Scriptura T-Shirt

Sola scriptura is the teaching that the Bible is the only inspired and authoritative word of God, is the only source for Christian doctrine, and is accessible to all — that is, it is perspicuous and self-interpreting. That the Bible requires no interpretation outside of itself is an idea directly opposed to the teaching of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Coptic, Anglo-Catholic, and Roman Catholic traditions, which teach that the Bible can be authentically interpreted only by Apostolic Tradition, or specifically the Roman Catholic Magisterium, (that is the teaching authority embodied in Bishops in union with the Pope). Sola scriptura is sometimes called the formal principle of the Reformation, since it is the source and norm of the material principle, sola fide.[citation needed] The adjective (sola) and the noun (scriptura) are in the ablative case rather than the nominative case, not to indicate that the Bible stands alone apart from God but that it is the instrument of God by which He reveals himself for salvation through faith in Christ (solus Christus).[citation needed]