False arguments that Catholics and Orthodox use to prove oral extra-scriptural church tradition are refuted.

 "Sola Scriptura is impossible since only 10% of people could read in 100 AD"

Even a Protestant author admits sola Scriptura was impossible in the first century! "Literacy in the Roman empire, by very rough estimate, did not exceed 10 percent on average." (Wayne Meeks, The Moral World of the First Christians, 1986).

1. Sola Scriptura means you follow the Bible only apart from tradition and creeds. Even if you can't read, you can still demand that the Bible only is used to determine doctrine. People know when the doctrine comes from the Bible and when it comes from creeds and traditions even if they can't read. They simply ask, "Did that come from the Bible?" Catholics that don't own a Bible know that most of Catholic doctrine isn't taught in the Bible but creeds, canons and catechisms.
2. To suggest a high rate of literacy (the ability to read) is a necessary precondition for sola Scriptura to exist, is as poorly thought out as it is historically inaccurate. Scriptures were possessed in homes and always accessible in the synagogues. They were read every week in the assemblies and memorized by individuals.
3. Being illiterate does not mean someone is stupid or unintelligent.
4. Even if it was true that only 10% were literate, this would mean that people would work harder at memorizing scripture. Reciting scripture from memory is not oral tradition but sola Scriptura!
5. Even if it was true that only 10% were literate, sitting and listening to scripture being read in the synagogue is not oral tradition, but sola Scriptura! "For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath." Acts 15:21
6. Psalms 119 contains an entire chapter on personal devotion to the scriptures in 1000 BC. This was to be the norm for all Jews! It matters not if they could read, they were still instructed to know the scriptures and meditate on them day and night.
7. Each individual family was to teach and read the scriptures to their children every day. Notice the references to actual writing: "These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:6-9
8. The eunuch is a Gentile convert to Judaism with his own personal copy of Isaiah! Perhaps he had the entire Old Testament. But the fact remains, that the scriptures were readily available to anyone who wanted them. "So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship, and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah." Acts 8:27-28
9. Paul's custom was to reason from the scriptures in the synagogues every Sabbath in order to convert Jews to give up the Old Law and start worshipping with Christians on the first day of the week. Acts 13:15; 17:1-2; 10-11; 18:4
   "After the reading of the Law and the Prophets the synagogue officials sent to them, saying, "Brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it." Acts 13:15
   "Now when they had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And according to Paul's custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures," Acts 17:1-2
   "The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so." Acts 17:10-11
   "And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks." Acts 18:4
10. Paul told Timothy that the scriptures were to be read every Lord's Day: "Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching." 1 Timothy 4:13
11. All the heretics between 100 - 400 AD possessed the scriptures and would engage the church by quoting them directly.
12. If the ability to read is an essential pre-condition to sola Scriptura, then how do illiterate Catholic and Orthodox pew-dwellers know the Catholic and Orthodox Catechisms? Would not the same logic apply to illiterates in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches? If Catholic and Orthodox laity can "know the truth" by hearing the catechism read to them, then why not illiterate Christians when they hear the Bible read?
13. If the ability to read is an essential pre-condition to sola Scriptura, then how do the illiterate Catholic and Orthodox commoner know for certain that the priest is faithfully teaching the dogma, canons and edicts of councils if they could not read the documents?
14. How do the Catholic and Orthodox commoners who can read, know for certain that the priest is faithfully teaching the dogma, canons and edicts of councils if they did not possess copies of such documents?

More Pro-Oral Church tradition arguments refuted!

More Anti-Sola Scriptura arguments refuted!

by Steve Rudd

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