Learning at the Feet of Jesus
Jesus emphatically tells us that He is the truth, not a truth. So, how do we know that what the Catholic Church teaches in terms of faith and morals is the truth? How can we be sure that the one truth has been accurately passed down through more than 80 generations since Jesus walked on this earth? After all, there are thousands of splintered denominations of Christianity, each teaching something different. However, the Catholic Church continues to teach the exact things that came from Jesus to His apostles and their successors. We should also ask, how is it possible for the truth to be protected for more than 2,000 years?
A reasonable way to approach these questions is to look at them from a historical perspective. This is something not discussed in many Protestant denominations. The Church teaches that something called the “Deposit of Faith” contains everything God has revealed to us. And, while Revelation was closed at the death of the last living apostle, John, God continues to guide the Church into a deeper knowledge of those revealed truths.
God revealed His truth in two ways: 1. Sacred Scripture, or the bible, and 2. Sacred Tradition, or the oral teachings of the apostles and their successors. We will explore why the Church gives equal weight to both Scripture and Tradition and considers both to comprise the Deposit of Faith.
If God continues to act through the living authority of the Catholic Church in protecting the truth for future generations, how does He guarantee that the Church gets it right? The answer is through the Magisterium, or teaching authority (Pope and Bishops), guided by the Holy Spirit exactly as Jesus promised in John 14:16.
Our Protestant friends believe that everything we need to know about our faith is contained in the bible or Scripture alone. In other words, there is no need for Sacred Tradition or living interpretive authority. An individual can read and interpret Scripture themselves. This is the Protestant doctrine of Sola Scriptura. John tells us that not everything Jesus did is written down, so without Sacred Tradition, what are we missing? Also, if Sola Scriptura is a valid doctrine, then the doctrine itself would have to be included in Scripture, which it is not. The Catholic Church teaches that the bible is the inspired word of God and is critically important to our faith. But it also teaches that the oral teachings of the apostles carry equal importance. This is a primary difference between the Protestant and Catholic faiths and where the review of history should begin.
We first must acknowledge these fundamental historical facts: during the lifetime of Jesus, the apostles, and for the first four centuries, there was no official Canon of Scripture. There was no New Testament. In addition, there were no printing presses, bookstores, or bibles from which to teach and pass on the faith and truths of Christ. Christ never told the apostles to “write this down.” He did, however, tell them to “teach” and “proclaim” the gospel. In those days, teaching could mean writing letters, but it also meant telling others about Jesus.
The word tradition is defined as the passing on of a custom from generation to generation. Local and individual customs are considered little “t” traditions. We can think about Sacred Tradition (capital “T”) as teaching that comes directly from the source of truth but is not written down. With that source being Jesus himself, we can assume that the things, as John tells us, he taught but were not written down were no less relevant than the things that were written down. In fact, in 2 Thessalonians 2:15, Paul tells us: “Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.”
From a historical perspective, we would want to know that what we believe has been accurately passed on by someone who sat at the feet of someone who sat at the feet of someone who sat at the feet of someone going back to the source, Jesus. That is the Catholic Church, and that is Sacred Tradition. The apostles learned at the feet of Jesus, and then they passed that truth on to those who sat at their feet to learn precisely what Jesus taught. Those individuals are known as the Apostolic Fathers of the Church. They were disciples of the apostles. Throughout history, those teachings have been passed down through the successors of the apostles. Those successors are the Bishops of the Catholic Church.
Here are three examples of Sacred Tradition and our Apostolic Fathers. The first is St. Clement of Rome. He was a disciple of both Peter and Paul. Clement was consecrated as Pope by Peter himself. In one of his letters, he is settling a dispute regarding the authority of the truth. In it, he writes: “Those who the apostles anointed are the ones in possession of the truth.” Those anointed successors are the Bishops of the Catholic Church. The second is St. Ignatius of Antioch. He was a disciple of John and Peter. Teachings of Ignatius sound a lot like the Nicene Creed, which is the definitive statement of all Christian beliefs. It is important to note that the Creed was not written until almost 200 years later. Ignatius was also the first to use the term “Catholic” to describe the Church. He said wherever Jesus is, there you will find the Catholic Church as the depository of the truth. Remember, until the 1500s, virtually all Christians were Catholic. Finally, there is St. Polycarp. He was a disciple of John. He also orally taught the second generation of Christians. Again, there was no New Testament at the time, so he taught what he learned while sitting at the feet of John, who learned from sitting at the feet of Jesus.
Continuing with the theme of successors, Polycarp then went on to teach and disciple Irenaeus, who would then teach and disciple Hippolytus, and so on to the current Bishops of the Catholic Church. Sadly, all three of these Apostolic Fathers were unmercifully martyred for their protection and teaching of the truth. Clement was tied to an anchor and drowned; Ignatius was fed to the lions, and Polycarp, when given a chance to renounce Jesus, refused to do so. He was eventually stabbed to death because the fire set to him did not entirely consume him.
It is important to note that most Sacred Tradition was eventually included in Scripture. To be considered Sacred Tradition and part of the Deposit of Faith, the oral teaching cannot contradict anything in Scripture. The Magisterium guarantees it, and we can take comfort in that.
Interestingly, many non-Catholic Christians believe in doctrine that is not expressly written in the bible while at the same time believing that the bible is the sole authority of faith and morals. Examples of knowledge and teachings that come from apostolic succession and Sacred Tradition include the doctrine of the Trinity being three equal persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit); the hypostatic union of Christ (meaning He had both a divine nature and a human nature); and the Marion doctrine that she is the Theotokos (Greek for God-bearer, and not simply the mother of a human named Jesus). These are Sacred Traditions of truth, part of the Deposit of Faith not expressly written in Scripture, passed on by the apostles and their successors, guided by the Holy Spirit, and guarded and protected by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church.
It might be helpful to look at an example of what can happen when things are left strictly to individuals’ interpretations of “scripture alone.” Two primary figures in the Protestant Reformation were Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli. Luther, a former Catholic priest, believed in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, while Zwingli argued that the Eucharist was completely symbolic. In 1527, they met to debate the issue. This episode might be considered the first “splinter” in Protestantism because, interestingly, each person appealed to the exact same Scripture to prove their point. How can that be if there is only one truth or the truth, as Jesus calls it? Luther went his way, and Zwingli went his way to preach a different truth to anyone who would listen. Today, the Protestant faiths align primarily with Zwingli, John Calvin, and others who say the Eucharist is symbolic. The Catholic faith affirms precisely what Jesus taught and what those who sat at His feet taught to their successors who teach us today. Jesus said, “This is my body” and “This is the blood of the new covenant,” and that unless by faith you believe it and receive it, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Those are Jesus’ words, not something the Church invented. The Church, however, guards and protects those words and that truth. Until the Reformation 1,500 years later, the Real Presence was never questioned.
In conclusion, of course, the bible as the inspired word of God is vital to our faith. But so are the things taught by the apostles and their successors that were not written down. Together, Scripture and Tradition comprise the Deposit of Faith. It is the two-fold role of the Catholic Church to guard the truth and provide a deeper knowledge of that truth.
This is precisely how Jesus designed the Church. He built it to be His living interpretive authority throughout time when in John 14:16 He tells the apostles: “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name—he will teach you everything and remind you of all that [I] told you.” Teach and remind them and their successors. The authority of the Church comes not from individuals acting on their interpretive behalf but from the line of apostolic succession that begins with Christ. Once we understand this, we no longer need to wonder which truth to believe. The answer becomes simple; we believe the complete Deposit of Faith (Scripture and Tradition) is what Christ taught and handed on to his apostles and their successors, who all have a direct line back to those who literally sat at the feet of Jesus.