Monday, June 29, 2020

Jordan Cooper's "A Defense of Sola Scriptura"

I recently came across the following video from Lutheran Jordan Cooper:

 

A Defense of Sola Scriptura



 

Cooper's argument boils down to the following:

 

There is no need for a passage that teaches sola scriptura for sola scriptura to be true

"Scripture" (exhausted in his view by the 66 books of the Protestant canon) is "God-breathed" (see the use of θεόπνευστος theopneustos in 2 Tim 3:16). As a result, "scripture" is intrinsically above the authority of other sources

Ergo, the burden of proof is on critics of sola scriptura, not defenders thereof.

 

There are many fallacies involved with such, including shifting the burden of proof and confusing quality with (formal) sufficiency. For a thorough refutation of this man-made doctrine, see:

 

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

 

I have a thorough discussion of 2 Tim 3:16-17, the main text Cooper uses to prove “the unique authority” of “scripture” and its “sufficiency,” as well as the θεόπνευστος argument, as well as Matt 15/Mark 7 and other "proof-texts" Cooper and other defenders of this doctrine appeal to.