Scripture and Tradition

The big question

Many Christians hold that the Bible is the only rule of faith: if a teaching isn’t in Scripture, Christians aren’t bound by it. Catholics speak instead of Scripture and Tradition. Isn’t that adding human ideas to God’s word?

What the Church teaches

Revelation is handed on in written books and in unwritten traditions that the apostles received from Christ or from the Holy Spirit and passed on. The Church receives both with the same reverence.

How sure is this? De fide. Council of Trent, Session IV (1546; DH 1501); repeated by Vatican I (Dei Filius ch. 2; DH 3006). See CCC 80–83.

The books of Scripture are inspired by the Holy Spirit and have God as their author. The Church holds them sacred not because she approved them, but because they were written under the Spirit’s inspiration.

How sure is this? De fide. Vatican I, Dei Filius ch. 2 and canon 2.4 (DH 3006, 3029). See CCC 105–107.

The canon, the list of books that belong in the Bible, is fixed. It includes the 46 books of the Old Testament and the 27 of the New.

How sure is this? De fide. Council of Trent, Session IV (DH 1501–1504). See CCC 120.

Where it comes from

Scripture itself points beyond Scripture. St Paul tells the Thessalonians: “So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter” (2 Thessalonians 2:15). He tells Timothy to pass on what he heard to others: “what you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2). St John says that if everything Jesus did were written down, the world could not contain the books (John 21:25).

Scripture also teaches its own inspiration: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).

The early Church. St Irenaeus of Lyons (died about 202) argued against the Gnostics that anyone who wants the truth can find the apostles’ tradition in every church, handed down through the bishops the apostles appointed. Even if the apostles had left no writings, he said, we would still have to follow the order of tradition they handed on (Against Heresies 3.3–3.4). St Basil the Great (died 379) wrote that the Church holds some teachings from written Scripture and others from the apostles’ tradition, and that both have the same force (On the Holy Spirit 27.66).

How theologians explain it

One source, two channels. There is only one deposit of faith: everything God revealed in Christ. Before any of the New Testament was written, the apostles were already preaching, baptising and celebrating the Eucharist. Some of what they handed on was written down, and that became the New Testament. The rest was handed on in the life, worship and teaching of the Church. That living handing-on is Tradition. Vatican II describes Scripture and Tradition as flowing from the same divine wellspring and moving toward the same goal (Dei Verbum 9).

The canon depends on Tradition. The Bible doesn’t contain its own table of contents. No book of the New Testament lists which books belong in it. Christians know which books are inspired because the Church, guided by the Spirit, received and recognised them. So even someone who holds to “the Bible alone” is relying on Tradition to know what the Bible is.

Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium. Vatican II teaches that the three are so linked that none can stand without the others (Dei Verbum 10). Scripture is the written word of God. Tradition hands it on and interprets it in the life of the Church. The Magisterium, the Church’s teaching office, judges authentically what belongs to both (Lesson 1.3). The Magisterium is not above the word of God, but serves it.

What inspiration means. Inspiration does not mean God dictated every word while the human authors took notes. God used the human writers as true authors, with their own skills, styles and literary forms, so that what they wrote is also what God wanted written (Dei Verbum 11; CCC 106). That is why reading Scripture well means paying attention to the kind of writing each book is: history, poetry, prophecy, letter or parable (Dei Verbum 12).

An open question. Theologians still discuss whether every revealed truth is found at least implicitly in Scripture, with Tradition supplying its authentic interpretation, or whether some truths come to us through Tradition alone. The Church has not settled this. Trent’s final text says only that revelation is contained in written books and unwritten traditions, without saying how the content divides between them.

Philosophy bridge

None is essential for this lesson. If you have studied how we come to know things by testimony in the philosophy course, you will notice that Tradition is the Church’s testimony to what the apostles taught.

What the Church does not claim

• Not that Tradition means customs. Tradition with a capital T is the handing-on of revealed truth. Church customs and disciplines, such as particular fasting rules or forms of devotion, are “traditions” with a small t and can change (CCC 83).
• Not that Catholics shouldn’t read the Bible. The Church urges every Christian to read Scripture. St Jerome’s saying is quoted in the Catechism: ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ (CCC 133).
• Not that the Bible is a science textbook. Scripture teaches without error the truth God wanted written for the sake of our salvation (Dei Verbum 11). It is not trying to teach astronomy or biology.
• Not that the Church invented the Bible. The Church recognised which books were inspired; she did not make them inspired.

Check your understanding

1. What two channels does the Council of Trent name for handing on revelation?

Show answer

Written books (Scripture) and unwritten traditions received from the apostles (Tradition).

2. Give one passage of Scripture that refers to tradition handed on by word of mouth.

Show answer

2 Thessalonians 2:15 (“hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter”); also 2 Timothy 2:2.

3. Why does the question of the canon show that “the Bible alone” cannot be the whole picture?

Show answer

Because the Bible does not list its own books. Christians know which books belong in it only because the Church received and recognised them, which is itself an act of Tradition.

4. Does inspiration mean the human authors of Scripture were just secretaries taking dictation? Explain.

Show answer

No. God used the human authors as true authors, with their own abilities, styles and forms of writing, so that what they wrote is also what God wanted written. That is why we pay attention to each book’s literary form.

5. What is the difference between Tradition and traditions?

Show answer

Tradition is the handing-on of revelation itself, received from the apostles, and it cannot change. Traditions are customs and disciplines that grew up in the Church, such as particular devotions or fasting rules; they can be adapted or changed.