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Authority: Bible & tradition or Scripture alone

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Bible alone, or the Bible and the church’s tradition?

One side reads the Bible inside the church: creeds, councils and the Fathers guard its meaning, and for Catholics the pope and bishops teach with real authority. The other holds to Scripture alone: confessions may help, but only the Bible is infallible, and any council may be wrong.

Why it matters

It settles who gets the last word when a church argues. On one side a disputed question goes to the councils, the Fathers and the bishops, and their answer holds; on the other every answer has to be shown from Scripture, and a confession is worth exactly what the chapter and verse behind it are worth. It is why a Catholic and a Baptist can agree about a verse and still have no shared way to end the argument.

Where does each tradition sit?

Each dot is one tradition, numbered left to right. In the hatched middle the quiz names neither pole.

Bible & tradition Scripture alone

Toward Bible & tradition 2

Neither pole named 41–59 1

Toward Scripture alone 15

What does each side believe?

Bible & tradition

Those who read Scripture within the church’s tradition hold that the creeds, the ecumenical councils, the consensus of the Fathers, and the church’s living teaching (for Catholics, the teaching office of pope and bishops, called the magisterium) are God’s appointed means of guarding and interpreting His Word, and so carry real authority. The claim is not that the church outranks the Bible, but that the Bible was given to a church, and that the body which recognized which books belong in it is the body that has kept their meaning.

Scripture alone

Those who hold to Scripture alone may grant creeds and confessions real but subordinate authority, yet insist that only Scripture is infallible: any council may err, nothing may be required as an article of faith that cannot be proved from Scripture, and no council or teacher can bind the conscience against it. That is what sola scriptura means, and it is narrower than it is often taken to be: a claim about which authority is final, not a refusal to learn from anybody else.

Did you know?

  • Basil the Great’s examples of unwritten tradition are things you can watch people do. Writing about AD 375 he argued that some of what the church holds came in writing and some by the apostles’ unwritten custom, with the same force; his examples were making the sign of the cross and turning east to pray.

    Basil the Great, On the Holy Spirit 27, c. AD 375.

  • Luther probably never said ‘Here I stand’. Historians have doubted the line for a century; what the record of Worms in 1521 is sure of is the sentence before it, that his conscience was captive to the Word of God.

    Diet of Worms, April 1521; the closing phrase is widely held to be a later addition.

  • Scripture alone never meant Scripture only. The Formula of Concord calls Scripture ‘the only rule and norm’ by which every teacher is judged and, in the same breath, receives the ancient creeds as faithful witnesses to it.

    Formula of Concord, Epitome, 1577.

How did this disagreement develop?

How the argument unfolded

8 moments, from the 4th century to the 20th

  1. c. AD 375 Basil the Great, On the Holy Spirit 27: some of what the church holds comes from written teaching, some from the unwritten tradition of the apostles, and both have the same force.
  2. AD 434 Vincent of Lérins: hold what has been believed ‘everywhere, always, by all.’
  3. AD 787 Second Council of Nicaea: ‘we keep unchanged all the ecclesiastical traditions handed down to us, whether in writing or verbally.’
  4. 1521 Luther at Worms: unless convinced by Scripture or clear reason he will not recant; his conscience is captive to the Word of God.
  5. 1546 Council of Trent: the gospel is preserved in written books and in unwritten traditions.
  6. 1577 Formula of Concord: Scripture is ‘the only rule and norm’ by which all teachers and teachings are judged; the ancient creeds are received as witnesses to it.
  7. 1646 Westminster Confession ch. 1: Scripture is the supreme judge of all controversies, and councils may err.
  8. 1965 Vatican II, Dei Verbum: Scripture and Tradition flow from the same divine wellspring.

Which Bible passages do both sides argue from?

Passages both sides argue from

Tap one to read it. BSB, public domain since 30 April 2023 (berean.bible/licensing.htm).

2 Thessalonians 2:15

2 Thessalonians 2 · verse 15

  1. 15Therefore, brothers, stand firm and cling to the traditions we taught you, whether by speech or by letter.

Berean Standard Bible (BSB)

2 Timothy 3:16–17

2 Timothy 3 · verses 16–17

  1. 16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
  2. 17so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.

Berean Standard Bible (BSB)

1 Timothy 3:15

1 Timothy 3 · verse 15

  1. 15in case I am delayed, so that you will know how each one must conduct himself in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

Berean Standard Bible (BSB)

Acts 17:11

Acts 17 · verse 11

  1. 11Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true.

Berean Standard Bible (BSB)

Acts 15:6–29

Acts 15 · verses 6–10 of 24 in the passage

  1. 6So the apostles and elders met to look into this matter.
  2. 7After much discussion, Peter got up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you that the Gentiles would hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe.
  3. 8And God, Who knows the heart, showed His approval by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us.
  4. 9He made no distinction between us and them, for He cleansed their hearts by faith.
  5. 10Now then, why do you test God by placing on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?

Berean Standard Bible (BSB)

Matthew 15:3–9

Matthew 15 · verses 3–7 of 7 in the passage

  1. 3Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?
  2. 4For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’
  3. 5But you say that if anyone says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever you would have received from me is a gift devoted to God,’
  4. 6he need not honor his father or mother with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
  5. 7You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you:

Berean Standard Bible (BSB)

John 16:13

John 16 · verse 13

  1. 13However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come.

Berean Standard Bible (BSB)

Galatians 1:8–9

Galatians 1 · verses 8–9

  1. 8But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be under a curse!
  2. 9As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be under a curse!

Berean Standard Bible (BSB)

Further reading

Bible & tradition

  • Newman, Development of Doctrine
  • Florovsky, Bible, Church, Tradition

Scripture alone

  • Mathison, The Shape of Sola Scriptura
  • T. Campbell, Declaration and Address

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