Metal Minister, Sola Scriptura is unbiblical.
Sola Scriptura Is Unbiblical
If “the Bible and nothing else” is all that is necessary for faith and practice, then the Bible ought to make this doctrine clear, or at least imply this teaching at some point. The facts are otherwise: Scripture neither says nor implies that it alone is all that is necessary for faith and practice. Citations of Scripture’s “proving” sola scriptura read into Scripture an intention that is not there. Thus, many arguments for sola scriptura will quote something like Deut. 4:2—”you shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it”—to claim that Scripture alone is sufficient and that anything outside of what is written in Scripture cannot be God’s Word or revelation. Such arguments neglect to note however that, logically applied, this claim means that the biblical books written after Deuteronomy are also “additions” to God’s revelation.
Others will cite 2 Tim. 3:16 to claim that Scripture is a totally sufficient source of revelation. Here again, this neglects the question immediately raised by such a verse: Granting that “all Scripture is God-breathed,” how do we know which books are inspired Scripture and which books are not? At the time 2 Timothy was composed, not all the New Testament books had even been written. By the time all the books of the New Testament were written, they were being circulated along with numerous other books and epistles of varying quality, all of which vied for the attention of the early Christians. If the “sufficiency” of Scripture of which Paul speaks is a total sufficiency, Scripture should somehow be able to answer the question, “How do you tell which books are inspired Scripture and which aren’t?” But, in fact, Scripture does not do this, a fact attested by the different collections of “recognized” scriptural books which existed in the different early Christian Church communities. Similarly, even today different Christians have different canons or collections of Scripture.
The “sufficiency of Scripture” of which Paul speaks is not, in fact, “formal” or total sufficiency. On the contrary, Scripture assumes that the written portion of apostolic Tradition is only “materially” sufficient revelation, and that the Church will rely on two additional authoritative sources to fully discern God’s revelation: sacred Tradition and the Magisterium or teaching office of the Church.
The difference between formal and material sufficiency is the difference between having a brick house and having a big enough pile of bricks to build a house. Drawing on this analogy, Christ the Master Builder uses the mortar of Tradition and the trowel of the Magisterium to build His brick house of revelation from a mere pile of bricks (Mt. 16:18, Eph. 2:19-22; 1 Tim. 3:15). It is these three elements together—written Tradition (that is, Scripture), unwritten Tradition, and the Magisterium—that hand down the fullness of revelation, who is Jesus Christ.
This is the biblical witness as well. When the circumcision crisis arose around 40 A.D., there was, on a sola scriptura basis, an enormous amount of biblical precedent for the idea that Gentiles who wished to become Christians must be circumcised. After all,
a) everybody from the time of Abraham, including our Lord and His apostles, had received circumcision, as God Himself had commanded (Gen. 17);
b) this requirement had always included Gentile converts to the Covenant People, as God Himself had also commanded (Ex. 12:48); and
c) Our Lord had never clearly abolished this requirement but had rather insisted that “till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished” (Mt. 5:18).
Nonetheless, the Church concluded that circumcision was unnecessary for Gentiles to become Christians. How? By the clear recognition that the full teaching of Christ is obtained, not merely by reliance on the “Bible and nothing else,” but by reading the Bible in the context of her sacred Tradition, which is the common life, common teaching, and common worship of the apostolic Church (cf. Acts 2:42).
What the Church did was hold a council—the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15)—so that the Magisterium of the Church, i.e., the Apostles, their successors, and other Christian leaders, could examine not only Scripture but the full apostolic Tradition of the Church, both written and unwritten, and render an authoritative decision. At the Council, the Church sifted the whole of the apostolic message—not just the written part—and eventually concluded that, despite what Scripture alone appeared to say, the reality was that the New Covenant of Christ did not require circumcision for Gentile converts.
In fact, Scripture is treated by the Council of Jerusalem exactly as the Catholic Church still treats it today: as the written portion, not the totality, of God’s revelation. Revelation is not a one-legged stool of Scripture alone, but a three-legged stool of written Tradition, unwritten Tradition and the Magisterium. This is why St. Paul tells the Thessalonians to “hold fast to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter” (2 Thess. 2:15). These are the first two legs of the stool. The Council of Jerusalem also illustrates why Paul appointed bishops, among them Timothy and Titus, to “guard the truth that has been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us” (2 Tim. 1:14), for they constitute the essential third leg. Taken together, this three-legged stool gives us a sure basis for discerning authentic apostolic teaching. “Tradition” per se is not condemned by either Jesus or the Apostles. Rather, it is only the “traditions of men” they condemned.
Source; Catholics United for the Faith
