The Catholic
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Tradition
Catholics claim that Christian truth is found not only in Sacred Scripture (the Word of God consigned to inspired writing), but also in Sacred Tradition (the Word of God passed down orally through a succession of bishops–refers to doctrines rather than practices, which are called traditions with a lower case "t"). The rule of faith is thus Scripture and Tradition; public revelation, which had its source in Christ and in the Apostles, was passed on through these two channels.
Protestants oppose tradition: "And why do you transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?" (Matt. 15:3); "See to it that no one makes a prey of you by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ" (Col. 2:8). But Jesus and Paul were attacking human traditions, small case "t" traditions–corrupt practices as opposed to doctrines. Besides, Jesus and Paul were obviously not attacking Christian Tradition, because Jesus began that oral Tradition, and Paul passed that oral Tradition on (1 Cor. 11:23). Jewish doctrines and practices were attacked by Jesus and the Apostles when those doctrines and practices were opposed to Christian truths, whether those truths were found in Scripture or Tradition.
"So by these traditions of yours you have made God's laws ineffectual. You hypocrites, it was a true prophecy that Isaiah made of you, when he said, ‘This people does me honor with its lips, but its heart is far from me. Their worship is in vain, for the doctrines they teach are the traditions of men'" (Matt. 15:6-9). Protestants say Catholic Tradition is nothing more than "traditions of men." Is this accurate? The fact is, Catholic Tradition is nothing more or less than what the Apostles taught, and Apostolic teachings were not "traditions of men" but rather the Word of God: "He who listens to you listens to me, and he who rejects you rejects me" (Luke 10:16). In this particular passage, Jesus was not condemning the Corban Rule, but the corrupt practice of making a supposed dedication to the temple in order to get out of supporting one's parents (Ex. 20:12).
Paul instructs his bishop Timothy: "The things which you have heard from me through many witnesses you must hand on to trustworthy men who will be able to teach others also" (2 Tim. 2:2). Here we see how oral Tradition was to be handed on (apostolic succession). Timothy, a bishop, was to orally commit what he had been taught by Paul, to other bishops, and hand on Christian truth, through Scripture and oral Tradition: "Stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by epistle" (2 Thess. 2:15). Here we have the handing on of Tradition, and the handing on of that Tradition in written form (Sacred Scripture) and oral form (Sacred Tradition). Protestants misinterpret this verse, and say that in context, these traditions concern the Second Coming (v. 1-10). However, the immediate context is the gospel (v. 14). Some claim that all of these oral traditions were reduced to Scripture, and therefore, Tradition was rendered useless. But nowhere does the Bible say that oral Tradition would be entirely reduced to writing.
Christian truths were preached–passed on orally: "So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ" (Rom. 10:17). In the Bible, the phrase "the Word of God" refers to the oral word, rather than what was committed to the Scriptures: "‘But the word of the Lord endures for ever.' That word is the good news which was preached to you" (1 Pet. 1:25). Thus, the oral word would endure, and would not be replaced by the written word, only supplemented by it.
Protestants see the word "tradition" being condemned in passages such as Colossians 2:8 and Mark 7:7-8, and reason that all tradition is to be condemned. What they fail to do is read the passages that support authentic, Christian Tradition: "I praise you because you . . . are holding fast to the traditions just as I handed them on to you" (1 Cor. 11:2); "We command you . . . to avoid any brother who . . . does not follow the tradition you received from us" (2 Thes. 3:6).
Protestants liken Tradition to the old "Party game", whereby one man whispers something to one man, and he passes it along in like manner to another, until it reaches the last member, by which time what was originally uttered has become corrupted by additions, omissions, and distortions. This, they say, is what would happen, and in fact did happen, to Catholic Tradition. Of course, there is a huge difference between the party game and the Holy Word of God being passed along through a succession of bishops with the infallible help and protection of the Holy Spirit. The former is sure to result in error. The latter guarantees that the truth will be passed along in full free from any error that would otherwise creep in due to human fallibility. With God's gift of the Holy Spirit to guide the church into all truth (John 16:13), the Church preserved the truth from any error as it was passed down through the succession of priests and bishops.
Many of Christ's teachings were evidently not recorded in Scripture: "With many such parables he spoke the word to them" (Mark 4:33); "He began to teach them many things" (Mark 6:34). But we are not told what Jesus taught here. "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book" (John 20:30). "But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written . . . the world itself could not contain the books that would be written" (John 21:25) (see also Luke 24:15-16,25-27). It is safe to say the world could not hold the books that could be written on what Jesus said, because he did teach and preach for at least three years before he ascended into heaven. Christians "devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching" (Acts 2:42) years before the Bible was completed.
The Apostles themselves made use of tradition. Paul said, "All drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ" (1 Cor. 10:4). There is no mention of the rock following the Israelites throughout the desert in the Old Testament (Ex. 17:1-7, Num. 20:2-13). This is found only in Rabbinic tradition. Paul also names the magicians who opposed Moses before the Pharaoh, calling them Jannes and Jambres (2 Tim. 3:8), something not found in Exodus (7:8). (See also Jas. 5:17).
Jesus instructed his followers to abide by traditions that are not contrary to God's commandments. "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat; so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice" (Matt. 23:2-3). True, Jesus did not cite tradition the way he cited the Scriptures, but that is because Christian tradition was being made by Christ at the time of His ministry. He could not cite something that he was in the process of creating. The Apostles also failed to cite Tradition for the same reason–Jewish tradition was done away with, and Christian Tradition was in the process of being passed along by word of mouth. The Apostles in the Acts cited Scripture, but they also made use of the oral Tradition begun by Jesus and transmitted by the Apostles to other believers, who would in turn pass it on to others.
Pope Clement I (Letter to the Corinthians 11 [A.D. 80]) "Then the reverence of the law is chanted, and the grace of the prophets is known, and the faith of the Gospels is established, and the Tradition of the Apostles is preserved, and the grace of the Church exults".
Eusebius of Caesarea (Church History 4:21) "At that time [A.D. 150] there flourished in the Church Hegesippus, whom we know from what has gone before, and Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, and another bishop, Pinytus of Crete, and besides these, Philip, and Apolinarius, and Melito, and Musanus, and Modestus, and finally, Irenaeus. From them has come down to us in writing, the sound and orthodox faith received from Tradition".
Irenaeus of Lyons (Against Heresies., 3:4:1 [A.D. 189]) "For how should it be if the apostles themselves had not left us writings? Would it not be necessary to follow the course of the tradition which they handed down to those to whom they did commit the Churches? What if the Apostles had not in fact left writings to us? Would it not be necessary to follow the order of Tradition, which was handed down to those to whom they entrusted the Churches?"; (ibid., 3:3:1-2) "It is possible, then, for everyone in every church, who may wish to know the truth, to contemplate the Tradition of the Apostles which has been made known throughout the whole world".
Tertullian (Prescription against the Heretics 28 [A.D. 210]) "Error of doctrine in the churches must necessarily have produced various issues. When, however, that which is deposited among many is found to be one and the same, it is not the result of error, but of tradition. Can any one, then, be reckless enough to say that they were in error who handed on the tradition".
Clement of Alexandria (Miscellanies 1:1 [A.D. 208]) "Preserving the Tradition of the blessed doctrine derived directly from the holy Apostles, Peter, James, John, and Paul, the sons receiving it from the father, came by God's will to us also to deposit those ancestral and apostolic seeds. And well I know that they will exult; I do not mean delighted with this tribute, but solely on account of the preservation of the truth, according as they delivered it. For such a sketch as this, will, I think, be agreeable to a soul desirous of preserving from loss the blessed Tradition".
Origen (The Fundamental Doctrines 1:2 [A.D. 225]) "Although there are many who believe that they themselves hold to the teachings of Christ, there are yet some among them who think differently from their predecessors. The teaching of the Church has indeed been handed down through an order of succession from the Apostles and remains in the churches even to the present time. That alone is to be believed as the truth which is in no way at variance with ecclesiastical and Apostolic Tradition".
Athanasius (The Councils 47 [A.D. 330]) "For it is right and meet thus to feel, and to maintain a good conscience toward the fathers, if we be not spurious children, but have received the traditions from them, and the lessons of religion at their hands".
Basil the Great (The Holy Spirit 27:66 [A.D. 375]) "Of the dogmas and kergymas preserved in the Church, some we possess from written teaching and others we receive from the tradition of the Apostles, handed on to us in mystery. In respect to piety both are of the same force".
Epiphanius of Salamis (Medicine Chest Against All Heresies 61:6 [A.D. 375]) "It is needful also to make use of Tradition, for not everything can be gotten from Sacred Scripture. The holy Apostles handed down some things in the Scriptures, other things in Tradition.".
Augustine (On Baptism, Against the Donatists 5:23[31] [A.D. 400]) "The custom (of not rebaptizing converts) . . . may be supposed to have had its origin in Apostolic Tradition, just as there are many things which are observed by the whole Church, and therefore are fairly held to have been enjoined by the Apostles, which yet are not mentioned in their writings".
John Chrysostom (Homilies on 2 Thessalonians [A.D. 402]) "'Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the Traditions which you have been taught, whether by word or by our letter' [2 Thess. 2:15]. From this it is clear that they did not hand down everything by letter, but there is much also that was not written. Like that which was written, the unwritten too is worthy of belief. So let us regard the Tradition of the Church also as worthy of belief. Is it a Tradition? Seek no further".
Vincent of Lerins (The Notebooks 2:4-5 [A.D. 434]) "With great zeal and closest attention, therefore, I frequently inquired of many men, eminent for their holiness and doctrine, how I might, in a concise and, so to speak, general and ordinary way, distinguish the truth of the Catholic faith from the falsehood of heretical depravity. I received almost always the same answer from all of them--that if I or anyone else wanted to expose the frauds and escape the snares of the heretics who rise up, and to remain intact and in sound faith, it would be necessary, with the help of the Lord, to fortify that faith in a twofold manner: first, of course, by the authority of divine law [Scripture] and then by the Tradition of the Catholic Church. Here, perhaps, someone may ask: 'If the canon of the Scriptures be perfect and in itself more than suffices for everything, why is it necessary that the authority of ecclesiastical interpretation be joined to it?' Because, quite plainly, Sacred Scripture, by reason of its own depth, is not accepted by everyone as having one and the same meaning . . . Thus, because of so many distortions of such various errors, it is highly necessary that the line of prophetic and apostolic interpretation be directed in accord with the norm of the ecclesiastical and Catholic meaning".
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