The Gift of Sola Scriptura. More Relevant Luther as he Echos Christ.
John 10:35 If he called them gods unto whom the Word of God came and the Scripture cannot be broken. This is the Word of The Lord!
These words came from Christs mouth to not know Scripture as Word of God but submit it to rationalism is a sin and loss to the believer.The Bible when it is looked at as only law and absent of Gospel destroys the faith in Christ. Discourage those who call on Christ's name because there is no gospel that is preached. The Scripture is the source of all knowledge for Godliness and goodnes saith the apostle 2 Peter 1-3. This is sufficient for the believer. Our Lord also speaks of rules that are taught by men making God's Word of no effect Mark 7:13. Not all tradition is bad however, but tradition should be substantiated by Scripture or it is just one taught by men and not God.
Luther states this well here," There is no Christian faith which is not based on the Word of God and the Word of God we find in the Scriptures, and in the Scriptures only . The Fathers can err. Traditions are human. Whether they convey to me the truth. I cannot know unless I see that their content is confirmed by the Scriptures.
I was speaking with a friend of mine the other day and he is involved in the typical run of the mill "McChurch that have given the Church in America and elsewhere a black eye. This is because they are not really sure of what they believe and take Scripture out of context. Often times instead of letting the Scriptures interpret thmeselves they read into them. Thus there is Scripture alone that is violated by poor exegesis.
On the otherhand, there are those who say that Scripture needs to be interpreted for them by prelates,popes,bishops etc. These people in these positions have invented all sorts of clever ceremony and things that must be done to work your way to righteousness. In some cases those who belong to these congregations of the Christian faith have been required to submit to the officials who very well could be preaching something contrary to Christian Doctrine ( i.e. Papal Submission and Indulgences). But for those who want to follow traditions alone and the words of someone like Martin Luther are not good enough or insufficient. I will include a statement from St Epiphanius and St.Augustine:
We can tell the solution of any question not through our own reasonings but from what follows from the Scriptures.
What more can I teach you, than what we read in the Apostle? For Holy Scripture sets a rule to our teaching, that we dare not “be wise more than it behooves to be wise,” but be wise, as he says, “unto soberness, according as unto each God has allotted the measure of faith.”
(Panarion 65, as quoted in Examination of the Council of Trent I, p. 153)
In essence what the Church Fathers are saying is that it is not feeling or reasons of the individual that are reliable but the Scriptures. Also it is not traditions that validate the Scriptures but rather the Scripture that serves as the validation for any tradition. If none of these things are inScripture how can we believe it? In this case, and in many others St. Epiphanius and St. Augustine are correct an like all of the Fathers are human and can error.
John 10:35 If he called them gods unto whom the Word of God came and the Scripture cannot be broken. This is the Word of The Lord!
These words came from Christs mouth to not know Scripture as Word of God but submit it to rationalism is a sin and loss to the believer.The Bible when it is looked at as only law and absent of Gospel destroys the faith in Christ. Discourage those who call on Christ's name because there is no gospel that is preached. The Scripture is the source of all knowledge for Godliness and goodnes saith the apostle 2 Peter 1-3. This is sufficient for the believer. Our Lord also speaks of rules that are taught by men making God's Word of no effect Mark 7:13. Not all tradition is bad however, but tradition should be substantiated by Scripture or it is just one taught by men and not God.
Luther states this well here," There is no Christian faith which is not based on the Word of God and the Word of God we find in the Scriptures, and in the Scriptures only . The Fathers can err. Traditions are human. Whether they convey to me the truth. I cannot know unless I see that their content is confirmed by the Scriptures.
I was speaking with a friend of mine the other day and he is involved in the typical run of the mill "McChurch that have given the Church in America and elsewhere a black eye. This is because they are not really sure of what they believe and take Scripture out of context. Often times instead of letting the Scriptures interpret thmeselves they read into them. Thus there is Scripture alone that is violated by poor exegesis.
On the otherhand, there are those who say that Scripture needs to be interpreted for them by prelates,popes,bishops etc. These people in these positions have invented all sorts of clever ceremony and things that must be done to work your way to righteousness. In some cases those who belong to these congregations of the Christian faith have been required to submit to the officials who very well could be preaching something contrary to Christian Doctrine ( i.e. Papal Submission and Indulgences). But for those who want to follow traditions alone and the words of someone like Martin Luther are not good enough or insufficient. I will include a statement from St Epiphanius and St.Augustine:
We can tell the solution of any question not through our own reasonings but from what follows from the Scriptures.
What more can I teach you, than what we read in the Apostle? For Holy Scripture sets a rule to our teaching, that we dare not “be wise more than it behooves to be wise,” but be wise, as he says, “unto soberness, according as unto each God has allotted the measure of faith.”
(Panarion 65, as quoted in Examination of the Council of Trent I, p. 153)
In essence what the Church Fathers are saying is that it is not feeling or reasons of the individual that are reliable but the Scriptures. Also it is not traditions that validate the Scriptures but rather the Scripture that serves as the validation for any tradition. If none of these things are inScripture how can we believe it? In this case, and in many others St. Epiphanius and St. Augustine are correct an like all of the Fathers are human and can error.
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