Is Scripture alone the rule of faith, or did Christ leave a Church that hands on his teaching in Scripture and Tradition together?
29 verses are cited on this page. Each one links to its chapter in the Greek text.
All scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice.2 Timothy 3:16
The central text. It teaches inspiration and usefulness in the strongest terms, which Catholics affirm entirely. It says Scripture is profitable, not that it is the only authority.
That the man of God may be perfect, furnished to every good work.2 Timothy 3:17
Scripture equips the man of God thoroughly. Equipping is not the same as excluding every other means God gave, any more than saying food makes a man strong denies that he also needs drink.
...and because from thy infancy thou hast known the holy scriptures.2 Timothy 3:15
The "scriptures" Timothy knew from infancy were the Old Testament, the New not yet being gathered. If this passage proves that Scripture alone suffices, it proves it of the Old Testament alone, which no one holds.
...the same commend to faithful men, who shall be fit to teach others also.2 Timothy 2:2
In the same letter Paul commands a living handing-on of what Timothy heard by word, alongside the written text.
Therefore, brethren, stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by our epistle.2 Thessalonians 2:15
The clearest verse in the debate. Paul binds his readers to what they were taught by word and by letter alike, as one deposit.
...and keep my ordinances as I have delivered them to you.1 Corinthians 11:2
Paul praises them for keeping what he handed on, using the language of tradition positively.
...withdraw yourselves from every brother walking disorderly, and not according to the tradition which they have received of us.2 Thessalonians 3:6
Apostolic tradition is binding enough that breaking with it warrants separation.
For leaving the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men.Mark 7:8
The rebuke is real and it is aimed at tradition. What it condemns is a tradition that sets aside a commandment, which is why the next verses name the specific case: corban, used to withhold support from parents.
Why do you also transgress the commandment of God for your tradition?Matthew 15:3
Christ does not say tradition as such is void. He says this one voids a commandment, and he proves it from the fourth commandment rather than by appealing to Scripture alone as a principle.
Beware lest any man cheat you by philosophy and vain deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ.Colossians 2:8
The measure Paul gives is not written or unwritten but according to Christ or not. He uses the same word approvingly to the Corinthians, praising them for holding the traditions he delivered.
But there are also many other things which Jesus did; which, if they were written every one...John 21:25
The written Gospels do not claim to be exhaustive of what the Lord did and taught.
...remember the word of the Lord Jesus, how he said: It is a more blessed thing to give, rather than to receive.Acts 20:35
Paul quotes a saying of Christ found in no Gospel, apostolic teaching preserved outside the written record.
And they were persevering in the doctrine of the apostles, and in the communication of the breaking of bread, and in prayers.Acts 2:42
The first mark is the apostles' didache, and it was spoken. Not one book of the New Testament existed when Luke describes this community persevering in it, which is what apostolic tradition looks like before it becomes a text.
...the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.1 Timothy 3:15
Paul assigns to the Church, not to Scripture, the office of upholding the truth in the world.
And if he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican.Matthew 18:17
Final appeal in a dispute is to the Church, a body that can be heard and disobeyed.
He that heareth you, heareth me: and he that despiseth you, despiseth me.Luke 10:16
Christ invests his own authority in those he sends, so that hearing them is hearing him.
For it hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us, to lay no further burden upon you...Acts 15:28
The apostles in council settle a disputed question with binding authority, and did so before a line of the New Testament was written on the matter.
...as also in all his epistles... in which are certain things hard to be understood.2 Peter 3:16
Peter already ranks Paul's letters with "the other scriptures," showing a developing recognition, but no book of the Bible contains a list of the books of the Bible. The canon is a historical question as much as an exegetical one: no inspired table of contents exists in Scripture, and the Church discerned and settled the list of books over the early centuries. Whoever receives the canon receives it on the authority of the Church that recognized it.
Scripture is God-breathed, inerrant, and the highest written authority, and the Catholic Church confesses this without reserve. But the sola cannot be drawn from Scripture itself. The great text, 2 Timothy 3:16, calls Scripture profitable and equipping, not sole; and the writings Timothy knew from infancy were the Old Testament. Meanwhile Paul commands his readers to hold what they were taught "whether by word, or by our epistle" (2 Thessalonians 2:15), calls the Church "the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Timothy 3:15), and the apostles settle a disputed question in council with the words "it hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us" (Acts 15:28). Nor does any book of Scripture tell us which books are Scripture. The Council of Trent (Session 4) received Scripture and the unwritten apostolic traditions with equal reverence, and the Second Vatican Council (Dei Verbum 9 to 10) teaches that the two flow from the same divine wellspring and are entrusted to the Church, whose teaching office is not above the word of God but serves it. Scripture is supreme; it was never meant to stand alone.