Question:

I’ve come across this interesting question that Catholics love to argue for… if we all interpret the Bible a specific way and we can even agree or disagree with certain church fathers, who’s interpretation is correct? Holding to “sola scriptura” seems like it comes down to someone’s word vs someone else’s word at the end of the day… your response? I’m not talking about issues like the diety of Christ or the resurrection, those are blatantly in the Bible and taught all throughout church history, this question comes down to this. Should we accept more of a “Catholic” or a “Protestant” argument on interpreting the word.

Answer:

An interesting question.  I agree with your analysis, which is that this is an age-old debate.  The question comes down to this: Does every individual have the right or even the duty to interpret the Scriptures for themselves, or are people to submit to the interpretation of one particular group (such as the Roman Catholic Church for example).  By the early Middle Ages, the Roman Church began to discourage believers from reading the Bible for themselves, and from interpreting it for themselves as well. Instead, they demanded believers to accept Catholic interpretation of the Scripture to be authoritative. The Catholic Church today has only slightly softened this stand.  Is this an okay thing for them to do?
Let me answer the question using Scripture!  In Acts 17:11 there is an example of Jews in Berea who heard the teachings of Paul concerning Jesus.  These Bereans are said to be of “noble character.”  Why? Because they received Paul’s message eagerly, but they also examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.  To me, this settles the question.  Each of us is responsible before God for what we do and what we believe.  If we choose to listen to others and to trust their interpretation, as having more knowledge than ourselves, this is OK up to a point.  But in the final analysis, all of us answer to God, not to any human authority.  Therefore, we are responsible to observe truth as taught in Scripture, not as imposed by a particular individual or Christian group.
I have only partially addressed your question, but what I say below is based on what I said above.  Sure, there are various interpretations.  But there is only one truth, and that is the truth in the Bible.  If two people disagree on a fundamental teaching of the Bible, either one of them is wrong or both of them are wrong, but they are not both right. Of course, there are gray areas, but on fundamental questions, and on many doctrines there are not. Just because some particular church father said something, does not make it true, as these church fathers were not inspired by God.  Only the Scripture is inspired.  So, it is our responsibility to seek the truth of the Bible.  Will we get it perfect?  No.  Will the church we go to have perfect doctrine?  No.   But, as Paul said, we are to “watch our life and our doctrine diligently.” (1 Timothy 4:16).
Sola scritura does not come down to one person versus another.  It comes down to the Bible as the only source of truth.  That no individual has absolutely perfect handle on truth is obvious, but this means that we, individually, must seek truth, ultimately, from one source only, and that is the canonical Bible.  And we ought not to be discouraged or surprised that there are various interpretations.  Some are closer than others!  Let us associate ourselves with those who, the best we can tell, most accurately understand the Bible.
So you can see that I align myself more closely with the “Protestant” understanding on this question.  We can listen to and learn from others, but as we see in Acts 17, we must always come back to the Bible for truth. That is the standard by which we will be judged (John 12:48).
John Oakes

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