|
Bringing the Word of Life Q & A |
|
Sacred Tradition Question: As a Catholic I was always taught that God's Word is in Scripture and apostolic Tradition. Tradition is God's Word that has been handed down orally. The apostle Paul says: "Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle" (2 Thessalonians 2:15, KJV). Answer: This issue is one of the fundamental differences between Roman Catholicism and Evangelical Christianity. For Christians, from among the things that are plainly laid down in Scripture are to be found all matters that concern faith and the manner of life. Whereas in Catholicism, in addition to Scripture, Tradition is also regarded as the Word of God. The word "tradition" has several meanings, so it is important to define what the Catholic Church means by Tradition. "The Council (of Trent) clearly perceives that this truth and rule are contained in the written books and unwritten traditions which have come down to us, having been received by the apostles from the mouth of Christ himself, or from the apostles by the dictation of the Holy Spirit, and have been transmitted as it were from hand to hand." Further, the Second Vatican Council adds, "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 in its integrity." In other words, Tradition is a body of undefined teachings, apart from the Holy Scriptures, that is passed on perfectly from generation to generation through the Pope and the bishops of the Catholic Church. You quoted 2 Thessalonians 2:15 to give support to this concept of "Tradition" but a closer look reveals that the apostle Paul has something different in mind. Writing to the Christians in Thessalonica, among whom he had personally laboured, he says:
The apostle Paul had preached the Gospel to the Thessalonians, and they believed the truth for their salvation. Now that he was not present with them anymore, Paul exhorts them to hold on to the "traditions" he had passed on to them. These traditions or teachings are simply the truths of the Gospel which the apostle Paul had taught them by two means: by preaching ("by word") and by writing ("our epistle"). There is nothing here about the perfect transmission of an undefined body of teaching through a succession of bishops. Our situation is radically different from that of the Thessalonian Christians. They had the privilege of welcoming a living apostle among them. They heard the apostle speak to them; we cannot do the same, simply because there are no apostles today. How then can we learn the Word of God since we are living so many centuries after the apostles? The Lord has preserved and transmitted the apostolic message in the New Testament. In the same manner, the prophets of old preached God's Word to the Jewish people in their generation. Later generations had access to their message only in the books of the Old Testament Scriptures - and nothing else. The Jews were not supposed to find the Word of God in the Holy Scriptures and some form of oral tradition. In fact the Lord Jesus warned them about this very thing in Mark 7. Similarly, we receive the teachings of the prophets and apostles in the inspired writings of the Old and New Testament Scriptures. Irenaeus said it this way: "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 them down to us in the Scriptures, to be the ground and pillar of our faith." (Irenaeus, Against Heresies III.1.1). |