In debates on sola scriptura, both Catholics and Protestants will bring up many Bible verses. The apostolic side may provide verses such as 2 Thessalonians 2:15 to show that the apostles binded their audiences to oral traditions. The Protestant side certainly has responses to this argument, but these responses from the other side often fall into a fallacy of begging the question, and I will prove that here.
Before getting into my argument, here is the Bible verse:
So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
If someone believes that binding teachings are restricted to the Bible, it’s difficult to reconcile this verse. It’s clear that St. Paul is telling his audience to hold to the Tradition he has taught them, whether he had written it down or not.
Often, Protestants will attempt to switch the burden of proof and put it on the Catholic to show that our specific doctrines came from these Thessalonians. Here is James White making this argument:
I challenge a Roman Catholic: show me where the Thessalonians were taught the bodily assumption of Mary. Trace it through history. Show me where the Thessalonians were taught these doctrines that Rome has defined on the basis of tradition.
There are a couple of things to note here. First, it’s not a problem if we can’t show proof that Paul taught the Thessalonians these dogmas. The sensus fidelium, which shows us what the early Christians believed, encompasses much more than one particular group. Although we would agree with White on the topic of the Trinity, it would be impossible to prove that Paul taught the Trinity to the Thessalonians. There’s immense inconsistency here.
Secondly, all a Catholic would need to do in an argument against sola scriptura is argue that there are binding traditions not explicitly written down in Scripture—which, as you can see, is exactly what Paul says. The exact traditions there is a separate discussion that requires separate lines of proof.
Another way Protestants often respond is by arguing that 2 Thessalonians 2:15 does not contradict sola scriptura because Paul is talking about only the “gospel” here. Here is White making his case:
Often 2 Thessalonians 2:15 is misused at this point, where Paul instructed the Thessalonians, “So then, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the Traditions which you were taught whether by word that is orally or by epistle from us,” but in context Paul is talking about the gospel.
There are a few ways a Catholic could respond to this argument. One is by asking what is meant by “gospel.” What exactly is encompassed by that word? For most people, when they hear this, they think of the basic message of Christianity—that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead three days later.
It’s difficult to argue that this was all Paul was talking about when he was encouraging the Thessalonians to hold to what he had taught, whether by word of mouth or letter, especially considering that the above message is explicitly taught in Scripture, and therefore there would be no need for Paul to talk about oral teachings.
For White, the definition of “gospel” also does not seem to fit this description. For him, it seems as if this word is a synonym for “Christian teaching,” which would include the core tenets of the gospel but would also include other things a Christian needs to believe.
As an example, here is an argument he made in another debate on sola scriptura: “Rome tells us you must believe that Mary was bodily assumed into heaven as a part of the gospel.”
There’s also a side argument that the “gospel” is restricted to the written word. White makes this argument in his debate against Jimmy Akin: “What the apostles teach—that’s called the gospel. It is found in Scripture. It’s defined in Scripture.”
Well, let’s run the argument with these definitions and see where it leads. It seems to go like this:
P1) 2 Thessalonians 2:15 does not contradict sola scriptura because Paul is talking about the gospel there.
P2) The “gospel” includes everything that a Christian is required to believe.
P3) Because sola scriptura is true, the “gospel” (what Christians are required to believe) is restricted to the written word.
Conclusion: This Bible verse does not refute sola scriptura.
This argument is a clear example of begging the question, which occurs when one of the premises in the argument is the same as the conclusion. This argument begs the question because Premise 3 and the conclusion are essentially the same. The argument makes sense only if sola scriptura is presupposed to be true, but since the argument presupposes sola scriptura to argue for sola scriptura, it begs the question.
In conclusion, this Protestant response to 2 Thessalonians 2:15 ultimately rests on a circular argument. It assumes from the outset that all binding Christian teachings must be found in the written word, which is exactly the point under dispute. By embedding sola scriptura into the premises to defend sola scriptura, the argument commits the fallacy of begging the question.