Tradition

What was handed on

The New Testament word is paradosis (παράδοσις), something handed over. The gospel itself first came as tradition in this sense: "what I received I passed on to you as of first importance" (1 Corinthians 15:3). Paul tells the Thessalonians:

Therefore, brothers, stand firm and cling to the traditions we taught you, whether by speech or by letter.

2 Thessalonians 2:15

Yet Jesus rebuked the Pharisees: "You have disregarded the commandment of God to keep the tradition of men" (Mark 7:8). Scripture therefore speaks of two kinds of tradition: the apostolic gospel, to be held fast, and human traditions that "nullify the word of God" (Mark 7:13). The church has always had to tell them apart.

How the church has kept it

In the second century, when Gnostic teachers claimed a secret tradition from the apostles, Irenaeus of Lyons pointed instead to the public faith that churches throughout the world had received from the apostles and kept with one mind, the ‘rule of truth’ Irenaeus, Against Heresies. That summary was not a new teaching beside Scripture but the storyline of Scripture itself, and it grew into creeds such as the Apostles' and the Nicene. In the fifth century Vincent of Lérins urged Christians to hold "that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all" Vincent of Lérins, Commonitory. The Reformers did not abandon tradition. Calvin gladly received the early councils such as Nicaea and Chalcedon, because, he said, they interpreted Scripture rightly Calvin, Institutes 4.9.

Where the traditions differ

The Catholic Church teaches that Scripture and Sacred Tradition flow from the same divine wellspring and form one sacred deposit of the word of God, which the Magisterium interprets as its servant Dei Verbum. It distinguishes the Tradition that comes from the apostles from the many customs that have arisen in the church over time Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Orthodox often describe Tradition as the life of the Holy Spirit in the church, with Scripture at its centre as its highest witness, read with the Fathers, the councils and the liturgy. Both read 2 Thessalonians 2:15 as evidence that the apostles' teaching was handed on both in writing and by word of mouth.

The churches of the Reformation hold that what the apostles taught by speech and by letter was one gospel, which now comes to us securely in Scripture. Wesley notes on the verse, "He preached before he wrote" Wesley, and Matthew Henry writes: "We have no certain proof of any thing having been delivered by the apostles, more than what we find contained in the Holy Scriptures" Matthew Henry. The Belgic Confession says:

Neither may we compare any writings of men, though ever so holy, with those divine Scriptures; nor ought we to compare custom, or the great multitude, or antiquity, or succession of times or persons, or councils, decrees, or statutes, with the truth of God

Belgic Confession, Art. 7

So Protestants treasure tradition but keep it in the place of a servant under Scripture (see the sufficiency of Scripture). How much weight it carries still varies among them. Anglicans and Lutherans have kept much of the church's ancient worship; Wesley put Scripture first and used tradition, reason and experience with it Albert Outler, The Wesleyan Quadrilateral in Wesley; free churches are wary of binding themselves to any document beside the Bible. See also the lesson The sources of theology and How do Catholics and Protestants differ?