Sacred Tradition #1
In this quick post for today, we will investigate and answer a few questions about the reality of Sacred Tradition and how it relates to the deposit of faith or the Divine Revelation of Our Lord Jesus Christ. We know that Christ Himself is the Word Made Flesh (John 1:14), the Logos, the great Truth of the Godhead, the Word eternally begotten by the Father. Because He is the true Word of God, Our Lord spoke with authority during His life on Earth, delivering in every word and action the truths of the holy faith and building the foundations of the New Covenant family of God: The Catholic Church.
This Church was entrusted the doctrines of the faith from Our Lord Himself to preserve, to teach, and to defend it throughout all of History. Our Protestant brethren must understand the fact that neither Our Lord nor His Apostles ever commanded that anything be written down. In fact, as is evident, the New Testament books and letters were not written to give an exhaustive list of all the dogmas, doctrines, and practices of the faith. They were written with a specific purpose, usually addressing either a heresy which had arisen or commending the various dioceses in the Church to persevere in the faith and to avoid immorality, pursuing righteousness.
To be sure, Sacred Scripture, detailing the life of Christ and the growth of the Apostolic Church, is part of the Word of God for it is completely infallible through the protection and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, rather than being separated by a hard line, are intricately bound together, composing the entirety of the truths handed on by Our Lord to the men He established as the authority in His Church. In fact, we get the word 'tradition' from the Latin 'tradere', meaning 'to hand on'. Protestants, in their quest for truth, often mistake Sacred Tradition as something the Catholic Church has added to Sacred Scripture and which denies the written Word of God. This understanding is flawed, however, because both the written and unwritten truths of the faith come from the same source and are equally binding on the believer. As Saint Paul commanded in 2nd Thessalonians 2:14, "Stand firm, then, brethren, and hold by the traditions you have learned, in word or in writing, from us." Unfortunately, as they attempt to avoid the clear meaning of this verse and others, Protestant apologists will try to assert that Paul understood that the written and unwritten teachings were concerned with all the same topics and beliefs. These people explain that the Catholic Church used Sacred Tradition to add to and twist the written teachings to their own ends, not following what Paul was really talking about, at least according to them. However, such a statement is extremely flawed because it totally assumes to know what was in these two modes of teaching. This Protestant argument skips over Paul's basic command for the Church, namely, follow all the teachings of the Apostles and their fellow bishops, operating under both paradigms: Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.
To be fair, Sacred Scripture is unique insofar as its every word is inspired by the Holy Spirit. However, the individual teachings of Sacred Tradition come from Our Lord Himself and His Apostles and are to always be firmly believed in and carried out by everyone. Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition have always been binding and will always be binding on us. At this point, let me affirm the fact that the deposit of faith has been delivered once and for all, nothing can be added or taken away from it. When the teaching authority invested in the Catholic Church declares definitively about a certain doctrine, She is not adding to the deposit of faith but is declaring it more clearly against the various heretics and infidels who oppose this or that teaching. We see this carried out in the various Church Councils throughout the History of Christendom: In the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 (circa 50 A.D.), in the First Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D., and in the other great councils of the Church.
So, as we wrap up this short post, let us consider some verses from Sacred Scripture which show the reality of Sacred Tradition, the binding teachings of the faith which were not written down in the canonized books of the New Testament:
"Only, brethren, we charge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to have nothing to do with any brother who lives a vagabond life, contrary to the tradition which we handed on." - 2nd Thessalonians 3:6.
"I must needs praise you for your constant memory of me, for upholding your traditions just as I handed them on to you." - 1st Corinthians 11:2.
"These occupied themselves continually with the apostles’ teaching, their fellowship in the breaking of bread, and the fixed times of prayer." - Acts 2:42.
"This is why we give thanks to God unceasingly that, when we delivered the divine message to you, you recognized it for what it is, God’s message, not man’s; it is God, after all, who manifests his power in you that have learned to believe." - 1st Thessalonians 2:13.
Also, when we look at the testimony of the early Church Fathers, we do not see any kind of Sola Scriptura being practiced or described except, perhaps, for the many heretics who leaned on their own understanding and read the Bible to determine for themselves what was true and revealed by God. I'll end this post by quoting Saint Peter's 2nd Epistle 3:15-18:
"If our Lord stays his hand, count it part of his mercy. Our beloved brother Paul, with the wisdom God has granted him, has written you a letter, in which, as in all his letters, he talks of this. Though indeed, there are passages in them difficult to understand, and these, like the rest of scripture, are twisted into a wrong sense by ignorant and restless minds, to their own undoing. For yourselves, beloved, be warned in time; do not be carried away by their rash errors, and lose the firm foothold you have won; grow up in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory, now and for all eternity. Amen."
This Church was entrusted the doctrines of the faith from Our Lord Himself to preserve, to teach, and to defend it throughout all of History. Our Protestant brethren must understand the fact that neither Our Lord nor His Apostles ever commanded that anything be written down. In fact, as is evident, the New Testament books and letters were not written to give an exhaustive list of all the dogmas, doctrines, and practices of the faith. They were written with a specific purpose, usually addressing either a heresy which had arisen or commending the various dioceses in the Church to persevere in the faith and to avoid immorality, pursuing righteousness.
To be sure, Sacred Scripture, detailing the life of Christ and the growth of the Apostolic Church, is part of the Word of God for it is completely infallible through the protection and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, rather than being separated by a hard line, are intricately bound together, composing the entirety of the truths handed on by Our Lord to the men He established as the authority in His Church. In fact, we get the word 'tradition' from the Latin 'tradere', meaning 'to hand on'. Protestants, in their quest for truth, often mistake Sacred Tradition as something the Catholic Church has added to Sacred Scripture and which denies the written Word of God. This understanding is flawed, however, because both the written and unwritten truths of the faith come from the same source and are equally binding on the believer. As Saint Paul commanded in 2nd Thessalonians 2:14, "Stand firm, then, brethren, and hold by the traditions you have learned, in word or in writing, from us." Unfortunately, as they attempt to avoid the clear meaning of this verse and others, Protestant apologists will try to assert that Paul understood that the written and unwritten teachings were concerned with all the same topics and beliefs. These people explain that the Catholic Church used Sacred Tradition to add to and twist the written teachings to their own ends, not following what Paul was really talking about, at least according to them. However, such a statement is extremely flawed because it totally assumes to know what was in these two modes of teaching. This Protestant argument skips over Paul's basic command for the Church, namely, follow all the teachings of the Apostles and their fellow bishops, operating under both paradigms: Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.
To be fair, Sacred Scripture is unique insofar as its every word is inspired by the Holy Spirit. However, the individual teachings of Sacred Tradition come from Our Lord Himself and His Apostles and are to always be firmly believed in and carried out by everyone. Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition have always been binding and will always be binding on us. At this point, let me affirm the fact that the deposit of faith has been delivered once and for all, nothing can be added or taken away from it. When the teaching authority invested in the Catholic Church declares definitively about a certain doctrine, She is not adding to the deposit of faith but is declaring it more clearly against the various heretics and infidels who oppose this or that teaching. We see this carried out in the various Church Councils throughout the History of Christendom: In the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 (circa 50 A.D.), in the First Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D., and in the other great councils of the Church.
So, as we wrap up this short post, let us consider some verses from Sacred Scripture which show the reality of Sacred Tradition, the binding teachings of the faith which were not written down in the canonized books of the New Testament:
"Only, brethren, we charge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to have nothing to do with any brother who lives a vagabond life, contrary to the tradition which we handed on." - 2nd Thessalonians 3:6.
"I must needs praise you for your constant memory of me, for upholding your traditions just as I handed them on to you." - 1st Corinthians 11:2.
"These occupied themselves continually with the apostles’ teaching, their fellowship in the breaking of bread, and the fixed times of prayer." - Acts 2:42.
"This is why we give thanks to God unceasingly that, when we delivered the divine message to you, you recognized it for what it is, God’s message, not man’s; it is God, after all, who manifests his power in you that have learned to believe." - 1st Thessalonians 2:13.
Also, when we look at the testimony of the early Church Fathers, we do not see any kind of Sola Scriptura being practiced or described except, perhaps, for the many heretics who leaned on their own understanding and read the Bible to determine for themselves what was true and revealed by God. I'll end this post by quoting Saint Peter's 2nd Epistle 3:15-18:
"If our Lord stays his hand, count it part of his mercy. Our beloved brother Paul, with the wisdom God has granted him, has written you a letter, in which, as in all his letters, he talks of this. Though indeed, there are passages in them difficult to understand, and these, like the rest of scripture, are twisted into a wrong sense by ignorant and restless minds, to their own undoing. For yourselves, beloved, be warned in time; do not be carried away by their rash errors, and lose the firm foothold you have won; grow up in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory, now and for all eternity. Amen."
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