The Bible and Catholic Tradition #1

Welcome to The Truth Pulpit with Don Green, Founding Pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Hello, I'm Bill Wright. Thanks for joining us as we continue teaching God's people God's Word. Don begins a new message today, so without further delay, let's join him right now in The Truth Pulpit.

Tonight, we're going to continue the series. Last time we looked at the Bible and the Pope and we saw that the Bible utterly rejects any concept of the modern papacy. And tonight we're going to continue along the similar line of authority as we examine the Catholic view of biblical authority. And I've titled this message, The Bible and Catholic Tradition, and tradition is for them is more than simply what we might think of the traditions that we do at Thanksgiving or at Christmas.

Tradition is a source of authority and a source of, you could say, revelation to them in terms of they believe that it has equal authority with the 66 books of the Bible. And so we're going to examine their view of biblical authority and the relationship of their tradition to it as we go through this evening. What I'm going to try to do is answer four questions tonight about this. What I want to do here this evening is, first of all, I want to set forth what we believe about biblical authority. You can state that as a question.

That's your first point for this evening. What do we believe about biblical authority? What does the Bible teach about itself is another way that you could put it. And so we're just going to establish the biblical plumb line, the biblical standard about where God has spoken before we move into what Catholics teach about it and examine that in light of Scripture. What do we believe about biblical authority?

Well, having asked the question, I guess I better answer it. We believe in sola scriptura, which is a Latin phrase that means by Scripture alone. By Scripture alone. Scripture is the sole and final authority. And here at Truth Community Church, we use the London Baptist Confession of 1689, and it defines biblical authority in a couple of different paragraphs in its first section. So our church teaches that the Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience.

I'll say that again. That's paragraph 1.1 of the 1689 confession. The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience. Paragraph 1.6 says this, The whole, and I emphasize whole, the whole or the entire, the complete, you might say, the whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man's salvation, faith, and life is either expressly set down or necessarily contained in the Holy Scripture, to which nothing is to be added at any time, either by new revelation of the Spirit or by the traditions of men.

1689, 1.1, and 1.6. Now, I'll repeat what I said last time. I quote a lot of things in this series, and it makes it a little bit harder to take notes, perhaps. If you ever want my preaching notes on this, I'm more than happy to share.

All you have to do is ask for them, and I'll gladly share them with you, and my notes contain all of the citations to everything that I quote. I just think that it's very important for you to understand and to realize that everything that we are saying in this series is very carefully documented. This is not my summary or my representation of anything. We are quoting from the original sources that established these things and just compare them with Scripture, and so I want you to know that as we proceed, and if you get a copy of my notes, you'll certainly see that for sure. Now, what do we believe about biblical authority?

We believe in Sola Scriptura. In other words, nothing shares authority with the 66 books of the Bible. There is no other source of revelation from God. There are no modern-day prophecies. There is no Catholic tradition.

There is no Book of Mormon in the sense that they are true revelations from God. Those things might exist, but it's all falsehood. There's nothing from God about any of it because Scripture alone is the standard. That's what we believe about biblical authority.

Now, that leads us to our second question for this evening. Having said that we believe in Sola Scriptura, we want to answer a second question, which is this. Why do we believe that? Why do we believe that? When so many people would deny it, why do we believe in Sola Scriptura? Well, we let Scripture speak for itself, and Scripture claims for itself a perfect sufficiency to which we submit. Scripture claims a perfect sufficiency for itself which we believe and submit to.

We take God at His word, in other words. If you'll turn to Psalm 19, we're going to look at a couple of familiar passages here to stand on some familiar ground, perhaps for those of you that are new to our church. Psalm 19, beginning in verse 7, says this.

I'll give you time to turn there. Psalm 19 verse 7 says that the law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true, they are righteous altogether. What you need to see in that passage is the statement that the law of the Lord is perfect. You could say the law of the Lord is blameless. Everything that is needed for the salvation of man and the revelation of God is perfectly contained in His word.

You do not need anything else. If something was missing from the completed canon, you could not say that God's word was perfect. And the Bible would be lying to us. It would be bearing false testimony to itself in claiming perfection for itself, but then finding that really it wasn't perfect and there were other things that you needed. And as I like to say, and I'll probably say later this evening, beloved, the truth of the implications of the doctrine of sola scriptura is this. You take the Bible alone or you do not take the Bible at all. If you take the Bible on its own terms, it says it is perfect and it is sufficient.

And if you try to add to it, you are denying it. You are testifying against what the Bible says about itself. So these are very fundamental principles of revelation and authority that we must take into account. Now from a New Testament perspective, you can turn to 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3 beginning in verse 15. And notice carefully the language that is used here as it speaks about the capacity of Scripture and the ability of Scripture to provide for the spiritual needs of men.

Paul told Timothy in verse 14, he said, You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. For an unsaved person seeking God, or that may be perhaps more accurately stated, in whose heart God is working, they can go to the Bible and find in the Bible alone everything that is needed to lead them to saving faith in Christ. There is nothing outside of that that is necessary.

There is no hidden information. There is nothing subsequent to come that would fill in the gaps that the Bible doesn't have. That does not exist. Everything necessary for the salvation of a soul, everything needed for true saving faith in Christ is found in the Bible. What about after you're saved? Verse 16. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. No matter what situation you find yourself in, Scripture contains the direction and the path forward for you to discern what God would have you to do, what he would have you to believe, and what he would have you to avoid. Nothing is left out.

Nothing is missing. And so we come back to what we say again and again here in our church. We realize again something of the preciousness of this book, that this book contains the key to eternal life. This book is the revelation that leads a man to Christ and to saving faith and then shows him how to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ.

Everything needed for spiritual life is found within the pages of the 66 books of the Bible. Now, that means there's a couple of implications about that. It means, first of all, that we do not need to look beyond the written Word of God for any essential doctrine about our faith or practice.

We don't need to. So if somebody comes, a couple of young guys in white shirts and black pants come to your door and want to talk to you about Joseph Smith, you can reject them out of hand. There is no new revelation from God. Anything claiming to be new revelation from God is necessarily satanic.

There's no debating this. We don't need to look beyond the written Word of God, and you can reject, beloved. This is wonderfully freeing for you spiritually.

This is wonderfully liberating for your soul. You can reject out of hand any claim to new revelation made by anyone knowing that the Scriptures are complete and that we hold to and Scripture teaches about itself the principle of Scripture alone. Now, we can go even further than what I just said. I said we don't need to look for anything else. The truth of the matter is, according to God's Word, we cannot look for anything else. Scripture forbids us from seeking further revelation. Look at the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 4, and as you piece these things together in the progress of revelation, you can see the consistent standard of God's Word until he closes the canon at the end of the book of Revelation, and we'll look at that in a moment. Deuteronomy, chapter 4. Scripture repeatedly, repeatedly warns men and warns the people of God against adding to his Word. It warns us against those that would seek to add to his Word. And so, in Deuteronomy, chapter 4, verse 1, it says, Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am teaching you to perform, so that you may live and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. Listen to verse 2 carefully in this context. You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you. Don't add to it, don't take away from it.

Don't take the scissors to it, don't bring your glue gun to add something at the end. That is not the way that we respond to God's Word. We revere God's Word, we respect it, and we understand that we let God speak on his own terms, and we don't try to add something new according to human wisdom to it. Turn over to Proverbs, chapter 30. Proverbs, chapter 30. In verse 5, we find this stated. Proverbs, chapter 30, verses 5 and 6. Every word of God is tested.

He is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words or he will reprove you and you will be proved a liar. There again is the principle, do not add to the words of God.

Don't do that, Scripture teaches us. And then if you go to the very, almost the very final words of the Bible in Revelation chapter 22. Revelation 22, the final words before the closing prayer of the canon of Scripture. Revelation 22, verse 18. Keeping in mind that Revelation is a book that is given by God to describe the things of the end times and eternal life and the eternal kingdom to come.

It comprehensively covers everything that comes after the point in which we stand in the present age. And so in Revelation 22, verse 18, the Apostle John writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit says this, I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book. If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city which are written in this book. Don't add to it, don't take away from it. There is a sanctity, there is a sacredness to the word of God that speaking metaphorically as I like to say, emanating from that is a warning. Emanating from his word is a warning.

Don't mess with this, do not touch this. Don't add to it, don't take away from it. Simply read it, believe it and obey it. God's word stands alone. And God's people were never to look beyond his written word. Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, if anything additional was necessary to the Bible, Scripture would not be complete.

If God, look, think about it this way. If God intended for men to add something to the completed canon, he sure went about teaching us in a really bad way to accomplish that goal. When he says over and over again, don't add to this, don't add to this, don't add to this, if his intention was to have us add to it, all of those warnings are really contradictory to the purpose that he had in establishing his revelation. Isn't it obvious that God meant what he said? Don't add to this and that that solves the dilemma for us about what we do with additional claims to revelation?

We reject them. And so we say, without fear of biblical contradiction, you take the Bible alone or you do not take it at all. If you add to the Bible, you deny the Bible.

This is foundational. This is about where God has spoken, where God's authority is found, where God's revelation is made known. And it is a cosmic crime to falsely claim in the name of God that you have new revelation from him.

That is a crime of incalculable proportions. It is a sin against the word of God to claim that you have something new. And in time, I hope to, down the road, maybe in January, to deal in a message about this modern fascination and love that people within the so-called evangelical church have about claiming that God spoke to them in their hearts. We'll deal with that down the road. That's for another time.

But everything we're saying here applies to that as well. You see, the Bible is complete. It is sufficient, and it is final. And when God has said this so plainly, beloved, it is our responsibility to believe that and to honor what he has said. It is not for men to try to add to the Bible because God has said that prerogative is mine alone and it is over. It is final.

Don't do that. I think we've made that point as clearly as we can here this evening. That's why we believe in sola scriptura. The Bible claims a perfection for it.

Positively, it claims perfection for itself. Then in a negative way, it says repeatedly, don't add to God's word. And so if you believe the Bible is God's word, then that issue is already settled for you by what it says about itself. Scripture is sufficient. Sola scriptura, by Scripture alone. That leads us to our third point tonight as we get into our topic, the Bible and Catholic tradition. And I'll frame the question this way.

I'll frame the question this way. How do Catholics deny the sufficiency of Scripture? Stated differently, how do Catholics violate sola scriptura? Well, they don't even try to hide it. They specifically state in their catechism what it is that they believe and teach.

And we're going to look at, I believe, three different aspects of it. Two different aspects of it, I guess. First of all, they deny the sufficiency of Scripture with their tradition. Catholics deny the sufficiency of Scripture with their tradition.

That's the first subpoint. They deny sufficiency with their tradition. Now I'm going to quote a little bit from the Catholic catechism to prove that point.

I feel like I'm speaking to a jury trying to persuade you of my case. The catechism of the Catholic Church says at paragraph 82, and I quote, the Church, meaning the Catholic Church, the Church does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the Holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.

You know, I'm glad I'm quoting this to refute it because if I was quoting that to assert it, I would fear lightning striking me. They state plainly, did you hear it? They state plainly that you must accept Catholic tradition on the same level as Scripture with equal devotion and equal reverence. This is their own teaching.

I'm not making this up. I would never falsely attribute something so blasphemous to somebody if they hadn't said it. At paragraph 95 of their catechism, they say this, and we'll explain some of these terms in just a bit. Paragraph 95 says, and I quote, it is clear that sacred tradition, sacred Scripture, and the magisterium of the Church are so connected and associated that one of them cannot stand without the others. Working together under the action of the one Holy Spirit, they all contribute effectively to the salvation of souls, end quote. That is an absolute denial of 2 Timothy 3.15, which I just read to you, that says, and let me repeat it here because I don't want to quote it from memory and get it wrong, Paul says that the sacred writings which Timothy had known from childhood are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Catholic Church says that's not true. Scripture is not sufficient, they say, to lead to the salvation of souls. It needs the magisterium of the Catholic Church. It needs Catholic tradition in order to be able to do that.

If you are a Christian and you love the Bible, you should have some kind of sense of righteous indignation in your heart against such blasphemous claims. This is not a matter of debate, and this is why, can you see, my friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, can you see why I said at the beginning that when you put these things side by side, you are faced with a choice that you have to make. You cannot have it both ways. Scripture says the Bible alone.

The Catholic Church says the Bible and tradition and our magisterium. Those two things are mutually exclusive. Those are competing truth claims. They cannot be reconciled with one another.

Now, just so it doesn't get lost in my rhetorical flourishes, did you hear what they said? They said that sacred tradition and the magisterium of the church contribute effectively to the salvation of souls. What does their tradition teach? What is contained in their tradition that is not contained in Scripture? Well, there's just multiplied heresies like salvation by baptism, seven sacraments, transubstantiation and communion, the idea that the elements change to the literal body and the literal blood of Christ, confession of sins to a priest, the Catholic mass, a repeated offering of Christ for the forgiveness of sins, purgatory, the authority of Pope, an unbiblical view of Mary, and that's just for starters. That's what their tradition would cram down your throat if you would submit to their authority. That's the 10-ton weight of unbiblical baggage that they would place on your shoulders and say you must follow this or you will die in your sins.

Now, why are we making such a point of this? Why are we having this series, the Bible and Roman Catholicism? Look, beloved, if Scripture is true, and it is, and if in Scripture alone is revealed the path of salvation from sin and judgment and only in Scripture can you find true salvation, then we have a responsibility to confront and to refute those who would contradict that.

As we said last time, there are 1.27 billion living souls on the earth today according to the Catholic Church's own census. 1.27 billion souls that are baptized Catholics in one manner or another believing this tripe. And they are in danger of judgment.

They are in danger of eternal condemnation because Paul said there is an anathema on anyone who preaches a gospel contrary to the one that he taught. Well, that's what Catholics do. And so we have an obligation of love to make the truth known as broadly as we can, as effectively as we can.

It is not because we have hostility toward Catholics that we say these things and that we have these series. It is because we love them. It is because we want the well-being of their soul. We would have them join us in the true Church of Christ. We would have them join us in true salvation. We would have them join us around the throne of God in eternity singing the praises of the Lamb who alone is our salvation.

That's why we do it. We can't be silent in light of the things that we know, in light of what God's Word says. Their tradition denies the Bible. Now, carrying this forward a little bit, Scripture condemns the whole idea of the traditions of men.

It utterly condemns it. The Bible makes it clear that it will not share its throne of authority with the commandments of men. Look at the Gospel of Mark chapter 7. The Gospel of Mark chapter 7.

Mark chapter 7 in verse 6. This idea of unbiblical or extra-biblical tradition has always been a problem. It is a problem in the days of Christ.

It's a problem in our day as well. Jesus rebukes the Pharisees who had asked Him in verse 5, Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands? And in verse 6, He said to them, Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites as it is written, This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men. Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.

Drop down to verse 13. Thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down and you do many things such as that. Now, I can perhaps grant to some Catholics that they have a zeal for their traditions and that their zeal is sincere. But beloved, don't you see, don't you understand that their sincerity does not make it true?

That their sincerity does not make it right? Does not make it a revelation from God? Paul said of the Jews, they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. Look over at Romans. I believe it's Romans chapter 10. I always confuse Romans 10 and 9 when I'm just quoting it quickly off the top of my head. But in Romans chapter 10, you see a passage from Paul speaking about the Jews that gives us a perspective on this and echoes what we said earlier about our desire for the salvation of Catholics anywhere in the world. Paul, speaking about his kinsmen according to the flesh, said in chapter 10 verse 1, Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God is found in Christ and in the gospel. You cannot set up your own standard of righteousness. No matter how zealous you are for it, you can't set up your own standard of righteousness and follow it and think that you're pleasing God.

It does not work that way. God has spoken. God has given us one name by which we must be saved.

One book with 66 sub-books, you might say, in which he has revealed his truth, and there are no others. And so the fact that they might be zealous and really sincerely believe it just doesn't matter. If you believe a lie, it's still a lie no matter how sincerely you take it to your heart. No matter how many times you kiss the feet of a statute of Mary, it doesn't make any difference.

It's still a lie. It's still leading you astray. That's Don Green here on The Truth Pulpit. And here's Don again with some closing thoughts. Well, my friend, thank you for joining us for yet another podcast from The Truth Pulpit. And we wanted to let you know that in addition to these audio resources that you are enjoying, that there are also written resources from my ministry. The Lord has given us opportunity to put some of the things that I've taught over the years in print. And I have one book in particular that I would want to call your attention to. It's the most popular book that I've published so far called Trusting God in Trying Times. It's a book born out of deep personal sorrow and is brought into context, you might say, through the Word of God. How to trust God when you are going through the deepest valleys and the most sorrowful things in life How do you trust God through those times when you can't see your way forward?

I've been there, my friend. And the book Trusting God in Trying Times speaks to that spiritual experience in the life of the believer. You can find all of my books at thetruthpulpit.com That's thetruthpulpit.com Just click on the link there.

You'll find links to different books and you will find that they take you to an easy place to purchase them for your reading enjoyment. So thank you once again for joining us on The Truth Pulpit. We'll see you next time as we continue to study God's Word together. That's Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Thank you so much for listening to The Truth Pulpit. Join us next time for more as we continue teaching God's people God's Word.