the Protestant “actions do not matter”. What is this guy smoking? He obviously knows nothing about most Protestants. Granted, there are some Protestant denominations that do not care about action, just like the pope does not care about actions. Martin Luthers Protestants care very much about actions, which is why there is an emphasis on the Ten Commandments.


5 posted on 12/29/2019 2:12:11 PM PST by Wm F Buckley Republican
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To: ebb tide

bmk


6 posted on 12/29/2019 2:13:42 PM PST by imardmd1
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To: Wm F Buckley Republican

Reformed Ten Commandments and Romish version of them are not identical, are they? This is not a basis of common ground, nor is the rubric titled “Apostles Creed” by those who formulated it as a test of belief for denominational prticularity.


7 posted on 12/29/2019 2:41:34 PM PST by imardmd1
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To: Raycpa

The Statements of the actual Pope represent catholicism far more concretely than some academic.

What is Catholicism and what are its actual practices?

Pope Francis tells the world in the headlines every day.


8 posted on 12/29/2019 2:48:18 PM PST by MrEdd (Caveat Emptor)
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To: ebb tide; metmom; Mom MD; Mark17; aMorePerfectUnion; MHGinTN; boatbums

It’s the 5th day of Christmas and ebb posts an I-hate-Christians-who-aren’t-Catholic article.

I’m not surprised.


9 posted on 12/29/2019 2:56:18 PM PST by Luircin
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To: sauropod

Cherry-pickers will pick cherries.


10 posted on 12/29/2019 2:57:21 PM PST by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: MrEdd

Francis is a heretic. He doesn’t have the Catholic faith.


11 posted on 12/29/2019 2:58:10 PM PST by Romulus
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To: Luircin

Merry Christmas ebb! Scripture is still the final authority in my life but you knew that! I celebrate the birth of my savior as recorded in Scrioture!


12 posted on 12/29/2019 3:00:13 PM PST by Mom MD
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To: Luircin

As always you try read the worst in people.

Stop projecting “hate” in the motives of anyone you disagree with.

Wishing a Blessed and Holy Christmas season.


13 posted on 12/29/2019 3:02:39 PM PST by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: ebb tide

“The booklet explains that without a valid authority — the existence of which would violate Sola Scriptura — to codify and to protect the canon of Scripture, we end up with thousands of versions of the Bible.”

Hasn’t happened, though, since TRANSLATING means false versions are easy to spot - by anyone who cares.

“I proposed to my friend that how we interpret the Bible really does affect our salvation because, for example, if one Christian believes that contraception is acceptable and the other does not, only one of them is truly living according to Scripture...”

Scripture is explicit in a number of areas. Where it is not? Scripture says:

14.1 Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. 2 Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. 3 Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them. 4 Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

5 Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. 6 Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honor of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God.

7 We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. 8 If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 11 For it is written,

“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall give praise to God.”

12 So then, each of us will be accountable to God. - Romans 14, from the Apostle Paul. And he trumps Pope Che.


14 posted on 12/29/2019 3:02:51 PM PST by Mr Rogers (Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools)
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To: ebb tide

Oh hey, ebb thinks he’s a mind-reader!

This coming from the man who claims he doesn’t insult people. LOL.

Goodnight ebb; I actually have family to see during this holy time of the year.


15 posted on 12/29/2019 3:06:34 PM PST by Luircin
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To: Luircin
This coming from the man who claims he doesn’t insult people. LOL.

If you took this article to be a personal insult to you, from me, you need help.

Everything is not about you and your feelings.

16 posted on 12/29/2019 3:17:26 PM PST by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: ebb tide

I enter into this subject very hesitantly. But nevertheless, what a person believes with respect to their gaining salvation will be the deciding factor in their attaining it. Adherence to written or spoken instructions from this or that source is good or bad depending on the source- and therefore tricky.

If one believes, as do I, that the only path to salvation is a faith strong enough to be charitable and to not summarily harm others, there is no need for polemics like those in the article. For me “The just shall live by faith” does not discriminate between Catholic or Protestant “faith.”


17 posted on 12/29/2019 3:23:39 PM PST by PerConPat (A politician is an animal which can sit on a fence and yet keep both ears to the ground.-- Mencken)
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To: ebb tide

The author has absolutely no understanding of the Grace of God.


18 posted on 12/29/2019 3:29:02 PM PST by SkyPilot ("I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6)
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To: ebb tide

So where’s the rest of the article??? I’m waiting to see the evidence, none of which was posted...


19 posted on 12/29/2019 3:30:04 PM PST by Iscool
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To: ebb tide

The great problem with placing a (Catholic) magisterium on equal footing with Scripture is that one must overlook the great pile of excrement it stands on. Manifest herocies such as the cult of the virgin and apostolic succession to name two. The only thing that made Rome the head of the Church was Rome. In the end,”Because we say so” is their final answer.


20 posted on 12/29/2019 3:31:55 PM PST by Sparticus (Primary the Tuesday group!)
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