Thats Not In The Bible!

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ....
    Catholics often hear, “That’s not in the Bible!” from non-Catholics. It is one of the favorite expressions of anti-Catholics, in particular.
    But before jumping up in reaction at hearing this, the Catholic should directly ask a deeper question:

"Does the Bible itself teach that every Christian belief must be found explicitly in its pages?"

THE CLAIM
💬"That’s Not in the Bible.”

    Many Protestant Christians argue that if a teaching is not stated clearly and rendered explicity in the Bible, then Christians should not believe it. This has been their go-to for five centuries, and this idea is called sola scriptura (Latin for, "by scripture alone").
    It is most intensely and strictly emphasized by Baptists, non-denominational Evangelicals, Reformed/Presbyterian churches, and the Churches of Christ.
    They claim to weigh everything against the Bible, from their denominations' practices and doctrine, to Sunday school and their music. This has been the stated method since each denomination began.
    However, many lean even further into what theologians call "solo scriptura" - which is entirely rejecting anything historic, any creeds or practices, and anything in the form of a tradition. As far as they are concerned, if it happened before them, it has no application. 

    Often you'll hear members from one or another of these groups say things like:

- “Show me where that is in Scripture.”
- “If it is not written in the Bible, it is just a man-made tradition.”
- “The Bible is the only authority Christians can go by.”

    And on the surface, that may sound reasonable. Nevermind that they all do some things that are not expressly from the Bible.... it still sounds reasonable.
    Catholics, for their part, believe the Bible is the inspired word of God, and no true Catholic teaching can contradict, or be without basis in Scripture.
    But what these, "bible only" people are usually trying to do by making these statements is insinuate that Catholics do not value the Bible and operate outside it. They have all manner of arguments that sound good to THEM, to tell themselves they are right.

    But are they? And if you know that is happening, the dialogue can be directed into a more fruitful path with this question:

Does the Bible itself teach that every Christian belief must be found explicitly in Scripture alone?

    This, too, is also a reasonable question to ask. Because, if you are going to say only the Bible can explicitly direct our actions for all things Christian, then the Bible ought to say that.
It should not leave that to guesswork, or supposition.

📖 WHAT DOES THE BIBLE ACTUALLY SAY?

Ready? Scripture Does Not Teach “Bible Alone”



    Nowhere in the Bible can you find the Bible naming itself as all that can ever be followed or put into practice as Christians. That idea is itself a man-made tradition, coming long after the Bible appeared, as we shall see. Sure, you can come up with all sorts of talk-arounds for it, but the bottom line is this: It is not there.
    The clearest passage that affirms this is from the second letter of Paul to the Church community at Thessalonia:

“Stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us,
either by word of mouth or by letter.”
- 2 Thessalonians 2:15

    Notice what Paul is telling Christians to avoid: following only what was written.
    In fact, he commands them to hold firmly to apostolic teaching, the teaching of the Apostles that is/was received in two ways:

- By what was written (letter) AND by word of mouth (orally and in practice)

    This teaching form is called, "Sacred Tradition," to separate it from the Sacred Word. But, they are two ends of the same stick.

    Scripture also says, in Paul's letter to the community at Corinth:
“I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I have delivered them to you.”
- 1 Corinthians 11:2

    Here he doesn't mention anything written at all. He applauds them because they hold to what they were TAUGHT by his directive in action and in oral teaching.
    The Apostles taught the faith through preaching, worship, instruction, and written letters. Yes, the written word of God is a key element in our understanding of Gods plan, but Scripture never claims itself as the Christian’s only authority. And if you claim to be an adherent of the Bible, you must admit this obvious reality.

    Furthermore, the Bible also acknowledges that not everything Jesus did was written down:

“There are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books.”
- John 21:25

    So obviously everything one might know is NOT in the Bible, and it says so.

    Catholics do not place human customs above Scripture. We believe the apostolic faith was handed on through Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, faithfully guarded by the Church long before Protestants came along.
    Sacred Tradition came before the Bible....indeed, the Bible was born of Sacred Tradition. It is the word of God....but the Bible never teaches that you can have nothing else but, “the Bible alone.”

💬 ORIGIN OF, "BIBLE ONLY"  
    
Okay, so if, "Bible-only" was made up - who did it, and when?

1. Martin Luther.
    The man credited with starting the Reformation, Martin Luther (see Note 1), is also credited with first thinking up and spreading the concept of sola scriptura, as it is now called. But it wasn't formed out of God-inspired enlightenment, as much as being born of intense historical conflicts regarding who would be the next religious authority.
    It wasn't an overnight thing, either - it took awhile to take hold and development unfolded in distinct stages.
      During the 1519 debates, and the later Diet of Worms in 1521, Luther stubbornly stood by, hammering his opinion that Popes and church councils could err. Claiming that he was guided by his own "conscience" and spirit, he held out that he, and men in general, could throw aside such authority and be the ultimate interpreter of the word of God, themselves.

    His idea was that the Bible was the ultimate, infallible authority over church tradition....and men would not err if they used their own judgement to interpret it.  Basically, he came to reject any authority of The Church, and needed a way to make someone - ultimately himself - into a new authority. There was really nothing ELSE for Luther to choose in this, so the Bible got the nod.

2. The Early Adopters
    Huldrych Zwingli and Jean Calvin, the next-in line reformers, latched onto and expanded the idea. Swiss Reformer Zwingli was among the very first theologians to use the specific Latin phrasing, sola scriptura, while Frenchman Calvin later established the idea as a foundational pillar of Reformed theology. In other words, the Bible-only concept was made up, and was made into the rally-cry of anti-Catholics.

3. Not a new Idea
    Earlier dissidents had also argued for the supreme authority of the Bible. John Wycliffe (14th century, England), for example, translated the Bible into Middle English before the Reformation, and claimed that Scripture was the only reliable law for The Church.
    There were a few others, too, but in hindsight, we see that they all overlooked a crucial point - the Church did not completely disagree.
    Some men within The Church had succumbed to pride and sin, and thought they were above the law. But The Church, itself, never abandoned Scripture as guide.
    These so-called 'reformers' were all reacting badly to the actions of bad men in an era of nihilistic social upheaval and disorder. In hindsight, we see their "reformation" was really a way to leave The Church and make themselves the New Authorities.   

CATHOLIC RESPONSE
🛡️ Catholics Do Not Reject the Bible

    - Do Catholics believe the Bible is the inspired word of God? Yes.
    - Do Catholics believe it is true, trustworthy, and essential to the Christian faith? Yes.
    - Does The Church place human opinion above Scripture? No.
    - Does the Church believe that authentic teaching cannot contradict the Bible, or, that it must be in agreement with it? Yes.
    The disagreement is not over whether the Bible has authority. Everyone agrees that it does. The disagreement is over whether the Bible was ever meant to be the only authority that could ever be. The Bible contains Truth - but it is not, and never was intended to be the ONLY Truth possible.
    Jesus did not leave behind a book, alone. Instead, he established a living Church, gave authority to the men He placed as leaders of that that Church - The Apostles - and commanded them to teach through word and action. If we are honest, there was no need for a Bible from Christ's perspective.
    That apostolic faith which Christ instituted was handed on through:

➕ Sacred Tradition — the apostolic teaching passed on in the life and worship of the Church militant. This came first and foremost, and was the intent of Our Lord.
➕ Sacred Scripture — the written word of God.
This came later because men are men, and they are fragile. They want more than being, "told what to do." And when they insert their own version - or interpretations - of the word, clarification is needed. 
➕ The Magisterium — This where we get authoritative clarification.
    The word, "magisterium" comes from the Latin root, "magister," meaning teacher, or master of something.
    The suffix "-ium" indicates an office, duty, or a collective body of people.
    Translated together it means, "the office of a master, director, chief, or teacher." (see note 2)
       The Church essentially has teaching authority as the only Church which Christ established, the originator OF the Bible, and the one authority which faithfully guards and explains that deposit of faith since the beginning. Those who attempt to interpret Scripture for themselves long after the fact do so merely on their own say-so.

    These three, Sacred Tradtion, Sacred Scripture and the Magisterium do not conflict with one another. They work together.
So Catholics do not reject the Bible. What we reject is the ideas that the Bible is all that can ever be and that Christians were meant to interpret the Bible, themselves, apart from the only Church which Christ, himself, set into motion. 

THE DEFENSE
💬What to Say

“That Catholic teaching is not in the Bible!”

    When you encounter someone like the guy on the left in the above picture...relax. Pray for humility. Pray for him. Then just reply: 
    "No, it probably is not written the way you want to see it in your English translated version of the Bible....1100 years later.

    But - Catholics believe every true teaching we are taught must agree with Scripture, either explicitly, or be derived from Scripture.
    However, the Bible never says that every Christian belief must be written explicitly in the Bible alone, or else. Let's be reminded  - that was made up by men. It is literally a tradition of men.
    In fact, Scripture tells Christians to hold to apostolic teaching passed on both by letter and by word of mouth. The Bible came much later, and not as way to cause arguments over who is right. 
    So the real question is not the simplistic, ‘Where is that in the Bible?’ The true question should be, ‘Was this teaching handed down by Christ and the apostles, or, can it be extractred from Scripture with sufficient examination?’”

Shorter Response: “The Bible is the word of God, but the Bible never teaches, ‘Bible alone.’ Scripture itself tells us to hold to both written and spoken apostolic tradition.”

💡 Remember this
    A teaching does not need to appear word-for-word in Scripture to be biblical. It must agree in form and function with all of Scripture and belong to the apostolic faith.

VERDICT
⚖️“That’s Not in the Bible”... Is Simplistic, Unaware...and Not Enough

✅ Catholics believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God.
✅ Scripture tells Christians to hold to apostolic teaching passed on both in writing and by word of mouth.
✅ A teaching does not have to appear word-for-word in Scripture to be part of the apostolic faith that Christ set into motion.

    The Bible is our authority. The Bible contains truth — but every truth that can be is not in the Bible. And the Bible never teaches, “Bible alone and nothing else."

✠

Notes
1.     Luther didn't start the Reformation - it started in spite of him.
    He was the unwilling protagonist, an ordinary person thrust by fate into extraordinary circumstances. His pride eventually kicked in, however, and ultimately he came to see himself as the God-given new authority for Christianity.

    But he never wrote his 95 Theses for public distribution... he wrote them to open theologic debate about the sale of induglences and corruption within The Church. He was a professor of theology and one among many at the time who protested the sale of indulgences - he wanted to have people talking about the practice in an attempt to push for change.
    But he never nailed them to the Church door like a firebrand rebel - you can forget that propagandized image. That is pure spin that came a century later.
    Rather, he forwarded the text to his bishops so they would be aware of the theological debate he wanted to have....and they were cautious.
    One didn't want to upset the apple cart with an open academic debate, and he urged Luther to take it slow. The other was on the take himself and didn't want anyone - or anything - to cause trouble. 
    Luther was not a cool-headed,  play-the-game sort of man, though. It is a safe bet that he was frustrated at that point. So he shared the document with a few academic friends. And THAT was really the tipping point for the Reformation, because THEY saw it as a way to make some money and line their pockets!

    They translated it into German and took it to area printers, who knew it was a big money maker - and the printers turned it into pamphlets and booklets WITHOUT PERMISSION.
    There were no copyright laws at the time*, and anything from the new-tech of the printing press was a, "hot ticket,"... and they jumped at the chance.
    Within weeks, the 95 Theses were translated from Latin to German, printed and spread across Europe. So the greed of friends and rapacious business men turned a localized church complaint by an unknown, obstinate theology professor into the Protestant Reformation. 

*Interestingly, it would be the Catholic Church that would be first to put the copyright-type protections around the printing press. 

2.  The term "magisterium," in Latin, originally referred to the position, authority, or duty of any person in charge, such as a schoolmaster, a military commander (magister militum), or a public official.

    Over time, the Catholic Church adopted the term to specifically mean the teaching authority of the Church. Today, it refers to the steward of The Church, the Pope, and the bishops, in their role as the official interpreters of scripture and tradition.