CHRISTIAN BELIEFS NOT ONLY FOUND IN BIBLE

GAITHERSBURG, MD (Catholic Online) -- Recently I was reading a newspaper article in which a prominent Evangelical Christian stated, “Every Christian’s core beliefs ultimately rest upon the same foundation: the Bible.” Over the last 25 years I’ve had more debates than I can count with Christians of various denominations. These conversations varied as widely as the perspectives of the different people I debated, but nearly every one eventually included the question: “Where is that in the Bible?” Whether the topic is infant baptism, purgatory, justification by faith alone or the Assumption of Mary, Scriptural support is demanded. And for good reason - after all, the Bible is the inerrant Word of God and therefore, if a belief is found in the Bible, then surely it is true.

However, there is a false presupposition lurking behind this question and the statement made by that Evangelical leader, one that is commonly held by Christians today. It is the presupposition that the Bible is the source of Christian doctrine - that the Bible contains all the teachings of the Christian Faith and its purpose is to be a catechism of sorts for our teachings and beliefs. If you read just about any book from your local Family Bookstore (a chain of Protestant Christian bookstores), the language used is soaked with this premise: “The Bible teaches.”, “The Bible says.”, “we see from the Bible that.”. Unfortunately, this foundational tenet of Protestantism is also held by many Catholics.

This presupposition, however, is not only false, it is illogical and contrary to history. Let us take a brief look at salvation history and see how the Christian Faith was passed on to us - what is its source?

1. After the Fall, God raised up a nation (Israel) to be His people. He sent them prophets, kings and priests to teach them about the ways of God.
2. At the fullness of time, God sent His Son. This Son, Jesus Christ, preached, did mighty works, and suffered, died and rose again for our salvation.
3. The followers of Christ, especially the apostles, went about preaching the Gospel to the known world. What is this “Gospel”? It is the revelation of God centered on the person of Jesus Christ - which includes the preparations for his coming as well as his teachings, mighty works and redemptive death and resurrection.
4. Some of these followers wrote down this Gospel in letters, histories and “gospels.”
5. The successors to the apostles - the bishops - continued to preach the Gospel handed on to them, guarding and protecting it from error.

The content of our Faith, then - the “Gospel” - was passed on to future generations by two methods: (oral) preaching (Tradition) and writings (Scripture). The college of bishops - the “Magisterium”, or teaching office of the Church - continued to preach that Gospel through time, making sure that it was not deformed or altered. But it is important to know the order in which these things flow: the Gospel is the content of the Faith, and oral preaching and writings are the methods by which they are passed on.
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