LESSON 20: THE CHURCH AND THE WORD OF GOD

LESSON 20: THE CHURCH AND THE WORD OF GOD

APOSTOLIC TRADITION AND SACRED SCRIPTURES

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 Thes3:6)

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).

MAGISTERIUM

To make sure that the Word of God always remained authentic and relevant for all times, a special body in the church  known as the Magisterium is entrusted with the task of interpreting the Word of God in the light of the apostolic Tradition,in order to keep it free from error or false teachings.

By the Magisterium we mean the teaching office of the Church. It consists of the Pope and Bishops. Christ promised to protect the teaching of the Church : "He who hears you, hears me; he who rejects you rejects me, he who rejects me, rejects Him who sent me" (Luke 10. 16). Now of course the promise of Christ cannot fail: hence when the Church presents some doctrine as definitive or final, it comes under this protection, it cannot be in error; in other words, it is infallible.

APOSTOLIC FATHERS

Someone  who can directly trace himself to an Apostle or personally know a person who was closely associated with the apostles.Among them is St Ignatius of Antioch ,a disciple of John the Apostle.As bishop he served Antioch for 40 years as but in the time of Christian persecutor the Roman Emperor Trajan, he died a martyr.Before that he wrote 7 letters,one to Polycarp Bisphop of Smyrna and churches in the area advising Christians to be obdient to and united with their bishops and to participate faithfully in the Eucharist and even warns them against people who try to cause confusion and division in the Church.These and many other writings of great and Holy people in the early Church form part of the Church’s tradition.

APOSTOLIC TRADITION

God has been revealing himself to humans beings gradually from creation in the time of the Old Testament  and in and through Jesus Christ finally revealed himself fully to humanity.Through His words and actions Jesus revealed the love, mercy and grace of God for His people.This is the Good News of salvation. Then, Jesus commanded the apostles to proclaim and hand down the Good News to all humanity until he returns.This was done through a process called Apostolic Tradition.

Apostolic Tradition occurs in 2 ways .First through living transmission of the Good News(also called tradition) that is through preaching,teachings,life and worship of the Church.The second way is through Sacred Scripture, the transmission of the same Good news in written form.

THE CANON OF SCRIPTURE

CCC120 It was by the apostolic Tradition that the Church discerned which writings are to be included in the list of the sacred books. This complete list is called the canon of Scripture. It includes 46 books for the Old Testament (45 if we count Jeremiah and Lamentations as one) and 27 for the New.

The Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, Tobit, Judith, Esther, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, the Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zachariah and Malachi.

The New Testament: the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the Acts of the Apostles, the Letters of St. Paul to the Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, the Letter to the Hebrews, the Letters of James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2 and 3 John, and Jude, and Revelation (the Apocalypse).

"All Sacred Scripture is but one book, and this one book is Christ, 'because all divine Scripture speaks of Christ, and all divine Scripture is fulfilled in Christ" [1] (CCC 134).