1. 1. Copyrighted material that appears in this article is included under the provisions of the Fair Use Clause of the National Copyright Act, which allows limited reproduction of copyrighted materials for educational and religious use when no financial charge is made for viewing. From: A BIBLICAL DEFENSE OF CATHOLICISM - By Dave Armstrong
2. 2. A Bone of Contention Catholics and Protestants have for centuries disagreed about the interaction of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Traditions. Protestants focus on the Bible as the pure word of God the concept being that if a tradition isnt specifically referenced in Scripture than it must be, in the words of John Calvin (1509-1564), the famous French Protestant Reformation theologian, an arbitrary tradition of men. The battle cry if you will for the Reformation was sola scriptura, Scripture Alone. One section of Scripture is often sited as a proof text that tradition is against the teachings of Christ and it is from the Gospel of Matthew 15:6 which reads: 6So, for the sake of your tradition, you have made void the word of God. We see the same thinking in the Gospel of Mark 7:8-13
3. 3. Gospel of Mark 8 You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men. 9 And he said to them, You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition! 10 For Moses said, Honor your father and your mother; and, He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die; 11 but you say, If a man tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is Corban (that is, given to God) 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God through your tradition which you hand on. And many such things you do. (Mk 7:8-13).
4. 4. In this passage we do not see Jesus making a blanket condemnation of traditions. What we do see is that Jesus is condemning the use of man made traditions to change or supersede Divine law. In this passage we see the avoidance of the fourth commandment by the creation of the Corban rule, leaving you money to the temple rather than using the money to support your parents.
5. 5. As we have just seen its important not to allow man-made rules to void the word of God. It is important to maintain and pass on the many traditions of the apostles to future generations. In the closing words of the Gospel of John he tells us: 25 But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written (Jn 21:25). Catholics view the church as being a unity between Scripture, popes, and the councils. Protestants do not have this unity and thus, lack of unity is the underlying reason for the many Protestant denominations. The Catholics have maintained a sense of church history from the very beginnings of the church. Protestants on the other hand have not done so. We see other Biblical passages upholding traditions.
6. 6. Saint Paul Paul tells the Corinthians, "I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I have delivered them to you" (1 Cor. 11:2), He then commands 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 Thess. 2:15). "Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is living in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us" (2 Thess. 3:6). In 2 Timothy we hear Paul commanding that Timothy pass on all that he has heard from Paul "and what you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." (2 Tim. 2:2).
7. 7. Matthew 10 The Catholic position is that Scripture and traditions are interwoven like threads in the tapestry of the church, thus share equally in the unity found in the tapestry. Traditions are the beliefs and practices of a group that are passed on orally. When Christ formed his church in the first century we see him sending out his disciples to preach (Mt. 9:36-10:15). When these first disciples left the company of Jesus they didnt take with them the New Testament because it hadnt been written or assembled yet. The writing of the Bible was about an 1100 year project that stretches from Old to New Testament times. The Catholic Church claims to be the Sacred deposit of faith, contained in Sacred Scripture and Tradition, passed on by the apostles (CCC 84).
8. 8. Summing Up Biblical stories were passed on orally from father to son and then about 1100 B.C. they began to be written down. The very first disciples went out as preachers and didnt possess a yet unfinished Bible. There are places in the Bible that appear to condemn tradition but when they are placed within their context they teach a different lesson. There are numerous places in the Bible that supports apostolic tradition. We can see from the writings of the Church Fathers that the apostolic traditions are viewed as bringing us closer to God. Further, The apostles distinguish between vain traditions of the Jews, and their own Christian traditions.