Allan: John, When Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, in the river of Jordan, and then anointed for His ministry, with “the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him, (Matt. 3:16), then He was led by the spirit into the wilderness, “to be tempted of the devil.” (Matt. 4:1). Not a word is written down of that testing time, until you come to the narrative where three times you read, “IT IS WRITTEN.” Every onslaught of temptation was countered by “IT IS WRITTEN.” Tremendous emphasis upon THE WORD OF GOD! It is also significant that coming to the close of His official ministry, we have that tremendous High Priestly prayer of John 17, and again there are three references to the Word. Verse 8, “I have given unto them the Words which Thou gavest Me.” Verse 14, “I have given them Thy Word.” And verse 17, “Thy Word is truth.” John, IT IS WRITTEN means words of the prophets IN THE BIBLE. Not the Church fathers. IT IS WRITTEN=past tense.
J. Salza: Allan, you must consider the context when you exegete Scripture. In these passages, Jesus is resisting temptation, not giving a dogmatic definition of the formal sufficiency of Scripture. Also, unfortunately for you, Jesus says nothing about Scripture being the only authority for God’s word, which is the point you are trying to prove, but a point that is found nowhere in Scripture. Jesus is also quoting Deut. 8:3 in Matt. 4:11, and Scripture teaches that “every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” is not limited to Scripture.
Relying upon Matthew 4 to prove sola Scriptura also backfires on you. Why? The devil is quoting Psalm 91:11-12 in tempting Jesus to throw Himself off the mountain, because “God will give His angels charge of you” (Matt.4:6). This is an example of how a person not under proper authority (here, the devil) can falsely interpret Scripture to his own destruction.
Regarding John 17 and Jesus’ use of the “Word,” nowhere does Jesus or any of the sacred writers say that the “Word” is limited to Scripture. In fact, and also unfortunately for you, Paul says just the opposite. In Romans 10:8, Paul says that the “Word” is what is “preached” (not written) to you. Allan, this destroys your argument.
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