Dear friends,

In the Catholic Church, we recognize two sources of authority: the written, inspired word of God (Sacred Scripture) and the living tradition of Christ's Bride, the Church. In this, there are two "fonts' that lead the faithful and protect the truth from being usurped by error. However, it isn't so clean-cut since tradition and scripture are intertwined. Going back to the Abrahamic tribe, the Word of God was passed on orally. In this sense, Scripture has its roots in the oral tradition of those who encountered the Lord and were inspired by God to write it down.

Our Catechism gives a good explanation of "divine inspiration" below:

105 God is the author of Sacred Scripture. "The divinely revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of Sacred Scripture, have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit."

106 God inspired the human authors of the sacred books. "To compose the sacred books, God chose certain men who, all the while he employed them in this task, made full use of their own faculties and powers so that, though he acted in them and by them, it was as true authors that they consigned to writing whatever he wanted written, and no more."

107 The inspired books teach the truth. "Since therefore all that the inspired authors or sacred writers affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures."

When it comes to tradition, the Church sees the importance of maintaining and protecting the traditions of the Faith. The reason for this is that what has been revealed can be falsely interpreted. There are many early Church heresies that deal with radical misinterpretations of Sacred Scripture. For example, there was the Gnostic heresy, which proposed that there are two gods: a good god who is hidden and reveals himself to a select few and the evil god who created the material world. The good god is spiritual, and the evil god trapped our souls in the world of the flesh. This all came from false Scriptures and misinterpretations of Scripture. This is why the living tradition of the faith is so important, not to police the faithful but to protect and proclaim the truth.

Paul actually speaks about this role of the Church in 1st Timothy chapter 3, verses 14-15, when he says, “I am writing to you about these matters, although I hope to visit you soon. But if I should be delayed, you should know how to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth." Paul mentions the Church as the pillar of the truth that has been revealed meaning the support erected by Christ and the foundation, better translated as "bulwark," provides a defense of the truth; think Matthew chapter 16 verse 18-19 when our Lord says, "And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Here, Jesus gives the poignant title of "Peter," which translates to "rock," to Simon as he establishes the Apostolic tradition and succession of authority. The Church, therefore protects what we would call "capital T tradition" while also preserving and cultivating what we would call "lowercase t tradition."

Capital T tradition deals with those revealed truths that are essential to the Christian life. We call this the "Deposit of Faith," which can be likened to a vault of revealed truth throughout salvation history and ending with the final revelation of Christ. This deposit of faith is what is protected by the Church and cannot be changed or modified. However, the Church unpacks and clarifies what has been revealed in the Church dogmas. Here again, I will quote the Catechism:

88 The Church's Magisterium exercises the authority it holds from Christ to the fullest extent when it defines dogmas, that is, when it proposes, in a form obliging the Christian people to an irrevocable adherence of faith, truths contained in divine Revelation or also when it proposes, in a definitive way, truths having a necessary connection with these.

89 There is an organic connection between our spiritual life and the dogmas. Dogmas are lights along the path of faith; they illuminate it and make it secure. Conversely, if our life is upright, our intellect and heart will be open to welcome the light shed by the dogmas of faith.

In this, we see a living tradition in what Christ has revealed and established, that it is to be protected and proclaimed.

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