The Doctrine of Sola Scriptura teaches that Scripture is the ultimate authority for the Church. It teaches that the Church and Tradition must be subordinated and held accountable to Scripture in that Scripture Alone is God-breathed revelation and the only infallible rule of faith. It also teaches that Scripture is materially sufficient - in that there was no other divine revelation preserved in any other form such as Tradition; and that it is formally sufficient - in that all that is necessary for the Christian faith has been clearly revealed therein.
The Roman Catholic response to this doctrine revived by the Reformers was that Sola Scriptura was no more than a 16th century Protestant novelty, and that it finds no support whatsoever in the patristic writings. Roman apologists since then have charged that the Reformers introduced a false dichotomy between the Church and Scripture which elevated Scripture to a place of authority unheard of in the early Church.
But is this really true?
Since you have cited some of the church fathers, I should make the following necessary comments:
- When you cite them speaking of the Tradition of the apostles – they are referring to the WRITTEN Tradition of the apostles – Holy Scripture. Check the context of your quotes, and I can guarantee that this is the case. You do not read the church fathers – do you? You only grab what others have ripped out of context and copy paste them at me. Ha ha – admit it! You didn’t even cite the source of your information! How irresponsible-
But just to show you that you are abusing these fathers – we will now look at many of the plainest and clearest statements of these church fathers to see if the Reformers had indeed elevated the Holy Scriptures to a place of authority unheard of in the early Church.
Irenaeus (130- 202 AD)
“But as we follow for our teacher the one and only true God, and possess his words as the rule of truth, we will all speak alike with regard to the same things.” (ANF, Vol. I, Against Heresies 4:35:4.)
“We have learned from none others the plan of our salvation, than from those through whom the Gospel has come down to us, which they did at one time proclaim in public, and, at a later period, by the will of God, handed down to us in the Scriptures to be the ground and pillar of our faith. For it is unlawful to assert that they preached before they possessed ‘perfect knowledge’ as some do even venture to say, boasting themselves as improvers of the apostles.” (ANF, Vol. I, Against Heresies, 3.1.1.)
“Such then, is their system, which neither the prophets announced, nor the Lord taught, nor the apostles delivered, but of which they boast that beyond all others, they have a perfect knowledge. They gather their views from other sources than the Scriptures, and to use a common proverb, they strive to weave ropes of sand.” (ANF, Vol. I, Against Heresies 1.8.1.)
“So then, in the first place, we prove from the authoritative Scriptures that all the things which have been mentioned, visible and invisible, have been made by one God. For men are not more to be depended upon than the Scriptures; nor are we to give up the declarations of the Lord, Moses, and the rest of the prophets, who have proclaimed the truth, and give credit to them who do indeed utter nothing of a sensible nature, but rave about untenable opinions.” (ANF, Vol. I, Against Heresies 2:30:6.)
“It is not possible that the Gospels can be either more or fewer in number than they are. For, since there are four zones of the world in which we live, and four principal winds, while the Church is scattered throughout all the world, and the ‘pillar and ground’ of the Church is the Gospel and the Spirit of Life, it is therefore fitting that we should have four pillars, breathing out immortality on every side, and vivifying men afresh.” (ANF, Vol. I, Against Heresies 3.11.8.)
“But that all his Epistles are consonant to these declarations, I shall, when expounding the apostle, show from the Epistles themselves, in the right place. But while I bring out by these proofs, the truths of Scripture, and set forth briefly and compendiously, things which are stated in various ways, do also attend to them with patience, and not deem them prolix; taking this into account - that proofs of the things which are contained in the Scriptures cannot be shown except from the Scriptures themselves.” (ANF, Vol. I, Against Heresies 3:12:9)
You’re quibbling; Matthew states marital unfaithfulness as a ground for divorce.
