The passage is indeed a solemn
warning, but it is not a proof text for sola scriptura. The warning
applies specifically to “this scroll”—the Book of Revelation, not the entire Bible.
John is warning against tampering with the prophecy he has written, adding
false visions or removing inconvenient warnings. Similar warnings appear in Deuteronomy
4:2 (“Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it”) and Proverbs
30:6 (“Do not add to these words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar”),
yet these warnings did not prevent God from inspiring additional books of
Scripture after Deuteronomy and Proverbs are written.
If Revelation 22:18-19 proves
that no teaching or tradition can be added to Scripture, then it proves that
the New Testament itself should not have been written, because it “adds to” the
Old Testament of doctrine or the faithful transmission of apostolic tradition.
He is forbidding the corruption of his prophetic message. (Adrian Cross, Unraveling
Sola Scriptura: An Eastern Orthodox Examination of a Modern Foundation [2025],
208-9)
