So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter.
2 Thessalonians 2:15
Permit me to be a bit
candid and open about some of my thinking.
There have been a number of
times when I have thought fondly of my time in Protestant Christianity. I had many wonderful friends, and, of course,
my dear family. I was an ordained
minister and preached the gospel regularly 3 times per week to my
congregation. “But whatever gain I had,
I counted as loss for the sake of Christ,” [Phil. 3:7]. I have said before that I did not need to
abandon all I learned as a Protestant when I became Catholic. My Catholic faith simply perfected what I had
previously known. Many elements
emphasized among Protestants are part of Catholic Faith and Catholics would do
well to take note and begin to emphasize them too; things such as genuine conversion
to Christ, a love for Sacred Scripture, a reliance on the power of the Holy
Spirit, boldly sharing the love of Christ with others, and a heart set on the
holiness of heaven. But when I am
tempted to look back and wonder if the Protestants were right and I was wrong
to become Catholic I remember what is written in the passage above.
St. Paul writes to the
Thessalonians about our common salvation.
He reminds them that God chose them for salvation [v. 13], and called them
to attain “the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ,” [v. 14]. But how do we do it? How does such a transaction take place? By holding to the traditions handed on by the
apostles.
Before there was a written,
collated, and circulated New Testament, the early Christians were taught by the
tradition of the Apostles. That
tradition was taken from the teachings of our Lord Himself. The Scripture itself asserts that not
everything that Jesus did was written down [John 21:25], and we know that our
Lord taught the Apostles during the 40 days between His resurrection and
ascension [Acts 1:3]. What did He tell
them? We don’t know. But we believe it is encapsulated in what we
now call Apostolic Tradition, or simply, Tradition.
Contrary to popular
thought, Jesus did not condemn tradition outright, nor did St. Paul. Rather, it was the traditions of men that
were condemned when they had the effect of leading people astray. The divine tradition- passed on from Jesus to
His Apostles, and from them to their successors- has always been highly
exalted. We must listen to, and obey,
the Tradition that comes from the Apostles.
This is the same that is taught to this day by the Catholic Church.
Listen again to what St.
Paul says: “Hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word
of mouth or by letter.” That which came “by
word of mouth” is what we call Tradition, and that which came by letter is what
we now know of as Sacred Scripture. Both
are necessary. Tradition keeps us in
line with what our Lord and the Apostles intended by what was written in
Scripture. Otherwise, everything becomes
subject to each individual’s personal interpretation… which is exactly what we
see in the many different denominations of Protestantism. In contrast, St. Peter says, “… no prophecy
of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation,” [2 Pet. 1:20].
In fact, the Protestant
doctrine that teaches that the Scripture is the sole authority is contradicted
by the Scripture itself here in this passage.
Rather, the Scripture says that we must obey the traditions of the
Apostles.
This, among many other
things, reminds me that it was indeed the Spirit of our Lord who was leading me
to abandon all I had in Protestantism to come to the fullness of Catholic
faith. Herein, I am able to draw closer
to the Lord I love and know Him more intimately. To this I invite all who read this entry. Come, join me in this place where Christ may
be most fully known and all that He taught is kept without any loss or any
addition.
