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by Pam Brink

Created on: November 09, 2010

“Sola Scriptura” is Latin for “The Bible alone,” and means that the Christian faith is based solely upon written Scripture. It was a principal precept of Martin Luther. If a concept cannot be found in the Bible, then it is not a Christian doctrine. Some Christian sects have taken this idea a step further to mean if a particular “word” is not present in the Bible, then the concept does not exist. The interesting thing about this teaching is that nowhere in the Bible does it actually say that everything to be known about Christianity will be found in the Bible. The converse is true. The Gospel of John states clearly that not everything Jesus said and did during his lifetime could possibly be contained in writing. If we accept that the Apostle John was an honest man who gave an eyewitness account of the life and death of Jesus, then we must accept the idea that “Sola Scriptura” cannot be correct.

Development of Scripture

The Holy Bible, or Scripture, is composed of two major sections, each containing a number of separate books. The first section is the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament and the second section is the Christian Bible or the New Testament. Both parts of the Bible began as oral tradition. The stories were told over and over again to different audiences. Originally, neither testament was written down. That came much later. The faith of the people was not based upon written Scripture. It was Priests who taught the law and carried out worship services. (The historical development of Hebrew Bible is found elsewhere.)

Like the Hebrew Bible, the Christian Bible also began as oral tradition. After Pentecost, the Apostles and Disciples of Jesus traveled to foreign countries to spread “the Good News.” They taught in Synagogues and in the markets. They told the Jesus story to Diaspora Jews and Gentiles who spoke Greek. (Tradition tells us, for example, that Thomas went to India and that James went to Spain.) Jesus had told the disciples to “tell all nations” which created the first international religion (all others being local).

There was an urgency about spreading the good news as the disciples firmly believed that Jesus was returning soon and that as many people as possible needed to know the Truth before he arrived. Wherever they went, they established small house churches and appointed a successor or leader (Bishops) to carry on spreading the word. Then they moved on to tell their story to more people. The urgency of the teaching, the breadth of travels and the hardship endured to “get the Word out,” is well documented in the Acts of the Apostles.

Imagine the disappointment as the years went by and Jesus did not return. The Apostles and other eyewitnesses began to die. How were the teachings of Jesus to be preserved? The only written documents were the Hebrew Bible and the letters written by Paul, and the other Apostles to the Churches they had established. These letters were often written to encourage, clarify a point of doctrine or to chastise. They did not cover the life and teachings of Jesus. They all referred to the teachings the Churches had received that were to be faithfully passed on. These early teachings are Oral Tradition.

Later, written Gospels appeared purporting to be the valid teachings of Jesus. Some were written by eyewitnesses, others were written based upon hearsay stories that may or may not have been distorted. (We all know the children’s game of “Telephone” where one child will whisper a phrase in the ear of the next child which is then passed on until each child has heard the message and repeats it. The message the last child gives frequently bears no resemblance to what the first child said.) Some of these early Gospels suffered from this “telephone” syndrome. They were not accurate. Since many of the first Apostles and Disciples were still alive, verification of these written “Gospels” was possible.

The early Churches struggled with determining which Gospels (written and spoken) were true and which were false. In his letters, Paul was very explicit about believing in “false Gospels” that contradicted what he had told his congregations.

As the Church grew, deciding which writings belonged in the Cannon of the New Testament, became a pressing issue, which was finally decided upon by the end of the fourth century. At no time did the Church ever say that written Scripture was the entire basis for Church doctrine. The early Church has never claimed “Sola Scriptura.” Instead, the church taught that there were many documents containing valid doctrinal statements or rituals based upon oral tradition or the teachings of the other Apostles and Disciples.

For the early Church, the primary reason for deciding upon the Cannon of the Bible was to select the works to be used in Liturgy. All liturgies were to be based upon Scripture. Which scripture to use for liturgy was critical. The scripture left out of the Cannon was still valid and formed the basis for spiritual reading and understanding. (Many of these documents no longer exist, but others have been preserved.)

When the original Greek Bible was translated into Latin (by a Catholic monk named Jerome) it became the standard for use throughout the Roman Empire. With the end of Roman domination came the development of local languages and eventually the translation of the Latin Bible into local languages. Much later, with the invention of the printing press, the Bible in various languages became more accessible. Wherever Christian missionaries have gone, their first task has always been to translate the Bible into the language of the people.

Depending upon the Bible translation used, the meaning of the message can also change. Biblical translations all started from Jerome’s Latin Vulgate. Today’s Biblical scholars go back to the available documents, study the customs and beliefs of the people of the time in order to place the message in context. Biblical scholars must know the ancient languages in which the Bible was first written in order to understand the differences and nuances of meaning from one language to another.

Many Christians believe that their particular translation of the Bible is the only correct version. If they cite “Sola Scriptura” as the basis for their faith, it is based solely on that particular translation. Others may say, “Where is that in the Bible?” Or, “What is the Biblical evidence for that?” They may request that the actual word under discussion be present in the Bible or they consider the concept to be invalid.

Although all the books contained in both the Old Testament and the New Testament are the basis for the Christian faith, they are not the only valid documents. The Jewish faith has many more written documents than those contained in the Old Testament, just as the Christian faith has many other documents other than the New Testament. To claim “Sola Scriptura” or the written “Scripture alone” as the basis for Christian belief is to ignore history.

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