DAY 9
CHALLENGE
“Catholics should not depend on Tradition. Jesus says Tradition makes void the word of God (Matt. 15:6; cf. Mark 7:8, Col. 2:8).”
DEFENSE
Jesus did say that the Pharisees nullified God’s word for the sake of their tradition, but he did not condemn tradition itself. Indeed, Scripture’s attitude toward apostolic Tradition is positive.
Tradition is important to every person and every group of people. It represents our education, our culture, everything that has been handed on to us from previous generations. Tradition is—by definition—what is handed on. The term comes from the Latin word tradere, “to hand on.”
Some traditions, like some of the Pharisees’ traditions, can be harmful. Others, being of merely human origin, are not authoritative. Scripture lumps both under the heading “traditions of men.”
But not all traditions are in this category. For Christians, the Faith handed down to us from Christ and the apostles is of unparalleled importance. In Catholic circles, this passing down of the Faith is referred to as “Sacred Tradition” or “Apostolic Tradition” (with a capital “T” to distinguish it from other, lesser, “lowercase” traditions).
Initially, the apostles handed on the Faith orally—by preaching— but with time some of them and their associates wrote the New Testament documents, which together with the Old Testament comprise Sacred Scripture. Since Scripture has been handed down to us from the apostles, it is the inspired, written part of Sacred Tradition.
Whether or not an item of Tradition was written in Scripture, it is still important and binding. Thus the New Testament exhorts the reader to maintain Sacred Tradition (1 Cor. 11:2; 2 Thess. 3:6), and in 2 Thessalonians 2:15, Paul tells his readers to “stand firm and hold to the Traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter.”
Another noteworthy passage is 2 Timothy 2:2, in which Paul instructs his protégé, “what you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” Bearing in mind that Paul wrote this letter just before he died (cf. 2 Tim. 4:6–8), Paul is exhorting the transmission of Sacred Tradition across generations of Christian leaders—from his generation, to Timothy’s generation, to the ones that will follow.