Apostolic Tradition
Is Scripture the sole rule of faith for Christians?
Not according to the Bible. While we must guard against merely human tradition,
the Bible contains numerous references to the necessity of clinging to
apostolic tradition.
Thus 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), and he 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). He
even goes so far as to order, "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).
To make sure that the apostolic tradition would
be passed down after the deaths of the apostles, Paul told Timothy, "[W]hat
you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who
will be able to teach others also" (2 Tim. 2:2). In this passage he refers
to the first four generations of apostolic succession—his own generation,
Timothy’s generation, the generation Timothy will teach, and the generation
they in turn will teach.
The early Church Fathers, who were links in that
chain of succession, recognized the necessity of the traditions that had
been handed down from the apostles and guarded them scrupulously, as the
following quotations show.
Papias
"Papias [A.D. 120], who is now mentioned by us,
affirms that he received the sayings of the apostles from those who accompanied
them, and he, moreover, asserts that he heard in person Aristion and the
presbyter John. Accordingly, he mentions them frequently by name, and in
his writings gives their traditions [concerning Jesus]. . . . [There are]
other passages of his in which he relates some miraculous deeds, stating
that he acquired the knowledge of them from tradition" (fragment in Eusebius,
Church History 3:39 [A.D. 312]).
Eusebius of Caesarea
"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 Apollinarius, 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" (Church History 4:21).
Irenaeus
"As I said before, the Church, having received
this preaching and this faith, although she is disseminated throughout
the whole world, yet guarded it, as if she occupied but one house. She
likewise believes these things just as if she had but one soul and one
and the same heart; and harmoniously she proclaims them and teaches them
and hands them down, as if she possessed but one mouth. For, while the
languages of the world are diverse, nevertheless, the authority of the
tradition is one and the same" (Against Heresies 1:10:2 [A.D. 189]).
"That is why it is surely necessary to avoid them
[heretics], while cherishing with the utmost diligence the things pertaining
to the Church, and to lay hold of the tradition of truth. . . . 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., 3:4:1).
...
"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. And we are in a position
to enumerate those who were instituted bishops by the apostles and their
successors to our own times—men who neither knew nor taught anything like
these heretics rave about.
"But since it would be too long to enumerate in
such a volume as this the successions of all the churches, we shall confound
all those who, in whatever manner, whether through self-satisfaction or
vainglory, or through blindness and wicked opinion, assemble other than
where it is proper, by pointing out here the successions of the bishops
of the greatest and most ancient church known to all, founded and organized
at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul, that church
which has the tradition and the faith which comes down to us after having
been announced to men by the apostles.
"With this church, because of its superior origin,
all churches must agree—that is, all the faithful in the whole world—and
it is in her that the faithful everywhere have maintained the apostolic
tradition" (ibid., 3:3:1–2).
Clement of Alexandria
"Well, they 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 (but few were like the fathers),
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" (Miscellanies
1:1 [A.D. 208]).
Origen
"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" (The Fundamental Doctrines 1:2 [A.D. 225]).
Cyprian of Carthage
"[T]he Church is one, and as she is one, cannot
be both within and without. For if she is with Novatian, she was not with
[Pope] Cornelius. But if she was with Cornelius, who succeeded the bishop
Fabian by lawful ordination, and whom, beside the honor of the priesthood
the Lord glorified also with martyrdom, Novatian is not in the Church;
nor can he be reckoned as a bishop, who, succeeding to no one, and despising
the evangelical and apostolic tradition, sprang from himself. For he who
has not been ordained in the Church can neither have nor hold to the Church
in any way" (Letters 75:3 [A.D. 253]).
Athanasius
"Again we write, again keeping to the apostolic
traditions, we remind each other when we come together for prayer; and
keeping the feast in common, with one mouth we truly give thanks to the
Lord. Thus giving thanks unto him, and being followers of the saints, ‘we
shall make our praise in the Lord all the day,’ as the psalmist says. So,
when we rightly keep the feast, we shall be counted worthy of that joy
which is in heaven" (Festal Letters 2:7 [A.D. 330]).
"But you are blessed, who by faith are in the Church,
dwell upon the foundations of the faith, and have full satisfaction, even
the highest degree of faith which remains among you unshaken. For it has
come down to you from apostolic tradition, and frequently accursed envy
has wished to unsettle it, but has not been able" (ibid., 29).
Basil the Great
"Of the dogmas and messages 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. No one will contradict any of these, no one, at
any rate, who is even moderately versed in matters ecclesiastical. Indeed,
were we to try to reject unwritten customs as having no great authority,
we would unwittingly injure the gospel in its vitals; or rather, we would
reduce [Christian] message to a mere term" (The Holy Spirit 27:66
[A.D. 375]).
Epiphanius of Salamis
"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" (Medicine
Chest Against All Heresies 61:6 [A.D. 375]).
Augustine
"[T]he 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" (On Baptism, Against the Donatists 5:23[31]
[A.D. 400]).
"But the admonition that he [Cyprian] gives us,
‘that we should go back to the fountain, that is, to apostolic tradition,
and thence turn the channel of truth to our times,’ is most excellent,
and should be followed without hesitation" (ibid., 5:26[37]).
"But in regard to those observances which we carefully
attend and which the whole world keeps, and which derive not from Scripture
but from Tradition, we are given to understand that they are recommended
and ordained to be kept, either by the apostles themselves or by plenary
[ecumenical] councils, the authority of which is quite vital in the Church"
(Letter to Januarius [A.D. 400]).
John Chrysostom
"[Paul commands,] ‘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" (Homilies on Second Thessalonians [A.D.
402]).
Vincent of Lerins
"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" (The Notebooks [A.D. 434]).
Pope Agatho
"[T]he holy Church of God . . . has been established
upon the firm rock of this Church of blessed Peter, the prince of the apostles,
which by his grace and guardianship remains free from all error, [and possesses
that faith that] the whole number of rulers and priests, of the clergy
and of the people, unanimously should confess and preach with us as the
true declaration of the apostolic tradition, in order to please God and
to save their own souls" (Letter read at fourth session of III Constantinople
[A.D. 680]).
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St. John's Gospel: A Bible Study Guide And Commentary, Stephen K. Ray
NIHIL OBSTAT:
I have concluded that the materials
presented in this work are free of doctrinal or moral errors.
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IMPRIMATUR:
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permission to publish this work is hereby granted.
+Robert H. Brom, Bishop of San Diego, August 10, 2004
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