re: Much Needed Clarity Regarding the Pope and the Recent Document Regarding Blessings

quote:

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All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16

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Amen. I could not agree more. In fact, I don't know a single trinitarian Christian who does not believe this. I think that is why this passage is typically the most cited in support of sola scriptura. There are several issues with using this passage in support of sola scriptura though.

a - The passage doesn't say "only scripture" or "scripture alone". It just says that scripture is God-breathed, or Theopneustos, which it is.

b - The passage doesn't say that scripture is "sufficient". The man of God is made sufficient, not by having the scriptures alone, but through teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. Scripture is described as being useful for those things, but not entirely and singularly sufficient for those things.

I would agree if the argument were "material sufficiency", but that's not the argument. Sola scriptura argues "formal sufficiency". If the formal sufficiency of the scriptures alone were true, the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts 8 wouldn't have needed Philip to teach him what the scroll of Isaiah he was reading meant. That passage supports material sufficiency.

c - It says all scripture is inspired (Theopneustos), but it does not say that all inspiration is only in the scriptures. This would be like me saying that all faithful and practicing Calvinists are Christians, and therefore, Sola Calvinismus is true, or that only Calvinists are Christians. This statement doesn't mean that Baptists, Lutherans, Anglicans, etc are not Christians though, only that Calvinists are.

d - It never defines what "all scripture" is. 2 Timothy was not the last book of the New Testament to be written. If we were to take the strong and most often used interpretation of that passage to be accurate, this would mean that at the time 2 Timothy was written, only the currently existing books of the New Testament were enough. This puts the books of 2 Peter, Hebrews, Jude, John, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, and Revelation all in a very weird spot.