Saturday, January 18, 2020

Origen vs. Formal Sufficiency of the Bible


Origen (185-254) is a witness against the formal sufficiency of the Bible being an early Christian belief. Consider the following from his On First Principles:

The faith is transmitted and preserved through orderly succession from the apostles and exists, not in inscripturated revelation merely:

Since many, however, of those who profess to believe in Christ differs from each other, not only in small and trifling matters, but also on subjects of the highest importance, as, e.g., regarding God, or the Lord Jesus Christ, or the Holy Spirit; and not only regarding these, but also regarding others which are created existences, viz., the powers and holy virtues; it seems on that account necessary first of all to fix a definite limit and to lay down an unmistakable rule regarding each one of these, and then to pass to the investigation of other points. For as we ceased to seek for truth (notwithstanding the professions of many among Greek and Barbarians to make it known) among all who claimed it for erroneous opinions, after we had come to believe that Christ was the Son of God, and were persuaded that we must learn it from Himself; so, seeing there are many who think they hold the opinions of Christ, and yet some of these think differently from their predecessors, yet as the teaching of the Church, transmitted in orderly succession from the apostles, and remaining in the Churches to the present day, is still preserved that alone is to be accepted as truth which differs in no respect from the ecclesiastical and apostolical tradition. (De Principiis, Preface: 2 [ANF 4:239])

The Church is necessary to correctly interpret the Bible and (non-inscripturated) revelation forms a basis in such interpretation:

Now the cause, in all the points previously enumerated, of the false opinions, and of the impious statements or ignorant assertions about God, appears to be nothing else than the not understanding the Scripture according to its spiritual meaning, but the interpretation of it agreeably to the mere letter. And therefore to those who believe that the sacred books are not the compositions of men, but that they were composed by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, agreeably to the will of the Father of all things through Jesus Christ, and that they have come down to us, we must point out the ways (of interpreting them which appear (correct) to us, who cling to the standard of the heavenly Church of Jesus Christ according to the succession of the apostles. (De Principiis, 4.1.19 [ANF 4:357])

For more, see:


Not By Scripture Alone: A Latter-day Saint Refutation of Sola Scriptura