Who Needs The Church? I Have a Bible

Many Protestants believe that the sole rule of faith is Scripture. God's Word, the Bible, is enough for them, since they claim the Bible gave rise to the Church. Therefore they say the Church has no real authority to interpret the Bible. For these people, each individual Christian has a right to interpret the Bible. How do Catholics respond?

The "Scripture alone" [sola scriptura] and private interpretation doctrines originated with Martin Luther in the sixteenth century. They were unknown for over fifteen hundred years. Before Luther, all Christians believed that the Old Testament gradually grew out of the living Tradition of the Jewish Church as taught by the patriarchs and prophets, and that the New Testament grew out of the living Tradition of the Catholic Church as contained in the preaching of the Apostles. Before Luther, all believed that the pope and the bishops, the successors of the Apostles, had, from Christ, the authority to interpret the Scripture authentically.

he first Christians did not have a New Testament Bible to read because it was not yet written. They could not have said the Bible was their sole guide to faith. How did the first Christians come to know Christ's saving message? They had the Apostles who had lived with Christ and who had received from Him firsthand knowledge and understanding of his life and teachings and who were commanded by Him to reach to all nations (Mt. 28:19). Some of what the Apostles preached, they or their disciples later wrote down under divine inspiration in what we call the four Gospels. The Second Vatican Council says: "For after the ascension of the Lord, the apostles handed on to their hearers what he had said and done, but with that fuller understanding which they, instructed by the glorious events of Christ and enlightened by the Spirit of truth, now enjoyed. The sacred authors, in writing the four Gospels, selected certain of the many elements which had been handed on, either orally or already in written form, others they synthesized or explained with an eye to the situation of the churches. While sustaining the form of preaching, but always in such a fashion that they have told us the honest truth about Jesus. Whether they relied on their own memory and recollections or on the testimony of those who 'from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word,' their purpose in writing was that we might know the 'truth' concerning the things of which we have been informed (cf. Lk. 1:2-4)" (Constitution on Divine Revelation, No.19).

St. Paul alludes to the existence of an oral Tradition alongside his written Epistles when, in 2 Thes. 2:14, he says: "Stand firm, then brothers and keep the traditions that we taught you, whether by word of mouth or by letter." Paul commands his disciple, Timothy, to pass on to others all that he taught him: "You have heard everything that I teach in public; hand it on to reliable people so that they in turn will be able to teach others" (2 Tim. 2:2). He reminds us that people come to faith through the preached word (Rom. 10:17). He congratulates the Corinthians for being faithful to Tradition (1 Cor. 11:2).

he early Christians first heard Christ's message of salvation in spoken form. St. Peter said, "But the word of the Lord remains forever. What is this word? It is the Good News that has been preached to you" (1 Pet. 1:25).

The truths Christ taught which are included in the oral teachings of the Apostles are called Tradition. This "Tradition" is different from the "traditions" of the scribes and the Pharisees which Christ so often criticized (Mt. 15:3, 6-9). Christ's criticism was of the mere human precepts that crept into the Jewish religion and which often were given more importance than the moral law itself (Mt. 23:23).

The Tradition of the truths of Christ, orally transmitted by the Apostles, constitutes the deposit of Christian truth, originating with Christ Himself. From the deposit of faith the Apostles or their disciples composed, under God's guidance, the Gospels and the other New Testament writings. This Tradition is a vehicle of divine revelation. As such, it is equal in importance to Scripture. Vatican II explains: "Sacred Tradition and sacred Scripture . . . are bound closely together, and communicate one with the other. For both of them, flowing out from the same divine wellspring, come together in some fashion to from one thing, and move towards the same goal. Sacred Scripture is the speech of God as it is put in writing under the breath of the Holy Spirit. And Tradition transmits in its entirety the Word of God which has been entrusted to the apostles by Christ . . . and the Holy Spirit. It transmits it to the successors of the apostles so that, enlightened by the Spirit of truth, they may faithfully preserve, expound and spread it abroad by their preaching. Thus it comes about that the Church does not draw her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone . . . both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with . . . equal devotion and reverence. Sacred Tradition and sacred Scripture make up a single sacred deposit of the Word of God, which is entrusted to the Church" (Constitution on Divine Revelation, Nos. 9 & 10).

he Apostles knew more than what is contained in the New Testament, as John says: "There were many other signs that Jesus worked and the disciples saw, but they are not recorded in this book. These are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing this you may have through his name: (Jn. 20:30-31); also, "There were many other things that Jesus did; if all were written down, the world itself, I supposes, would not hold all the books that would have to be written" (Jn. 21:25).

The Apostles lived with Christ for three years; the entire New Testament may be read in about twenty-four hours. Clearly, the Apostles knew more about Christ's teaching than what was committed to writing in the New Testament. Until the New Testament was committed to writing, Christians learned their faith from the oral teaching of the Apostles.

acred Tradition, everything the Apostles learned from Christ which was not recorded in the New Testament, was preserved and handed on by the successors of the Apostles, the bishops of the Catholic Church. What the Apostles handed on, whether in written or spoken form, "comprises everything that serves to make the People of God live their lives in holiness and increase their faith:" (Constitution on Divine Revelation, No. 8).

The Church believes that "no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of Our Lord, Jesus Christ," at the end of time (ibid., No. 4). Before the New Testament was written, the earliest Christians believed, substantially, every Catholic doctrine we believe now. All formal, public revelation, made by Christ and necessary for salvation, ceased with the death of the last Apostle, John. Christian people must now accept all that Christ revealed on faith and strive to come to a better and clearer understanding of it in their lives.

"The Tradition that comes from the apostles makes progress in the Church, with the help of the Holy Spirit. There is a growth in insight into the realities and words that are being passed on . . . It comes from the intimate sense of spiritual realities which they experience . . . from the preaching of those who have received, along with their right of succession in the episcopate, the sure charism of truth. Thus, as the centuries go by, the Church is always advancing towards the plenitude of divine truth, until eventually, the words of God are fulfilled in her" (Ibid., No. 8).

Since the Church, in the persons of the Apostles and their disciples adopted the Old Testament from the Jews and wrote the New Testament, the faithful have a sure knowledge of the meaning of Scripture through the Spirit-guided teaching authority of the Catholic Church. The relationship between Scripture, Tradition and the Church is outlined by Vatican II: "But the task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, whether in written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone. Its authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ. Yet the Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God, but is its servant. It teaches only what has been handed on to it. At the divine command and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it listens to this devotedly, guards it . . . and expounds it faithfully. All that it proposes for belief as being divinely revealed is drawn from this single deposit of faith. It is clear . . . that, in the supremely wise arrangement of God, sacred Tradition, sacred Scripture and the Magisterium of the Church are so connected and associated that one of them cannot stand without the others. Working together, each in its own way under the action of the one Holy Spirit, they all contribute effectively to the salvation of souls" (Ibid., No. 10).

hat the Church is the guardian and official interpreter of both Scripture and Tradition, is revealed by Christ in such Gospel passages as: "Anyone who listens to you listens to me; anyone who rejects you rejects me;" (Lk. 10:16); also, "And I say to you, you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Mt. 16:18). Christ promised the Church would not teach errors in truths necessary for salvation by the fact that He intended to send the Holy Spirit, "to be with you forever, that Spirit of Truth" who "will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you" (Jn. 14:17,26). If the Church ever taught error, this would make Christ a liar. It would mean He never intended what He promised, namely, to send the Spirit. And the gates of hell would have prevailed, something He said would not happen.

Peter, the first pope, certainly excludes all private interpretation of Scripture, by remarking, with reference to Paul's letters: "He always writes like this when he deals with this sort of subject, and this makes some points in his letter hard to understand; these are points that uneducated and unbalanced people distort, in the same way as they distort the rest of scripture -- a fatal thing for them to do" (2 Pet. 3:16).