Authority of the Church

• Heteronomy 


  The Catholic view that moral authority comes from the Bible, the Church and reason. They are equal authorities.
• Apostolic Tradition


  Unwritten customs and practices of the early Christian Church, handed down from the Apostles and other authoritative figures in the 1st century.
• The second Vatican council’s document Dei Verbum states that Sacred Scripture ‘is the word of God’ as it was written “under the inspiration of the divine spirit” and sacred Tradition “takes the word of God entrusted by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, and hands it on to their successors” so that they can faithfully “preserve” and “explain” it.
• Theonomy 


  The Protestant view that moral authority comes from God. The Church has no right to make claims from the Bible.
• Sola Scriptura


  The belief that you only need scripture for salvation. This was put forward by Martin Luther, to prove that the Church was corrupt and you only needed the Bible and faith.
• Sola Fide


  'By faith alone' - faith alone can lead you to salvation.
• “A simple layman armed with Scripture is greater than the mightiest pope without it” – Luther.
• Priesthood of All Believers

  Luther put forward the concept that everybody had equal status to priests. This contradicts the Catholic view that priests have are spiritually superior.