Catechism of the Catholic Church
Christ commanded the apostles to preach the Gospel to communicate the gifts of God to all men. This Gospel was to be the source of all saving truth and moral discipline. The Gospel was handed on in two ways: orally – preaching – and in writing.
The bishops are the apostles’ successors. The apostles gave them their own position of teaching authority. The Father’s self-communication made through his Word in the Holy Spirit, remains present and active in the Church.
The relationship between Tradition and Sacred Scripture
“Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture are bound closely together and communicate one with the other. Sacred Scripture is the speech of God as it is put down in writing under the Holy Spirit. Tradition transmits in its entirety the Word of God which has been entrusted to the apostles. It transmits it to the successors of the apostles so that they may faithfully preserve, expound and spread it. Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honoured with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.
The New Testament itself demonstrate the process of living Tradition, which the first generation of Christians did not have. Tradition is to be distinguished from the various theological, disciplinary, liturgical or devotional traditions, born in the local churches over time. These traditions can be retained, modified or even abandoned under the guidance of the Church’s Magisterium.
The interpretation of the heritage of Faith
The apostles entrusted the ‘Sacred deposit’ of the faith contained in Sacred Scripture and Tradition, to the whole of the Church. The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, has been entrusted to the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome. This Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God but is its servant.
The Church’s Magisterium exercises the authority it fully holds from Christ when it proposes truths contained in divine Revelation – dogmas – or also when it proposes in a definitive way truths having a necessary connection with them. Dogmas are lights along the path of faith. If our life is upright, our intellect and heart will be open to welcome the light shed by the dogmas of faith. The mutual connections between dogmas, and their coherence, can be found in the whole of the Revelation of the mystery of Christ.
The supernatural sense of faith
All the faithful share in understanding and handing on revealed truth. They have received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, who instructs them and guides them into all truth. “The whole body of the faithful… cannot err in matters of belief. This characteristic is shown in the supernatural appreciation of faith.
Thanks to the assistance of the Holy Spirit, the understanding of both the realities and the words of the heritage of faith can grow in the life of the Church: through the contemplation and study of believers, from the intimate sense of spiritual realities which [believers] experience, the reading of sacred Scriptures and from the preaching.
It is clear therefore 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 under the action of the Holy Spirit.
Next week we will be exploring paragraphs 101 to 141, ‘Sacred Scripture’.