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.)

Justin Martyr. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Sums Up All Righteousness

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? And Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets (Matt. 22:36-40).”

Justin Martyr: “For God sets before every race of mankind that which is always and universally just, as well as all righteousness. Every race knows that adultery, and fornication, and homicide, and such things (Matt. 15:18-19; Mark 7:20-22, 10:19; Ex. 20:12-17; Deut. 5:16-21) are sinful; and though they all commit such practices, they still do not escape from the knowledge that they act unrighteously whenever they do so, except for those who are possessed with an unclean spirit and who have been debased by education, by wicked customs, by sinful institutions, and who have lost, or rather quenched and buried their natural conscience. For we may see that such persons are unwilling to submit to the same things which they inflict upon others, and reproach each other with hostile consciences for the acts which they perpetrate.

"Consequently, I think that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ spoke well when He summed up all righteousness and piety in two commandments. They are these: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul and mind, and with all thy strength, and thy neighbor as thyself (Mark 12:30-31, Matt. 22:37-39, Luke 10:27, Deut. 6:5)." For the man who loves God with all his heart and with all his strength, being filled with a God-fearing mind, will reverence no other god (Ex. 20:2-6, Deut. 5:6-11, Matt. 4:10, Luke 4:8)…. And the man who loves his neighbor as himself will wish for him the same good things that he wishes, for himself for no man will wish evil things for himself. Accordingly, he who loves his neighbor would pray and labor that his neighbor may be possessed of the same benefits as himself…. Therefore, since all righteousness is divided into two branches in so far as it regards God and men; whoever, says the Scripture, loves the Lord God with all the heart and all the strength, and his neighbor as himself, would be truly a righteous man." (Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho Ch. 92, 132-135 A.D. Scripture references added for all who want to read these truths directly from the written and living Word of God.)

+ Justin Martyr, Pray for us +

US Bishops. Faith, Your Most Precious Possession

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:

"We would have you always bear in mind that your faith is your most precious possession and the foundation of your spiritual life, since "without faith, it is impossible to please God" (Heb. 11:6). Without faith, the outward forms of worship avail us nothing, the sacraments are beyond our reach, the whole plan and effect of redemption is made void. It behooves us, then, to guard with jealous care the treasure of faith by thankfulness to God for so great a gift and by loyalty to "the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15). The fact that unbelief is so common, that the firm and definite teaching of Christian truth is so often replaced by vague uncertain statements, and that even these are left to individual preference for acceptance or rejection — In a word, the fact that many no longer regard faith as of vital importance in religion, should make us all the more determined to "watch, stand fast in the faith, be courageous, be strong" (1 Cor. 16:13). While we cannot help but look with sorrow upon the decay of positive belief, let us recognize, with gratitude, the wisdom of Him who, being the "Author and finisher of our faith" (Heb 12:2), established in His Church a living authority to "teach all nations, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you" (Matt. 28:18-20). Let us also consider the splendid courage with which that mission has been accomplished through the centuries, by the witness of martyrs, the constancy of faithful Christians, the zeal of preachers and pastors, the firmness of Pontiffs who, amid the storms of error and the assaults of worldly power, stood fast in the faith upon the assurance given them by Christ: "the gates of hell shall not prevail" (Matt. 16:18).

"The Catholic who appreciates the blessing of faith and the sacrifices which generous men and women in all ages have made to preserve it, will take heed to himself and beware of the things by which some "have made shipwreck concerning the faith" (1 Tim. 1:19). For this disaster is usually the end and culmination of other evils, of sinful habits, of neglect of prayer and the sacraments, of cowardice in the face of hostility to one's belief, of weakness in yielding to the wishes of kindred or friends, of social ambition and the hope of advantage in business or public career. More subtle are the dangers arising from an atmosphere in which unbelief is mingled with culture and gentle refinement, or in which the fallacy spreads that faith is hopelessly at variance with scientific truth. To counteract these influences, it is necessary that those who love the truth of Christ, should "the more and more abound in knowledge and in all understanding" (Phil. 1:9). As they [those who love the truth of Christ] advance in years, they should lay firmer hold upon the teachings of religion and be prepared to explain and defend it. Thus, they will "continue in faith, grounded and settled and immovable from the hope of the Gospel" (Col. 1:23), always ready to give "a reason for that hope that is in them" (1 Peter 3:15), and, if needed to "contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints" (Jude, 3)." (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.)

Leo the Great. The Transfiguration: The Voice of God the Father

The Transfiguration of Jesus (Matt. 17:1-9, Mark 9:2-9, Luke 9:28-36)

"Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and brought them up to a high mountain by themselves…

 

“While he [Peter] was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is My Beloved Son, with Whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.‘ When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces, and were very much afraid. And Jesus came and touched them and said, ‘Arise, and do not be afraid.’ And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, except Jesus alone (Matt. 17:1, 5-8).”

Leo the Great:  “…as a bright cloud overshadowed them , behold a voice out of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, listen to Him (Matt. 17:5, Mark 9:7, Luke 9:35).” The Father was indeed present in the Son, and in the Lord’s brightness, which He had tempered to the disciples’ sight; the Father’s Essence was not separated from the Only-begotten. As the effulgence of the Son’s body was displayed to their sight, so the Father’s voice from out the cloud was heard by their ears. And when this Voice was heard, “the disciples fell upon their faces, and were sore afraid (Matt. 17:6, Luke 9:34),” trembling at the majesty…. For when the Father said, ‘This is My beloved Son, in Whom, I am well pleased; listen to Him,’ was it not clearly meant, This is My Son, Who is eternally from Me and with Me (John 8:42)? This is My Son, not adopted but true-born, not created from another source but begotten of Me, nor made like Me from another nature, but born equal to Me of My nature (John 1:14). This is My Son, “through Whom all things were made, and without Whom was nothing made (John 1:3).” All things that I do He does in like manner, and whatever I perform, He performs with Me inseparably (John 5:19) and without difference: for the Son is in the Father and the Father in the Son (John 14:11) and Our Unity is never divided. [John 10:30: "I and the Father are one."]

“Listen to Him, therefore, unhesitatingly, in Whom I am well pleased, and by Whose preaching I am manifested, by Whose humiliation I am glorified; because He is “the Truth and the Life (John 14:6),” He is My “Power and Wisdom (1 Cor. 1:24).” Listen to Him, Whom the mysteries of the Law have foretold [represented by Moses], Whom the mouths of prophets have sung [represented by Elijah]. Listen to Him, Who redeems the world by His blood (Eph. 1:7), Who binds the devil and carries off his captives (Matt. 12:28-29), Who destroys the bond of sin and the compact of the transgression (John 8:34-36, Rom. 5:15-18). Listen to Him, Who opens the way to heaven, and by the... the cross prepares for you the steps of ascent to the Kingdom. Why do you tremble at being redeemed? Why do you fear to be healed of your wounds? Let that happen which Christ wills and I will. Cast away all fleshly fear and arm yourselves with faithful constancy; for it is unworthy that you should fear in the Savior’s Passion what, by His good gift, you shall not have to fear even at your own end.

“These things, dearly-beloved, were said not only for those who heard them with their own ears, but in these three Apostles the whole Church has learned all that their eyes saw and their ears heard. Let all men’s faith be established according to the preaching of the most holy Gospel, and let no one be ashamed of Christ’s cross through which the world was redeemed. Let no one fear to suffer for righteousness’ sake, or doubt of the fulfilment of the promises…since all the weakness of our humanity was assumed by Him, in Whom, if we abide in the acknowledgment and love of Him, we conquer as He conquered and receive what he promised. Whether to the performance of His commands or to the endurance of adversities, the Father’s Voice should always be sounding in our ears, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased; listen to Him” Who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Pope St. Leo the Great, Bishop of Rome 440-461 A.D., excerpts of Homily 51 on the Transfiguration, given on the Saturday before the 2nd Sunday in Lent. Scripture references added.)

Gregory of Nyssa. Deposit of Faith Set Forth by the Lord

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...(John 1:1ff)".
 

St. Gregory of Nyssa:  "The Christian Faith, which in accordance with the command of our Lord, has been preached to all nations by His disciples, is neither of men, nor by men, but by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Who being the Word, the Life, the Light, the Truth, and God, and Wisdom, and all else that He is by nature, was made in the likeness of man, and shared our nature, becoming like us in all things, yet without sin. He was like us in all things, in that He took upon Himself manhood in its entirety with soul and body, so that our salvation was accomplished by means of both: He appeared on earth and conversed with men, that men might no longer have opinions according to their own notions about the Self-existent [I AM], formulating into a doctrine the hints that come to them from vague conjectures, but that we might be convinced that God has truly been manifested in the flesh, and believe that to be the only true “mystery of godliness (1 Tim. 3:16).” This was delivered to us by the very Word and God, Who by Himself spoke to His Apostles, and that we might receive the teaching concerning the transcendent nature of the Deity which is given to us, as it were, “through a glass darkly (1 Cor. 13:12)” from the older Scriptures: from the Law, and the Prophets, and the Wisdom Books, as evidence of the truth fully revealed to us. We reverently accept the meaning of the things which have been spoken, so as to accord in the faith set forth by the Lord of the whole Scriptures, which faith we guard as we received it, word for word, in purity, without falsification, judging even a slight divergence from the words delivered to us an extreme blasphemy and impiety. We believe, then, as the Lord set forth the Faith to His Disciples, when He said, “Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19).” This is the word of the mystery [Baptism] by which, through the new birth from above our nature is transformed from the corruptible to the incorruptible, being renewed from “the old man, according to the image of Him who created (Col. 3:9, 10)” at the beginning (Gen. 1:26, 27).
 
"In the Faith then which was delivered by God to the Apostles we admit neither subtraction, nor alteration, nor addition... For whatsoever is said otherwise than in exact accord with the truth is assuredly false and not true." (St. Gregory of Nyssa (333-398 AD), Bishop of Nyssa from A.D. 372 to 376, and from 378 until his death)

John Chrysostom. The Scriptures For Your Pilot

“Then Jesus opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” (Lk 24:25)

St. John Chrysostom:  “Delectable indeed are the meadow, and the garden, but far more delectable the study of the divine writings. For there indeed are flowers which fade, but here are thoughts which abide in full bloom; there is the gentle breeze, but here the breath of the Spirit: there is the hedge of thorns, but here is the guarding providence of God; there is the song of cicadae*, but here the melody of the prophets: there is the pleasure which comes from sight, but here the profit which comes from study. The garden is confined to one place, but the Scriptures are in all parts of the world; the garden is subject to the necessities of the seasons, but the Scriptures are rich in foliage, and laden with fruit alike in winter and in summer. Let us then give diligent heed to the study of the Scriptures: for if you do this the Scripture will expel your despondency, and engender pleasure, extirpate vice, and make virtue take root, and in the tumult of life it will save you from suffering like those who are tossed by troubled waves. The sea rages but you will sail on with calm weather; for you have the study of the Scriptures for your pilot; for this is the cable which the trials of life do not break asunder.”  (St. John Chrysostom, (347-407). Homily II, On Eutropius)

 

*ci·ca·dae (sĭ-kā-də) A large insect whose species are easily distinguishable by song… Most North American cicadas produce rhythmical ticks, buzzes, or whines, though the “song” of some species is musical.

Justin Martyr. The Word of Truth is Free

Jesus said...“If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (Jn 8:31, 32)

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St. Justin Martyr:  "The word of truth is free, and carries its own authority, refusing to fall under any skillful argument or the scrutiny of its hearers. It is believed for its own nobility, and for the confidence due to Him who sends it. Now the word of truth is sent from God; therefore the freedom claimed by the truth is not arrogant. For being sent with authority, it is not fitting that authority be required to produce proof of what is said; since there is no proof beyond itself, which is God.

God, the Father of the universe, who is the perfect intelligence, is the truth. And the Word, being His Son, came to us, having put on flesh, revealing both Himself and the Father, giving to us in Himself resurrection from the dead, and eternal life afterwards. And this is Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord. He, therefore, is Himself both the faith and the proof of Himself and of all things. Therefore, those who follow Him, and know Him, having faith in Him as their proof, shall rest in Him. But since the adversary does not cease to resist many, and uses many and various arts to ensnare them, that he may seduce the faithful from their faith, and that he may prevent the faithless from believing, it seems to me necessary that we also, being armed with the invulnerable doctrines of the faith, do battle against him in behalf of the weak."  (Justin Martyr (100-165). Excerpts from Fragments of his lost work on the Resurrection)