🧭 Theology Compass
📜 Authority
Bible & tradition ↔ Scripture alone
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) are God's appointed means of guarding and interpreting his Word, and so carry real authority. 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.
How the question arose
- c. 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.
- 434 — Vincent of Lérins: hold what has been believed 'everywhere, always, by all.'
- 787 — Second Council of Nicaea: 'we keep unchanged all the ecclesiastical traditions handed down to us, whether in writing or verbally.'
- 1521 — Luther at Worms: unless convinced by Scripture or clear reason he will not recant; his conscience is captive to the Word of God.
- 1546 — Council of Trent: the gospel is preserved in written books and in unwritten traditions.
- 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.
- 1646 — Westminster Confession ch. 1: Scripture is the supreme judge of all controversies, and councils may err.
- 1965 — Vatican II, Dei Verbum: Scripture and Tradition flow from the same divine wellspring.
Passages both sides argue from
2 Thessalonians 2:15 · 2 Timothy 3:16–17 · 1 Timothy 3:15 · Acts 17:11 · Acts 15:6–29 · Matthew 15:3–9 · John 16:13 · Galatians 1:8–9