Sola scriptura…the Bible alone…hmm…
But which Bible? Which sources for the Old Testament - the Septuagint, or the later Jamnian text? Which sources for, say, the book of Daniel - the Masoratic text, which omits certain passages, or the first-century scrolls found in cave #4 at Qumran, which contains those passages?
Which translation? NIV, KJV, NKJV, NAB, NASB, NEV, ETC, ETC, ETC…? And that’s just a few of the English translations. What about French, German, Spanish, or Swahili?
Interpretation. Whose? Yours, mine? If the Bible is self-interpreting, why are there so many different interpretations? Sola scriptura…the Bible alone…self-interpreting…one interpretation…seems clear enough, and yet that’s not the case. Can any book interpret itself? Doesn’t it require a reader? Sola scriptura…if the Bible alone is sufficient, why aren’t we all on the same page, as it were?
The New Testament wasn’t canonized until nearly 300 years after Christ’s death and resurrection. That’s an awfully long time to be without a complete Bible, don’t you think? If the Bible alone is the sole authority, then anything other than the Bible (like oral tradition) is suspect, right? But the Bible is the product of oral tradition. Jesus never wrote anything, he spoke, and those heard him told others, who, in turn, told others, until someone finally decided to write things down.
I believe in the Bible’s authority, but if the Bible is the ONLY authority on God’s word, the even God himself isn’t an authority on his own word.
Sola scriptura…the Bible alone…Sorry Lord, I guess the buck doesn’t stop with you after all. DD2007 and John Calvin say so.