Ephesians 2:19-22 – “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”
2 Timothy 3:15-17 – “. . . from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
1 Timothy 3:15 – “. . . I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”
Many Protestants pride themselves on deriving all their doctrines from Scripture alone. I do not claim that, though I will claim that no doctrine which the Church proclaims will contradict Scripture. It is interesting to note that the same St. Paul who says that, “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God,” also makes two additional statements. One of them he makes to the same St. Timothy to which he spoke about Scripture, when he says that we are, “the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” If St. Paul were a Protestant, he would be expelled from being a Protestant. If the Protestant claims were correct, one would expect that he would say that it is the Word of God which is the pillar and ground of truth. But, he does not say that, does he? He says that it is the Church which is the pillar and ground of the truth.
And, finally, St. Paul makes it clear that we have a high Christology. Christ Jesus is the cornerstone of the Church. But, he goes on to say that the Church is further built on the apostles and prophets who are our foundation. The rest of the building is to be built on that foundation. Interestingly enough, Scripture is not mentioned, unless one interprets apostles and prophets to be the New Testament (that was yet to be fully written and collected) and the prophets to be the Old Testament. While that is a tempting interpretation, that is not what it actually says. There is no word here of a written word, but rather a living transmission that builds a living building.
Now, of course, I agree that no Scripture may be interpreted in such a way that it contradicts another Scripture. Which means that there is an inter-relationship between the Church and the Scriptures. Now, most Protestant interpretation goes on at this point to make some interesting assumptions. They are interesting because they are nowhere mentioned in Scripture itself. First, there is the assumption that once the New Testament was written and collected, the Church stopped being the pillar and ground of truth. I have heard 1 Corinthians 13 being quoted much too often with the claim that the perfect which was talked about were the Scriptures which were to come. Of course, one has to stretch the meaning of the verse significantly beyond grammar to claim that now that the Scriptures are here, I know as I have been known.
Second, there is an almost deliberate twisting of history among Anabaptists (note, I am not talking about Anglicans, Lutherans, etc., here) to try and obscure that the New Testament, as a whole, was not fully collected for over 100 years, and many would say over 200. That is, though it is clear in the sub-Apostolic Fathers that the writings of the Apostles (or Apostle associates such as St. Mark and St. Luke) have authority and may not be disobeyed, it is also clear that those Fathers had only pieces of the New Testament. In fact, there was a back and forth relationship between the two. The sub-Apostolic Fathers make it very clear that they have a deposit of teaching that was passed on to them that agrees with the writings and fills out what is not there. In the same way, they always check their deposit against the writings. You actually see the balance between the Church as pillar and ground of truth and the writings as inspired of God.
But, in either and/or both cases, one is forced to draw a theological conclusion that is not found in Scripture or history. Neither Scripture nor history point to Sola Scriptura though both certainly point to that relationship between 1 Timothy 3:15 and 2 Timothy 3:15. The funny part is that I am actually making the case that Scripture is, indeed, correct and that it is Scripture itself which points to the Church as its partner in the truth. (Note that I did not quote the more than one Scripture that speaks of those things passed on verbally and which have authority.)
More to come, stay tuned.
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