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Quod Ubique The Common Confession of the Universal Church

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Holy Scripture

The Common Confession

We confess that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God written — inspired by the Holy Spirit, entrusted to the Church, and containing all things necessary to salvation. God, who spoke in many times and in many ways through the prophets, has caused His revelation to be committed to writing, so that the Church in every age might have a sure and authoritative witness to His saving acts, His holy will, and the person and work of Jesus Christ.

All branches of historic Christianity confess that Scripture is divinely inspired, that it bears supreme authority in matters of faith and salvation, that it is sufficient to make known the way of redemption, and that it is to be read publicly and regularly in the worship of the Church. From the earliest liturgies to the present day, the reading and preaching of Scripture has stood at the heart of Christian worship — in the Liturgy of the Word, in the Daily Office, in the lectionary cycle, in the preaching of the Gospel.

Whatever else Christians may dispute about the relation of Scripture to tradition, about the boundaries of the canon, or about the principles of interpretation, this much is held in common: the Bible is God’s Word, it is true, and it is given for our salvation.

Scriptural Warrant

Scripture as divinely inspired:

  • “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17) — theopneustos: Scripture’s origin is the breath of God
  • “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21)
  • “The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times” (Psalm 12:6)

Scripture’s authority and trustworthiness:

  • “The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple” (Psalm 19:7)
  • “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105)
  • “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Matthew 24:35)
  • “Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35)
  • “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17)

Scripture’s sufficiency for salvation:

  • “And that from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15)
  • “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30–31)
  • “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4)

Scripture read in public worship:

  • “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear” (Revelation 1:3)
  • “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching” (1 Timothy 4:13)
  • “And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read” (Luke 4:16) — the Lord himself read Scripture in public worship

Christ as Scripture’s center:

  • “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (John 5:39)
  • “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27)

Creedal and Conciliar Anchor

The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381)

…who spoke through the prophets.

The creed’s confession of the Spirit “who spoke through the prophets” is itself a confession about Scripture: the prophetic writings are the speech of the Holy Spirit through human instruments. The creed thus anchors the doctrine of inspiration within the Trinitarian confession.

The Council of Chalcedon (451)

The council’s Definition of Faith explicitly subordinated its own authority to Scripture, repeatedly grounding its christological formulation in “the prophets of old” and “the Lord Jesus Christ himself” as attested in “the creed of the 318 fathers” and “the Holy Scriptures.” Ecumenical councils understood themselves as interpreting and guarding the deposit of Scripture, not as independent sources of revelation.

Second Council of Nicaea (787)

In its defense of the veneration of icons, the council appealed to Scripture, tradition, and the Fathers — but Scripture was cited as the foundational authority. The conciliar acts state: “Following the divinely inspired teaching of our holy Fathers and the tradition of the Catholic Church… we define with all accuracy and care…”

Patristic Witness

Irenaeus of Lyon (c. 130–202)

Irenaeus grounded his refutation of the Gnostics in the authority of the apostolic Scriptures, received in the Church through the rule of faith. “We have learned from none others the plan of our salvation than from those through whom the Gospel has come down to us, which they did at one time proclaim in public, and, at a later period, by the will of God, handed down to us in the Scriptures, to be the ground and pillar of our faith” (Against Heresies 3.1.1, c. 180). For Irenaeus, Scripture and the apostolic tradition are a single reality, not competing authorities.

Athanasius of Alexandria (c. 296–373)

In his Festal Letter 39 (367), Athanasius provided the earliest extant list of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament canon as we know it, declaring: “These are fountains of salvation, that they who thirst may be satisfied with the living words they contain. In these alone the teaching of godliness is proclaimed. Let no one add to these; let no one take away from them.” His confidence in Scripture’s sufficiency for the teaching of salvation is unambiguous.

John Chrysostom (c. 347–407)

Chrysostom, the great preacher of the Eastern Church, insisted on the clarity and accessibility of Scripture for all believers: “The Scriptures are not like any human composition; they are divine and spiritual… It is possible for a man, by diligent study, to learn all that is contained in them” (Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 1.6–7, c. 390). His homiletical practice — systematic, verse-by-verse exposition before the assembled Church — embodied the universal Christian practice of public scriptural reading and preaching.

Augustine of Hippo (354–430)

Augustine held that Scripture occupied a unique place of authority: “I have learned to yield this respect and honour only to the canonical books of Scripture: of these alone do I most firmly believe that the authors were completely free from error. And if in these writings I am perplexed by anything which appears to me opposed to truth, I do not hesitate to suppose that either the manuscript is faulty, or the translator has not caught the meaning of what was said, or I myself have failed to understand it” (Letters 82.1.3, to Jerome, 405). His hermeneutic placed Scripture above all other writings, including his own.

Vincent of Lérins (d. c. 445)

Vincent’s Commonitorium (434) famously articulated the principle that the Church’s interpretation of Scripture must follow what has been believed “everywhere, always, and by all” (quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus). While often cited in discussions of tradition, Vincent’s own point was that tradition serves as the Church’s interpretive guide to Scripture, which remains the primary deposit: “The canon of Scripture is complete, and sufficient of itself for everything, and more than sufficient” (Commonitorium 2.5).

Cross-Tradition Attestation

Roman Catholic

  • Dei Verbum (Vatican II, 1965), §11: “The books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings for the sake of salvation.”
  • Dei Verbum §21: “The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures just as she venerates the body of the Lord… She has always maintained them, and continues to do so, together with sacred tradition, as the supreme rule of faith.”
  • CCC §105: “God is the author of Sacred Scripture.”
  • CCC §108: “The Christian faith is not a ‘religion of the book.’ Christianity is the religion of the ‘Word’ of God, a word which is ‘not a written and mute word, but the Word which is incarnate and living.’”
  • CCC §131–133: Scripture must be central to theology, accessible to the faithful, and read in the liturgy.

Eastern Orthodox

  • The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom includes the solemn reading of Epistle and Gospel as constitutive elements of every eucharistic celebration, preceded by the chanting of the Psalms.
  • The Confession of Dositheus (1672), Decree 2: “We believe the Holy Scripture to be given by God, and therefore we believe it, and what it contains is most worthy of belief.”
  • Georges Florovsky (1893–1979): “The Church is the living witness and keeper of the Scripture… Scripture is the supreme criterion of truth” (Bible, Church, Tradition, 1972) — articulating the Orthodox consensus that Scripture holds unique authority within the life of the Church.
  • The Orthodox Study Bible Introduction (2008): “The Bible is at the heart of the Orthodox Church… The Scriptures are read at every service.”

Lutheran

  • Augsburg Confession, Art. V and Art. XXVIII: The ministry of Word and Sacrament is the means through which the Spirit works; all doctrine is to be judged by Scripture.
  • Formula of Concord, Epitome, Rule and Norm: “We believe, teach, and confess that the sole rule and standard according to which all dogmas together with all teachers should be estimated and judged are the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures of the Old and of the New Testament alone.”
  • Small Catechism: Luther’s entire catechetical method is organized around the scriptural texts of the Commandments, Creed, Lord’s Prayer, and the words of institution.
  • Large Catechism, Preface: “The Word of God is the true holy thing above all holy things.”

Reformed

  • Westminster Confession of Faith 1.1: “Although the light of nature… is not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of his will, which is necessary unto salvation; therefore it pleased the Lord… to commit the same wholly unto writing; which maketh the holy Scripture to be most necessary.”
  • WCF 1.2: Lists the sixty-six books of the Protestant canon as “all… given by inspiration of God, to be the rule of faith and life.”
  • WCF 1.4: “The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God (who is truth itself), the author thereof.”
  • WCF 1.6: “The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture.”
  • Belgic Confession, Art. 3: “We confess that this Word of God was not sent nor delivered by the will of man, but that holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”
  • Belgic Confession, Art. 7: “We believe that those Holy Scriptures fully contain the will of God, and that whatsoever man ought to believe unto salvation is sufficiently taught therein.”
  • Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 21: True faith is “not only a sure knowledge, whereby I hold for truth all that God has revealed to us in His Word…”

Anglican

  • Thirty-Nine Articles, Art. VI: “Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.”
  • Thirty-Nine Articles, Art. XX: “The Church… ought not to decree anything against God’s Word written, and… it ought not so to expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another.”
  • The Book of Common Prayer (1662), Lectionary: the entire Psalter is read monthly, the Old Testament once yearly, the New Testament three times yearly — a comprehensive cycle of public scriptural reading.
  • BCP Collect for the Second Sunday of Advent: “Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them…”
  • Richard Hooker, Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity 1.14.1 (1594): “What Scripture doth plainly deliver, to that the first place both of credit and obedience is due.”

Where the Accent Differs

The canon of Scripture (Layer 3/4): The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox canons include the deuterocanonical books (Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1–2 Maccabees, and additions to Esther and Daniel), received from the Septuagint tradition and affirmed at the Councils of Hippo (393), Carthage (397), and definitively at Trent (1546) for Rome. The Protestant traditions, following Jerome’s distinction between canonical and ecclesiastical books, limit the Old Testament canon to the thirty-nine books of the Hebrew Bible. The Ethiopian and some other Eastern churches include additional books. This belongs to Layer 3.

Scripture and tradition (Layer 3/4): All branches affirm that Scripture is authoritative and that it is read within a living community of faith. But the relation between Scripture and tradition — whether they are two sources of revelation (a reading of Trent sometimes attributed to Rome), a single source with two modes of transmission (Dei Verbum’s nuance), or whether Scripture is the sole final authority with tradition as a subordinate ministerial guide (the Reformation sola Scriptura) — is a defining difference between traditions. The Eastern Orthodox position, which locates Scripture within the ongoing life of the Church guided by the Spirit through the councils and the Fathers, is distinct from both the Roman and the Protestant models. This belongs to Layer 4.

Inerrancy and its scope (Layer 3): All branches confess that Scripture is truthful and trustworthy. The precise theological articulation of this — whether Scripture is “inerrant” in all matters including history and cosmology (much of conservative Protestantism), “without error in what it affirms for the sake of salvation” (Dei Verbum §11), or whether the question is framed differently altogether (as in much of Orthodoxy) — differs and belongs to Layer 3.

Principles of interpretation (Layer 3): The role of the magisterium in authoritative interpretation (Rome), the consensus of the Fathers (Orthodoxy), the perspicuity of Scripture and the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit (Reformed), and the analogy of faith (Lutheran) represent different hermeneutical traditions. All agree Scripture must be interpreted; they differ on who or what provides the authoritative framework. This belongs to Layer 3.

For Further Study

  • Second Vatican Council, Dei Verbum (Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation), 1965 — the most significant modern ecumenical statement on Scripture from the Roman Catholic Church
  • Vincent of Lérins, Commonitorium, 434 — classic patristic statement on Scripture and interpretive tradition
  • Athanasius of Alexandria, Festal Letter 39, 367 — earliest canonical list and statement on Scripture’s sufficiency
  • Richard Hooker, Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Books I–II, 1594 — Anglican articulation of Scripture’s authority in relation to reason and tradition
  • Georges Florovsky, Bible, Church, Tradition: An Eastern Orthodox View, 1972 — Orthodox theology of Scripture within the living tradition