On the Misunderstanding and Misuse of Sola scripture

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How to understand that only the Bible is righteous? What are the misuses and misunderstandings of Sola scripture? The author wrote this article just to put forward my own views on these issues, in order to attract others to think. If anyone disagrees with the author's views, this article also counts as an opinion on Sola Biblical.

The first purpose of writing this article is to comment on an article on the website of the Chinese Orthodox Church, written by Father John Wyford and translated by Mo Geng: "The Bible alone? An Orthodox Evaluation of Protestant Teachings" (see http://www.orthodox.cn/catechesis/jwhiteford/solascriptura_cn.htm#n4 ), which aptly points out the Protestant misunderstanding of Sola scripture and misuse, whereby Father Joann Weave expressly opposes sola scripture, but I think it is overstated.

I spent four years in a Greek Orthodox seminary and never heard of a priest or teacher who spoke out against Sola scripture. I read the writings of the Church Fathers with the Bible as the foundation and supreme authority. Because the church fathers unanimously said that the Bible is the word of God and the revelation of God. From this perspective, the author believes that only the Bible has no errors, and that the real errors are the misinterpretation and misuse of the Bible - in this regard, Father John Weaver is right.

There may be two reasons why Fr. John Weaver's opposition to Sola scriptures:

First of all, Father Joan Weave makes little reference to the role of the Bible in the historical development of the Church. In reality, however, the Bible occupies a central role in the church. Because no matter the creeds of the church, the writings of the church fathers, the formation of liturgical and prayer texts, and the formulation of canons are all based on the Bible. For specific perspectives, see My Church, Bible, and Ecumenical Tradition .

Second, Father John Weaver seems to see the Bible and Tradition as a hostile relationship. As a result, the conclusion of the whole article has become an either-or, life-and-death argument, which is actually unnecessary.

The second purpose of writing this article is to point out the misunderstanding and misuse of Sola scripture by the Chinese church. I have summarized three points as follows.

1. It is correct to equate Sola scripture with sola scripture as I understand and interpret it

Some people read the Sola scripture, rejoice and read it with enthusiasm, not necessarily to live out the words of God or to apply the words of the Bible to themselves, but to equate their understanding and interpretation of the Bible with the truth and object to this All persons and opinions inconsistent with his understanding and interpretation.

This kind of misuse of the Bible will of course lead to divisions and disputes within the church. We have seen many cases where some people equate their own interpretation and understanding of the Bible with "truth", and use this to require other people or groups to obey it." truth."

2. Equating Sola-Bible with Read-only Bible

I remember that a pastor mentioned two years ago that many believers now understand Sola-Bible as reading only the Bible. The author agrees. First of all, of course I am not against reading the Bible every day, and even encourage me to meditate on the Bible all the time, but I am against reading the Bible only.

Of course, there are limitations to reading only the Bible and only obsessing over how to interpret it, because the Bible is not a dead letter, but a living word. Shaking the thoughts and opinions of this generation that are not pleasing to God.

By reading only the Bible, we lose sight of what is happening around us every day, and the problems facing the door of the church. what is the problem? For churches in Europe and America, the question is whether to accept homosexuality or not to support abortion. The Bible is powerful, and we must use God’s words to respond to the challenges of the times in an all-round way in academia, education, news media, and politics. In order to respond to these challenges, we certainly cannot read only the Bible.

3. Equating Sola-Bibli with Hermeneutics or the Learning in the Ivory Tower

The Bible alone does not answer the question of how to properly interpret the Bible. In response to this question, Protestants have made great academic contributions, and many PhDs and courses are designed around this.

However, academically, having learned a lot of ancient languages, learned a lot of hermeneutics, and published a lot of papers, does it mean that you can interpret the Bible correctly? of course not. Because academics are now separated from being human, and the famous universities today are all strongholds against Christianity. It makes sense for us to call these universities secular universities, because in the past there were no universities and only seminaries.

From a patristic and spiritual point of view, academic training only provides a skill for arguing a point of view, not a person's ability to interpret the Bible correctly. According to the early church fathers and spiritual traditions, only those who have been purified can know God and interpret the Bible correctly because he is filled with the Holy Spirit. However, the church does not have a spiritual loner, and his "filling" and interpretation of the Bible needs to be confirmed by others, especially other church fathers (the church fathers who disagree with each other are not considered biblical correct interpretation). The outward signs of this confirmation are the decisions of the ecumenical councils, the unanimous teachings in the writings of the Fathers, the formation of the liturgical documents and canons of the Church.

Summarize:

In a word. The Holy Spirit, the Bible, the sacraments, and the ecumenical tradition are one and inseparable; they are not antagonistic, but explicit. However, it is difficult to separate them in detail, just as one separates the soul from the body.

Since there is a misunderstanding and misuse of Sola scripture, how can we avoid it?

The author's answer is: to go back to the ecumenical tradition, which is the first step in correctly opening Sola scripture.

We are going back to ecumenical tradition, not ignoring it, even being hostile to it, or taking biblical words out of context against it specifically.

In other words, from the perspective of church history, it is not too late to look at the documents formed during the development of the church, understand it, translate it, study it, and then decide which to adopt and which not to adopt. According to the author's understanding, the ecclesiastical writings left by the church, the resolutions and canons of the ecumenical council, the liturgical documents, and the spiritual documents are all part of the ecumenical tradition.