??? I just don’t understand this; Christ quoted scripture constantly, and you seem to undermine the importants of it.
No, I don’t.
You tend to think I undermine the importance of it, because non-Catholics think that God intended us to learn His teachings from scripture. This is not true. God intended us to learn His Gospel through the Gospel that the Church taught and preached. No where did Jesus say salvation comes from reading or studying scripture. Jesus did say salvation comes from believing the Gospel His Church taught and preached. (Mark 16:16)
Now, that said, the Church teaches scripture, Tradition (the Gospel the apostles handed down) and those who have authority to teach are all equally important.
Scripture is important, first to give us salvation history.
A detailed account of salvation history could not be handed down in Tradition.
Scripture is important to give us the life of Jesus, since we are supposed to learn who He is, not only by teachings handed down in Tradition, but also by His example. Thus, the Church teaches, “not to know scripture is not to know Christ”
The Church teaches that scripture is important as a witness to the teachings handed down and to nourish and illuminate those teaching. For example, the Church teaches that Jesus is God, because that is the doctrine the apostles learned from Jesus and the Holy Spirit and that is the doctrine they handed down to their successors, the Pope and the bishops of the Catholic Church. But, then when that doctrine is taught, the teacher is supposed to use scripture as a witness to this teaching and to illuminate and nourish that teaching. Thus, the teacher should quote those verses of scripture that refer to the teaching that Jesus is God. This way the student can learn the teaching better and it will stick in his memory better. This is how all Catholics should teach the Gospel. That is how Jesus used scripture. Jesus did not learn from scripture, because He already knew everything. But He quoted from scripture to help His listeners understand His teachings better.
Catholic teachers are supposed to do the same. Pope Piux X has an encyclical “On Christian Doctrine” which explains this method. Unfortunately it is not usually done correctly. The Church teachings about Mary are difficult to understand. But, if the teachers would use scripture to show how Mary is the new Ark of the Covenant, and use other examples of typology, they would greatly help the listeners understand the teachings the apostles handed down. Unfortunately, this is seldom done.
Thus, the Church does NOT use scripture as the original source of the teachings of the Gospel, because Jesus taught the apostles “everything” and thus the apostles could not have learned anything new from scripture. The Church quotes scripture, NOT as evidence of doctrines she has learned from scripture, because the Church already knew the Gospel before a word of the NT was written, but to help us understand the doctrines better, and as a witness to the teachings of the Gospel. That is why the Catechism often presents a teaching by quoting scripture. The Church did not learn the Gospel teaching from scripture, but scripture will help us understand it better.
Since Jesus taught the whole and complete Gospel to the apostles, and intended everyone to be saved through listening to this Gospel, then there is no reason why all doctrines should be in scripture. And they aren’t. While the four written Gospels give the life and some teachings of Jesus, there is no reason why these teachings should be clear and explicit. For Jesus intended us to learn His Gospel through the Church and not through scripture. That is why what is written is never perfectly clear and explicit to those who don’t know the Gospel.
For example, the teachings on the Eucharist in scripture are not clear to those who don’t know the Gospel teachings handed down.
But, to Catholics who know the teachings, then the scriptures about the Eucharist make sense, and they help us understand the Church teachings better.
