I did not mean to imply that St. John Damascene did not write about things other than practices and customs; only that in every case where he and the other early Fathers do refer to unwritten traditions it is always with respect to practices or customs, not doctrines.
My main point is that sola Scriptura is not antithetical to God establishing His Church, giving it authority, selecting his messengers and they selecting their replacements, and it is not a denial of the Church's authority to teach God's truth and it is not a denial that God's Word has been spoken.
The Church is the Bride of Christ, she does not rule over His Word. The Scriptures are the rule of faith for the Church, not the other way around. Everything that one must believe to be a Christian is found in Scripture and in no other source.
Cordially,
Thanks for your reply.
Let’s take an example: The Holy Eucharist.
This involves both praxis and theology, it is key in both. Catholics believe in the Real Presence, many adherents of sola scriptura do not. So how can scripture rule the Church here?
Or take Sunday worship. Some claim, via scripture that it is wrong.
St. Justin Martyr wrote of it in the second century:
“But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things…”
It is impossible or at least impractical for sola scriptura to rule church doctrine and practice, because it means each individual rules the church with his/her interpretation. And Holy Scripture cannot be put in dock and testify whether Luther is correct or or Zwingly or Calvin - or you.
No, the result of sola scriptura in practice is doctrinal confusion and profusion - not One Lord, one faith, one baptist. As Martin Luther wrote Zwingli:
“If the world lasts, it will be necessary, on account of the differing interpretations of Scripture which now exist, that to preserve the unity of faith, we should receive the councils and decrees and fly to them for refuge.”