The Church: Sacred Tradition

One of the most divisive issues in Christendom and one Catholics are constantly confronted on is the Protestant doctrine of Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone) where Scripture is the sole source of dogma and doctrine. Any Catholic apologist (and really any Catholic) should be able to defend themselves against Protestant arguments about Sola Scriptura and the role Scripture and Tradition play in Christian doctrine. First of all, it is important to remember, Scripture is divinely inspired. It is not the sole source of Christian doctrine, but it is divinely inspired. However, the living Tradition of the Church is also divinely inspired. Furthermore, Sacred Scripture is a product of Sacred Tradition. Before the Scriptures were written in their entirety, the oral Tradition of the Church existed and it is from these oral teachings that some of Church doctrine was written down.

"The apostles entrusted the 'Sacred deposit' of the faith (the depositum fidei) (Dei Verbum 10 § 1; cf. 1 Tim 6:20; 2 Tim 1:12-14 Vulgate), contained in Sacred Scripture and Tradition, to the whole of the Church. 'By adhering to [this heritage] the entire holy people, united to its pastors, remains always faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. So, in maintaining, practicing, and professing the faith that has been handed on, there should be a remarkable harmony between the bishops and the faithful.' (Dei Verbum 10 § 1; cf. Acts 2:42 (Gk.); Pius XII, apostolic constitution, Munificentissimus Deus, November 1, 1950: Acta Apostolicae Sedis 42 (1950), 756, taken along with the words of St. Cyprian, Epist. 66, 8: CSEL 3, 2, 733: 'The Church is the people united to its Priests, the flock adhering to its Shepherd.')" (CCC 84)

However, this will not satisfy Protestants (and it wouldn't make sense for it to ... Protestants are not bound by the CCC ... or at least they think they aren't). Protestants will usually refer to these Scriptures:

Mark 7:1-13 - "Now when the Pharisees gathered together to him, with some of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands, observing the tradition of the elders; and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they purify themselves; and there are many other traditions which they observe, the washing of cups and pots and vessels of bronze.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, 'Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?' And he said to them, 'Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrine the precepts of men.' And he said to them, 'You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition! For Moses said, "Honor your father and your mother"; and, "He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die"; 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) - then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God through your tradition which you hand on. And many such things you do.' "

This passage is summarized in Matthew 15:1-9, but I won't post it here. It is apparent from this that these are not doctrinal issues that are referred to as tradition. It is not on matters of faith and morals and they are traditions that developed apart from God. These traditions are not, in and of themselves, bad. What is bad is the way the Pharisees condemn people for not following these traditions. However look at some of these passages and verses from elsewhere:

Mark 16:15 - "And he said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation."

It doesn't say write. It says preach. This seems to imply that Jesus did not intend for the whole of the Gospel to be written down.

John 20:30-31 - "Now Jesus did many other signs in the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name."

John 21:25 - "But there are also many other things 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."

It is quite apparent that Jesus did way too much on Earth for it all to be written in the pages of the New Testament (which is shorter than most novels today).

1 Corinthians 11:2 - "I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I have delivered them to you."

Now first of all, he doesn't say that the Corinthians maintained the library that he delivered unto them, but the traditions (in some translations, it might say teachings). Second of all, presumably this is the first letter to the Corinthians. This means he obviously didn't write anything to them that was divinely inspired before this. It was all spoken word.

1 Corinthians 15:1-2 - "Now I would remind you, brethren, in what terms I preached to you the gospel, which you received, in which you stand, by which you are saved, if you hold it fast - unless you believed in vain."

There's that 'p' word again.

1 Thessalonians 2:13 - "And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of meb but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers."

2 Thessalonians 2:15 - "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 3:6 - "Now, we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the the tradition that you received from us."

2 Timothy 1:13 - "Follow the pattern of the sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus;"

2 Timothy 2:2 - "and what you have heard from me before many witness entrust to the faithful men who will be able to teach others also."

1 Peter 1:25 - " 'but the w0rd of the Lord abides for ever.' That word which was preached to you."

2 Peter 1:20-21 - "First of all, you must understand this, that no matter of prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God."

2 John 12 - "Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink, but I hope to come to see you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete."

3 John 13-14 - "I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink; I hope to see you soon, and we will talk together face to face."

Scripture overwhelmingly supports the idea of Sacred Tradition.