I have a fundamentalist friend who does not believe in private revelation.
That all revelation ended with the death of the last Apostle. Jesus taught everything there was to teach and his Apostles passed that on and then, no more revelation including private revelation after John dies.
I am having a hard time defending the existence of ongoing private revelation from Scripture.
Can anyone claify this for me.
Thanks
I’m not sure just what you mean by “private revelation”. The Catholic Church recognizes that God sometimes communicates in a miraculous way with certain individuals (called “private revelation”), but any revelations given in that way are not binding. There is room for much deception in such private revelations and the first thing that must be determined is whether they are from God or from the devil, or just one’s own imagination and thinking. No true revelation from God would contradict Church teaching (Sacred Scripture is part of Church teaching).
The Church does believe that public revelation ceased with the death of the last apostle - and that those teachings were handed down both orally (Tradition - always written with a capital “T”) and written down (New Testament). All the truths required for our salvation are contained in Sacred Scripture (both Testaments) and Sacred Tradition. The Catholic Church does believe in the development (further understanding) of the truths contained therein.
Here are a few paragraphs from the Catechism of the Catholic Church on this matter - underlining is mine. You might like to go to the site and read to #95
vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__PL.HTM
#82 As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, “does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honoured with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.”
Apostolic Tradition and ecclesial traditions
#83 The Tradition here in question comes from the apostles and hands on what they received from Jesus’ teaching and example and what they learned from the Holy Spirit. the first generation of Christians did not yet have a written New Testament, and the New Testament itself demonstrates the process of living Tradition.
Tradition is to be distinguished from the various theological, disciplinary, liturgical or devotional traditions, born in the local churches over time. These are the particular forms, adapted to different places and times, in which the great Tradition is expressed. In the light of Tradition, these traditions can be retained, modified or even abandoned under the guidance of the Church’s Magisterium.
…
The Magisterium of the Church
…
#86 “Yet this Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God, but is its servant. It teaches only what has been handed on to it. At the divine command and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it listens to this devotedly, guards it with dedication and expounds it faithfully. All that it proposes for belief as being divinely revealed is drawn from this single deposit of faith.”
…
