The Five Solas: Sola Scriptura (Timeless) - Part 1 of a 6 Part Series

We start looking at the Five Solas and first up in no particular order is Sola Scriptura (scripture alone).  We dive deep into church history, theology, and the Bible to find out where the idea of Sola Scriptura came from, what it means, and what it should mean for your life.

Thank you for listening!

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Transcript

Greg [00:00:02]:
Why does anyone listen to us?

Dave [00:00:04]:
I because we're funny. Yeah. We are.

Chad [00:00:07]:
We are. Yeah. But looks aren't everything, though, Dave, especially on a podcast. Yeah.

Greg [00:00:13]:
Alright. 2nd Timothy. For a podcast. I do. You were born with a face for radio.

Chad [00:00:18]:
I've I've got a hairline for for radio and podcasting. It's a few months ago, My wife and I were joking around while we were on a road trip with the boys, and we mentioned, what does the fox say?

Dave [00:00:57]:
Do they remember?

Chad [00:00:58]:
No. They had no memory. They didn't they've never heard the song or anything. And so I know. I know. Right? You didn't. We did. We we played it for him.

Dave [00:01:08]:
Oh, no.

Chad [00:01:08]:
And then they they thought it was the funniest thing ever.

Dave [00:01:11]:
Right.

Chad [00:01:11]:
And then we played it again, and we played it again, and we played it again. We took a little break, then we played it again. And as we're driving along,

Greg [00:01:23]:
did you hit a fox?

Chad [00:01:25]:
That would be a really No idea. There.

Greg [00:01:27]:
That that would have been a horrible thing.

Dave [00:01:29]:
I know.

Chad [00:01:29]:
Yeah. At Catfish Ministries, we discourage animal cruelty every chance we get.

Greg [00:01:35]:
Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So

Dave [00:01:37]:
Unless it's unless it's, like, edible meats.

Chad [00:01:40]:
Yeah. Like Very good.

Dave [00:01:42]:
Like bacon.

Chad [00:01:42]:
Yep.

Dave [00:01:43]:
So if you wanna call that animal cruelty, I'm all in.

Chad [00:01:47]:
Okay. Very few people want to call bacon animal cruelty, but It's not. I digress. Yeah. No. You have digressed me. I'm probably not even using that word right. Bacon.

Chad [00:01:59]:
So as we're driving along, one of my one of my kids goes, why was this song so popular? And I said, I'm like, you know what? Thinking back, I think part of the reason the song was so popular is because you didn't play it again and again and again. And I was like, as I'm thinking about this, and I this is what I told them a lot. I'm like, we didn't use to have this level of control of the music we heard. You would be you'd be driving your car someplace and all of a sudden it would come on, and you you would it would be like a nice little picking up, or you'd be at work with the radio on, and all of a sudden it would come on. Or it would show up at random times, and that was most of the fun of it. You wouldn't sit here and listen to it 5 and 6 and 7 times in the same day Yeah. In a row by your choice. I think that's something that's kinda missing now is once once you're in control of all the media you consume and when and how you consume it.

Chad [00:03:01]:
It's kind of The some of the mystery, some of the excitement of anticipating in point appointment viewing or surprise listening is is gone.

Dave [00:03:13]:
Yeah. So Yeah. I just remember it was so off the wall.

Chad [00:03:19]:
Oh, yes.

Dave [00:03:20]:
That's what made it so different. Yep. It was just so off the wall that it was funny. Yeah. And it wore out really fast. It's kinda like a pet rock.

Chad [00:03:30]:
Yeah. And you know, it I looked into this, it was not even a song. It was a skit on a Norwegian

Dave [00:03:39]:
That makes so much sense.

Chad [00:03:41]:
I know. It was a skit on the Norwegian version of Saturday Night Live.

Dave [00:03:45]:
Okay.

Chad [00:03:46]:
And they were making fun of pop rock superstars and they had this fictitious band and like a vh one thing like, what's your newest album gonna be and they're like well we figure we can probably pretty much do anything so we put this together and then there's what does the Fox? Yeah, which was just a music video was never intended to be like a song and so that was the skit. It's just like these people are so arrogant. Maybe there's Talent, but they can literally throw any crap in front of us and we'll consume it And

Dave [00:04:18]:
Kinda like U2's last couple of albums.

Chad [00:04:20]:
Yeah. All almost to make the point.

Greg [00:04:24]:
See, it would have been so much better if you said if we segued into, Taylor Swift's album being released on Friday.

Dave [00:04:31]:
That's true too. But

Chad [00:04:32]:
Or or the last 2 decades of Metallica. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. But I I think I'm a Christian.

Dave [00:04:40]:
I didn't listen to heavy metal.

Chad [00:04:42]:
Oh, sure. So so I think the funniest thing about that whole. What does the fox thing say is it started as a skit to make fun of the fact that you can put literally any crap in mass media in front of people and they'll go for it and it became a runaway rage hit around the world.

Dave [00:05:00]:
Appointment. Just awesome. That that's a really complimentary to the human condition, isn't it?

Chad [00:05:08]:
It is. It's totally awesome. Yeah.

Dave [00:05:11]:
Yeah. Greg.

Greg [00:05:12]:
Greg is getting depressed. I never realized that. My wheels are just turning, and I'm like, no. I'm not gonna say that one. No. I'm not gonna say that one.

Dave [00:05:20]:
Well No.

Greg [00:05:20]:
I'm not I'm not gonna mention that political campaign.

Chad [00:05:23]:
Oh, right. Yeah. Yeah.

Dave [00:05:25]:
So what's on the agenda for tonight? He asks knowingly.

Chad [00:05:29]:
I know. There's only one thing. Oh, a soul one thing. Soul, episode. That's right.

Dave [00:05:37]:
Alright.

Chad [00:05:38]:
Tonight's episode is Sola Scriptura. It is. Here we are. Sola scriptura, which I've kinda wanted to call the first of a 6 part series on the 5 solos.

Dave [00:05:55]:
6 part series on the 5 solos. Yes. I like that.

Chad [00:05:58]:
But we'll

Dave [00:05:59]:
Can't do 5. Have to do 6.

Chad [00:06:01]:
Now we are in a, we now even though this is a timeless episode, we are getting into some interesting stuff here in early early to mid 2024, so we may take a couple breaks for current events episodes. But for tonight, for now, we're doing sola scriptura. The first of the is it the first? No. It's not the first of the 5 solas. We're doing this out of work.

Dave [00:06:25]:
Conceptually conceptually depending on yeah. Historically, no.

Chad [00:06:30]:
Okay. Alright. So just to set the table, what are the 5 solas? And in any order possible, a brief summary of all of them.

Dave [00:06:41]:
Candy, candy corn, candy cane. Okay. Syrup.

Chad [00:06:46]:
And what's Moody say about all this?

Dave [00:06:50]:
Oh, wait. That was from Alf. Never mind. That's right. That was the 5 food groups. Right. Okay. I don't think what was the 5th? I missed the 5th.

Greg [00:06:56]:
Was it 4? There were 4 food groups.

Chad [00:06:58]:
Okay.

Dave [00:06:58]:
Was there 4?

Greg [00:06:59]:
Okay. Good job. Thank you. You can tell he went to an inferior Oh. Bible college.

Chad [00:07:05]:
Oh. He

Greg [00:07:05]:
can't even get some Alf

Dave [00:07:07]:
wasn't even around when I was in Bible college.

Greg [00:07:09]:
That's how

Dave [00:07:09]:
old he is. Yes. And it wasn't around when

Chad [00:07:11]:
you were in

Dave [00:07:12]:
Bible college either.

Greg [00:07:13]:
Prove it.

Chad [00:07:14]:
No. I think he's gotcha.

Dave [00:07:16]:
You're 50. I know.

Greg [00:07:18]:
I got another text today about getting my shingles shot. Really? I'm

Chad [00:07:22]:
like, oh, man. Come on, you vultures. Man.

Greg [00:07:26]:
Oh, good. You you

Chad [00:07:27]:
know it's bad when the funeral home starts texting you. It's like, hey. Everything ready to go?

Dave [00:07:35]:
So what happened was then you get over the hill. Yep. Yeah. Anyway so the 5 solos.

Greg [00:07:44]:
Yes. Yeah. You're saved by grace alone through faith alone and Christ alone is revealed by scripture alone to the glory of God alone.

Chad [00:07:53]:
Alright. Was that 5?

Dave [00:07:54]:
That was 5.

Greg [00:07:55]:
I got

Dave [00:07:55]:
all 5. Yeah. Very good. I need a T shirt with them. I know I I think you have a T shirt with them on on them, don't you?

Greg [00:08:03]:
No. I

Dave [00:08:03]:
Your children. I think one of my kids do.

Greg [00:08:05]:
Yeah. One of my kids does. Yeah.

Dave [00:08:06]:
Yeah. I need to get them with catfish.

Chad [00:08:09]:
No. With the

Dave [00:08:10]:
catfish in the middle.

Chad [00:08:12]:
Or 5 catfishes wearing

Dave [00:08:14]:
Saying something to do with the soloists.

Chad [00:08:16]:
Yes. There we go. Yeah. Yeah. We can stop this episode episode right now. That's the best merchandising idea I've ever had. I'm a genius. Wow.

Dave [00:08:29]:
Good to know.

Chad [00:08:31]:
No. I'm just kidding. Okay. So say that again, Greg.

Greg [00:08:37]:
You're saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone as revealed by scripture alone to the glory of God alone. Alright. The 5 solas. So

Chad [00:08:49]:
solo scripture, scripture alone. So in the context of the 5 solas, you know, I I'm gonna I'm gonna admit here that I'm not big on church history. I I'm big on early church history, like, as the Roman Empire collapsed in the in the church and the the middle ages rose up. I'm big on that phase, but I am woefully under prepared for this, but I have to say I was saved in my mid twenties and the people that mentored me and kind of guided me and and discipled me in in my early walk, solo scripturer. Right? That was one thing that I learned. You know, scripture is the final authority on everything. And when Faith and practice.

Dave [00:09:39]:
Say again? Faith and practice.

Greg [00:09:40]:
Faith and practice.

Chad [00:09:42]:
So when I did the research for this, I was really surprised at how much opposition there is to this.

Dave [00:09:49]:
Oh, yeah. I mean, if you think about this, this comes out of the reformation. So Yeah. Anything to do with Catholicism versus protestantism is gonna and then anything counter reformation is gonna be countering it. And then even today, the there's a lot of Catholic apologists who really zone in on sola scriptura because this is this is the key point. If you can get somebody to doubt sola scriptura, then it's just a matter before they come oh, a little bit while before they come home. Go come home to the church if you've heard that term. Okay.

Dave [00:10:23]:
You get a lot of that. They talk about coming home because it is, you know, it is the mothership

Greg [00:10:27]:
Right.

Dave [00:10:28]:
From their perspective, of course.

Chad [00:10:29]:
Right. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. I was really taken aback. I thought it was just a given. It's always made sense to me. Yeah.

Chad [00:10:36]:
I am familiar with several Catholic traditions, and my wife is, a former Catholic. And I've I'm somewhat familiar with Catholic church history and reformation history. But, yeah, I I never realized how thoroughly this still gets debated today.

Dave [00:10:52]:
So Yeah. It's very, very popular right now too. The irony is that I told you earlier, Chad, that I've been watching a debate on this even before we talked about using this as an episode. Mhmm. So when that possibility came up, I jumped right on it because it Sure.

Chad [00:11:07]:
I I

Dave [00:11:07]:
didn't need to do as much prep because I've been prepping as it were. So Right. There's a lot of activity right now going with that, and I've had a lot of either former students or extended family who have left some sort of a Protestant background to become Catholic. And so I'm fairly familiar with a lot of the discussions that go on, and it is it is a lot more common than you than you'd like to think.

Greg [00:11:35]:
So you wanna go back into a little bit of history?

Chad [00:11:37]:
Yeah. Always. When you

Greg [00:11:39]:
go back to our, our bible translations episode, and, like, in the 4th century, the Bible was had been established by then, and they had, in the 4th century, translated the Bible into Latin, and that's what they had. And it wasn't even really the greatest translation work. It wasn't very good. It wasn't very thorough, but that's what they had. From the 4th century until the first English copies started being produced, which is around the late 1300 or 1400, it was illegal to have an English copy. It was forbidden to have an English copy of the Bible, and all they were allowed to have was the Latin copies. The church did not want the common people to have the bible in a language that they could understand.

Chad [00:12:39]:
And that's the the Catholic church, capital c Catholic church. Right?

Greg [00:12:43]:
The capital c Catholic church. There's perspectives on that. One perspective could be that the church could say that, you know, we don't want people misrepresenting it. We don't want people misunderstanding it. Another perspective could be we wanna control what people think. We wanna control what people do with religion. So Right. Different perspectives.

Greg [00:13:03]:
Yeah. I'm trying to keep it positive. Mhmm.

Dave [00:13:06]:
So early I think it was Irenaeus. It's early as Irenaeus. The dilemma came up. How do you determine which interpretation is right? So how do you deal with Harris how do you deal with heresy? Mhmm. And the hard thing to do is to say, hey, sola scriptura. The easy thing to do is say, well, there's this magisterium, this group of people who are the controllers of the doctrine, and they are the formal official interpreters. And it can come out of a good place. Of course, it can get corrupted and probably both happen like you're saying, Greg.

Dave [00:13:41]:
But that that happened fairly early after the apostles because as soon as as soon as you start to, you know, get a little bit of separation from from the apostles, now you have no people who literally were speaking the word of God like Paul and Peter. And now you have to rely on text, and every text must be interpreted. So yeah. Yeah. And so that's what's the temptation of the magisterium being your your inter official interpreter.

Greg [00:14:10]:
Yeah. So it was a a capital offense to have in your possession the scriptures in English. So there's an example. In 15/17, There were 7 sets of parents who were burned alive because they taught their children the Lord's prayer in English. They were taken and burned alive in 15/17 for teaching their children the Lord's Prayer in English. So in the late 1300 13 eighties, John Wycliffe, some people called him the morning star of the reformation, the the beginnings of the reformation. He translated the Bible out of the old Latin translation, and he had handwritten copies that were distributed, and they started to become very popular. There was a follower of his named John Hughes or Huss.

Greg [00:15:04]:
I don't know. I'm not good with church history, some sometimes I

Dave [00:15:08]:
So there is a Jan Huss or John Huss

Greg [00:15:10]:
from Yeah. Jan Huss.

Dave [00:15:11]:
Prague, but Is he a translator as well?

Greg [00:15:15]:
So he started preaching with this English translation, and, and he was being opposed by the church and opposed by by its teaching by the c, capital c, Catholic church. Mhmm. And he was burned at the stake in 14/15, and the Wycliffe Bibles that he was that that he had been used, that Wycliffe had translated, were used as the kindling for for his execution. And his dying words were this, in a 100 years, God's will ray God will raise up a man whose calls for ref for reform cannot be suppressed. So this was, like, the the beginnings. This was the fire for the reformation starting was these men who had a zeal to see God's word in the hands of the people that they could read, that they could understand, that they could hold for themselves. And they paid a great price to to begin to get us on the path for that. Wow.

Greg [00:16:14]:
So then not very long.

Dave [00:16:17]:
Tyndale also? Was Tyndale also killed?

Greg [00:16:19]:
So, yeah, I wanted to save that story for later.

Dave [00:16:21]:
Yep. Go for it.

Greg [00:16:22]:
Oh. If that's okay.

Dave [00:16:23]:
Yeah. I'm good with that.

Greg [00:16:24]:
You had that off the top of your head. I had to, like, get it and put it on paper, but, you know, whatever.

Dave [00:16:29]:
That's cool. I don't know that.

Greg [00:16:31]:
Professor Dave.

Dave [00:16:32]:
Oh, you're so kind. I'm not used to this. I don't know what to do with the compliment.

Chad [00:16:38]:
This helped me quick. Was it a compliment? I think it

Dave [00:16:41]:
Maybe. I thought it was. Maybe it was a subtle

Greg [00:16:43]:
Oh, wait.

Chad [00:16:43]:
I've heard before this that calling someone a professor is an insult.

Dave [00:16:47]:
I don't know. Maybe from Gregor.

Greg [00:16:50]:
So

Dave [00:16:51]:
He's like calling somebody

Greg [00:16:52]:
This guy's this guy's burned alive, and he and I'm not gonna say he was a prophet of God, but he he makes this, these prophetic words, kind of, that in a 100 years, God's gonna raise up a reformer. And a 100 years comes along this monk named Martin Luther. Yeah. And he was a, he was a student of the word in the the Catholic church, and he was a doctor of the Bible, or we might call him a professor of the Bible. There we go. Kinda like professor Dave here.

Chad [00:17:24]:
See, it was not an insult. I knew it.

Dave [00:17:27]:
Greg, I don't know what to do with this new Greg. He's, like, turned over a new leaf.

Greg [00:17:31]:
I'm just just waiting till later.

Dave [00:17:33]:
Oh, I know. It's coming. Problem. My time's coming. It's okay.

Chad [00:17:36]:
It's a setup.

Dave [00:17:37]:
It it feels like it.

Greg [00:17:40]:
So, you know, he's studying the Bible, and he's studying Romans. He's studying it hard, and there's this phrase that's in there that that he's really preoccupied with, and it's the righteousness of God. And he had always been taught that the righteousness of God was the was the standard that we're always compared to. You know, it's something that we could never that we could never hold up to. Could you phrase it better than that? No. That's a good well put. That's that's how he had always looked at it. So he keeps reading the righteousness of God in the book of Romans, and he's hearing this standard of God that's, like, unattainable, unattainable, unattainable.

Greg [00:18:25]:
But then he starts to see it as this gift of God in Jesus Christ that has been given, and and he says this, I had indeed been captivated with an extraordinary adore for understanding Paul in the letter to the Romans, But there was one word in chapter 1 that stood in my way. In the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. I hated the word righteousness of God, which according to the used the use and custom of all the teachers I had taught to be the active righteousness of God, which God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner. And and he talks about, like, what a weight and a burden that was, and then he talks about the the realization that that this is by the mercy of God after meditating on it day and night and seeing it in the context of the words that the righteousness of God is revealed as he who through faith is the right the righteous shall live. And he began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith. The righteousness of God is revealed by the gospel. The righteousness with which a merciful God justifies us by faith as it is written, he who through faith is righteous shall live. And here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates.

Greg [00:20:00]:
And this is Martin Luther through the study of the word of God. Like, he just had the book of Romans, and he's reading it and reading it and reading it over and over and over again. And God opens his eyes through the revelation of his word and he's born again in that moment and sees that the righteousness of God is a gift that's given. Is not this unattainable thing that he could never reach. So now now with this new understanding, the reformation begins to take shape. So, Dave, what do you got?

Dave [00:20:35]:
I love the background there. It's way more particular than I was thinking about getting to, but that's great.

Greg [00:20:40]:
Yeah. So Particular. Yeah. Yeah. I like that. It's

Dave [00:20:44]:
not on purpose, but it was good. So, yeah, if you think about all the those years of the the Western church and the the tradition that had built up over and over and over on top of each other, this overlaid tradition so much so that the reformers, as soon as people started reading the word of God for themselves, all of a sudden you have this this reformation. Right? This desire to go back, to go what's back to the originals? And and so out of that comes this idea of look. The Western church and, frankly, the Eastern church as well, the Eastern Orthodox church as well, they have a magisterium and the, you know, they each have their own, a group of people or a person, I. E. The pope, in the case of the western church, who is the official interpreter of God's word. And so they are the final authority, and they are infallible. So you have this concept of papal infallibility.

Dave [00:21:47]:
Right. And so and this will become an important point down the road in our conversation. The 5 solas are a reaction to the traditions that have been built up in the Catholic church. That creates a a sense of burden of proof when we're talking about the discussion between papal infallibility and sola scriptura. Right? And we'll we'll talk about that down the road. But you have now these 5 solas, which are reactionary statement. They're theological statements that come from the scriptures, but you will never actually find the statement in the Bible. The scriptures are the sole or final authority for faith and practice, Kinda like we don't have the trinity ever mentioned directly.

Dave [00:22:30]:
The word trinity is not in the Bible. Right. But it's definitely there theologically. It's a theological inference from many passages, and we use the term trinity to summarize what those passages say. In the same way as we're gonna explore tonight, sola scriptura or the notion that the scriptures are the final authority for faith and practice that flows from the scripture fairly clearly. Yeah. And when we talk to people or when we're having conversations with somebody, either a just a a regular old Catholic person or a Catholic apologist, they're gonna try to put the burden of proof on sola scriptura. And they're gonna say, well, if you can't document that that statement's in the Bible, then in papal infallibility must be true.

Dave [00:23:11]:
They have the burden of proof showing that papal infallibility is in the scriptures because they believe the scriptures are authoritative, and they should be able to show from the scriptures that they have the basis for that, and I just can't find it.

Chad [00:23:24]:
I like the parallel that you make with the doctrine of the trinity because you're right. The trinity is not explicitly stated in the Bible, but Catholics do not have a problem with the doctrine of the trinity. Yep. And so the same way sola scriptura isn't directly explicitly mentioned in the Bible, although we've got a pile of verses here that run right up to the line and taken together and in the greater context of God's word. Yep. Solo scripture is kind of a given in my book.

Dave [00:23:56]:
Right. And in the absence of any proof, there's no you you there's no explicitly clear passage in the New Testament that says anything about papal infallibility. So Yeah. 0. And that's the pressure you have to put on them. If you ever get into a discussion, they're gonna try to just attack sola scriptura.

Chad [00:24:17]:
Right.

Dave [00:24:17]:
And then you have to turn around and go, okay. Here's passages, but now you show me where papal infallibility is taught. Mhmm. Don't just say, well, someone needs to interpret it because I actually think that the Bible actually has a high view of the individual Christian and encourages the individual pastor and the individual parishioner to be reading the Bible and checking it out for themselves. Like, there's at least 2 passages where I see that very, very clearly. So and

Chad [00:24:43]:
what would those be?

Dave [00:24:44]:
You wanna go there now? Yeah. Well, so, so the first one is probably one of the more famous. Every church has a Sunday school class named this. See if you can group a city in Asia Minor. There's always a Sunday school class named Everest.

Greg [00:25:00]:
Berean.

Dave [00:25:01]:
Yes. The Berean class. Why do they get named the Berean class? Well, because in acts 18, Paul gives them a great compliment, and he says to them if I could ever turn here, let me turn my paper bible that I

Greg [00:25:13]:
know very nice. And Acts is after, John.

Chad [00:25:18]:
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, act like Romans.

Dave [00:25:20]:
Acts like Romans? That's right.

Greg [00:25:21]:
Just it's in the New Testament, Dave.

Dave [00:25:23]:
Yes. So

Chad [00:25:28]:
even I knew that. Okay.

Dave [00:25:30]:
Sorry. Act 17, I knew that. So take here. Let's go back from this reading. Yep.

Chad [00:25:34]:
Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. That's embarrassing.

Dave [00:25:36]:
Professor made a mistake

Greg [00:25:37]:
like that.

Dave [00:25:38]:
Include that. I will. So, anyway, so you have, of course, this famous Sunday school class name that comes out of the city of Berea. Right? And Paul goes to Berea with Silas, and they go right to the synagogue, and they start teaching. And Paul gives these believers a huge compliment. Now he he actually compares them to the poor Thessalonians or Thessalonians. No. It's Thessaloniki if you're, but Thessalonians the Thessalonian believers.

Dave [00:26:10]:
He says this, 17/11. Now these were more noble minded, speaking of the Bereans, than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. Yeah. So Paul the apostle who should, if he believes in papal authority, say, Hey, trust me. I'm the authoritative speaker. I'm your Magisterium. I'm your committee on truth. Yeah.

Dave [00:26:44]:
Right? Instead, he says, look, the Bereans were noble minded. They didn't believe it just because Paul said it. Right. They believed it because they heard me say it, and they got it out of the scriptures, and that to me, this is one of the And that, to me, this is one of the biggest blows to papal infallibility. It's not that you're just supposed to trust some group of people somewhere. You're supposed to check it out from the scriptures for yourself. So that's one of them. And then I'm gonna say it's 2nd Timothy 3.

Dave [00:27:16]:
115. I'm not Okay.

Chad [00:27:18]:
No. Not yet.

Dave [00:27:19]:
Not yet. Not quite. We're not that's the that's like the magisterium.

Greg [00:27:22]:
That's the

Chad [00:27:23]:
granddaddy of them all.

Dave [00:27:24]:
That's the granddaddy of them all. That'll do that. This is the Awana verse for those of you who aren't doing Awana.

Chad [00:27:28]:
Here we go. Right?

Dave [00:27:29]:
So What do I wanna speaking to I wanna talk to you about this passage.

Greg [00:27:33]:
Okay.

Chad [00:27:34]:
Alright. Here we go.

Dave [00:27:35]:
So 2nd Timothy 2:15, be diligent. Now he's Paul's speaking to Timothy here. Alright. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. I think that's important because the assumption behind that is it's about handling the word. It's not about relying on what Paul taught him.

Chad [00:28:00]:
Now you wanna know something you wanna know something really interesting? Yeah. The CSB Yes. Says correctly teaching the word.

Dave [00:28:07]:
Correctly teaching the word of truth. That's an interpretation. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that means you have to have there's a proper way of handling the scriptures. So those are 2 of the more those are 2 of the more clear statements that show you that the that the the scriptures themselves have a very high view of the individual believer reading the text for themselves. And that that's there's a corollary to the soul of scripture, which is the perspicuity of scripture.

Dave [00:28:38]:
I know it's a very clear word.

Greg [00:28:40]:
It is, professor.

Dave [00:28:42]:
Right? So it turned into an insult. Yep. There we go. Couldn't last long. Nope. It was a nice try for a while there. Okay. So the that the irony is the word perspicuity actually means clear.

Dave [00:28:58]:
Yeah. Although it's one of the least clear words I know. So it's more opaque. But, no. So the idea that the Protestant doctrine is the perspicuity of scripture is the scriptures are clear enough. They're sufficiently clear that we can come to a sufficient knowledge of the scriptures. So there's enough clarity that a common person reading the Bible in their own heart language, well translated, will be able to understand the core of what it's necessary to relate properly to God. Yep.

Chad [00:29:30]:
Yeah. I'd never thought of that because really both of those verses that you call out there should say, yep. Just go back home and wait to hear from your boss. Yeah.

Dave [00:29:38]:
Wait to hear from your priest.

Chad [00:29:40]:
He'll he'll

Dave [00:29:40]:
tell you that in Latin. And I have a great respect for the Latin language. I mean, it's nothing wrong with Latin if you're a Latin person. But Hey.

Chad [00:29:47]:
Could you use the Latin to correct the Greek? It's been tried. Okay.

Dave [00:29:52]:
Just just ask the post. So, yeah, that's my that's my first pass at this. Yeah. I don't know. We probably wanna get into more specific passages to teach Well, I Conceptually, anyways. Yes.

Greg [00:30:05]:
No. I like Hebrews 412. K. The word of God is living and active, sharper than any 2 edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. That's that's what God's word does, and I trust God's word to do that, to judge my thoughts and intentions, to pierce through the joints and marrow, my soul and spirits Yeah. Better than I do any institution. Like, would you rather have you and your Bible open and God's word searching your heart and soul or some man searching your heart and soul? God's word is true.

Chad [00:30:43]:
Here. I found 1. Proverbs 35 through 6, and I'm reading this from the ESV for inconvenience. The

Greg [00:30:53]:
elect standard version for those of you who listen to our episode on bible translations.

Chad [00:30:58]:
Which you haven't. If you haven't, you should check it out. Proverbs 35 through 6. Every word of God proves true. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.

Dave [00:31:14]:
I have one. John 17 17. Sanctify them with truth. Your word is truth. Right? That's how how does God grow you? He takes the word of God. Spirit of God takes the word of God and sanctifies you. Yeah. That's the basic formula.

Dave [00:31:30]:
Yeah. And so it's it's about getting the word of God into people's minds and hearts. So in a lot of these passages that we've been talking about don't specifically say sola scriptura, but they contribute to the general idea of the scriptures are primary. I think the 2 that I had mentioned earlier talk about the fact that it's noble for the individual believer to be interpreting the Bible for themselves and checking out their even their apostles

Greg [00:32:02]:
who

Dave [00:32:02]:
at the time were preaching. But now there are a few passages that really do seem to locate the authority of the scriptures in the Bible, particularly through the New Testament. K. And so I think those might be worth talking about too. So, if you think about Acts 242

Greg [00:32:23]:
Mhmm.

Dave [00:32:24]:
The early church spent time on the apostles' doctrine. They preached from the Old Testament as well, but that if you think about the revelation of the Bible culminating, starting in the old testament, moving forward, culminating in the apostle's doctrine, we're taught to teach what Jesus taught. Yep. But, ultimately, the New Testament says, look, the faith, the body of doctrine ultimately culminates in the scriptures with the apostle's teaching.

Chad [00:32:57]:
Right.

Dave [00:32:58]:
And that's and that's where our authority lies.

Greg [00:33:01]:
So that matches the example of of what they were doing in the old testament when Jesus came Mhmm. Or, you know, at the beginning of the new testament, when Jesus came, the the Pharisees, all the the teachers, they were they were searching the scriptures Mhmm. What God had revealed looking for the Messiah. Because in John chapter 5 verse 40 39, Jesus said, you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that bear witness about me. Jesus is saying those scriptures that you're searching, they talk about me. Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. Those scriptures that you're searching, they're all about me. Yeah.

Greg [00:33:52]:
Every word that is written in them is about me. Like, that's it's pretty clear that it's all about him, but that that those scriptures were a revelation about him, and that that's what they were to be searching to find out about him.

Dave [00:34:11]:
So another one that you'll see Catholic apologists use, which I think actually supports our position

Chad [00:34:16]:
Mhmm.

Dave [00:34:17]:
Is 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2. And turning my paper page there. In 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2, we hear this. Verse 15. So then, brother, and stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word-of-mouth or by letter from us. So now that shows you that and there's some other we'll look at them in a few minutes, but there's some other passages that make it clear that Paul and Peter both saw each other as writing scripture.

Chad [00:34:58]:
Yeah.

Dave [00:34:58]:
Right? We'll we'll look at that later. But in this one, it says, look. My doctrine that I taught you, Paul says, which in the case is verbal, which we'll talk about in a second, But it's also the letters that were written to you, and he's saying, look. You go back and you use those as the standard.

Greg [00:35:18]:
Mhmm.

Dave [00:35:19]:
Now I've I've I've heard a debate this week where a Catholic apologist took this verse and say, do you see? It's oral. But who is speaking? Is it the pope? No. Is it pope Pius 17th? No. That's Paul Yeah. Speaking, and he is an apostle speaking the very words of God. He's speaking the very oracles of God. I think there's a verse right before that also where it talks about that as well, isn't it? What a Catholic apologist is gonna try to do with that passage is say, hey. Look.

Dave [00:35:55]:
See, it is verbal. So there's there's oral tradition that follows, but that's not what Paul's saying. Paul's saying, look. What I've spoken to you, pay attention to. Yeah. And then and then for me, I think the for me, the kicker is Jude. For me, the kicker in all of this is is book of Jude. Yeah.

Dave [00:36:19]:
And in Jude verse 3 through 5, we have it this. So Jude is introducing his book, and he says, beloved, while I was making effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. So late in the New Testament era, Jude's a later book. It's not Jude, the author, says, look. I wanted to be super positive and talk about, yay, our salvation. But the problem is your particular situation you're in, I need to get you to fight for your faith, and that faith is once for all delivered. He doesn't call it the developing faith. He doesn't call it the faith that's gonna be interpreted for you by someone down the road.

Dave [00:37:12]:
He says, I want you to go back and contend for the once for all delivered faith. And that term faith there is no other meaning is possible other than the doctrinal content of of those of the scriptures. So so, yeah, those are the kickers for me in terms of the actual content of sola scripture.

Greg [00:37:31]:
Now did we do the granddaddy?

Dave [00:37:33]:
No. Not yet.

Chad [00:37:34]:
Not yet. Okay.

Dave [00:37:35]:
I say that to you, brother.

Greg [00:37:36]:
No. I want you to do the granddaddy. No.

Dave [00:37:38]:
Yeah. Because I wanna I wanna I wanna counterpoint you some of this stuff.

Greg [00:37:42]:
Oh, because then he's gonna say, can I jump in here?

Dave [00:37:44]:
Well, I always wanna jump in. There's no there's no stopping me, Greg. There's no stopping me.

Chad [00:37:49]:
We can't stop, and we can only hope to contain it. That's

Dave [00:37:52]:
right. It's kinda like Michael Jordan. I did not just say that this one's so arrogant.

Chad [00:37:58]:
No. No.

Dave [00:37:59]:
That's true. I am

Chad [00:38:00]:
the greatest.

Dave [00:38:03]:
Well, I can go there if you want, but I I just wanna talk about I I wanna give you the counterpoints to what the Catholic apologists are gonna argue against the granddaddy.

Chad [00:38:12]:
I think he wants you to bump and set it.

Greg [00:38:14]:
Oh, okay.

Chad [00:38:15]:
And he's gonna spike it.

Greg [00:38:16]:
Set. Because that's

Chad [00:38:17]:
the way he likes it.

Greg [00:38:18]:
Okay.

Dave [00:38:18]:
That's the way I like it. So

Greg [00:38:23]:
why does anyone listen to us? I

Dave [00:38:25]:
because we're funny.

Greg [00:38:26]:
Yeah. We are.

Chad [00:38:27]:
We are. Yeah. But looks aren't everything though, Dave, especially on a podcast.

Greg [00:38:33]:
Yeah. Alright. 2nd Timothy face for a podcast. I do. You were born with a face for radio.

Chad [00:38:39]:
I've I've got a hairline for for radio and podcasting.

Greg [00:38:43]:
Yeah. Anyway, 2nd Timothy 3 16 17. All scripture, all all every verse from Genesis 1 till the end of Revelation, because I don't know what the last verse of Revelation is off the top of my head.

Chad [00:39:01]:
It's up there.

Dave [00:39:02]:
22 something.

Greg [00:39:04]:
All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. So all of scripture, everything that's written in it, every single part of it, Leviticus, all of Leviticus, Chronicles,

Dave [00:39:38]:
all of Chronicles. It's profitable. It's Genesis 38?

Greg [00:39:41]:
I why did I know you were gonna say Genesis 38? Goodness. I knew you were gonna say Genesis 3rd.

Dave [00:39:46]:
Set up for

Greg [00:39:47]:
future 5. For those

Dave [00:39:49]:
But it's part of scripture. Just saying.

Greg [00:39:51]:
You just can't help yourself.

Dave [00:39:54]:
Oh, that was intentional. That wasn't even not trying to. That was so, anyway specifically intentional.

Greg [00:39:59]:
So, like

Dave [00:39:59]:
And it's a set of

Greg [00:40:00]:
And even even some, like, some of the the more like, when you get into the genealogies, that that that can be hard they can be hard to read. When you get into the the law in Leviticus, it can be hard to read. There there are some parts, like, when you get into apocalyptic prophecy Mhmm. And you're reading in Ezekiel about things, it's like, am I, like, reading about a spaceship here, or am I reading about, like, what is going on?

Chad [00:40:29]:
Yeah. And let's not forget the graveyard of read your bible through the year plans numbers.

Greg [00:40:36]:
Yeah. No.

Chad [00:40:36]:
That's where they all go.

Dave [00:40:37]:
Really? I think Leviticus is where

Greg [00:40:39]:
they go to that. So but all of it all of it is profitable. Yes. One of my one of my favorite illustrations about this is is a one preacher asked this question. He says, do you remember what you had to eat on on, July 17th last year for dinner? There's always one person in the crowd. It was their anniversary, so they know where they went and what was for dinner. But but nobody remembers what they had for dinner on July 17th. Right? So nobody can answer that question.

Greg [00:41:14]:
And he says, but did you profit from it? When you're reading God's word and you're studying from it, you are betting benefiting from it. It's all profitable.

Dave [00:41:24]:
It's one of 2 people. Let me guess. My first guess would be Paul Washer, but I actually think it's Ray Comfort.

Greg [00:41:31]:
I'm just gonna leave that little mystery there

Dave [00:41:33]:
for you.

Greg [00:41:34]:
K? I'm just gonna leave it for you there. I do listen to more

Dave [00:41:38]:
Okay.

Greg [00:41:39]:
Preachers than Paul Washer and Ray Comfort.

Dave [00:41:41]:
I I wasn't insulting. I was just guessing.

Greg [00:41:45]:
It was Ray Comfort. I knew it. Yeah. Knew it. But a

Dave [00:41:48]:
burden sometimes, isn't it, Chad? Okay. It is all profitable, Andrew.

Greg [00:41:52]:
For teaching, for reproof, for correction, and training in righteousness. Okay. So what do the other translations say? What's your Nasby say?

Dave [00:42:02]:
Oh, I can look it up quick here. Let me

Greg [00:42:05]:
I'm I'm trying to reset my brain. Hear that. The page is turning. For for, rebuke Mhmm. Yeah. Reproof, correction, and training in righteousness.

Dave [00:42:16]:
This is one of those that I tend to have memorized in King James, half King James, half NIV.

Greg [00:42:22]:
King James Enasby, NIV.

Dave [00:42:25]:
All scriptures inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, correction, and for training in righteousness Yeah. So that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for it may be adequate. Excuse me. Reproof.

Chad [00:42:36]:
Is that like a baking term

Greg [00:42:38]:
for having to do with bread proofing?

Dave [00:42:41]:
Wow. I think maybe one person in the whole of our listenership would understand that reference.

Greg [00:42:48]:
I think it's more than you think. Really? Yeah. Okay.

Dave [00:42:53]:
Okay. I grew up Baptist, so I know what reproof is. Yeah. I got a lot of that from my son's school teachers. Alright. That was done reproved a lot. Okay.

Chad [00:43:02]:
Alright. CSB, here it comes. All scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Greg [00:43:16]:
Alright.

Dave [00:43:17]:
So Go. Okay. So that term inspired by God or God breathed. Right? That's the term theapneustas. I'm gonna throw a little green at you. Right? So What is it in Latin? Don't know. Might have something to do with inspired and, like, literally, this might sound like it. But so that's what we call a one time New Testament use.

Dave [00:43:46]:
There's a technical term for it when we use, But it only occurs once in the in the New Testament. It occurs later in the church fathers as they refer back to this, but it's it's a compound word with God and breath or God and wind. Right? And so the I do think the best interpretation is that's the word god breathed, which is a passive translation of the word for breath. So if you get into or listen to any debate with a Catholic apologist, they're gonna make the claim that that word the apnestas does not refer to divine inspiration the way we understand it as if it is spoken by God as its authoritative, they're gonna argue that it's life giving, that it's God's breathing present tense. This is another one of the straw men that they're gonna use to attack sola scriptura. So they're gonna say, well, Theopneustas in an active translation means god breathing, present tense, or life giving. So what they what they would try to do and you saw that article. I mean, you posted the article of the one word that ruins sola scriptura.

Dave [00:45:00]:
Oh, yeah. So the irony is, though, they believe in the authority of the scriptures. So them saying this word doesn't mean inspired the way we understand it, doesn't take away from the fact that they actually believe that the old the old and new testaments are authoritative. And what does the rest of the verse say? Let's just assume for the sake of the argument. I do not I do not believe that's what it means, but let's just say they're right, and that means God presently breathing and giving. In other words, those scriptures are life giving. What does it say this doctor this the scriptures are profitable for for doctrine? Oh, wait. How does that destroy sola scriptura? It actually is a easy straw man.

Dave [00:45:42]:
You hack the straw man, and you make it sound like, oh, they lost the argument, and then you just see, so now you need to have a magisterium or a person who interprets the Bible for you. So if you get into a conversation, if someone says, well, that's a present notion of God breathing, then just go, okay. That's fine. Do you still believe in authoritative New Testament? Yes. And does that teach papal authority or infallibility? No. And does it teach that the scriptures are good for doctrine? Oh, yeah. So to me, it's a mood issue, and yet so many people are fooled by that straw man that they're getting led astray. And so I I just I wanted to make sure we talked about that tonight because it's such a big issue in the in the debate scene.

Dave [00:46:26]:
Yeah. Profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction of righteousness.

Greg [00:46:31]:
There you go.

Dave [00:46:32]:
Can we talk a little bit about papal authority? Infallibility? Can we at least mention it's where they claim that it's taught?

Chad [00:46:43]:
Let's see where it goes.

Dave [00:46:45]:
Okay.

Greg [00:46:46]:
I'll allow it.

Dave [00:46:47]:
Alright. So what is the one passage they're gonna wanna go to? So I think it would be helpful if if we go, okay. So sola scripture is responding to this doctrine of papal infallibility. I'd like to mention 2 more things about that. 1, I don't see it taught explicitly in the scriptures. Right? Now there's one passage that they go to, and that's Matthew 1618, the famous Peter's confession. Right? I'm assuming in your pastoral ministry, you've preached through Matthew 16/18, I would assume. Is that true, Greg? Mhmm.

Dave [00:47:23]:
You taught it. So let me read it, and then we can kinda discuss it if you have I wasn't meant to disinclude each other, of course.

Chad [00:47:31]:
No. Yeah. Alright. You you correctly deduced that I have never preached

Dave [00:47:36]:
on Matthew 16. Yeah. We actually talked about this a little bit in Mark, although we didn't get into it. But so you have Peter's confession. Right? He's the first of the apostles or the disciples to to confess and to to finally have his spiritual eyes opened and his heart opened and understand who Jesus is. So and this is the famous passage that happens at Caesarea Philippi. And Jesus in verse 13 of chapter 16 is asking his disciples, who do the people say that the son of man is? And they said, some say John the Baptist and others Elijah, but still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He said to them, but who do you say that I am? And Simon Peter answered, you are the Christ, or the Messiah, the son of the living God.

Dave [00:48:22]:
And Jesus said to him, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but you my father who is in heaven. I also say to you, and this is the key passage, that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. And I will give to you the the I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and wherever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. Then he warned the disciples that you should tell no one that he was the Christ. So here you have the famous controversial passage between Catholics and Protestants on Peter's confession and who is the rock upon which the church is built. Is it Peter, Or or is it Jesus? Or is it the confession? Or is it the church? Right? The Catholic tradition is to say that's gonna be on Peter. Right? Most Protestants would say that's either the confession that Peter made or it's on or it's on Jesus, who is the rock. So to be honest, I don't even think we have to determine that to disprove papal infallibility.

Dave [00:49:38]:
Let's just start this whole discussion by saying, okay. Let's for the sake of the argument, let's just say Peter is the rock. No. Not suggesting that, but let's just say for the sake of argument. Okay. Peter's the rock. How does that give him papal authority? Or better yet, how does that give him the authority to pass the apostolic, right, authority down to the next generation? So because there is authority given to him. And let's just again, let's just again, not suggesting him.

Dave [00:50:07]:
For the sake of the argument, let's say he was the rock. So he says, I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not overpower. Peter is part of that foundation of the church. Right. Isn't that what Ephesians 4 says? The church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. So there's some authority there. Yeah.

Dave [00:50:40]:
Right? But that's nothing that the Protestants don't teach about any of the apostles. Right. Right? Now I happen to go to Bible College that was

Greg [00:50:51]:
Well, and he repeat that's repeated in chapter 18. Mhmm. And it's for the for all of the like, it's not just for Peter.

Dave [00:50:58]:
It's for everyone. For all the apostles.

Greg [00:51:00]:
Yeah.

Dave [00:51:00]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So you have this apostolic authority, but the the bridge that I've never seen them be able to to show is how that goes to then Saint Pius or the latest Francis. I guess Francis is the latest pope.

Chad [00:51:16]:
Yeah.

Dave [00:51:17]:
Right? How does that show me where that happens. And that's the great assumption is that the papal authority is handed down. And so I I actually went to a Bible college that was on a former Catholic monastery. So our classroom and our library was actually the was the, the sanctuary. The Golden Dome was still there, and we had all the Catholic artwork around. And there's a lot of keys.

Chad [00:51:43]:
Oh, yeah.

Dave [00:51:43]:
There's a lot of keys in Catholic artwork because Peter received the keys of kingdom. Right? And that's the symbol of authority. But okay. That's great. I will I will give you that Peter had that authority. You don't need to him for him to be the the foundation to do that. Yeah. Show me the next step.

Dave [00:52:00]:
Show me where that apostolic authority is handed down to the next generation. And then I I just have to say one more thing, and this is gonna sound a little bit mean. And I'm trying to say this as respectfully as I can. Right? But if you think about the history of papal infallibility Yep. That is the biggest fiction that you will ever experience in church history. I don't know a single Catholic person today who doesn't disagree with their church somehow. Yeah. Right? Now that's at the popular level.

Dave [00:52:36]:
Right? But even from an official doctrine level, how many times has the Catholic church changed its opinion on doctrinal issues, federation of the saints, right, the the status of the apocrypha. Right. Right? The the church has never been able to keep a strong stand. And in fact, I I mean, even now they're starting to kind of fudge. He's kinda come back. Mhmm. But even now, Francis has kinda started to fudge on blessing same sex unions. Yep.

Dave [00:53:04]:
And not like I said, he's backed off of that a little bit. Mhmm. But, there is I have not seen papal infallibility played out over history. I mean, you had 2 different tendencies at one point.

Greg [00:53:16]:
And an unwillingness to enforce, Like, they'd say that abortion is a sin, yet you can have prominent national figures who can be the most radical, pro abortion, walk into the Catholic church, and the church will still give them the sacraments Even when they're vehemently, when they're just in open rebellion to what the church teaches, they have no problem giving them the sacraments. Yeah.

Dave [00:53:47]:
Yeah. So for me, the papal infallibility is a a kind of historical fiction Yeah. That they claim, but I've never seen it be able to be played out. In fact, I I know a lot of Catholics today who are not happy with the current pope. Yeah. And part of me wants to say, are you allowed to not be happy with your pope? Like, I don't think that's allowed if you believe in papal infallibility. Right? So and I know it's only when he speaks at atkathedra or, you

Greg [00:54:19]:
know, from an authoritative seat. So I wanna go back to this 2nd Timothy 3 16 because we didn't finish the passage.

Dave [00:54:27]:
No. We didn't. Let's go.

Greg [00:54:28]:
We we didn't finish the passage.

Dave [00:54:30]:
Got sidetracked.

Greg [00:54:31]:
So we talked about it being, God breathed. We were talking about it being profitable, for correction, for reproof, for training. So, for for teaching and instruction, that's pretty straightforward Mhmm. For the believer to teach them to instruction, to instruct them for reproof and correction. So rebuke would be you're doing wrong. You need to change direction that we're gonna correct you. We're gonna discipline

Chad [00:54:59]:
you. Yep.

Greg [00:55:00]:
When I mentioned Hebrews 4:13, the word of God is living and active and able to judge, and it pierces the soul and spirit. You know, God's word does that. It can rebuke. It can reprove, and it's training for righteousness. This you know, it causes us to grow, and it's it's it gives us what we need to live a righteous life so that the man of God and so let's go back to when we talked about Bible translations, and I said and I believe it was that that's we talked about the ESB using terms for gender. And this says the man of God, but it it applies to men and women.

Dave [00:55:39]:
Does it?

Greg [00:55:39]:
Yeah. It does. It applies to Okay. Oh, you wanna disagree? No.

Dave [00:55:44]:
It's okay. We can have different payment on that one. I'm sorry.

Greg [00:55:47]:
Yeah. I'm sorry. Am I wrong?

Dave [00:55:49]:
I'm not saying you're wrong. I just I just think he's talking about

Greg [00:55:52]:
Well, okay. Yeah. He is specifically talking about church leaders.

Dave [00:55:55]:
Oh, okay.

Greg [00:55:56]:
Yeah. That it that is correct. It is specifically talking about church leaders, so it would just specifically be talking about elders in the context of Timothy. But it does apply to all believers.

Dave [00:56:07]:
Agreed.

Greg [00:56:07]:
It does apply to all believers.

Dave [00:56:09]:
This is true for all believers.

Greg [00:56:10]:
It's true for all believers. That every believer would be complete and equipped for every good work. So whatever you need to live your Christian life is found in this God God breathed scripture. And this was the, like, this was the radical realization that Martin Luther had as he studied Romans and his eyes were open. He had this realization, and the more he studied it, the more he was convinced of this, and this is what led to him disagreeing with the big c Catholic church and parting and and nailing his 95 thesis to, to the door and, and having these disagreements in what they were teaching. And they actually drug him I wanna make sure I get it right when I say it. He was hauled before the emperor emperor Charles the 5th, and he was commanded to take back all his writings. So some of the things that he had been writing, these scandalous things that he had been writing, I have some of them written down.

Greg [00:57:15]:
It's really interesting because they're they're referenced in, in his works, and they're actually abbreviated because there's the Weimar edition, and then there's Luther's works. And they're, like, chapter and verses just like scripture. Sure. But they're not inspired. It's just referencing his works. But he says things like, there is no doubt that all the scriptures point to Christ alone. All of scripture, everywhere, deals only with Christ. In the words of scripture, you will find the swaddling clothes in which Christ lies.

Greg [00:57:50]:
Simple and little are the swaddling clothes, but dear is the treasure that lies in them. And he would write so much more talking about salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone. And so he was drugged before the emperor at the time, and he was told he needed to recant. This was the command that was given to him. And if you've ever watched the old black and white movie from 1956, Martin Luther, there's this really famous scene, and I'm not I'm not gonna do justice to it. But But when he's told to recant, this is this is the answer that he gives. Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the holy scriptures or by plain reason, for I can believe neither pope nor councils alone, as it is clear that they have erred repeatedly and contradicted themselves, I consider myself convicted by the testimony of holy scripture, which is my basis. My conscience is captivated to the holy or to the word of God.

Greg [00:58:53]:
Thus, I cannot and will not recant. Here I stand. I can do no other, so help me God. And that was his conviction of sola scriptura. He was totally captivated and convinced in scripture alone, and he would not waver from that.

Dave [00:59:12]:
I was cheering.

Greg [00:59:13]:
I was, like, my

Dave [00:59:14]:
hair in my literally, the hair in my arm started to come up.

Chad [00:59:16]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Dave [00:59:18]:
I'm not gonna say it. I was gonna say good stuff. I'm not gonna say

Greg [00:59:21]:
it. Maybe one day he'll call me professor.

Dave [00:59:23]:
Oh. You're my professor, Greg. I just did. It was my so that was complimentary too.

Greg [00:59:32]:
So we have a Bible now in English, multiple translations. We have it at our fingertips. It's on our phones. You can, access all kinds of electronic resources on the Internet. You can do searches. You can find out things. You can you can search the languages if you want to. All within seconds, you can get the answers to your questions.

Greg [00:59:56]:
You can read it. And there were men who died to bring this to you. There were men who were burned alive to bring this to you. For for a 1000 years, people did not even have it in English. And you mentioned William Tyndale early. And you think about and and I and I want us to start thinking about what we should do with this now, this Bible that we have, and how we should read it humbly, expectantly, carefully, and devotionally. And I want you to think about William Tyndale. So he was a contemporary of Luther, and he lived in England at a time when you could not possess a Bible, in English, or else you would suffer death.

Greg [01:00:37]:
In 15/17, I already told you about the, the parents that were burned at the stake for teaching them, the Lord's prayer in English, and this is the time that it was. And William Tyndale steps forward. He loved the gospel of justification by faith alone, and he loved the Scriptures, and he was good with language. He could speak 8 languages fluently, and his desire was to translate the Bible so that the plowboy would know the scriptures better than the priests. And he had to flee Europe to do it, And he produced the New Testament in English over the next 10 years and managed to translate a large part of the Old Testament too, and he smuggled it back to England in bales of cotton and sacks of wheat. Anyone found in possession of a Tyndale buy Bible would be burned, but that didn't stop them, the Bibles, from being popular. They sold incredibly, and England's reformation exploded because people got an English bible in their hands, and they had direct access to the words of life. Within 10 years of the First Tyndale New Testament, William Tyndale was betrayed by a friend, captured, and burned at the stake.

Greg [01:01:56]:
This book has been handed to us by martyr after martyr, and all of them cry out, take it, read it, search the scriptures, submit to them, and allow them to lead you to Christ. Our lives and our cultures would be turned upside down if and when we take this book seriously.

Dave [01:02:18]:
Sola Scriptura, man.

Chad [01:02:20]:
Sola Scriptura.

Greg [01:02:23]:
There we go. As revealed by Scripture alone.

Dave [01:02:26]:
Final authority for faith and practice.

Chad [01:02:29]:
Yep. I don't know what else we can say about it, man. That's pretty much everything. Professor. Everyone's a professor tonight except for me.

Dave [01:02:42]:
Well, you went to that drink in school.

Chad [01:02:44]:
Yeah. That's right.

Dave [01:02:44]:
Oh, but you know what? You're more qualified because you had the similar dorm as DA Carson.

Chad [01:02:50]:
I did. Yes. Listen to another episode if you wanna know. Yeah. So shout out to our Lutheran friends. It was a Lutheran Lutheran heavy episode. I know you're out there. Hope you appreciated it.

Chad [01:03:01]:
So, if We have heavy Lutheran friends?

Dave [01:03:06]:
Did I say that?

Greg [01:03:07]:
Jeez, Steve.

Chad [01:03:09]:
Oh, that

Dave [01:03:09]:
was about a heavy Lutheran. Is that that's what I heard.

Chad [01:03:12]:
I said a heavy Lutheran contingent.

Dave [01:03:15]:
Oh, I I must have heard it wrong. Sorry. I'm not trying to insult all heavy Lutherans.

Chad [01:03:22]:
Just some heavy Lutherans we know. Okay.

Dave [01:03:25]:
Not that shame in anybody.

Greg [01:03:28]:
How do you clean this up, Chad?

Chad [01:03:30]:
I You know? How

Dave [01:03:31]:
do you do that? That's beautiful. I know. It's great banter.

Chad [01:03:34]:
Just so the audience knows, these recording sessions usually go on for 4 and a half hours. So you end up with a 52 minute podcast.

Greg [01:03:43]:
There's so much that Dave says that has to be churned out. It's just just ridiculous. Second. It's

Dave [01:03:50]:
I don't make the shocking statements like you and Greg.

Greg [01:03:54]:
What? You queen of the soft hop?

Dave [01:03:56]:
Yeah. But that doesn't get cut. So

Chad [01:03:58]:
Oh, yeah. That's true.

Greg [01:03:59]:
You should hear what got cut.

Dave [01:04:05]:
I guilty as charged, so I'm just gonna keep my mouth shut.

Chad [01:04:08]:
Or that time that Greg said that

Greg [01:04:10]:
I'll believe it when I see it or hear it.

Chad [01:04:12]:
Yeah. Or that time that Greg said everything to the Caribbean should be Canadian. He wants to forcibly take over America. Oh, from

Dave [01:04:22]:
from Canada to the sea? Is that what it is? From the Arctic

Chad [01:04:25]:
to the sea, the USA will be free.

Dave [01:04:28]:
The USA will be free. K. We got our Canadian reference in it. There we go. Love it.

Chad [01:04:34]:
No. But if you, liked what you heard, please let us know at the fish at catfishministries.com. The fish at catfishministries.com. Follow-up questions are greatly appreciated. Absolutely. Follow-up questions, recommendations, suggestions, constructive, helpful criticism, always welcome. We wanna hear from you, so please let us know. Thanks for listening.

Chad [01:04:56]:
We always appreciate it, and we look forward to seeing you again next time.

Greg [01:05:01]:
Figuratively seeing you.

Chad [01:05:02]:
Yeah. Remember, America, it's

Dave [01:05:04]:
always a good day to get catfished.

Chad [01:05:07]:
And if you have a friend, tell them about Catfish Ministries because you know they're curious. Thanks for joining us at Catfish Ministries. We hope you learned something with us and maybe had a laugh or 2 while you're at it. Please subscribe and leave a 5 star review. If you really like what you heard and wanna help us make more of these, look us up on buy me a coffee.com. We can't wait to talk to you again next time. This is Chad for Greg and Dave signing off and saying remember America, it's always a great day to get catfished.