Matthew 5:18 for sola scriptura?

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Matthew 5:18 (New International Version)
18 “I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”

how can matthew 5:18 be read in context? Looks like it supports the notion of sola scriptura isn’t it?
 
jamil_joseph02 said:
Matthew 5:18 (New International Version)
18 “I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”

how can matthew 5:18 be read in context? Looks like it supports the notion of sola scriptura isn’t it?
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This is part of Jesus’ sermon on the mount, and the verse just previous to that is,

"Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the prophets. I have not come to destroy but to fulfil."

In that particular passage, Christ is replying to those who say He is attempting to do away with the Law and the prophets. He is not referring to the validity (or lack thereof) of Tradition. He is affirming the importance of Scripture, which is not denied by anyone who calls himself “Christian”.

Anyone who would try to use that passage to promote Sola Scriptura is taking that one verse completely out of context and ignoring the rest of the chapter.
 
I don’t see how it supports Sola Scriptura, even out of context. It simply doesn’t say anything to the effect of “Don’t read anything else, now, you hear?” Just because the Law will last until the end of time doesn’t mean anything else won’t.
 
Yep, ditto the above. The verse is in reference to the fact that Christ came to fulfill the Law, not to abolish it. And even taken out of context, that’s what it says. For it to be a sola scripture reference, it would have to be more explicitly, “Reject all things that don’t come from the Sacred Scriptures.” Of course, the problem is that the Christian Bible doesn’t come into being for several centuries after…
 
Speaking as someone who left the Roman Catholic Church because of my belief in Sola Scriptura, I must agree with the others - this verse talks about Jesus fulfilling the Law, not about Sola Scriptura. I have never heard anyone even try to use this verse in that fashion, and I would strongly argue against such a claim.
 
okay, Jesus had come to fulfill the law. Okay, what law was that? 10 Commandments?
 
The distance between this verse and sola scriptura is best likened to the distance between your computer monitor and Proxima Centauri.
 
jamil joseph02:
okay, Jesus had come to fulfill the law. Okay, what law was that? 10 Commandments?
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I would suggest that since Jesus clearly fulfilled many prophecies found throughout the Old Testament, then “the Law” could mean all of the Old Testament prophecies (certainly, these will all be fulfilled before heaven and earth pass away). If you are looking for a specific Law, I would recommend you review all the Laws given to Moses (there are, I believe, 613 laws, which includes the 10 Commandments). Since that is beyond the scope of this thread, I will end it here.
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Chrysostom324:
The distance between this verse and sola scriptura is best likened to the distance between your computer monitor and Proxima Centauri.
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😃 Could you give that distance in cubits? I won’t put a distance on it, but I agree this verse cannot be used as a proof for Sola Scriptura.
 
Chrysostom324 said:
The distance between this verse and sola scriptura is best likened to the distance between your computer monitor and Proxima Centauri.
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haha now I see the logic. I’ll tell this to the “mat 5:18=bible alone” believers:D
 
JamesE24 said:
…Anyone who would try to use that passage to promote Sola Scriptura is taking that one verse completely out of context and ignoring the rest of the chapter.
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…and this is all they ever do to choose this man made tradition over that Authority which God established.
 
Cachonga said:
Speaking as someone who left the Roman Catholic Church because of my belief in Sola Scriptura, I must agree with the others - this verse talks about Jesus fulfilling the Law, not about Sola Scriptura. I have never heard anyone even try to use this verse in that fashion, and I would strongly argue against such a claim.
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Thanks for the honesty. Next, if you continue to be honest and seek the truth, you’ll find that Sola Scriptura is not in the Bible, and no one believed in it, nor could have even really used it practically until the printing press. It is a recent development in history, one which Christ did not extablish, but was established by heretics. So, keep up the good work of honesty, and if you seek the Truth and love God, you will return to being Catholic. To whom else should we go? The Church established by Christ subsists in the Catholic Church, and nowehere else.
 
MDK said:
Thanks for the honesty. Next, if you continue to be honest and seek the truth, you’ll find that Sola Scriptura is not in the Bible, and no one believed in it, nor could have even really used it practically until the printing press. It is a recent development in history, one which Christ did not extablish, but was established by heretics. So, keep up the good work of honesty, and if you seek the Truth and love God, you will return to being Catholic. To whom else should we go? The Church established by Christ subsists in the Catholic Church, and nowehere else.
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I am one who has returned to the faith. And at first I could not wait to share the complete gospel with my good Christ loving protestant friends. After a couple of years back I find the ones who need the gospel the most are thousands and thousands of (cafeteria) Catholics. I believe they keep more prostestants out of Mother Church than any devil could pray for
 
I was born a Catholic through the faith of my parents. Just like any other protestants, Jews alike. When I grew up, I had the opportunity to find out the Truth. I am still a Catholic will remain one to the end of times.

Yes, we all need to read the Bible. How many people in developing countries have a Bible? How many ppl in developed countries have a Bible?

Most people depend on the teaching of their respective pastors and choose to believe them or not.

If a pastor knows he/she is not teaching the “Truth” and misleading the “flock”, they know it themselves, but because of “pride” and lost of “revenue” will continue to misled the flock.

To be a Christian, we have to do two things. (i) Abide in JESUS & (ii) Bear good Fruits. He is the wine and we are the branches.

For those who teaches Bible alone, live what the Bible tells you to do. Only then, you Abide in JESUS.

Amen
 
The concept of “sola scriptura” did not exist until the Protestant Reformation of the in the 16th century with Martin Luther’s mistaken belief that the Bible was so clear and easily understood that “all men of good will” could readily agree on it’s meaning and interpretation. For anyone who still believes that, need only look up “churches” in the Yellow Pages to find out how that worked out! The ink was hardly dry on Luther’s 95 “theses” before the reformers began splitting up into their many camps with their own subsets of beliefs and practices. A practice that continues to this day.

Even the (many) Protestant denominations can no longer say they follow “sola scriptura” as anything practiced for hundreds of years begins having traditions of it’s own!
 
RC Apologist Ben Douglas, David Palm and Nick E have an interesting post here on Unsound Sticks, or, Arguments Catholics Shouldn’t Use. Item #'s 1, 4 and 6 address Sola Scriptura, while item 16 addresses Martin Luther’s addition of the word “alone” into Romans 3:28. Thanks to Ben Douglas, et. al. for their honesty!
 
Love4Nature said:
I was born a Catholic through the faith of my parents. Just like any other protestants, Jews alike. When I grew up, I had the opportunity to find out the Truth. I am still a Catholic will remain one to the end of times.

Yes, we all need to read the Bible. How many people in developing countries have a Bible? How many ppl in developed countries have a Bible?

Most people depend on the teaching of their respective pastors and choose to believe them or not.

If a pastor knows he/she is not teaching the “Truth” and misleading the “flock”, they know it themselves, but because of “pride” and lost of “revenue” will continue to misled the flock.

To be a Christian, we have to do two things. (i) Abide in JESUS & (ii) Bear good Fruits. He is the wine and we are the branches.

I agree with your premise(s) but I question your rational. How do you expect one to accept your beliefs if you provide no rational arguement inductive or deductive. I know protestants who love Jesus with all their heart. When they see something as radically different they have a fear of looseing Him. It is the love of Jesus that scare a prottestant from your views; you need to show the love you have, and provide evidence. there are a lot of rresources

For those who teaches Bible alone, live what the Bible tells you to do. Only then, you Abide in JESUS.

Amen
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Cachonga said:
Speaking as someone who left the Roman Catholic Church because of my belief in Sola Scriptura, I must agree with the others - this verse talks about Jesus fulfilling the Law, not about Sola Scriptura. I have never heard anyone even try to use this verse in that fashion, and I would strongly argue against such a claim.
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If you left the Catholic Church over Sola Scriptura, how do you justify the thinking, if not with passages from Scripture?
When you leave the Church because of sola scriptura, you also leave behind not just Tradition, but Authority.
Without authority, you are free to interpret scripture anyway you see fit, while attributing that interpretation to the Holy Spirit, of course.

If you can get EWTN on your tv, I would recommend watching Marcus Grodi’s Journey Home program. He interviews people who are former protestants, or even former Catholics who left for various reasons, only to find their way back.
As someone who loves the apologetics side of faith, I always get something from his program.
I was privileged to meet him last fall.
Glad you’re writing on CA!
 
You will never find a verse that supports Sola Scriptura because it’s not in there. Even if it was in there was no New Testament during those times. If that was the case, then we wouldn’t have to fallow any of the New Testament, but only the Old Testament because that was all there was. The New Testament wasn’t canonized until the Council of Laodicea between the years of A.D. 363-364. Until then, they only had the Septuagint. Sola Scriptura was nothing more than a mere invention by Martin Luther in A.D. 1530 for an excuse to break away from the Roman Catholic Church, deny its authority, and to perverse the gospel.
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 St. Paul said it best, "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and turning to a different gospel -- not that there is another gospel, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, If any one is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed." (Gal. 1:6-9 [RSV])

 Yet again Paul says it best, "For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is not strange if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds." (2 Cor. 11:13-15 [RSV]).

 John's clarification, "...This is the spirit of antichrist, of which you heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already." (1 Jn. 4:3 [RSV])

 The reason why I say Paul says it best is because if you look at the first quote I cited you can see there are people who are trying to pervert the gospel like Martin Luther saying the tradition should be thrown out the window and only the Bible should be supported even though Paul said in 2 Thes. 2:15 "So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter. [RSV]" You can clearly see that Martin Luther is leading people astray. John in the third quote I cited states that the antichrist is already here and among us - if you read the Bible a little further you see that there are many antichrists. The second quote I cited, Paul shows us that Satan can even disguise himself as an angel of the Lord. That's some pretty scary stuff. But, Paul says by their fruits we shall know of them. In other words, Martin Luther who lead millions of people astray (the one who really started this whole division among Christianity [33,000 denominations in all]) is really doing the work of the devil and not of God. Satan works by putting doubt into people's minds and wants to confuse them so that they will be lost and eventually give up on God; this is how he collects his souls.
 
mexanava87 said:
Sola Scriptura was nothing more than a mere invention by Martin Luther in A.D. 1530 for an excuse to break away from the Roman Catholic Church, deny its authority, and to perverse the gospel.
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Historically speaking, it does not appear that Luther’s original intent was to break with the Catholic Church, but rather to persuade Church authorities to address some key issues and out and out abuses which were taking place at the time. Some of these abuses included the selling of indulgences, the selling of Church offices, and the keeping of mistresses by some priests. These were real problems and needed to be addressed but Luther’s approach was certainly naive at best! He only broke from the Church when he reached the conclusion that the Church wasn’t going to listen to him.

I’m not going to assume that he was motivated by Satan, I think we use that assumption too often and too quickly about people who live in our own times, let alone to so judge those who died hundreds of years ago and whom we can only know through the (often biased) writings of others.

The fracturing of the Protestant Church is simply the logical outcome of trying to deny the necessity of both tradition and teaching authority in the interpretation of scripture. This denial also ignores the fact that scripture is of itself, tradition written down! The earliest manuscripts of books of the New Testament date only to about 60 - 70 AD… initially, all Holy Scripture was the stories passed down among believers until they were finally written down. Tradition, and authority are three legs of the same stool. Without all three, the stool is unstable. This is why there are so many fractures among the Christian believers.

The irony is that “sola scriptura”, by denying the Papal authority, set the stage for the Protestant churches to end up being run by the earthly monarchs for their own purposes… one need only look at the history of the “Church of England” to see how this worked out!
 
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