The Bible is the only authority for Christian ethical practices

Theonomy: Moral authority comes from God, which we access through God's revelation in the Bible. This often involves suggesting the Church has less authority than the bible and is a Protestant view.

Sola Scriptura

• Return to the Bible is the only method for placing God at the center of religion again.
• The role of the church is therefore to preach the Bible.
• The church can interpret the Bible but needs to be coherent with what the Bible says.

The Priesthood of all believers

• The doctrine developed by Luther said that all people have the status of a priest.
• The aim is to undermine the belief that Catholic priests have more special qualities than the rest of us which gives them superiority.

The Bible says that it is "god breathed" directly undermining the influence of the church.

The different ways the bible is interpreted

1. As literally true, written by the Holy Spirit.
2. Fully authoritative, inspired by the Holy Spirit, perhaps involving the context of the human authors.
3. As an inspirational book that tells the story of Christianity but does not hold authority today (liberal approach).

Arguments for using the bible as the only source of authority

2 Timothy 3:16: Christians are taught that the Bible is 'God-breathed.'

• If God is the author of the bible, and the bible serves as a tool to share God's message, then to question the bible is to question God. The Bible teaches us stories on how to live so that we can lead good Christian lives in the name of God.
• The Bible teaches Christians how to keep God's commandments in their hearts and not have them as just laws.
• Fundamentalism: The bible reveals God's will.
• Calvin: The bible as a whole is in harmony with the Catholic Church.
• Change within the bible can be explained by knowledge of God from humans growing as time evolves and does not necessarily mean it loses validity.

Arguments for the bible not being the only source of authority

• Different genres and writing styles within the bible suggest that the bible is human-influenced.
• Contradictions in the bible prove that it cannot be written by God, God is never wrong and can therefore not contradict himself.
• The Old Testament and New Testament disagree.
• Gospels have used each other as sources and have edited each other and cannot therefore be written by God.
• Jesus is against divorce and re-marriage in Mark 10:11-12 but in Matthew 19:9 Jesus says divorce can be permitted unless there has been sexual immorality.
• The Bible reflects a society that is no longer present and does not cover modern ethical issues.
• Sola Scriptura itself is not in the bible.
• The books in the New Testament were not decided until the 4th century.