THE ONE, TRUE, HOLY, CATHOLIC, APOSTOLIC CHURCH

 

 I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord, Who was conceived of the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, was Crucified, and Resurrected. I believe in the Holy Spirit.              I believe in the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.     I believe in the resurrection of the body.   I believe in life everlasting, Amen.

CC ….16      What is the relation between Tradition and Scripture ?

Tradition and Scripture have:

1.    A common Origin: both of them flow from the same Divine Source; that is God the Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

2.    They have the one and the same content:  both make present and fruitful in the Church the Mystery of Christ, who promised “to be with you always, till the end of time”. ((Mt. 28:20)

Tradition and Scripture are two distinct, but complimentary ways of transmission;

a)    Holy Tradition transmits by word of mouth the Word of God entrusted by Christ to the Apostles and their successors.  These, guided by the Holy Spirit, faithfully preserve, expound and spread it abroad by their preaching “till the end of time.”

b)    Holy Scripture is the spoken Word of God as it has been put into writing under the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

IN  BRIEF

·      Tradition, in the ecclesiastical sense, has nothing to do with the customs and and popular traditions condemned by the Lord. (Mk. 7:4; Mt.15:2).

·      Indeed, Apostolic Tradition is the “oral transmission of Divine Revelation” (by preaching) as the Master had commanded (Mt.28: 19 – 20; Mk.16:15).

·      In fact, on Pentecost Day (and long afterwards) the Apostles started to carry out the Divine Mandate by spreading the Gospel by word of mouth, not by writing.

·      The Church was flourishing (Acts, 2:41, 47) long before any part of the New Testament had started to be written.

·      The main part of this Tradition (the oral transmission of the Gospel) was later committed to writing by the Apostles and other men associated with them: thus, the Books of the New Testament came into being.

·      Tradition and Holy Scripture form two distinct but complimentary ways of transmission of the Good News. Both of them, however, flow from the same Divine Source: God the Father, His son, Jesus Christ  our Lord, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.    CC …. 17

Extracts by kind permission of  HG Mons. Sylvester Magro ofm, Apostolic Nuncio of Benghazi.