The only Teaching of Christ we have are the Scriptures which makes Sola Scriptura true.
The Church had the teachings of Christ deposited in Tradition before the New Testament was finally written and compliled by her. Scripture comes from Tradition and is an expression and confirmation of it in literary form. Theophilus certainly had these teachings before Luke decided to write them down:
Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning and ministers of the word have handed them down to us, I too have decided, after investigating everything accurately anew, to write it down in an orderly sequence for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received.
{Luke 1, 1-4}
Luke is the first known Christian - a true Catholic - to have drawn a parallel between Mary, the mother of our Lord, and the Ark of the Covenant. By reading the evangelist’s prologue, it is evident that Scripture is not the sole medium of divine revelation. In fact, Tradition preceded Scripture, and so Scripture is infallible only because Tradition is infallible. Luke wrote what the Church had already inerrantly believed and taught. And he wrote the Gospel to confirm the Church’s traditional beliefs and assure the faithful of their veracity. Thus Scripture must always be interpreted in light of Tradition which has been handed down to us by the Apostles, who were commissioned to preach the Gospel - not write it.
“Of this you have already heard through the word of truth, the gospel, that has come to you.”
{1 Colossians 1, 5}
“If I do not find it in the Scriptures, I will not believe the Gospels; on my saying to them, It is written, they answered me, That remains to be proved. But to me Jesus Christ is in the place of all that is ancient: His cross and death and resurrection, and the faith which is by Him are undefiled monuments of antiquity.”
Ignatius of Antioch, ‘Epistle to the Philadelphians’ (c. A.D. 110)
In the spirit of Peter and Paul, Ignatius is referring to the contentions of the Jews who rejected the Church’s traditional beliefs about the Messiah. The early Church drew most of what she understood about the Christ from the Old Testament Scriptures. Of course, the Jews objected to the Church’s interpretations of the Messianic prophecies, as they still do today. Ignatius is telling the Jews that the Church’s traditional beliefs are contained in the Old Testament, only the Scriptures aren’t as explicit and clear as the Jews would like them to be. The proof is there before their eyes, but for some reason the Jews fail to perceive and grasp the evidence. I cite this extract because the situation reminds me of the Protestant contention against the Church’s traditional Marian beliefs and doctrines. As with her Christological doctrines, only the Church has the apostolic authority, conferred by Christ, to interpret Scripture in light of her traditional beliefs and faith. :yup:
“Those, therefore, who desert the preaching of the Church, call in question the holy presbyters, not taking into consideration of how much greater consequence is a religious man, even in a private station, than a blasphemous and impudent sophist.
Now, such are all the heretics, and those who imagine they have hit upon something more beyond the truth, so that by following those things already mentioned, proceeding on their way variously, inharmoniously, and foolishly, not keeping always to the same opinions with regard to the same things (Sounds like a divided Protestantism which can’t agree on the meaning of faith and justification, etc.), as blind men are led by the blind, they shall deservedly fall into the ditch of ignorance lying in their path, ever seeking and never finding out the truth. It behooves us, therefore, to avoid their doctrines (Sola Scriptura for one), and to take careful heed lest we suffer any injury from them; but to flee to the Church, and be brought up in her bosom, and be nourished in the Lord’s Scriptures.”
In other words, Irenaeus is telling us in his work ‘Against Heresies’ ( A.D. 180 ) that Scripture must be interpreted in light of Tradition - and only by the apostolic teaching authority of the Catholic Church. Irenaeus is considered by many to be the Church’s first bonafide Mariologist. So that makes him Catholic.
Pax vobiscum
Good Fella
uch:
