Lord's Day: December 14, 2025  Preacher: Carlos Montijo  Series: It Is Written: Scripture Alone  Topic: Scripture  Scripture: 2 Peter 3:1–2, 14–18; Genesis 3:1; Acts 17:11; 2 Timothy 3:15–17; 1 Timothy 3:15; Matthew 15:3; 1:23–25; 12:47; John 10:27–28

1This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles,... 14Therefore, beloved, since you are looking for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, 15and consider the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard lest you, having been carried away by the error of unprincipled men, fall from your own steadfastness, 18but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. 2 Peter 3:1–2, 14-18

• Both Peter’s audience and the unstable men understood that Paul’s letters were Scripture beforehand.
• The Church Canon has two canons: Old Testament canon and New Testament canon

I.  We can be certain as to what the Divine Canon of Scripture is without requiring any other “infallible” authority…

• …as long as we use the means and criteria and authorities that God gave us to identify and receive the books which He wrote down for His church
• Scripture alone in conjunction with Progressive Revelation

II. Another testament to the early church recognizing and proliferating the New Testament canon without any other top-down hierarchy or normative authority...

• Which books did the early Christians copy the most? By far?
• “Persecution of the church began as early as Acts 4, when Herod executed James, the brother of John (Acts 12:2). By the time of Emperor Diocletian (AD 303–312), it was illegal even to own copies of the Bible.”[1]

III. The canon of Scripture is one of the greatest testaments of how God uses His church in history to be the “pillar and support of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15).

• The early church distinguished between authoritative apostolic tradition and all other church traditions, and she recognized the apostolic tradition that was written down to be the exclusive canon of the New Testament.

IV. Even if it were true that the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox church “gave” us the Bible, as they both claim, and therefore you must rely on them as your authority…

• Scripture alone would still refute them in the end, because it teaches us what Scripture teaches us to interpret Scripture in a logical, harmonious, consistent manner that does not violate or nullify the Word of God for the sake of extrabiblical, unbiblical traditions (Matt. 15:3).
• Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy teach that Mary remained a perpetual virgin, even during and after Christ’s birth, even though the Bible teaches that Christ’s birth was fully natural and that Mary had other children with Joseph after Christ.
• Protoevangelium of James
• God has clearly shown us His church’s recognition and preservation of the Old and New Testaments in history, by His Spirit working through His people, for all to bear witness and see His providence in action.

We meet on Sundays for worship at 10:00am:

• ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church
  4712 Montana Ave
  El Paso, Texas 79903

Contact us at:

• web: ThornCrownCovenant.Church
  call/text: (915) 843-8088
  email: [email protected]

Scripture quotations marked LSB are from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com

[1] William D. Mounce, Why I Trust the Bible: Answers to Real Questions and Doubts People Have about the Bible, Kindle (Zondervan, 2021), p. 99.