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Stand Firm

In this article I would like to put forward an explanation for the Catholic Church's position on Scripture, Sacred Tradition (not to be confused with human tradition) and Papal authority. Whilst I know that some readers will disagree with me, I feel that it is important to get to know each others' beliefs in order to further ecumenical understanding and dialogue.

In Catholic belief, the Truth passed onto the Catholic Church from Christ Himself is referred to as the `deposit of faith'. This Truth is made up of two components, Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, which are faithfully interpreted by the Church. I find it hard to describe accurately what Sacred Tradition is, but essentially it is `the other part' of the revealed Word of God, containing truths such as the assumption of Mary. It also clarifies certain areas of the Bible e.g. when Jesus said "for those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained" (John 20:23), He instituted the sacrament of confession. Sacred Tradition should be considered equal to Sacred Scripture since it was in the light of Tradition that the Bible was put together by the Church over the space of roughly one hundred years. Biblical evidence pointing towards Tradition in the Early Church can be found in 2 Thessalonians 2:15: "Stand firm, then, brothers, and keep the traditions that we taught you, whether by word of mouth or by letter". Similarly also in Titus 1:9: "and he must have a firm grasp of the unchanging message of the tradition, so that he can be counted on for both expounding the sound doctrine and refuting those who argue against it".

Sacred Tradition, however, is not something merely static, but Church understanding of it develops over time (John 16:13). However it cannot be re-interpreted at a later date to mean something completely different. It also must not be confused with changeable human traditions, such as which seat I sit in at church on a Sunday. Indeed certain human traditions Jesus specifically condemned for being used to nullify the Commandments of God (see Mark 7 :1 13).

Despite Sacred Scripture and Tradition appearing extremely clear on certain points, there will always be those areas that are less clear and over which different opinions may arise. It is possible for certain parts of Scripture to have many different threads of meaning running through them, as St. Augustine pointed out in his book The Confessions. These may all be correct interpretations. But at times different interpretations may contradict each other. For large parts of the Bible, the Catholic Church doesn't have a `laid out' interpretation, although on some areas it does, such as the Eucharist. However the Church does have the guidance of the Holy Spirit to help her in discerning Truth from error. St. Paul referred to this in 1 Timothy 3:15, where he referred to "the Church of the living God, which upholds the truth and keeps it safe". Clearly this is a great gift from God to help us safeguard the Truth, as to try on our own to sift through all the various arguments to find the Truth would be an impossible task. As experience of court cases shows, there is no relationship between how convincing something is and how true it is. St. Augustine wrote in his Confessions (Book V, [VI], 10):

…Of Thyself [God] therefore had I now learned, that neither ought anything to seem to be spoken truly, because eloquently; nor therefore falsely, because the utterance of the lips is inharmonious;…but that wisdom and folly, are as wholesome or unwholesome food; and adorned or unadorned phrases, as courtly or country vessels; either kind of meats may be served up in either kind of dishes.

Photo: www.freestockphotos.com

Discussing Church authority therefore leads me onto Papal authority and its origins in the New Testament.

Photo: www.freestockphotos.com

Starting with Matthew 23:23, we clearly see Jesus pointing to an authority of the scribes and Pharisees, dating back to Moses:

The scribes and Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses. You must therefore do what they tell you and listen to what they say; but do not be guided by what they do: since they do not practise what they preach.

St. Matthew's Gospel was written for the Jews and contains many examples of scriptural prophesies, of which the Jews were familiar, being fulfilled, thereby proving Jesus to be the Messiah. In the case of Papal authority, the same technique is used. In Isaiah 22:1922, we find the following:

I dismiss you from your office, I remove you from your post, and the same day I call on my servant Eliakim, son of Hilkiah. I invest him with your robe, gird him with your sash, entrust him with your authority; and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the House of Judah. I place the key of the House of David on his shoulder; should he open, no one shall close, should he close, no one shall open.

This is then fulfilled in Matthew 16:1819:

So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.

The position of St. Peter as leader of the Apostles and as Christ's deputy or Vicar, is further shown in the New Testament in John 20:38. Although St. John reaches the tomb of the risen Christ first, he waits outside and lets St. Peter enter first out of respect. Only after this he then goes in himself. His leadership is also further shown in Acts, where it is he out of all the Apostles who addresses the crowds (e.g. Acts 1:1526 and Acts 2 :1441). His guidance by the Holy Spirit is then further shown in the fraud of Ananias and Sapphira in which they both fall dead at his feet for lying to him, and therefore God: " `It is not to men that you have lied, but to God.' When he heard this Ananias fell down dead. This made a profound impression on everyone present." (For the full account see Acts 5:111.)

Photo of Pope John Paul II: The Vatican

However, despite this authority, individual members of clergy and laity can fall into error, even popes, and down the centuries there have not only been saintly popes but also anti-popes (heretical popes). If a pope falls into error he automatically ceases to be pope and a new one then needs to be elected. David Albert Jones OP, au thor of Christianity An Introduction to the Catholic Faith wrote (page 28):

Since the earliest times some people have become impatient with weak and sinful Christians in the Church… However, Jesus taught that, until the last judgement, the Church would always be a mixed body in which saints and sinners, wheat and weeds, grow together Matthew 13:2430

The good news is though, that despite individual Catholics can fall into error, the Church herself cannot fall into error as "the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it [the Church]" (Matthew 16:18b). To say otherwise would be to accuse Jesus of deception.

I hope following this article the Catholic Church's position is now clearer. Whilst I do not expect my article to re-unite Christendom, I hope I have cleared away a few misconceptions and showed some of the reasoning behind the Catholic Church's beliefs regarding the Truth.

Michael Puljic

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Last modified: 25th November 2005