Sola Scriptura, or “Scripture alone”, is a teaching of the Protestant church introduced by Martin Luther in the 16th century. It upholds that the bible is sufficient for teaching and equipping the faithful with the essential things for salvation, with much clarity that any believer is able to understand it through his own, personal reading. Perspicuity of scriptures, as Protestants call it, is the core of Sola Scriptura. This means that nothing else is needed for the interpretation of Scripture; not the Church, especially not the Magisterium or the Pope. Scripture, as Protestants would argue, is “self-authenticating”, and opens itself to the reader through the help of the Holy Spirit. Hence, Protestants claim that there is nothing else that the believer needs, but the bible alone.

When you read the bible, however, you see many instances where it does not agree with Sola Scriptura. “Faith comes through hearing,” Paul says in his letter to the Romans. “Hearing what?”, one may wonder. Paul continues, “hearing the word of Christ.” Take note that Paul is stating that it is through hearing the word that one generates and strengthens his faith, different from the Protestant teaching that one should read the bible. And many other verses are similar to this (Lk. 10:16, Phil. 4:9, 2 Thess. 2:13). But why hearing?

Hearing was an important tool of evangelization during the first few centuries of the Church. It wasn’t through reading scriptures that one found out about the good news of Jesus Christ. Instead, they heard it from people that Jesus sent off for the mission: his apostles (apostle is derived from the Greek word apostolos, which means “one who is sent off”).

So why didn’t the apostles just read off from the bible to share the good news of Christ, like Protestants are claiming we should do? Two things to consider: first, the bible hasn’t been compiled by the Church yet (Fun fact: The Catholic Church compiled the books of the bible and canonized it in the 4th Century during the Council of Rome. So technically speaking, the bible is a Catholic book!). Parts of the New Testament were still being written during the time of the apostles. According to tradition, the epistles of St. John were the last to be written, around AD 90-95.

Second, the main forms of communication then were speaking and hearing the message. Writing and reading weren’t exactly strengths of people back in the day. But what they lacked in those skills, they made up for in listening and memorizing. Hence how Luke was able to author one of the Gospels: by listening attentively to the teachings of Paul, who had received the good news of Christ beforehand from Peter. And the same goes for Mark, another writer of the Gospels, who, like Luke and Paul, wasn’t an apostle himself, but learned directly from Peter.

And because oral teaching is the main form of communication then, many of Christ’s teaching were transmitted from one generation to another in this way. This is why the Church upholds that, though there exists a written word of God in the form of Sacred Scriptures, many of Christ’s other teachings were left unwritten, but had been preserved through oral teaching in the Church, commonly known as Sacred Tradition – the unwritten word of God. This is supported by St. John’s comment that “many of the things that Christ did were left unwritten”. Because if so, he supposes that “the world could not contain all the books that would be written” (Jn. 20:30, 21:25).

Despite this, Protestants would continue to argue that Jesus himself often quoted from Scripture when he taught his disciples. A narrative that Protestants use to support this is when Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for their human traditions that went against the commandments of God. Jesus quoted Isaiah, and condemned the Pharisees for “worshipping God with their lips, though their hearts were far from Him” (Mk. 7:6). Another time is when Jesus, after being led by the Spirit into the desert, countered Satan’s temptations by quoting Deuteronomy.

Although Jesus quoting Scripture proves that it is indeed powerful and authoritative, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Scripture is the only authority by which his followers should live by. As seen in the Acts of the Apostles, after Jesus had ascended to the Father, the apostles and elders were left to settle disputes and disagreements within the Church. In Acts 15, after Paul and Barnabas traveled down to Jerusalem from Antioch to settle the issue of circumcision among the Gentiles, Peter, guided by the Holy Spirit, settled the issue by deciding to allow Gentiles to become members of the Church, as they too were given the Holy Spirit by the Father. And circumcision was no longer a requirement to be included in the covenant. Take note that not one of the apostles or elders were quick to open the scripture to find answers. Instead they trusted the authority and decision of Peter and the other apostles.

And so it has been for the rest of Church history. When heresies would arise from one city and spread to another, successors of the apostles – the bishops – would come together in councils to discuss and resolve issues. An example is the Council of Trent, which stretched out from December 1545 to December 1563. Some of the issues that the council resolved included Luther’s teachings. Though the Reformation believed it was “restoring” Christianity to its original state, the Church, through the Council of Trent, denounced the teachings of the reformation, excommunicated Luther, and reaffirmed already existing Church teachings on purgatory, presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, and justification through faith working in love (not faith alone).

So does having an authoritative Church displaces the power and authority of Scripture? Not at all! As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches in paragraph 86, the Magisterium is the servant of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition. Contrary to what non-Catholics believe, the Magisterium is not part of divine revelation. Instead, as the teaching office of the Church, its function is to give authentic interpretation of Scripture and Tradition, as they have learned from their predecessors – the apostles. This ensures that the Catholic (universal) Church is one and unified in its teachings, and will not turn away from the teachings of Christ. Different opinions and interpretations of Scripture, as Protestantism has shown us, has led to creation of tens of thousands of sects, each with their own set of teachings and beliefs.

Sola Scriptura is not biblical. Like many Church Fathers and other Catholic apologists before us have proven, the doctrine of “bible alone” is not a teaching of Christ. Yes, we believe in the infallibility of Scripture, but this truth does not translate to Scripture being the only infallible rule of faith. The Church, through the power and authority given by Christ, has also been made infallible. And she continues to be infallible under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

The Church, together with Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, complete the deposit of Faith founded by the eternal head of the Catholic Church, Jesus Christ.