Bully's Blog

Roman Catholics like to remind us Protestants that the Reformation’s sola scriptura has caused unmitigated doctrinal division. Interpretation must be done in community by people who know what they are talking about.

In his talk this week (see previous post Heliocentric Preaching), Doug Wilson humourously described the “just me and my Bible” people who fail to realise that the Bible itself calls us to theology in community. We all need teachers, and the Bible is written the way it is so we are forced into some sort of discipleship. Left alone with our Bibles, we are all Ethiopian eunuchs.

So regarding sola scriptura and interpretive authority, I kind of agree with the Catholics! It has always been something done by the church community.[1]

H O W E V E R . . .

…the Roman church dropped the ball, so God called men out of her to move history forward. It was a Day of Atonement. History makes God’s decisions clear, just like AD70 did concerning corrupted Judaism. The “Day” declared it. At the Reformation, new wine burst the old wineskin once again. Saints died as the first goat, and the Roman harlot was exiled from her (falsely assumed) position as mediator. The corrupt contrivances and fabulous fables were left behind.

When God brings about reformation of the church, it is not just about corrupt behaviour, as some Catholics would have us believe. It is also a call back to the Scriptures, hence Luther’s insistence on sola scriptura. Luther was fighting against the ridiculous fabrications of the Roman church.[2]

Only as the Roman churches repent of their unbiblical inventions and tragic grace-works alloy-gospel can they be nursed back to health. The same goes for any church claiming the name of Christ. We have seen part of Armstrong’s “Worldwide Church of God” repent of some of their screwy doctrines. If they can do it, so can Rome. Incredible but not impossible. Imagine!

The Bible is to be interpreted for us by the church, but this does not mean the Roman church (although the Roman church does have brilliant theologians, despite continued Protestant protests). 

Falling off the other side of the horse, we Protestants think sola scriptura means alone with the Scriptures.[3]

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[1] See World Without End? for a comment on hyperpreterism as it relates to church history.
[2] A return to the Bible is a sign of true reformation. The Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormonism (and to a small extent Seventh-day Adventism, dispensationalism and Pentecostalism) were false reformations brought about by adding to the Scriptures.
[2] See Tim Nichols’ fantastic post, Endeavoring to Guard the Unity of the Spirit, for an error we sola scriptura Protestants are prone to.