Is Scripture the sole rule of faith? Not according to the Bible. While we must guard against merely human tradition, the Bible makes clear 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 say, “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, “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). He refers to the first four generations of apostolic succession-his own generation, Timothy’s, the generation Timothy will teach, and the generation next in turn.
The 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.
Pope Clement I
“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” (Letter to the Corinthians 11 [A.D. 80]).
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 [the apostle]. 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 Caerarea
“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. 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]).
“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. 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” (ibid., 3:3:1).
Clement of Alexandria
“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]).
Cyprian
“The 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, besides 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. 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
“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” (Festal Letters 2: 29 [A.D. 330]).
Basil
“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 the [Christian] message to a mere term” (The Holy Spirit 27:66 [A.D. 375]).
Augustine
“[Not rebaptizing converts] . . . may be supposed to have had its origin in apostolic Tradition, 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 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 2 Thessalonians [A.D. 402]).
Pope Agatho
“The 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” (ibid.).