Biblical authority and sacred tradition
God bless you for all your hard work and effort in keeping this
QUESTION from Bek on April 16, 2004
forum running.
I am currently trying to sincerly explore the Catholic faith (I
hope to be starting RCIA classes soon) and am working through
issues concerning Biblical Authority and Sacred Tradition. In 2
Timothy 3:15-17 it says "And because from thy infancy thou hast
known the holy scriptures, which can instruct thee to
salvation, by faith which is Christ Jesus. All scripture,
inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to
correct, to instruct in justice, that the man of God may be
perfect, furnished to every good work." To me, this says that
scripture contains within it all that can lead us to salvation
and perfection. Is there any need for Tradition then? Thank-you
for your time.
ANSWER by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM on April 24, 2004
|
Dear Bek: It is great to hear that you will be in RCIA soon. We will be in prayer for you. That bible verse you quote says that Scripture is good for teaching, etc., it does not imply, however, that Scripture is all there is, or that Scripture is the only authority. In fact, it is impossible for the Bible to be the sole authority since the Bible COMES FROM Sacred Tradition. The Bible IS Sacred Tradition in writing. The Word of God is both the Bible and Sacred Oral Tradition. The bible did not give us Divine Tradition, rather Divine Tradition gave us the Bible. In terms of the New Testament, what we consider today as the New Testament did not exist for some 300 years. In the first couple of centuries there were many manuscripts being passed around and read in the churches as Scripture. The problem was that many of these manuscripts were teaching erroneous things. Thus the Church had to step in and decide which of the manuscripts were genuine Holy Scripture and which were not. One of the test to see if a manuscript was truly Holy Scripture was whether or not it conformed to Sacred Oral Tradition. In addition, Sacred Tradition also fills in some of the gaps that are not in the Bible. In many cases it is only through Sacred Tradition that we can come to an accurate interpretation of what the Bible says. Bottomline is that the Word of God is the living Christ, not a book. The Divine Revelation of God is composed of Sacred Oral Tradition and Sacred Written Tradition. Each complements the other. The fact is that if all the Bibles in the world were burned and destroyed we would STILL have the Word of God in Sacred Oral Tradition which can never be destroyed.
God Bless, |