Is Sola Scriptura True?

How it ran

1. 7:21TurretinFan's opening statement
2. 24:18Robert's opening statement
3. 39:45TurretinFan's rebuttal
4. 47:21Robert's rebuttal
5. 57:30TurretinFan's cross-examination of Robert
6. 1:18:11Robert's cross-examination of TurretinFan
7. 1:39:23TurretinFan's closing statement
8. 1:54:30Robert's closing statement
9. 2:10:57Questions from the audience

The key exchanges

TurretinFan's point first, then Robert's answer. The time jumps to that moment in the video.

1. 47:10

   1. Aquinas on the rule of faith

   TurretinFan argues that Thomas Aquinas taught that only canonical Scripture is the rule of faith, and that this was a common medieval view.

   Robert answered that the line needs its context: the fathers and the medievals argued from Scripture alone when debating opponents because Scripture was the ground both sides already accepted. He added that Aquinas himself held to tradition and the magisterium, and that Aquinas is in any case not the authority that settles the question.

   “Look, you want to argue? Let's just argue from what we both believe is true and trustworthy, and that's the Scripture.”

2. 52:05

   2. What sola scriptura has to prove

   TurretinFan defines sola scriptura as the claim that everything needed for salvation is taught in Scripture and is taught clearly there.

   Robert answered that he already grants that Scripture can lead a person to salvation, and that this is not what is in dispute. What has to be proved, he said, is that Scripture is the only infallible authority for the Christian faith.

   “The issue for sola scriptura is that Scripture is the only inerrant, infallible authority for me to know about the Christian faith. Can you prove that?”

3. 59:15

   3. The decision in Acts 15

   TurretinFan argues that the decision at the council in Acts 15 did rest on Scripture, since Amos was quoted in the course of it.

   Robert answered that Amos 9:11 says nothing about circumcision and only notes that the gentiles are being brought in. The decision itself, he argued, came from what God had already taught Peter in the vision of Acts 10, which is tradition rather than a text.

   “The issue is what prompted the decision. This is a big decision, whether you circumcise or not. It's not in Amos 9:11.”

4. 1:25:33

   4. Infant baptism from Scripture

   TurretinFan argues that infant baptism is drawn from Scripture itself, pointing to the passages where a whole household is baptized.

   Robert answered that a household is not the same as an infant, and that no passage says infants were baptized, which is why Baptists read the same texts the other way. He argued that Presbyterians reached their practice by an ecclesiastical decision on an unclear text, the same move he says the Church made.

   “You can say a household was baptized, but you can't say dogmatically that infants were baptized.”

5. 1:26:35

   5. Fallible church decisions

   TurretinFan says Presbyterians do make decisions from Scripture but do not claim that those decisions are infallible.

   Robert answered that this leaves a believer carrying a decision he only hopes is right. The Catholic claim, he said, is that the Holy Spirit promised to guide the Church into all truth, and so her definitions are certain rather than a best guess.

   “The Holy Spirit said it was going to guide us into all truth, and He's infallible, and He made our decision infallible.”

6. 1:36:13

   6. The best verse for sola scriptura

   TurretinFan names 2 Timothy 3:14-17, that Scripture thoroughly equips the man of God for every good work, as his strongest text.

   Robert answered that the passage nowhere says Scripture alone, and pressed for a verse that uses the word alone or only, one that separates Scripture from tradition and the magisterium and sets it above them.

   “You're aware that that passage does not say that Scripture alone is profitable for teaching, correction, training in righteousness, right?”

7. 1:55:25

   7. Scripture as the judge

   TurretinFan argues that Scripture stands above every human teacher, even the apostles, and is the measure by which other teaching is judged.

   Robert answered that Scripture is a written text, so it cannot hear two rival readings and hand down a verdict the way a judge does. That work, he argued, was given to Peter and to the Church, as it was used in Acts 15.

   “It's going to take a thinking personality to figure these things out.”

8. 2:20:38

   8. Knowing the canon infallibly

   TurretinFan says he holds the canon with reasonable certainty, through the testimony of Scripture and the inward witness of the Holy Spirit, but does not claim personal infallibility.

   Robert answered that the Church has declared the canon infallibly, resting on Christ's words to Peter that whatever he binds on earth is bound in heaven. Since heaven cannot lie, he argued, what is endorsed there has to be true.

   “The Church has declared them infallibly, and as Jesus said, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.”

9. 2:36:59

   9. Written and unwritten tradition

   TurretinFan argues that any oral teaching of the apostles should be held, but that no reliable example of apostolic oral tradition outside Scripture has survived.

   Robert answered that Paul tells us to hold to the tradition, whether written or by word of mouth, so two sources of revelation stand whether or not an example can be produced on demand. He offered infant baptism as one such tradition.

   “There are two sources of revelation: one is written, one is not, one is oral.”