In Orthodoxy, Is The Bible The Final Authority Or The Church? Sola Scriptura & Sola Fide?

[grigori]

Jonathan Jackson recently converted to orthodox church and he grasped the depth of the orthodox church very clearly:

"I am in awe at the Orthodox Church. It’s beauty, its grace. The mystical silence and stillness, which abides here. I am in awe at the purity of the Church’s teachings. The Lives of the Saints and Martyrs, the prayers and hymns of the Church. The humility and sanctity of the Holy Mountain. The Icons and writings of the Fathers of the Church. The mercy of the Sacraments, the Christ-like humility of the Priesthood.
Orthodoxy is not a religion. It is Life. It is not a list of rules. It is Mystical Communion with the Holy Trinity. It is actual communion with God and man. In the Orthodox Church there exists the grace of Theosis, Deification and Transfiguration. Icons drip myrrh, relics miraculously heal, Saints are filled with Divine Light, infants receive Holy Communion, Priests confess their own unworthiness as they pray over the penitent before them, the mentally handicapped can be theologians too, because they can pray with purity of heart. The whole world is a Sacrament, for the Spirit of Truth “art everywhere present and fillest all things.”
In the Orthodox Church I found a Hospital for the Sick, whereby our wounds, sins and delusions are healed through communion with the Holy Trinity and the “Cloud of Witnesses”, (the communion of saints) which radiate the love and truth of God.
Everything can be found here, in the mystic Church; all of the scattered pieces of truth come together in the mysterious joy of communion with God. Nothing has been added to the Holy Tradition and nothing has been taken away. The Church is God-Breathed.

The Way Of Love

Orthodoxy is the Way of Love. Religion without love is an offense to God. We don’t pray and fast and give alms and attend vigils to impress God or appease His anger, as if He were some kind of tyrannical pagan deity.

We do these things out of love! We do these things because it draws our hearts closer to Christ. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. When I pray, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner, ” I am not praying to change Christ’s heart towards me. I am not praying as if God’s back is turned to me, out of anger and disapproval—His back is not turned to me at all! He is facing me! He is pursuing me! He has left the ninety-nine to seek out the one lost sheep. Christ is looking at me with infinite love and mercy! Even the very flames of hell are His love. As a father (and dear friend) on the Holy Mountain wrote so beautifully in a poem he shared with me… in the poem Christ says, “I do not hold hell in my hand to threaten…” Tell me, does the world know this Christ? The Christ of the Orthodox Church?"

[DaveBartosiewicz]

After doing a number of videos on Orthodoxy, I do know many protestants, evangelicals have been bothered, "Why Orthodoxy"" For me, I have to test it, to really search it out. I never knew or even thought about Eastern Orthodoxy before 4 months ago. I believe God wanted me to show the reasons, history, culture, truth of this Church. For me, you have to give it a fair shake. They claim they are the "original Church" from the Apostles and from everything I have seen so far, it does seem to fulfill that position. If it is the Original Church, the First Christian Church, that was given to us by the Apostles, why would we condemn it? Why would we believe that it's false? Why would we be beating it up? Stating it is false, pagan, without truth? If one believes this, they must believe that Jesus failed and lied at when he disclosed that "the gates of Hades would not prevail against it." I am not willing to do that, if you are, you will have to disclosed the reasons why. There is a great deal to learn about the Orthodox church, it takes a long time, a tremendous amount of study. I believe many who are evangelicals quickly try to dispute it, stating its false. I am not in that arena. I am willing to learn. Does that mean I am going to become an Orthodox anytime soon? No..I may or may not but I am willing to be humble to learn and grow my understanding of it. If it is "the Church" as they proclaim, I need to learn of it with openness, not condemning it so quickly. That is what I am doing. I started this out to help former Mormons to have an option. I have met many who have recently been baptized into the Orthodox faith from Mormonism. They love being apart of Orthodoxy and have found a place of Worship that they call home. I too believe, we as evangelicals need to look at the Orthodox as our brothers and sisters in Christ. To me they are. It's a long history, many believe if it's not Orthodoxy, what then could it be? Blessings and please share with love. Dave

[Cuinn]

Now David is a Catachumen, and I think it's a great decision.

[noweternity]

2 Timothy 3 : 14 - 17
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it,
and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

[TheMorning_Son]

I would say the Holy spirit is the final authority of course that extends to the church Bible and liturgy..😕

[daniii]

1 Timothy 3:15
if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's house, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

[reformedcatholic]

Straight away "the problem with the solas is that they are not biblical" I chuckled to myself. Because the Reformers who believed in Sola Scriptura, came up with doctrines and motto's that aren't biblical? Have you read the Scriptures? Or the Reformer's writings? The alone's are motto's it doesn't necessarily mean that the actual terms "Scripture alone" must be in Scripture, the question is is there anywhere within Scripture that indicate that sort of teaching. You say the solas aren't biblical, but is intercession of the Saints biblical? One must wonder, you say something is unbiblical and ditch it then go on to believe something that is not taught within Scripture in itself.

2 Tim 3:17 states " that the man may be complete, equipped for every good work."

Scripture makes man complete or perfect is another term for it. So since Scripture makes man complete or perfect for every good work, what else do we need? Verse 16 states Scripture is God breathed. Now, the ball is in your court to prove something else is God breathed or infallible apart from Scripture, if you cannot, Scripture alone is the only infallible rule of faith and final authority for faith asnd practice nothing else.

[angelvalentinmojica]

Sola scriptura just doesnt work. All you need to do is look at history and look at the 60k different denomination created due to private interpretation. That is antibiblical.

[Artaxian_Debacle]

Exactly Christ did not state go forth and spread My Bible to the world. He stated for His disciples to go forth and PREACH the Good News and to spread Salvation to all nations of the world.

[alphaomega]

the first two centuries the church and the christians didn't have the new testament they had only the holy mysteries and the apostolic traditions so ....

[intox]

Is Pope Francis guided by the Holy Spirit? I've heard that man say some outlandish things, and I would find difficulty in calling him the authority on God's word.

[polktechnologysolutions]

the Law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple” (Psalm 19:7) Psalm 119:142 says, “Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law [Torah] is the truth. Proverbs 13:14 says, “The law [Torah] of the wise is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)

The Scriptures in the first cecntury WERE/ARE the Torah + Prophets. That's it. The New Testament IS also scripture but, it can't/won't contradict the old. For that reason both Jesus and the Apostels tested all doctrine and spirits BY the word? What word? The Old Testament. There was NOTHING ELSE to compare/test it with. So, If Sola Scriptora was correct for Jesus and the Apostles, it is still correct today.
And when the Holy men of God were moved to make a decision, it was a decision based on what? The old testament scriptures "so that all things might be fullfilled"...what things? those in the old testament.

[sowingtruth]

The Bible is our compass and Jesus Himself is the Word, read John chapter 1. So to say the Bible is not the final authority means to take authority away from God, that is wrong. The Holy Ghost will tell you how to interpret scripture if you ask, we can’t trust our own ways of interpretation, or a fleshly church that exists in this world. We can only trust the Holy Spirit of God and His word.

[L.vegmadekid.V]

Thanks for these videos, I was raised Catholic and believed in it for most of my life, started to read the bible and history of the church and I falling out with it and became a born again protestant christian but now that I've been seeing your videos and how well the members of the Orthodox church answer in full detail with Biblical backing every question im leaning towards Orthodoxy.

[Solideogloria]

The whole argument is against a straw man of Sola Scriptura. The interviewer should have defined “Sola Scriptura” correctly for you hear a good argument against it.

[igg]

Good points as someone who as grown up his who life in Protestant Evangelical Charismatic Churches Scripture was in fact Regarded an held with the greatest Respect as it should but I Realize now that it in some ways was not the final Authority there was also the Leader staff who would keep each other accountable would try very carefully not teach anything contrary the word of God and when I was In a mentorship class going over Biblical Interpretation rules one of them was what do Bible Scholars, Experts, and Theologians have to say on this Passage so they did recognize the need for Teaching Authority as well.

[SamStGeorge]

The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of Our God the Father, and the Communion of the Holy Spirit be with you All

[dg_f_Christs]

Thank you Deacon John & Dave, I find myself drawn to the search for Christ's bride. Have I found it? I'm willing to listen and learn...

[blessedamerican]

Metropolitan Kallisto Ware of the Orthodox Church stated that they needed to know Scripture as well as their Evangelical friends.
Sola Scriptura Sola Fidei are terms Scripture alone and faith alone.
This use by the Protestant Reformers was aimed at the Catholic Church not the Orthodox Church which has its own disputes with the Catholic Church.
GOD states there shall be no other gods in the Ten Commandments.
Scripture alone and faith alone meant that the Catholic priest or pope did not have more power than GOD and that a human priest was not necessary to speak with to obtain forgiveness of sin.
Jesus paid that price once and for all and is the only intercessor we need to reach GOD. This is achieved through faith alone and repentance of sins.
The. Radical Reformers went into the Catholic Churches and tore down the statues of saints and threw them in the river.
Icons are nothing but unbiblical paintings which have been placed on the space between the Holy and the profane. Or the congregation and the priest.
They are unbiblical and not necessary.
This all started back with the Catholic Church selling indulgences or trinkets for large sums of money to people and deliberately misleading them by stating they would not go to purgatory and could buy their way out of hell.
A truly devout person will not have a picture or representation even of GOD as HE is too holy.
You see this in Islam but the concept came from Judaism where they don’t speak GOD’s name because it is too Holy.
Folks, you may think this is a game but rest assured GOD is not mocked.
I love my Orthodox friends and listen to Kallisto Ware often but say no to icons.
Many of the church fathers were cold blooded killers like Athanasius. Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli had a fellow reformer put on the rack and tortured until he recanted. His name was Balthasar Hubmaier.

[guitardu]

the Bible can and does interpret itself to any interested reader which prays to God for the illumination of the Spirit