Scripture and Tradition

Catholic Outlook

Catholic Outlook

Catholic Outlook

Catholic Outlook

When asked where the Bible teaches sola Scriptura, Protestants will often point to 2 Timothy 3:15-17. For example, Kenneth Samples wrote,

Scripture explicitly states its inspiration in 2 Timothy 3:15-17, and its sufficiency is implied there as well. This passage contains the essence of sola scriptura, revealing that Scripture is able to make a person wise unto salvation. And it includes the inherent ability to make a person complete in belief and practice.¹

That’s a great passage, but I don’t think it implies what Protestants think it implies. Here’s the whole passage (including verse 14):

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Tim 3:14-17)

Notice that Paul was referring to the Scriptures Timothy had known “from infancy.” Timothy was in his early 20’s when the first New Testament letter was written, so the Scriptures he had known “from infancy” were the Jewish Scriptures, the books we call the “Old Testament.”

So, if this passage teaches sola Scriptura, it teaches sola Vetus Testamentum (the Old Testament alone). But we know that God’s revelation is not confined to the Scriptures that Timothy had known from infancy. We know that the New Testament is God’s revelation, too.

Which brings up the point that even if sola Scriptura were true, it only became true after public revelation ceased with the completion of the canon of Scripture and the death of the last apostle. Obviously, sola Scriptura was not possible while Scripture was still being written. As Protestant apologist James White wrote,

Protestants do not assert that sola scriptura is a valid concept during times of revelation. How could it be, since the rule of faith to which it points was at that very time coming into being?²

He’s right. But that means that no verse of Scripture written in the present tense, including this one, can possibly teach sola Scriptura. Paul cannot have been telling Timothy to go by Scripture alone while Scripture was still being written. Only a verse that looked to the future and said something to the effect that someday the teachings of the faith would be entirely committed to writing would support sola Scriptura. But of course, no such verse exists.

Also, notice that this passage doesn’t say anything about the extent of God’s revelation, or where it can be found. Instead, Paul was reminding Timothy that the God-breathed Jewish Scriptures were “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training righteousness.” And that is certainly true. By reading the Jewish Scriptures “the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” As it says in Psalm 119:11-12, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Praise be to you, O LORD; teach me your decrees.”

But it’s one thing to say, “The Jewish Scriptures are useful,” and quite another to say, “All Christian doctrines must be established from Scripture alone.” The Bible never teaches such a thing, not in 2 Timothy, and not anywhere else.

In fact, earlier in this same letter, Paul told Timothy, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Timothy 2:2). That’s the definition of “Tradition,” and that’s how the Christian faith was taught: one generation handing the faith down to the next. In this verse Paul lists five generations of Tradition: (1) Jesus to (2) Paul to (3) Timothy to (4) “reliable men” to (5) “others.” 

Paul not only told Timothy, who was the bishop of Ephesus, to continue to hand down the faith, he also told those who received that teaching to hold on to it. He wrote, “So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us” (2 Thessalonians 2:15).

Paul taught the Christian faith in person for years at a time. For example, he taught in Ephesus for about two and a half years (53-56 AD), and he said to the Ephesian elders, “I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God” (Acts 20:27). Later, he wrote them a short letter that can be read in an hour.

Nowhere did he say or imply that all of his teachings, or those of the other apostles, had been reduced to writing, or ever would be. In this letter, written near the end of Paul’s life, he told Timothy to continue to hand down the Christian faith personally, by entrusting it to reliable men who would be able to teach others. And he urged Timothy to continue in what he had learned, and he reminded him that the God-breathed Jewish Scriptures were useful to that end. In no way does this passage establish or support the idea that all of God’s revelation is confined to Scripture alone.