{"id":20640,"date":"2013-07-30T07:00:33","date_gmt":"2013-07-30T14:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/?p=20640"},"modified":"2015-03-19T16:37:23","modified_gmt":"2015-03-19T23:37:23","slug":"bible-alone-part-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/2013\/07\/30\/bible-alone-part-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Bible Alone? Part 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the last few days I’ve been looking at the subject of Sola Scriptura<\/em>. Today I would like to discuss the alternative to Sola Scriptura which I realized made more sense of both history and the Biblical data…<\/p>\n

The Alternative: Apostolic Authority<\/h2>\n

Ironically, the answer itself was in Scripture. After the Ascension, writing the New Testament wasn\u2019t the priority because it wasn\u2019t what Jesus commanded the Apostles to do. At the Great Commission<\/a> Jesus told His disciples to \u201cteach\u201d<\/em><\/span> all nations what He had taught them (as opposed to write a book).\u00a0If you wanted to know the truth in c. 30AD you would go to Jesus. Who would you go to after the Ascension? You would go to the Apostles He taught and commissioned.\u00a0It was this living Tradition that sustained the Church \u2013 primarily by orally<\/a> passing on to others what Jesus had taught.\u00a0Jesus wanted to found a Church, not a book club.<\/p>\n

In the Book of Acts, when there was a disagreement over the question of Gentile circumcision, the Christians didn\u2019t use Scripture to decide the answer, but called a Church Council<\/a>. I could only think of one Church today which still calls [Ecumenical]<\/span> councils to resolve matters of doctrine and practice…<\/p>\n

The more I read Scripture, the clearer it became that the Early Church was one which exercised authority (1 Corinthians 16:16<\/a>, Hebrews 13:17<\/a>) given to her by Christ<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 to forgive sins<\/a>, no less! Even in my most anti-Catholic moments I could still clearly see that Matthew 16<\/a> showed Christ giving Peter a special authority. I could only think of one Church today which claimed to still have that same authority passed on from Peter….<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a man does not hold fast to this oneness of Peter, does he imagine that he still holds the faith? If he deserts the Chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, has he confidence that he is in the Church?\u201d<\/em> \u2013 St. Cyprian (A.D. 251)<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But What About Today?<\/h2>\n

Okay, so the Early Church exercised authority, but the Apostles are dead. What about today? Scripture points to apostolic succession. Firstly, Matthew 16<\/a> clearly alludes to the office of Prime Minister in the Davidic Kingdom in which the keys of authority were passed from one Prime Minister to the next. Next, in Acts 1:16-20<\/a> Peter says that they have to replace Judas because his office (literally \u201cepiscope\u201d<\/em><\/span>, the word from which we get episcopacy) was vacant. Also later, the Apostles appointed Deacons (Acts 6:1-6<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There is nothing to suggest that after the last Apostle died, that all the Church would have to go on would be Sacred Scripture. Clement, the third Pope after Peter (and possibly the person referred to in\u00a0Philippians 4:3<\/a>), attests to this in his letter to the Corinthians:<\/p>\n

\u201cChrist therefore was sent forth by God<\/span>, and the apostles by Christ<\/span>. Both these appointments, then, were made in an orderly way<\/span>, according to the will of God<\/span>\u2026 [T]hey appointed<\/span> the first fruits [of their labours]\u2026to be bishops and deacons<\/span> of those who should afterwards believe.\u201d<\/em> – St. Clement, Bishop of Rome (c. AD 96)<\/span><\/p>\n

I would later find it illuminating to see how the generations after the Apostles fought heresy. In AD 180, St. Irenaeus challenged the Gnostic heretics to show their apostolic credentials. If they had the real truth about Jesus, they had to be able to show their connection back to Him and to the Apostles. Irenaeus said that the apostolic credentials for all Christian bishops could be proved. He choose to demonstrate this claim with (unsurprisingly) the Episcopacy of the Bishop Rome:<\/p>\n

\u201c…that tradition derived from the apostles, of the very great, the very ancient, and universally known Church founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul; … which comes down to our time by means of the successions of the bishops<\/span>. For it is a matter of necessity that every Church should agree with this Church<\/span>, on account of its preeminent authority<\/span>…<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u2026The blessed apostles, then, having founded and built up the Church, committed into the hands of Linus<\/span> the office of the episcopate [of Rome]. Of this Linus, Paul makes mention in the Epistles to Timothy. To him succeeded Anacletus<\/span>; and after him\u2026Clement<\/span>… This man, as he had seen the blessed apostles, and had been conversant with them, might be said to have the preaching of the apostles still echoing [in his ears], and their traditions before his eyes. Nor was he alone [in this], for there were many still remaining who had received instructions from the apostles. To this Clement there succeeded Evaristus<\/span>\u2026Alexander<\/span>\u2026Sixtus<\/span>\u2026Telephorus<\/span>\u2026Hyginus<\/span>\u2026 Anicetus<\/span>\u2026Soter<\/span>\u2026[and] Eleutherius<\/span> does now\u2026hold the inheritance of the episcopate.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIn this order, and by this succession<\/span>, the ecclesiastical tradition<\/span> from the apostles, and the preaching of the truth, have come down to us. And this is most abundant proof<\/span> that there is one and the same vivifying faith<\/span>, which has been preserved in the Church from the apostles until now, and handed down in truth.<\/em> – Against Heresies III.3.3 (c. AD 180)<\/span><\/p>\n

And this succession of Bishops continues to this very day. In Apostolic Succession I found the solution to all the problems of Sola Scriptura<\/em>. Christ left a Church to teach the world and some of this teaching was written down in the special form we call Sacred Scripture. It was the Church<\/em> who testified to the veracity of the sacred books and it was the Church<\/em> who assembled them into a definitive canon in 4th Century. The Church who wrote, assembled and preserved these writings is also the one who is called to interpret them faithfully.<\/p>\n

\"Papa\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Part 1<\/a>\u00a0| Part 2<\/a> | Part 3<\/a> | Part 4<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the last few days I’ve been looking at the subject of Sola Scriptura. Today I would like to discuss the alternative to Sola Scriptura which I realized made more sense of both history and the Biblical data… The Alternative: Apostolic Authority Ironically, the answer itself was in Scripture. After the Ascension, writing the New Testament wasn\u2019t the priority because<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,17],"tags":[1854,302,2274,2402,2969,1905,373,539,591],"class_list":["post-20640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apologetics","category-faith","tag-apostolic-succession","tag-bible","tag-bible-alone","tag-bible-alone-series","tag-featured","tag-reformation","tag-sacred-scripture","tag-sola-scriptura","tag-st-clement"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20640"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55987,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20640\/revisions\/55987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}