Article Submission Re Tradition and Scripture .

TRADITION “vs.” SCRIPTURE

The Catholic Church declares that “both sacred Tradition and sacred Scripture are to be accepted and venerated with the same devotion and reverence”. {Vatican II’s Dei Verbum}

Martin Luther led the Protestants in their counter-cry of solo Scriptura (“Scripture alone”).

So who’s right? Is the Bible alone the carrier of all truth, as the Protestants claim? Or is the Catholic Church right in teaching that the twin pillars of truth are the Bible and Tradition (note the capital “T”)?

Well, let’s define our terms. Sacred Scripture is the canon (official collection) of writings in the Old and the New Testaments -- in short, the Bible.

“Sacred (or apostolic) Tradition consists of the teachings that the apostles passed on orally through their preaching. These teachings largely (perhaps entirely) overlap with those contained in Scripture, but the mode of their transmission is different.” -- Catholic Answers, https://www.catholic.com/tract/scripture-and-tradition

One way to determine who is right is to look at the history of the Early Church. Sacred Tradition predates the canon (official listing) of the books of the Bible by decades. So the first Christians had only sacred Tradition to learn from and follow..

Another way to determine it is to look at the gift. Christ promised the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide His Church to all truth. “From the very beginning, the fullness of Christian teaching was found in the Church as the living embodiment of Christ, not in a book. The teaching Church, with its oral, apostolic tradition, was authoritative.” -- (ibid.)

Since both Scripture and Tradition both come from Jesus/God, both are equally salvific.

Or, in the words of Fr. Mike Schmitz, “Catholics use both Scripture and Tradition because Scripture tells us to use both.” -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTBud-9Vlzo