What Christians Believe
The Articles of Faith

Scripture

Listen to the words of the early church father Origen in the Preface to his work On First Principles, written in the early third century:

All who believe … derive the knowledge which incites men to a good and happy life from no other source than from the very words and teachings of Christ. And by the words of Christ, we do not mean those only which He spoke when He became man … for before that time, Christ, the Word of God, was in Moses and the prophets… Moreover … after His ascension into heaven He spoke in His apostles.

Origen taught that Scripture in all its parts was the word of Christ, and that it was the source of all true doctrine.

And listen to the words of the early third-century bishop Hippolytus, in section 9 of his work Against the Heresy of One Noetus:

There is, brethren, one God, the knowledge of whom we gain from the Holy Scriptures, and from no other source.

The early churches believed that the whole Bible was Christ's word, given to believers by the apostles. In this regard, they affirmed the concept that theologians often call Sola Scriptura or Scripture alone. This is the perspective that Scripture is the only infallible rule of faith, and the final arbiter in any theological controversy.

We find a clear example of this in the writings of Basil, who was elected bishop of Caesarea in A.D. 370. Basil was a strong defender of the traditions or customs of the church, and often expressed his beliefs that these traditions could be traced back to the apostles. Nevertheless, when there was a question about the truthfulness of these traditions, he appealed to Scripture as the final authority. Listen to Basil's words in his Letter 189, written to Eustathius the Physician:

Let God-inspired Scripture decide between us; and on whichever side be found doctrines in harmony with the word of God, in favor of that side will be cast the vote of truth.

Here Basil admitted that some churches affirmed one set of customary ideas in their rule of faith, while other churches had contradictory customs. So, he appealed to Scripture as the highest authority to settle the matter.

The early church relied strongly on Scripture as the basis for all its doctrine. But they still depended on the traditional teachings of the church to summarize and protect the teachings of Scripture.