Biblical Authority And Morality Of The Roman Catholic Church

The historical background to the Reformation shows that, in addition to challenging Papal authority and the morality of the Roman Catholic Church, there was a search for biblical truth and recognition of the need for an accurate biblical translation. From this developed the Reformation's key principles of supreme biblical authority (Sola Scriptura), the sufficiency and clarity of scripture, the right of private judgement, and the literal sense of Scripture, which brought the reintroduction of the Antiochene (historical-literal) method of hermeneutics.
The contributions and shortfalls are paradoxical. The clarification of the biblical message through a return to the literal, explicit meaning of the Word of God, rather than the selected interpretation
Prior to the Reformation the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Oriental Churches gave the Bible a "primary authority", however, it was set amongst other authorities, such as "the moral unanimity of the Fathers, the ancient Creeds, the decisions of the ecumenical councils, and oral tradition"(Ramm, 1970, p1). By comparison, the Reformer's believed that the "divinely revealed" Scriptures were superior to the "Fathers, Councils, theologians [and] popes", plus the creeds, doctrines and traditions that they upheld; although these were still valued, they had to be tested against Scripture and were therefore subordinate to it (Grass, 2004, pp28-29). Likewise, the Medieval Roman Catholic Church, having deviated from the truth of Scripture bringing error into its theology and practice, could only be corrected by Scripture. (p29).
Of importance, Grass (2004, p29) stresses that Sola Scriptura is "frequently misunderstood" by today's "Evangelicals and its critics". He says, rather than being the "only authority for faith and practice" Lutheran and Reformed theologians believed Scripture to be "the final authority". It was this change in authority, ie. the Church became subordinated to Scripture, that brought reform to the
the Trinity, though not taught in the New Testament, were believed to be a proper deduction gained by the Christian Church. Not wanting to part with all tradition, Luther searched for a scriptural basis of Augustine's doctrine of the Trinity. Ngien shows how this not only brought Luther to a theology of the cross but also to an understanding that "God shows us where and how he can be found" (Ngien, [n.d.], p53). The Anabaptists, rejected it because it could not be proved by scripture alone (Grass, 2004, pp34-35).
This scenario demonstrates that opening up the Scriptures to individual interpretation could constitute a shortfall in Reformation hermeneutics. Of interest, Vatican II still decrees that authentic interpretation of the Word of God, "whether written or handed on" is exclusively entrusted to the Church (Samuel, p16). Vanhoozer (p30) suggests the need of a "discriminating norm for meaning" without which "there would be no validity in interpretation, but relativism". He concludes saying that "theologians should participate in the interdisciplinary discussions concerning textual meaning and truth".