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For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Let him deny himself, is the call of Christ. Not, let me bring all my sins to you as my identity, and then you accept me in all these sins. No, we deny our sins, we deny our wicked desires, and we take up our cross and we die.
Less of me and more of Jesus. Welcome to the Protestant Witness, this is Pastor Patrick Hines here in Kingsport, Tennessee at Bridwell Heights Presbyterian Church in my quiet, nice study here in the Appalachian Mountains.
I am so blessed to be here at this church and to have a nice study with a computer and all my books and all this stuff. It still blows my mind that they actually pay me to come in here and study and write sermons.
I still can't believe it. I was a computer programmer for 11 years and sweat bullets to get through seminary while I had a bunch of kids. It was a tough experience, but God has really blessed my life and it's just been so good to me.
If you're a regular listener, you can probably tell I've been playing around with the introduction. That is actually a piano piece I wrote a long time ago. There's a fellow here at church who is very into music and was part of a band and is quite the drummer.
I gave him a copy of a CD that I had produced. Oh, goodness, that's been probably 10 years ago. I wrote 11 or 12 songs and then I arranged about 9 more, just different hymns and things like that. That was a composition I put together for the piano.
When he heard it, when he heard my CD, he was like, oh, I'm going to put drums on top of some of these songs. At first I thought, I don't think that would really sound very good. But especially that particular piece really sounded great.
I couldn't believe it. He emailed me a sound file because he's got professional recording equipment. It just sounded so much better with drums on it. I'm going to be using some of my own music for introductions.
That way there's no copyright because it's not copyrighted and I wouldn't sue myself for using it. Anyway, today I would like to go over the issue of sola scriptura. I'm going to put out here a sermon I preached on sola scriptura at the 500th anniversary conference.
We did that conference last year. During October it was our church's fall conference. We had to get as our speaker none other than me because every other good speaker in the world was already speaking somewhere else.
I actually preached all these sermons. I did six because I did all five solas and they wanted me to do one on the life of Martin Luther. That's something I've studied a lot over the years. I've read many, many Luther biographies and I've always found him to be a fascinating person.
I actually did all these sermons at another church in our presbytery that invited me down to speak there. That was a really, really great time of fellowship and we had Q &A and everything else. This installment of the Protestant Witness today is fitting because sola scriptura is one of the most important truths that there is.
That opening chapter of the Westminster Confession is vitally, vitally important. Our doctrine of scripture is critical to the life of the church and the fact that when we say sola scriptura, what we're talking about there is the number of God-breathed sources of divine revelation.
When you ask the question, is God speaking to us today? Yes, he is. He speaks every day in his word. But the former ways of God's revealing his will unto his church and to his people have now ceased. We don't look for messages in tongues and we don't look for words from God or anything like that because everything that we need to know is contained in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.
One thing I pointed out in all these talks that I did, and I'm going to go ahead and post on the Protestant Witness here all the talks I did at that conference since it's Reformation time and there's always the need to go over the great solas because the solas protect pure Christianity and the solas are vitally important.
We believe in the solas, the sola scriptura, scripture alone, sola fide, justification by faith alone, sola gratia, that we're saved by the grace of God alone. And of course sola gratia really is a shorthand way of saying unconditional election.
We're saved by Christ alone, solus Christus, not by Mary or saints or anything that we do. And everything is to the glory of God alone, soli deo gloria. And such vitally important truths we hold to the solas over against everybody else's ands.
There's a great chapter in Robert Raymond's book called The Reformation's Conflict with Rome, Why It Must Continue. Great little monograph by the late Dr. Raymond, that's spelled R-E-Y-M-O-N-D. And he has a chapter in it called Protestantism's Alones vs. Rome's Ands.
Because with them, they believe in scripture and tradition and the teaching magisterium of the church. It's justification by faith and works, grace and merit, Christ and saints and Mary and et cetera and so on and so forth.
So the solas are simply a way of protecting pure biblical Christianity. And so this installment of the Protestant Witness is going to be the message I preached on the doctrine of scripture, scripture alone, and why that is absolutely vital to the life of the church.
I hope you enjoy it. Please take your Bibles and turn to Matthew chapter 15. Matthew 15, 1 through 9 is our scripture reading for this first talk on another all-important topic of sola scriptura. Matthew 15, 1 through 9.
Matthew chapter 15, 1 through 9. It just says one preparatory remark. Yes, sir? I guess it would help if I turned it on. Thank you. Okay, that's better. As a preparatory remark for our scripture reading from Matthew 15, 1 through 9, I want you to bear in mind, this is an example of what happens when sola scriptura is denied.
This is what happens when sola scriptura is denied. Matthew 15, verses 1 through 9. This is God's word. Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?
For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread. He answered and said to them, Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God commanded, saying, Honor your father and mother.
And he who curses father or mother, let him be put to death. But you say, whoever says to his father or mother, Whatever prophet you might have received from me as a gift to God, then he need not honor his father or mother.
Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying, These people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. May God bless the reading of his infallible word. Let us pray, please. Our father in heaven, we thank you again for the opportunity to be instructed from your holy word.
We thank you for its clarity. We thank you that you have spoken to us and given us the words of eternal life. Lord, make us teachable. Help us to receive what your word says with faith and love. Lay it up in our hearts and practice it in our lives.
We ask in Jesus name.
Amen.
At the beginning of all five talks, I'm going to remind you of what I reminded you of last night, and that is that Presbyterians are part of the great Reformation heritage, which has received from our spiritual fathers, the great Westminster Standards, and all who subscribe to the Westminster Standards are confessionally bound by their ordination vows to all five solas of the Reformation.
In question two of the shorter catechism asks the question, what rule has God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him, meaning God? And the answer is the word of God which is contained in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him.
That's what sola scriptura means at its heart. There are no other rules whereby we are to be governed in how we glorify God and enjoy him. The great Athanasius of Alexandria in North Africa, who lived from AD 297 to 373, the great defender of Nicene Orthodoxy, wrote these words about scripture.
Quote,.
These are the fountains of salvation, that they who thirst may be satisfied with the living words they contain. In these alone is proclaimed the doctrine of godliness. Let no man add to these, neither let him take aught from these.
For concerning these the Lord put to shame the Sadducees, and said, you do err not knowing the scriptures. And he reproved the Jews, saying, Search the scriptures, for these are they that testify of me.
End quote.
Another important early church father,.
Cyril of Jerusalem,.
Who lived from 318 to 386, he was a bishop who instructed catechumens, new believers who were going to be baptized into the church. And from his catechetical lectures, this is what the ancient Christians were taught by bishops in the church.
For concerning the divine and holy mysteries of the faith, not even a casual statement must be delivered without the holy scripture. Nor must we be drawn aside by mere plausibility and artifices of speech.
Even to me who tell you these things, do not give ready assent, unless you receive the proof of the things which I announce from the divine scriptures. For this salvation which we believe depends not on ingenious reasoning, but on demonstration of the holy scriptures.
End quote. I promise you, you will never hear anything even remotely close to that taught in a Roman Catholic church today. What we're talking about when we speak of sola scriptura, we are talking about the Christian faith that was believed by the early church, that was passed on to the succeeding generations through the word of God, and what God's people have always known, the only place we can go for a sure word from God is the Bible and nothing else.
So this morning I want to cover briefly four topics. What sola scriptura is not, first and foremost. What sola scriptura is not. Secondly, what sola scriptura is. And thirdly, the authority by which tradition is judged.
We're going to walk through Matthew 15, 1 -9. And then fourthly, answering comebacks to sola scriptura. So first, what sola scriptura is not. The reason we have to cover this is, I will tell you, I've been interacting with Roman Catholic apologists and now Eastern Orthodox apologists for many, many years now, and I have not met one, not one, who knew what sola scriptura is.
Not one. And so you will have to answer misrepresentations of this doctrine constantly. And the thing that's so tragic is if you read the conversion stories of those who left Reformed or Protestant churches to Catholic churches, the reason they did so is they didn't know what this doctrine was and they had no idea how to defend it.
It's heartbreaking to read conversion stories and you just want to, if I had hair, I'd pull it out. What are these people being taught about the nature of Scripture and what are they being taught about what was recovered in the 16th century that is vouchsafed to us in our confessions and in Scripture?
So you need to know five things sola scriptura is not. I have heard all five of these misrepresentations in the recent past. First, sola scriptura is not a claim that the Bible contains all knowledge.
The Bible cannot help you figure out how to program the clock in your car, where you should make an incision to do an appendectomy or how to cook lasagna. Secondly, sola scriptura is not a claim that the Bible contains all religious knowledge.
Opponents of sola scriptura misrepresent it in this way constantly. For example, Roman Catholic writer and founder of the Catholic apologetics organization called Catholic Answers, a man named Carl Keating, cites John 21, verse 25, which says,.
And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world could not contain the books that would be written. Amen. And then Carl Keating says this, quote,.
The Bible actually denies that it is the complete rule of faith. John tells us that not everything concerning Christ's work is in Scripture. And he cites John 21, 25. And Paul says that much Christian teaching is to be found in the tradition that is handed down by word of mouth.
Second Timothy 2, 2. And these things that you have heard from me commit these to faithful men, unquote. Carl Keating equates the fact that John tells us that not everything Jesus did was written down with the idea that the Bible is not a complete rule of faith for the church.
Now, our response to this is rather simple. Does the fact that the Bible does not record everything Jesus did mean that the Bible itself is not a complete rule of faith? Obviously not. Think about these questions.
Do we need to know how often Jesus got his hair cut? Do we need to know what was on the menu at mealtime for the disciples? Do we need to know every single word that ever came out of Jesus's mouth? Do we need to know what color clothes Jesus preferred to wear?
Keating fails to notice that the same writer, John, tells us a little earlier in that same gospel the following, quote, in John 20, verses 30 -31. And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book.
But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. The Bible itself tells us we don't need to know everything that Jesus did in order to have life in his name.
But the things that we do need to know have been written down for us in scripture. These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ and that believing you may have life in his name.
So we don't need to know everything Jesus ever did or said or taught. Thirdly, Sola Scriptura is not a denial of the authority of the church to teach and preach God's truth. I had to do two videos just this past week with a convert to Eastern Orthodoxy on this very problem.
Hit with the exact same misrepresentation again. Sola Scriptura is not a denial that the church has authority to teach and preach God's truth. Opponents of Sola Scriptura often present to us what is known as the fallacy of the false dilemma or false dichotomy.
That is, presenting two options as if they're your only choices. We are told that either you have the Bible or the church, but never both. It's either you and your Bible by yourself in the woods, inventing and accepting your own doctrines by yourself, without pastors, without elders, without a historic church, without any guidance from anyone, or you just have to bow and accept the absolute authority of our external hierarchy, whatever it might be.
The LDS church in Salt Lake City, the Pope, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, the Patriarch of Constantinople, you name it. There's a thousand groups out there that make that claim. I, as a pastor, have the authority to preach, to teach, to shepherd, and the session of our church has the authority to practice discipline.
But that authority is subordinate to and derived from the authority of Scripture. The church has real authority, but it is not an infallible authority. And it is certainly not a God-breathed authority that is on par with Scripture.
So to have authority, you do not need to be infallible. That's the false dilemma. Fourthly, Sola Scriptura is not a denial that the Word of God has at times been spoken. Sola Scriptura is not a denial that at times, during periods in which new Scripture is being given, the Word of God is spoken orally.
Opponents of Sola Scriptura will inform us constantly that the apostles preached the Word of God and that what they preached carried the authority of God with it. And that is certainly true. It did. But a key to our understanding is that in order to practice and believe in Sola Scriptura, you first have to have a Scriptura.
Prior to the completion of the New Testament, the Word of God was preached and it did have authority. Now I would ask this question, when Jesus was alive and when he was preaching, was the New Testament written yet?
No. So was the Gospel of Jesus Christ as found in the New Testament as we have it today, was it first preached by the apostles before it was written down? Yeah, it was. And here's the point. The doctrine of Sola Scriptura, please remember this because you will hear this, the doctrine of Sola Scriptura does not refer to the time periods in which new Scripture is being given by God.
Sola Scriptura can't be practiced until you have the whole Scripture done now. Sola Scriptura refers to the normative condition of the church after times in which new Scripture is being given. The normative condition of the Christian church after times in which new Scripture is being given.
Is that clear? I hope that that makes sense. In other words, it's impossible to practice Sola Scriptura while new Scripture is being given during that time period. And yet opponents of Sola Scriptura point out constantly the Word of God was being preached before it was written down.
And we say, that's right. It was. It was being preached before it was written down. What we deny is this, that there were essential truths to the Christian faith that were only preached and not written down.
And if they want to make the assertion, there were all kinds of essential foundational truths that were only preached orally and never written down. Then please, please, please tell us what these are and show us that the early church believed in them.
And that's when you ask that question, that's when people have to go get their cat's teeth lost. Because they don't know and they can't tell you either. It's a shell game, folks. 2 Timothy 3, or excuse me, just remember no essential truths of the Christian faith were left exclusively in an oral form.
That's the fourth thing. Fifthly, Sola Scriptura is not a denial of the role of the Holy Spirit in guiding and enlightening the church. The Spirit of God guides the church into all truth. The Spirit of God is at work sanctifying the body of Christ, making it better and better, helping us to grow in our understanding.
But the church is fallen, the church is fallible, the church is always subjected to the correction of Holy Scripture. Okay, so that's what Sola Scriptura is not. It's not any of those five things. So, second point, what Sola Scriptura is.
Five things that Sola Scriptura is. Number one, Sola Scriptura is that the Scriptures alone are sufficient to function as the infallible rule of faith of the church. The Scriptures alone are sufficient to function as the infallible rule of faith of the church.
And the key is this, what is the nature of Scripture? Once it is clear to us what Scripture is, Sola Scriptura is the only option for a true Christian because Scripture has no equal in terms of its authority unless you are willing to say that the church in and of itself speaks with an absolute, infallible, and God-breathed level of authority.
2 Timothy 3 .16 is a passage I'm sure is very familiar to you. All Scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Friends, the only thing in the entire universe that has that adjective, God-breathed, properly predicated to it is Scripture.
Scripture alone is Theopneustos, God-breathed. There is nothing else that exists in the entire created universe that has that adjective predicated to it, God-breathed. There is nothing else that is God-breathed.
And so that's what I always say. When people tell me, I don't believe in Sola Scriptura, no one ever believed in Sola Scriptura. The early church didn't believe in Sola Scriptura. My immediate response to that is, great, you must know of something else that's God-breathed.
What is it? And what does it teach? What else out there has that same level of authority as Scripture does? You deny Sola Scriptura, our doctrine of Scripture is that the Bible is the only thing that exists that is God-breathed.
So if you're going to deny that, that must mean that you know of something else that's God-breathed. And please do tell us what it is. And again, they're going to have to go get their cats teeth flossed.
Because you're not going to get any answers to that. 2 Peter 1, verse 20 -21 says concerning Scripture, For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
The things said in 2 Timothy 3 .16 and 2 Peter 1, verses 20 and 21 about Scripture are never said in the Scripture about tradition or the church. Tradition is not God-breathed. Neither is the church God-breathed.
Scripture alone is God-breathed. Scripture alone is the standard by which all teachings, writings, sermons, and opinions must be judged. Scripture is subordinate to nothing and may be corrected by nothing because it alone is God-breathed.
It alone speaks with God's very own authority. We accept it as God's word on His say-so and on His authority. Now as an illustration, the Westminster Confession of Faith is the doctrinal standard of our church.
And the confession and the catechisms can be changed. They can be amended and changed in our denomination. And here's how that would work. You have to get approval of the proposed amendment by three-fourths of those present and voting at the General Assembly and its recommendation to the presbyteries.
Secondly, the advice and consent of three-fourths of the presbyteries. And then thirdly, the approval and enactment by a subsequent General Assembly by three-fourths of those present and voting. Okay, so you've got to get a lot of people on board if you want to change our confession.
But it can be changed. It can be modified in principle. Can we amend the Book of Romans? Can we modify it by voting? What if we get three-fourths of the presbyteries to vote on it? Obviously not. The Bible is the only God-breathed source of revelation that the church has.
And it is therefore that by which our own doctrinal statement is judged and can be changed. Scripture itself is self-authenticating. It depends on nothing outside of it to give it its own authority. Its authority is self-authenticating.
Think about it. If Scripture actually is God's Word. And when we read it, we are in fact reading the very words of the one and only true and living God. Then I would ask this question. What outside of Scripture could possibly validate or authenticate its authority?
If the Bible is God talking to us, then what outside of it could authenticate it or give it its authority? Or show us that it really is that? As another illustration, somewhere in France right now is the meter standard.
The meter standard. How many of you have a tape measure or a ruler of some kind that goes all the way up to a meter? The exact length of that tape measure or ruler is based upon a piece of metal in France called the meter standard.
Now I have a question. How do we know that the meter standard is a meter long? You see the point? The buck has to stop somewhere. That's not even a valid question. How do we know that the meter standard is a meter long?
It is the standard by which all other measuring sticks are measured. It can't be judged by anything because it is the standard. You see the Bible has nothing on its same level. That's why this is so serious.
As we're going to see in Matthew 15, the consequences of rejecting this are catastrophic.
Catastrophic.
Nothing outside of Scripture can authorize its authority because God's authority is the highest authority there is. The meter standard in France cannot be measured by anything else to assure that it is a meter long because it is the standard by which all other measures are judged.
Because Scripture alone is God-breathed. It alone is God's Word and there is no other source from which we can derive God-breathed revelation. Therefore, it is sufficient to function as the infallible rule of faith for the church because it's the only infallible rule we've got.
And it alone can inform us how we are to worship the one true and living God, what our duty is to God, and what we are to believe concerning Him. Sola Scriptura, secondly, is that everything one must believe to be a Christian is found in Scripture and in no other source.
That's the second thing. Sola Scriptura is that everything one must believe to be a Christian is found in Scripture and in no other source. This is not to say that Scriptural truth cannot be summarized in shorter forms such as creeds, confessions, catechisms.
But it is saying that there is no necessary belief or doctrine required for someone to believe to gain entrance to heaven that is not found in the Scriptures. Now, when I've pressed knowledgeable Roman Catholics and even knowledgeable Eastern Orthodox folks with this point and said, what essential truths were passed down orally that are not found in Scripture?
And they'll quote a man named Basil of Caesarea who wrote a book on the Holy Spirit. There's some quotations from him that are used very often because he speaks about traditions that were not written down such as we're supposed to face east when we pray and how to cross yourself properly and everything else.
Folks, are those essential truths? Does the Bible tell us what direction we're supposed to face? Is it even important?
Of course not.
Are we supposed to cross ourselves?
There's nothing like that that's part of the Christian faith. Are they really saying that's essential for us to believe? Sola Scriptura is that everything you need to believe to be a Christian is found in the Bible and it's not found anywhere else.
William Webster, a man raised Roman Catholic, very devout Roman Catholic who came to know Christ and has gone on to author some of the best books and historical works on the nature and authority of Scripture, also wrote another excellent book that I highly recommend called The Church of Rome at the Bar of History in which he penned what is, I believe, one of the greatest paragraphs describing Scripture ever written by anyone in church history.
Webster wrote these words, quote,. In like manner, the terms sufficiency or sola scriptura sum up the overall teaching of Scripture about itself. Specific scriptural descriptions of the Word of God, which speak of its nature and function, lead us inescapably to this conclusion.
The following are some of the words which tell us how God would have us regard His Word. The Word of God is pure, perfect, sure, truth, eternal, forever settled in heaven. It sanctifies, it causes spiritual growth, it is God-breathed, it is authoritative, it gives us wisdom unto salvation, it makes the simple wise, it is living and active, it is a guide, it is a fire, a hammer, a seed, the sword of the Spirit, it gives the knowledge of God, it is a lamp to our feet, a light to our path, that which produces reverence for God, it heals, makes free, illuminates, produces faith, regenerates, converts the soul, brings conviction of sin, restrains from sin, is spiritual food, is infallible, inerrant, irrevocable, it searches the heart and mind, produces life, defeats Satan, proves truth, refutes error, is holy, equips for every good work, and is the Word of the living God.
It is impossible to find a more convincing argument for the sufficiency of Scripture than these descriptions, and no such language is ever used about tradition in the Scriptures.". Scripture sounds pretty sufficient, doesn't it?
When you look at God's own descriptions of it in the Scripture itself. Thirdly, Sola Scriptura is that which is not found in Scripture, either directly or by necessary implication, is not binding upon the Christian's conscience.
That which is not found in Scripture, either directly or by necessary implication, is not binding upon the Christian's conscience. Our Westminster Confession in chapter 1 .6 says,. The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture, unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit or traditions of men.
And so that which is not found there, either explicitly or by necessary deduction, is not binding upon the Christian's conscience. Fourthly, Sola Scriptura is Scripture reveals those things which are necessary to be saved.
Scripture reveals those things which are necessary to be saved. Even young children can understand perfectly the proper relationship between faith in Jesus and good works when it comes to being saved and going to heaven.
Ephesians 2, 8 -10 is a test case. I've walked all my children through it when they're about 7, 8, 9 years old and have tried to play devil's advocate, have tried to trip them up and confuse them, and have seen them go back to the text and say, but that's not what it says.
That's not what it says. Listen to it. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
And I've walked through that passage with a 7, 8, or 9 year old that's learning to read and said, now what this means is, initially we're saved by grace. And God gives us grace and that's how we start the Christian life.
And then God has ordained that we would walk in good works and those good works help us to be saved. And to see those little eyes go back and go, but that's not what it says, dad. It says not by works, lest anyone should boast.
Well, yeah, initially. Initially we're saved by grace and then we have to work it out in our lives. And then we help contribute to it with the work of God's grace, you know, working in us and Christ in us and everything else.
But that's not what it says, dad.
It's easy.
You see, people should be able to look at it and you see it right there. Scripture reveals those things which are necessary to be saved. And even a child can understand those things. You don't need a theological education to understand the Bible.
It does make sense. Fifthly, Sola Scriptura teaches that all traditions that claim authority are subject to the higher authority of Scripture. Now, I'd like you to take your Bible again. Look at Matthew 15, 1 -9.
I want you to see this. This is our blueprint for judging what men say and teach. Let's walk through this passage and learn from the example of the Lord Jesus when it came to the issue of traditions that men tried to bind our consciences to.
Notice how Jesus addresses such claims but I want you also to notice this. I want you to notice this and make a mental note of this. The blinding power of tradition once it's accepted as divine revelation.
What I mean is this. The tradition, the Korban rule, as we're going to see here, so plainly and obviously made void the commandment of God to honor your father and mother.
But the scribes and Pharisees.
Could not see that. They could not see how clearly this tradition negated the Word of God and that illustrates the incredible danger of rejecting Sola Scriptura and elevating anything to the same level as Scripture.
Once somebody does that, once someone abandons Sola Scriptura and embraces something outside of Scripture, whatever that other thing is, makes the Bible irrelevant. And everyone here that's ever tried to witness to someone who doesn't believe in Sola Scriptura knows exactly what I'm talking about.
You walk people through the clearest of passages and it's like shooting a BB at a Sherman tank. It has no effect on them at all because once Sola Scriptura has been abandoned, whatever that other thing is, that is the ultimate authority, not what God says.
Look at verse 1 and 2. Then the scribes and Pharisees.
Who were from Jerusalem.
Came to Jesus saying, Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread. Now, what is this tradition of the elders here? These are an extra-biblical body of teachings passed down from the great rabbis and the great Jewish thinkers through the centuries, gathered together and compiled into what's called the Talmud.
The Talmud consists of 63 tractates and in printed form today consists of more than 6 ,200 pages of information. Many of the things contained in these writings were considered by the Jews to be divine in origin and on par with the Old Testament itself.
In fact, what's called the Halakha of the Jews, the fence that they built. These were rules that the Jews had constructed around the Old Testament law in order to prevent them from the possibility of violating it.
They didn't wash their hands for sanitary reasons but rather, quote, for fear that the hands had brushed against a Gentile or against something belonging to a Gentile,.
End quote,.
And things like that. The Jews also refused to write the covenantal name of God in Hebrew. They wouldn't use the Tetragrammaton, the Yahweh. Instead, they replaced it with Adonai in Hebrew because they might accidentally have a bad thought when they're writing God's name and therefore they took his name in vain.
Trying to put up laws to prevent you from getting close to the other laws, that is just as much a violation of God's law as disobeying them directly. We are not to add to or take away from God's law. And so that tradition was very much ensconced in the thinking of the Jewish people at that time.
One commentator wrote this, quote, Jesus and his disciples observed the Levitical law but disregarded the rabbinical tradition. Yet they did so, not because human customs as such are to be disregarded but because the Pharisees considered the tradition as binding the conscience.
By divine authority.
Binding it even more severely than the written law of God, end quote. What does this sound like? This is exactly the same kind of claims that are made by the Eastern Orthodox religion and the Roman Catholic religion today.
They believe that there are these extra-biblical traditions that were passed down orally outside of scripture, through the Episcopate all the way down to today. Jesus is here going to bring up one of these divinely authoritative traditions and show how obviously and plainly it transgresses the fifth commandment in God's law.
Look at verses three through six. He answered and said to them, Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God commanded, saying, Honor your father and your mother, and he who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.
But you say, Whoever says to his father or mother, Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God. Then he need not honor his father or mother. Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.
And here we have hypocrisy personified in the scribes and Pharisees. While they, on the basis of man-made traditions, pretend to find fault with the sinless Son of God, they themselves, by their traditions, have a very clear violation of a very simple and clear law of God, the fifth commandment, honor your father and your mother.
And here we see the power of human tradition and the devastating consequences of rejecting sola scriptura. Very sadly, once human beings, as I said, invent, elevate, and accept something outside of Scripture as having divine authority, that something outside of Scripture will become their absolute, unquestioned, and dominating authority in their life, regardless of what Scripture says.
More often than not, they will be completely blind to this fact. Once an authority has been embraced outside of Scripture, what the Scripture says becomes irrelevant to that person, no matter how plainly and obviously it is contradicted by Scriptures.
Think about the Pharisees and their devotion to the law of God, their memorization of it, their desire to follow it down to the minute details. And yet, by establishing their traditions as authoritative and divine, they would embrace and believe in traditions which so plainly and obviously, so right on the face of it, denied that very law that they claimed to love.
Isn't that amazing? In one of those 63 tractates in the Talmud, there is one called tractate avoth, the tract of our fathers. That's where the Korban rule comes from, what Jesus is talking about here.
Look at it again in verse 5 and 6. Whatever profit you may have received from me is a gift to God. Verse 6. Then he need not honor his father and mother. Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.
Hypocrites!
Well did Isaiah prophesy about you,.
Saying,.
These people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. Notice that in the mind of Jesus, when traditions or extra-biblical ideas are elevated to the realm of divine authority, we are no longer worshiping God, even if we think we are.
You see how devastating this is? How serious this is?
Verse 9.
You see it?
It is possible to worship God in vain. In other words, it's possible to think that you are worshiping God when in point of fact you're worshiping Satan. When we believe doctrines not taught in Scripture and worship in ways God has not commanded us to, our worship of God becomes vain, a void, and we are not drawing near to God.
We are only drawing near with our lips, but our hearts are far from God. Matthew 15, 1 -9 is Jesus' blueprint for judging all claims that people make for tradition. And once people have embraced a tradition outside of Scripture, they will believe things that are direct denials of biblical truth, and they won't even be able to see it.
I sent a video to an Eastern Orthodox convert of the Patriarch of Moscow, engaging in some of the most vile acts of idolatry I've ever seen in my life. This guy bowed over and over, forehead to the ground in front of a wooden cross, kissing the wooden cross, putting it back on a stand, getting back down on his face, waving incense in front of it, men circling around it, all bowing down together, the whole congregation, everyone, bowing down to this wooden cross.
And I said to this guy, look at the second commandment, you shall not make for yourself a graven image in the form of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth.
You shall not bow down to them.
Nor serve them,.
For I the Lord your God am a jealous God. What is this? This is a violation of this commandment. And his answer was, well, that's not really a graven image. Our graven images aren't real graven images.
And I pointed out, I said, look, you are illustrating exactly the problem here. Once you have denied sola scriptura, you will engage in direct disobedience to the word of God and think you're glorifying God doing it.
Notice what happens in Matthew 15, verses one through nine. You see what happens there? When Jesus points out the painful obvious truth, this Korban rule from the Talmud, it negates the fifth commandment.
You're supposed to honor your father and mother. You can't just cast them out on the street and say, hey, whatever I would have used to take care of you is a gift devoted to God. Jesus said, you are negating the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
Notice, not a single Pharisee stood there and went, yeah, he's right. That doesn't negate the fifth commandment, doesn't it? We got to change that. They didn't care. I've never understood it. This passage taught me,.
Of course,.
Once someone has rejected sola scriptura, once they've embraced something else, that something else becomes their authority and they will get on their faces in front of idols and look at you right in the face and say, I'm not violating the second commandment.
I'm not engaging in idolatry because these aren't real idols anyway. And it's a different kind of worship. It's not really the worship of la trua, as the Greek term says,.
La trua, to worship.
This is just dulio. This is just service. This is a lesser form of worship. So it's not really idolatry. It doesn't really count. Yeah, and I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you. You see how serious this is?
It's heartbreaking to me when people can't defend sola scriptura, when they're taken in by those kinds of arguments and end up in those kinds of false religions. It's devastating. It's so sad. But Jesus gave us the blueprint.
Always remember that. I want you to remember for the rest of your life, the Pharisees, who were the experts in the law, who had every word of the Old Testament memorized, could not see that their tradition was causing them to negate the fifth commandment.
Plainly, obviously, bonehead obvious. Anyone can see it, except them. Once sola scriptura is denied, people will believe the most absurd things and engage in the most absurd acts. I've watched videos in Catholic countries of people having themselves crucified every Easter and then getting down and thinking, well, I had a vision of Mary, and Mary told me to do this every year as an act of service to God, and it'll get time out of purgatory for me.
What are you talking about? What does that have to do with anything? Well, they don't believe in sola scriptura, of course.
Of course.
So always remember that. This is a vital truth. It's not just some Reformation slogan. This is the Christian faith. Fourthly and finally, answering comebacks to sola scriptura. My favorite one, ever since Hank Hanegraaff converted and I've made all sorts of new Eastern Orthodox friends on the internet, that's just your interpretation.
That's just your interpretation. That's a direct attack on the clarity of scripture. It's also a direct attack on the clarity of human language. What could be more obvious? Interpretation is unavoidable.
Every form of communication you receive is always interpreted. Now, how did God respond to me and say, well, our councils that have met, what the council says is what the council says no matter what anyone thinks it means.
My answer was, what the Bible says is what the Bible says no matter what anyone says it means. Don't you see the point? Human language has to be interpreted, and I want to warn everybody, God believes in the clarity and the sufficiency and the adequacy of human language to communicate truth.
He does. And as soon as we think, well, no, but God can't say anything clear enough in his word. We need this other authority. Yeah, but you still have to interpret that other authority, don't you? I've read written debates between Roman Catholic scholars on what Vatican II meant in certain of its documents.
So I guess, do we need an infallible interpreter of the infallible interpreter to settle those disputes?
Perhaps.
How about something easier? In the Bible, it says that David was king of Israel. What are some possible interpretations of that phrase? Solomon was king of Israel? Is that a legitimate interpretation?
Rehoboam was king of Israel. Or David was king of Israel. Which one of you would pick David was king of Israel as the proper interpretation of David was king of Israel? You see, we believe in the adequacy of human language to communicate truth.
For example, when I tell my children, lights out at 8 .30, I don't accept as an accurate or possible interpretation that 9 is bedtime. Everyone who talks believes in the adequacy of human language to communicate.
In fact,.
God himself believes in the adequacy of language to communicate truth. Which is why Jesus held all of his hearers who had access to the Bible accountable for having read it and for having understood it properly.
The Roman Catholic religion and a thousand other cults have insisted for centuries that we all need an infallible interpreter of scripture. And God supposedly gave that to us in the church hierarchy. Of course, Roman Catholic scholars themselves disagree and very widely on how many passages of the Bible have actually been infallibly interpreted.
Some say six. Some say eight.
Really?
In 2 ,000 years, that's it? We can't go to an infallible commentary and find out more than that? What good is an infallible interpreter if they won't interpret anything? The problem with this is, of course, you still got to interpret the pronouncements of any and all infallible interpreters.
And what are we supposed to do if we disagree in our interpretations of what our infallible interpreters of scripture tell us to believe? Do we need infallible interpreters ad nauseum? No, we don't. God speaks and he does so clearly.
So clearly, in fact, that he expects everyone to understand and obey him. You see, we have a great advantage.
I mean,.
I've got thousands of books in my library. We have a nice library over there. There's thousands more books on the internet and my own library on my computer. We have so much of an advantage to help us understand the Bible.
But I want us never to forget something, that when God breathed forth that letter to the church at Colossae, he expected those Christians to understand it,.
Believe it,.
And obey it.
And they didn't have Charles Hodge's three-volume systematic theology. They didn't have Burkoff, Raymond, and Kistemacher, and Matthew Henry, and the Puritans, and Calvin, and Luther. They didn't have any of that.
They just had that letter. And God expected them to understand it. And our Lord said, over and over, notice this when you read the Gospels. Well, have you not read?
Have you not read? Have you not read?
He said to them, repeatedly, over and over again.
If they thought.
The way that the Roman Catholic religion and all these other groups think, they would have said, well, Lord, we had no infallible interpreter to tell us what that means. And yet Jesus expected them to get it.
Have you not read what was spoken to you by God? Another comeback. The Protestant doctrine.
Of Sola Scriptura.
Has resulted in over 25 ,000 Protestant denominations. I've actually heard as many as 86 ,000. Sola Scriptura is an utter failure. We can simply point out in response to this that the principle of Scripture plus an infallible interpreter of Scripture has resulted in an even greater number of religious cults.
This argument, of course, is comparing apples and oranges. They're comparing a denomination with a rule of faith. The reason there are so many Protestant denominations, folks, has absolutely nothing to do with the Bible.
The reason there are so many Protestant denominations has nothing to do with the Bible, nothing to do with Sola Scriptura. The reason for so many Protestant denominations is because of not practicing Sola Scriptura.
Every one of us.
Should always be willing to learn.
To subject our traditions and our interpretations to the scrutiny and review of the Bible. And sadly, few Protestants today are willing to do so. In fact, at times, it seems that some Protestants are just as dogmatic, closed-minded, and unteachable about their traditions as the staunchest Roman Catholics.
Are of theirs.
We suffer from sloth and laziness and attachment to what we're comfortable with, what we grew up with. Bible study is tough work.
Excuse me.
And it takes a tremendous amount of discernment and discipline to do it well. And few in the modern church have the stomach for it. There's just too many things to watch on Netflix for us to dig so deep into the Word of God, isn't there?
Hence, we remain divided. However, when you consider the Protestant denominations that have applied the doctrine of Sola Scriptura with the most consistency, like the post-Reformation.
Lutheran churches,.
The Reformed theologians, Calvinistic Baptists, and so forth, the degree of unity that exists among us is rather astonishing. In fact, I would make this assertion against any groups that claim you need Scripture plus an infallible interpreter, that that results in greater unity among Christians.
Those churches that love the Word of God, submit to the Word of God, and are willing to be reformed and corrected by the Word of God have always been far more united in their doctrine than any groups that have practiced.
Scripture plus.
An infallible interpreter. Think about the groups.
That have practiced Sola Scriptura.
Think about Reformed Baptists. Think about the Continental Reformed tradition. Think about Presbyterians. Same God, same Gospel, same Christology, same doctrine of justification, same doctrine of sanctification, same basic ecclesiology, so on and so forth.
Think of groups that practice Scripture plus an infallible interpreter. The Mormon Church, the Jehovah's Witnesses, and Roman Catholicism. Different God, different Gospel, different Jesus, different way of salvation.
Scripture plus an infallible interpreter is an utter failure. And if everybody practiced.
Sola Scriptura,.
Everyone would be a Presbyterian. Got an amen from that.
That's good.
The truth of.
Sola Scriptura.
Is under attack in our day and few are able to defend it. As I said, I've read many stories of Christians converting to, well, so-called Christians converting to authoritarian groups like Rome, like Eastern Orthodoxy, like Mormonism, like the Jehovah's Witnesses.
The Unification Church, take your pick. They're all the same. What do all these stories have in common? An inability to defend the Christian,.
Biblical,.
Ancient, patristic, and historic doctrine of Sola Scriptura. One of the key texts that's often misused is 2 Thessalonians 2 .15. I've had this passage quoted to me four times in the last three days. 2 Thessalonians 2 .15.
Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word.
Or our epistle.
Opponents will say, see, Paul is telling the Thessalonians and us today.
That we're to hold.
To everything he taught, whether it was spoken orally or written in Scripture. See, Paul himself pointed to two sources of the traditions that we're to hold to. One, an oral tradition and a written tradition.
And these are two separate sources of doctrine. Each is distinct from one another. Now, what's the problem with this understanding of that passage? It assumes that what Paul taught them orally while he was with them is different in substance and doctrinal content from what he taught them.
In writing.
And if you're going to make that assumption, I challenge you to back it up. Are you seriously telling me, Roman Catholic apologists, are you seriously telling me that bishops of the Council of Nicaea believed what you believe today about the papacy, the priesthood, purgatory, indulgences, the Marian doctrines, the mass, and everything else?
Certainly not. Notice the text of verse 15. There is only one body of truth delivered in two ways. Not two bodies of doctrine delivered in two ways. The Thessalonians are to hold to the traditions. One body of teaching, not two bodies of teachings.
The teachings that Paul taught them, whether by word or our epistle, Paul is not referring to two separate and distinct bodies of doctrine. It's very interesting to me. This passage is quoted incessantly by Roman Catholic apologists and by Eastern Orthodox apologists for two different traditions.
What does that tell you? Both of them are misusing it. If two groups whose traditions disagree with each other can quote the same passage, what does that tell you? Neither of them are understanding it accurately.
Because it can't be the proof text for both of those schools of thought. What did Paul teach them orally and in writing? The gospel. That is what Paul was telling them to hold fast to.
The gospel.
Not to some mysterious verbal-only traditions that would never be written down. The way this is misused,.
I have heard and read.
Roman Catholic apologists say that this is where Paul actually taught the Thessalonians about the papacy. About purgatory. About indulgences. About the doctrines of Mary. I've heard Mormons and other groups use it in the same way.
This is where Paul taught the Thessalonians about how to become gods by being sealed in LDS temples and so forth. Here's how to challenge opponents of sola scriptura. What if I made this claim? I'm holding here in my hand a watch that is utterly unique.
There's not a watch like it anywhere in the entire universe. Now how could you disprove that claim? Show me another watch just like it, right? That's exactly what we're doing.
With scripture.
We're saying it has no equal. Nothing else like it. Nothing else that is God-breathed. How can opponents of sola scriptura.
Absolutely destroy.
Our doctrine of sola scriptura? Just show us another source of God-breathed truth. Show it to us. If you know of something that Jesus or the apostles said or taught, please share it with me. I would love to see it.
In a debate with noted Jesuit scholar Father Mitchell Pacwa on the doctrine of sola scriptura, Dr. James White asked him this direct question in cross-examination. After Pacwa himself, Father Pacwa cited 2 Thessalonians 2 .15 as a proof text against sola scriptura.
And White asked him this question,.
Father Pacwa,.
Given your denial of sola scriptura as the sole source of what Jesus and the apostles taught, can you tell us a single word that Jesus or the apostles said or taught that is not found in the New Testament?
And Father Pacwa paused for a long time and then said, No, I cannot. We have not defined anything. The debate's over then, isn't it? A good Protestant apologist,.
Eric Stenson,.
Wrote this,.
Catholic apologists often cite this passage, another passage, John 20, verse 30, as proof of oral tradition not written in scripture. But if this constitutes proof for non-inscripturated apostolic oral tradition, then it also provides proof that Rome has not held to that apostolic tradition, for Rome has not preserved any deeds or sayings of Jesus outside of the scriptures that are considered authoritative and binding.
Pat Madrid, when he was pressed by James White in a debate on Sola Scriptura, he cited 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 15, and White pressed him. So you're saying that there are traditions that are outside of scripture that are binding.
And so help me, his answer was this. What he taught them was the canon of scripture. So Paul taught the Thessalonians. Eventually you're going to have Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Rome.
And he taught them that the Apocrypha was part of the Old Testament canon too? Folks, that is ludicrous. That's absurdity.
You see,.
Denials of Sola Scriptura and the claims made for knowing traditions or teachings the apostles and Christ gave to the church that were never written down always proved to be empty claims. Those who make such claims need to be forced to produce these unwritten traditions or withdraw the claim to have them at all.
And when people cite 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 15 as a proof text against Sola Scriptura, insist that they show you these traditions of what they are and what they teach. Another thing you need to know is that the claim to know extra-biblical inspired traditions is not a new claim.
The very earliest believers in church history dealt with the exact same claims that we deal with today. Here's a quotation written by a Christian. See if you can tell when this may have been written.
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. When, however, they are refuted from the scriptures they turn round and accuse these same scriptures as if they were not correct.
Nor of authority.
And assert that they are ambiguous and that the truth cannot be extracted from them by those who are ignorant of tradition. For they allege that the truth was not delivered by means of written documents but by a living voice.
That's not from a Protestant writer in the 1500s or 1600s. That was Irenaeus between the year 182 and 188 AD. The claim to know other things that Jesus and the apostles taught is nothing new. It was gnostic and it was refuted and rejected by the ancient church.
And yet, when you read Irenaeus it's almost like him and Luther and Calvin would have been sitting there with Roman Catholic apologists in 1550. Opponents of sola scriptura existed even that early on.
2 Thessalonians 2 .15 is simply an exhortation to a precious early church to hold fast to the gospel message and the simple truths of the Christian faith. Not a command to hold to a mysterious body of extra-scriptural revelation or tradition.
Sadly, many continue to misuse this passage and even more sadly, many Protestants are taken in and deceived by those who argue against sola scriptura using this passage.
Sola scriptura.
Is a vital truth and don't let anyone take that precious truth from you by smooth words of flattery and deceit. There are many in our day who are enamored by the infallible fuzzies. People like to hand over their responsibility for what they believe to someone else.
Authoritarian groups who provide this alleged infallibility and their hierarchies are a dime a dozen. But remember what the Lord Jesus said about his sheep in John 10, 27. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.
The sheep of Christ listen to the voice of Christ and they hear that voice only in the pages of inspired scripture. None of us are infallible but God is. There are many errors that men can make. Some are more serious than others but the greatest error men can make is to think themselves incapable of error.
We love and practice.
By submitting ourselves, our hearts, our actions,.
Our priorities,.
And our beliefs to the authority of scripture and by always having a willingness to be corrected by what it says because only what scripture says is what God says. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for giving us your holy word, for speaking clearly to us in it.
We pray that you'd be with us and help us to be renewed in our zeal to be students of the word of God, to take in massive amounts of it every day so that we are not tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine but that we would be established in the gospel, established upon the word of God and standing upon its rock-solid foundation.
And we pray that you would bless us in our conference to that end. In Jesus' name.
Okay.