Sola Scriptura Defended

One of the biggest disputes between Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox Christians concerns sola Scriptura. Is the Bible alone our final, infallible authority for faith and life? Here I answer 5 common objections, trying to advance the conversation!

Check out the full videos of the excerpts I engage throughout this video:

Truth Unites is a mixture of apologetics and theology, with an irenic focus.

Gavin Ortlund (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) serves as senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Ojai.

My books:

[WallaceMcKinney]

Hey Dr. Ortlund,

As someone who gets easily swept up in the vitriol of Catholic/Orthodox/Protestant debates, you're slogan 'Truth Unites' is a breath of fresh air to my soul. It's very edifying and convicting. Thank you for what you do!

[adrianng]

Catholic deacon here giving you a like and your channel a recommendation. You are a needed voice for both Catholic and Protestants.

[nathanielsmall]

I had the gift of learning under Dr. Ortlund's teaching for several years and I just happened to run into this video after I spoke with an Eastern Orthodox Christian about our differences over Sola Scriptura. I really appreciate his call to engage these discussion respectfully and without straw manning other peoples points of view. I also appreciate his call on Protestants like myself to dig into more church history and to understand our own professions of faith more deeply through these discussions.

[delbertclement]

The key is that Catholic and Orthodox don’t view their tradition as human tradition but as divinely inspired at Pentecost. It’s holy tradition not human tradition.

[KM-znlx]

As a Catholic I used to scoff at Sola Scriptura. But after reading the bible myself I valued the Bible as a stable enduring truth. I left the church after 57 years. I was really invested in the Catholic church and niss some aspects of it but cringe at returning. They push so much on ppl that wasn't even in the Christian church at the beginning not even in the Catholic church until hundreds of years later after Constantine.

[Jdcabral]

You are well on your way young man to filling a huge void in the Christian community. Dialogue that increases our understanding of differences which in turn only broadens our understanding of God. So needed.

[wildman]

From a Catholic: keep up the mindful and civil dialogue. I find the more we get in the weeds over scripture and doctrine we agree on most of the "meat and potatoes" of what Christianity is. I want to come together with my Protestant brothers and sisters because at the end of the day, we are all Christians. The devil wants us divided. Let's not let him succeed. God Bless!

[GeorgesMontillet]

First of all, kudos to you, Dr. Ortlund. This is the best exposition of Sola Scriptura I have ever heard. As a born Catholic with strong Orthodox sympathies, I think I'm fairly representative of my coreligionists when I say that before listening to your talk, the doctrine of Sola Scriptura has always seemed absurd and unhistorical. Your presentation here has completely changed that view for me. I can say that your interpretation is very reasonable and Prima Scriptura is certainly a nice way to express it that we could all agree upon. Most of all, I'm impressed that you gathered some of the strongest arguments against Sola Scriptura and confronted them head on.

It seems to me that most apologetics are based on straw man arguments (I unfortunately include William Webster in this). My primary comment is this: Tradition (with a capital T) in the understanding of all Apostolic Churches (Catholic, Eastern, and Oriental Orthodox) will never contradict Sacred Scripture. Arguments against Tradition presuming that we hold it as an authority over and above Scripture are straw man arguments. No Apostolic Church holds that position. Quoting Church Fathers who explain that Tradition will never contradict Scripture is not a valid way to argue that they only viewed Tradition as another term for Scripture, as William Webster claims.

Tradition is the way we can be sure that our interpretation of the Bible matches what Jesus and the Apostles originally meant by the words they spoke. For example, Jesus said (Jn 6:55) "For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink." The use of the term transubstantiation is not Tradition (again, a common straw man argument).The Catholic Church invented the term "transubstantiation" to help describe how best to interpret a difficult passage in Scripture (by a teaching authority called Magisterium).

In fact, it was a difficult teaching that caused many of Jesus's followers to leave Him even back then. What Tradition (with a capital T) shows us is that when we look back in time and across the vast geography of Christianity, there has been a common interpretation about what Jesus meant. We see a consistent line among not only the Roman Catholic Church, but also the Greek Orthodox Church, and the thirty or so other Churches who trace their roots to the apostles but were never under the authority of either of those two big Churches - such as the Coptic Church, the Etrurian Church, the Tewahedo Church, the Syro-Malabar Church, etc - and also among the writings of the Church Fathers - such as Irenaeus (c. 130 - c. 202 AD), Justin Martyr (c. 100 - c. 165) and the Didache (late 1st or early 2nd century), etc. All interpret this passage in fundamentally the same manner.

Since this is the case, we can have confidence that the traditions (with a little t) we have all retained, whereby the Church perpetuates the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross in bread and wine becoming his Body and Blood, belong to the Tradition (with a capital T) of the Universal Church - not just the Roman Catholic Church - in fulfillment of Christ's command in Scripture "Do this in remembrance of Me."

In regard to Matthew 15, the Catholic Church is very aware that some traditions (with a little t) do not accord with Tradition (with a big T) or Sacred Scripture. Hard-core conservative Catholics - the kind who like apologetics - shy away from this, but the Catholic Church acknowledges it is wrong about certain practices, most notably priestly celibacy. Scripture and Tradition (with a big T) say there is nothing wrong with married priests. St. Paul specifies that a priest can only be married once. The Fathers tell us that all the apostles were married except John. Both Jesus and St. Paul say that Christians who renounce marriage to dedicate themselves entirely to the Kingdom of God are blessed and do a praiseworthy deed, but it is not required. The Catholic Church's requirement for priests to renounce marriage is tradition (with a little t) not Tradition (with a big T). The Catholic Church recognizes it is wrong in doing so but it probably won't fix it any time soon.

In a similar way, the Catholic Church does not recognize marriages that it does not witness. This is tradition with a little t. The Church teaches and acknowledges that Tradition with a big T recognizes the intent of any baptized man and woman who seek to do what Jesus explained about marriage (Matthew 19:6) as sufficient for a Christian marriage. Likewise, annulments are tradition with a little t. Again, since marriage and divorce are both civil and spiritual realities, the Church tries to navigate the two, even if it must deviate from Tradition with a big T.

Vatican I and its formulation of papal infallibility, the Immaculate Conception, and many other bones of contention between Churches, are not Tradition. They are formulations of the Magisterium.

In sum, the Church of Rome is a profoundly messed up organization, with tons of corrupt bureaucrats filling its ranks. It is scarred by thousands of years of evil people manipulating spiritual power for personal gain. Yes, indeed. But Jesus wanted us to worship Him as a Church, messed up though we are, not as individuals. Therefore, to a learned Catholic the idea of any individual person just picking up the Bible and correctly interpreting it is absurd because from the outside all we see is that practitioners of Sola Scripture interpret the Bible in such different and contradictory ways that they cannot worship together as a Church but only as thousands of small groups of individuals whose only common doctrine is their hostility towards the Catholic Church.

As you define it, however, I would agree. I do believe that God's grace is such that a person who goes to the Bible and sincerely seeks to understand it will be brought to salvation.

Blessed are you for being a peace maker! You are doing a great service to the Christian people by seriously considering these bitterly divisive issues and finding channels that we can navigate in common.

[matthewduff]

2 Thessalonians 2: 15
“Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.”

[GospelSimplicity]

So glad to see this video! Videos like these really keep these important conversations going at a high level in a charitable way. Keep up the good work!

[afhostie]

Hands down the best discussion I've seen on this topic. A further point I'd like to add:

Has the Roman Catholic Church not undermined it's own authority by promulgating certain teachings that went against scriptures? That's not to say that church history or tradition isn't important, they absolutely are. But i think it calls into question the belief of particular traditions or the authority of the church to be considered infallible.

[bobleroe]

"Respectful disagreement" is so very important. Thanks for making this point.

[jameskeys]

You nailed! Coming from a lapsed Orthodox believer.

[ThetaMinistries]

Recently as a Protestant, I’ve been digging deeper down the rabbit hole of the reformation and hearing the arguments against what we believe concerning scriptures authority, this video has really reassured me of my original conviction of the final authority of scripture.

[afhostie]

I'm just happy that you've chosen to not be hostile. Unfortunately, so many of the Catholic videos I've seen are, "xxxx DESTROYS sola fida" or "xxx DEBUNKS protestants with ONE VERSE".

[tigger]

You did a great job defending Sola Scriptura and explaining the doctrine. Many people of the Christian faith don’t really understand this concept. I was surprised by Lizzie’s response, but I wonder where she studied theology? Many others do so, but I would ask professors, like Dr. Michael Brown, Dr. Michael Rydelnik, etc for there perspective views. I always pray before reading scripture and after and then mediate on the word of God. The Lord will reveal the meaning. I love your videos, thank you again.

[CesarArturoCastaneda]

Though I am a Catholic, I gotta say; I loved this video. You are very warm and loving, thus genuinely a Christian. "They will know we are Christians by our love."

I definitely think all sides of the isle could use more of what you are sharing.

[jennyniemi]

Thank you so much for this video! I have a brother who recently converted to Catholicism from Protestantism. That has stirred me up a bit and it has challenged me to really try and think through theology that I have taken for granted as a Protestant. I am SO happy I stumbled into your channel!! The arguments you review in this video are ones I keep hearing as well and I know are things that drew my brother into the Catholic Church. I want to understand and grow and try to see things from his perspective, while still standing firm in my convictions. My eyes have be opened to the issues and problems in Protestantism, however I have no plans to leave my tradition. If anything, looking into all of this has confirmed what I believe and helped to expand my view to appreciate early church tradition and history. You have a wonderful way of explaining these things and you do it in a calm and peaceful manner. I admire your desire for discussion and your humility.
I would love to see a video on the authority of the church. That seems to be another area that draws Protestants over to Catholicism.
P.s. I agree with the guy who commented that you should turn this into a podcast! 😊

[crischiva]

Thanks for the understanding! After taking a look into protestant perspective, being Catholic Ive realised how most denominated Catholics avoid readimg scripture, abd that includes myself. Now I know the importante of Scripture, which is as or even more important than dogmas/tradition, and ill do my best on keeping up with reading. Fantastic video, I expected some kind of attack to Catholics but there wasnt any, I think all christians should agree that Scripture is essential in our faith🙌 even the Catholic tradition is based on it!

[scottsbiblereviews]

I'm a Confessional Lutheran looking closely at this entire issue. There are plusses and minuses on both sides, at least from what I've seen so far. Your winsomeness is definitely rare and appreciated! Particularly appreciate your 2-parter with Jimmy Akin.