Write a GREAT apologetics essay. 300 + words PLEASE.
If you are are a run of great info . . . stop at about 700 words if possible!
Possible resources at the bottom.
(THE FIRST POPE & THE CHURCH THAT JESUS' GAVE US)
Matthew 16:16-19: “Thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus didn’t first write the Bible, he first came to found his Church. But he didn’t found thousands of different denominations. He founded one Church. It is a fact of history that this Church is the Catholic Church.
Some claim that Jesus’ Church apostatized* at some point. But this simply isn’t possible. Jesus is the wisest of builders. When he builds his house (and St. Paul tells us that “the house of God” is the church in 1 Timothy 3:15), it will never fall, no matter the storms (Mt 7:24-25). He builds his house – his church – on Peter, Petros (Greek for rock), and promises “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
DEFINITION:
*to apostatize --> to renounce or reject
(APOSTOLIC TRADITION vs. SOLA SCRIPTURA)
2 Thessalonians 2:15: “Stand firm and hold to the traditions you were taught by us, whether by word of mouth or by letter” (similarly, 1 Corinthians 11:2, 2 Thessalonians 3:6).
The early Christian Church absolutely did not follow the Bible alone, but primarily followed the oral teaching of Jesus and the Apostles. Here, St. Paul clearly exhorts us to follow both the spoken (sacred tradition) and written (sacred Scripture) sources of divine revelation God has given to us.
As the New Testament was written, Christians relied on the Church that Jesus founded to properly interpret it. Following “Scripture alone” through private interpretation of the Bible was unheard of.
Stunningly, this idea of sola scriptura is not even found in Scripture. It is unscriptural itself, and so it is self refuting!
Additionally, there is no inspired table of contents in the Bible. We cannot possibly know which books belong in the Bible from Scripture alone. It was the Church in the late 300s that discerned by the Holy Spirit which books were truly inspired by God and belonged in Scripture. For the first four centuries of Christianity, Christians didn’t even have the Bible. To be a “Bible-alone” Christian was an impossibility. On top of this, before the printing press in the 1500s, all Bibles were hand copied and prohibitively expensive. Very few could afford their own private copy, and, either way, most could not read.
But perhaps the most compelling reason to reject sola scriptura is that it simply doesn’t work – and God never intended it to. If there is one Holy Spirit, one Bible, and one set of unchanging, universal truths, how is it that we now have thousands of different Protestant denominations (some estimate well over 30,000), each with very contradictory teachings on some very important doctrines – and all stemming from radically different interpretations of the same Bible. The fruit of sola scriptura has been utter Christian disunity, in total opposition to the unity Jesus prayed for in John 17.
SOLA FIDE = Faith Alone
We Are Not Saved by Faith Alone
James 2:24: “You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.”
The second pillar of the Reformation was the doctrine that a person is “justified” or saved by their faith alone, apart from any good works. But the only place in all of Scripture where the words “faith” and “alone” come together is James 2:24, which unequivocally refutes this novel teaching, confirming that we are definitely not justified “by faith alone.” Good works are needed too.
SOLA FIDE continued
Grace-Inspired Good Works Are Necessary for Salvation
Romans 2:6-10: “God ... will repay everyone according to his works: eternal life to those who seek ... immortality through perseverance in good works.”
Like James 2:24 above, this verse clearly shows the necessity of good works for salvation as well. But to be clear, Catholics don’t actually believe in salvation solely by good works either. We believe that we are saved by the grace of God (cf. Acts 15:11), and that both faith and good works come primarily through God’s grace.
Similarly, when Jesus is specifically asked, “What good deed must I do, to have eternal life?” he replies, “Keep the commandments” (Mt 19:16-17) – i.e., do good works!
Possible resources:
https://www.catholic.com/video/why-is-sola-scriptura-unreasonable
