Sacred Scripture is Sacred Tradition

“…If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:31, 32)."

Sacred Scripture, the written Word of God, is in itself Sacred Tradition:

"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 and 27 for the New." (CCC* #120)

The Catholic and Apostolic Church has always taught and continues to teach:

"God is the author of Sacred Scripture. The divinely revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of Sacred Scripture, have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

"For Holy Mother Church, relying on the faith of the apostolic age, accepts as sacred and canonical the books of the Old and the New Testaments, whole and entire, with all their parts, on the grounds that, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their Author, and have been handed on as such to the Church Herself.

"God inspired the human authors of the sacred books. To compose the sacred books, God chose certain men who, all the while He employed them in this task, made full use of their own faculties and powers so that, though He acted in them and by them, it was as true authors that they consigned to writing whatever He wanted written, and no more.

"The inspired books teach the truth. Since therefore all that the inspired authors or sacred writers affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures.

"Still, the Christian faith is not a "religion of the book." Christianity is the religion of the "Word" of God, a word which is "not a written and mute word, but the Word which is Incarnate and Living." If the Scriptures are not to remain a dead letter, Christ, the eternal Word of the living God, must, through the Holy Spirit, "open [our] minds to understand the Scriptures (Lk 24:45)." (CCC #105-108)

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This post has been placed permanently in the upper Tab Bar: Sacred Scripture/Tradition
 
* CCC: Catechism of the Catholic Church, #= paragraph numbers.

U.S. Bishops. Intimate Knowledge of Scripture

The Archbishops and Bishops of the United States in Conference assembled, to their Clergy and faithful people: Grace unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Venerable Brethren of the Clergy,
Beloved Children of the Laity:

To the Church which is taught all truth by the Holy Spirit, Christ entrusted the whole deposit of divine revelation. To the watchful care of the Church we owe the preservation of that Book from which Christians in every age have derived instruction and strength. How needful was the warning of the Apostle that "no prophecy of Scripture is made by private interpretation (2 Peter 1:20)", can be seen in the history of those movements which began by leaving each individual to take his own meaning from the sacred text, and now, after four centuries, have ended in rejecting its Divine authority. The Church, on the contrary, with true reverence for the Bible and solicitude for the spiritual welfare of its readers, has guarded both it and them against the dangers of false interpretation.

In the same spirit, dear brethren, we exhort you to acquire a loving familiarity with the written word: "for what things soever were written, were written for our learning; that through patience and the comfort of the Scriptures we might have hope (Rom. 15:4)". This intimate knowledge of Holy Writ will bring you close to the Person and Life of our Savior and to the labors of His Apostles. It will renew in your hearts the joy with which the first Christians received the tidings of salvation. And it will deepen in you the conviction that the Scriptures are indeed the word of God, "which can instruct you unto salvation by the faith which is in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 3:15)" — a conviction which cannot be shaken either by the disputes of the learned who "stumble at the word," or by the errors of the unlearned and unstable "who distort the Scriptures to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:16)". (Pastoral letter of the archbishops and bishops of the United States assembled in conference at the Catholic University of America, September, 1919. Scripture references are in the text.)

Staretz Silouan. Wisdom for Free and Untroubled Prayer

"Many people like to read good books, and this is right, but it is best of all to pray; while he who reads newspapers or bad books destines his soul to go hungry—hungry because the food of the soul and her true satisfaction are in God. He who would pray freely and untroubled must keep himself in ignorance of the news in newspapers, nor should he read mean books or be curious to know the details of other people's lives. All these things fill the mind with thoughts that stain, and when one would try to sort them out they further entangle and weary. Now in God are life, joy, gladness, and the Lord loves us ineffably, and this love is made known by the Holy Spirit." (Startez Silouan, Wisdom from Mount Athos, pg. 83, St. Vladimir's Seminary Press)

Cyprian of Carthage. Born Again in the Water of Baptism

Jesus answered, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:5)".  

Caecilius Cyprian to Donatus sends, greeting:  “While I was still lying in darkness and gloomy night, wavering here and there, tossed about on the foam of this boastful age, and uncertain of my wandering steps, knowing nothing of my real life, and remote from truth and light, I regarded it a difficult matter, especially difficult in respect of my character at that time, that a man should be capable of being born again (Jn 3:3-8) — a truth which the divine mercy had announced for my salvation. How is it that a man, quickened to a new life in the laver of saving water, should be able to put off what he had previously been and still retaining all his bodily structure, should himself be changed in heart and soul. How, said I, is such a conversion possible, that there should be a sudden and rapid divestment of all which, either innate in us has hardened in the corruption of our material nature, or acquired by us has become addictive by long accustomed use? These things have become deeply and radically engrained within us. For as I myself was held in bonds by the innumerable errors of my previous life, from which I did not believe that I could be delivered, I despaired of better things. I was inclined to give in to my clinging vices and indulge my sins as if they were actually parts of me and indigenous to me. These were my frequent thoughts.

"But after that, by the help of the water of new birth, the stain of former years had been washed away, and a light from above, serene and pure, had been infused into my reconciled heart. By the agency of the Spirit breathed from heaven, a second birth had restored me to a new man. Then, in a wondrous manner, doubtful things at once began to become sure to me, hidden things to be revealed, dark things to be enlightened. What before had seemed difficult began to suggest a means of accomplishment; what had been thought impossible, to be capable of being achieved. I was enabled to acknowledge that what previously, being born of the flesh, had been living in the practice of sins, was of the earth and earthly, had now begun to be of God, and was animated by the Spirit of holiness… 

"That we sinned before was the result of human error whereas now that we do not sin it is the beginning of the work of faith. All our power is of God; I say, of God. From Him we have life, from Him we have strength. By power derived and conceived from Him we do, while yet in this world, foreknow the indications of things to come. Only let fear be the keeper of innocence, that the Lord, Who of His mercy has flowed into our hearts…may be kept by righteous submissiveness in the frame of a grateful mind, that the assurance we have gained may not lead to carelessness, and so the old enemy creep upon us again.” (St. Cyprian of Carthage (190-258 AD). Excerpts from his 1st Epistle "To Donatus" shortly after his Baptism about 246 AD. Bishop of Carthage, AD 248 until his martyrdom in 258.)

+ St. Cyprian, Pray for us +