Defending the Faith 3
Opening Prayer
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Lord Jesus Christ,
You are the Word made flesh.
You speak to us through the Scriptures,
You hand on Your Gospel through the Church,
and You lead us into all truth by the Holy Spirit.
Open our minds to Your Word,
deepen our love for the faith handed down from the Apostles,
and teach us to receive Your truth with humility and joy.
Amen.
In our first teaching, we asked:
Why be Catholic?
And we said that the Catholic faith begins with Jesus Christ. We are Catholic because Jesus is Lord, because He founded a Church, and because in that Church He gives us His truth, His mercy, and His Body and Blood.
In our second teaching, we asked:
Did Jesus really found the Church?
And we saw that the Church is not a human invention added on later. Jesus gathered disciples, chose the Twelve, gave them authority, gave Peter the keys, commanded them to teach and baptise, gave the Eucharist, gave the power to forgive sins, promised to remain with His Church, and sent the Holy Spirit.
Now we come to another very common question:
Is the Bible enough?
Or to put it another way:
Why do Catholics speak about Scripture and Tradition?
Many people ask this sincerely.
They say:
“Surely we just need the Bible.”
Or:
“If something is not in the Bible, why should I believe it?”
Or:
“Catholics add human traditions to the Word of God.”
Or:
“Why not just read the Bible for yourself and follow Jesus?”
These are serious questions, and they deserve a calm answer.
Because Catholics love the Bible.
We do not believe less in Scripture.
We do not place Scripture to one side.
We do not think the Bible is optional.
The Church venerates the Scriptures as the inspired Word of God.
At every Mass, we hear the Scriptures proclaimed.
The Psalms shape the Church’s prayer.
The Gospels are honoured with candles, incense, and song.
The priest kisses the Gospel book after proclaiming it.
The whole liturgy is soaked in Scripture.
So the Catholic answer is not:
“The Bible does not matter.”
The Catholic answer is:
The Bible matters so much that we must receive it in the Church, from the Apostles, within the living Tradition that gave it to us.
Tonight we need to understand that.
1. Christianity begins with Jesus, not with a book alone
The first thing to say is this:
Christianity does not begin with a book dropped from heaven.
Christianity begins with Jesus Christ.
Before the New Testament was written, Jesus had already been born, lived, taught, healed, suffered, died, risen from the dead, ascended to the Father, and sent the Holy Spirit.
Before the New Testament was complete, the Apostles were already preaching.
Before the New Testament was gathered into one book, the Church was already baptising, celebrating the Eucharist, forgiving sins, praying, fasting, appointing leaders, suffering persecution, and handing on the faith.
That is very important.
The first Christians did not begin with a printed Bible in their hands.
They began with Christ and the apostolic preaching.
They heard the Gospel proclaimed.
They were baptised.
They gathered for the breaking of bread.
They prayed.
They received teaching from the Apostles.
They lived as the Church.
So we must not imagine Christianity as though Jesus wrote a book, handed it out, and said:
“Here is everything. Work it out privately.”
That is not what happened.
Jesus did not write a book.
He founded a Church.
He formed Apostles.
He sent them to preach.
He promised the Holy Spirit.
The New Testament was written within that living apostolic Church.
So when Catholics speak about Scripture and Tradition, we are not adding something to Jesus.
We are recognising how Jesus actually gave His Gospel to the world.
Christ gave the Gospel to the Apostles.
The Apostles preached it.
The Church received it.
The Scriptures were written within that apostolic life.
The Church preserved, recognised, and handed them on.
The Bible is not against the Church.
The Bible is the Church’s book.
2. What Catholics mean by Tradition
The word “tradition” can confuse people.
Some people hear “tradition” and think it means merely human customs.
They think of things like:
“That is how we have always done it.”
Or:
“That is our family tradition.”
Or:
“That is just a church habit.”
Of course, there are human traditions. Some are good. Some are neutral. Some can even become unhelpful.
But when Catholics speak about Sacred Tradition, we mean something much deeper.
Sacred Tradition is not gossip.
It is not nostalgia.
It is not “the old way”.
It is not merely Catholic customs.
Sacred Tradition is the living handing on of the Gospel from the Apostles in the Church.
The word “tradition” simply means “handing on”.
Saint Paul says, “I delivered to you what I also received.”
That is tradition.
He receives the faith, and he hands it on.
The Creed is tradition.
The sacraments are tradition.
The apostolic faith is tradition.
The worship of the Church is tradition.
The pattern of Christian life is tradition.
Before Christians had a complete New Testament, they already had Tradition: the apostolic preaching, the teaching, the worship, the sacraments, and the life of the Church.
So when Catholics say “Tradition”, we are not saying:
“Human customs are equal to God’s Word.”
We are saying:
“The Word of God was handed on by the Apostles in both written and living form.”
Sacred Scripture is the inspired written Word of God.
Sacred Tradition is the living apostolic handing on of the Word of God.
They are not enemies.
They belong together.
3. The Bible itself speaks of handing on
Sometimes people say:
“The Bible alone is enough, and Tradition is unbiblical.”
But the Bible itself speaks about handing on.
Saint Paul tells Christians to hold fast to what they were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
That matters.
He does not say:
“Only believe what I have written down.”
He speaks of teaching handed on orally and in writing.
The early Christians received the faith through preaching before they read it in written books.
The Apostles taught, corrected, instructed, worshipped, and governed living communities.
The Gospel was not first a private text to be interpreted in isolation. It was a living message proclaimed in the Church.
Of course, once the Scriptures were written, they became inspired and authoritative.
But the Scriptures themselves point beyond private interpretation.
Saint Peter warns that Scripture can be twisted.
The Acts of the Apostles shows people needing guidance to understand the Scriptures.
The letters of Saint Paul are written to churches already living the faith.
So the Bible itself does not support the idea of isolated individuals each deciding Christianity for themselves.
The Bible belongs to the Church’s life.
It is read, prayed, preached, interpreted, and lived within the Body of Christ.
4. How did we receive the Bible?
This is one of the most important questions.
If someone says:
“I believe the Bible, but I do not need the Church,”
we can gently ask:
Which Bible?
The Bible is not one single book that arrived already bound, printed, and labelled.
The Bible is a library of sacred books.
The Old Testament contains the Scriptures of Israel.
The New Testament contains the apostolic writings of the Church: the Gospels, Acts, letters, and Revelation.
But in the early centuries, Christians had to recognise which writings truly belonged to the apostolic faith.
There were many writings circulating.
Some were truly apostolic.
Some were useful but not inspired Scripture.
Some were later and unreliable.
Some were false.
So how did the Church know which books belonged to the New Testament?
Not by private opinion.
Not by a voice from heaven listing the table of contents.
The Church recognised the canon of Scripture through her apostolic faith, her worship, her bishops, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
That is crucial.
The Bible did not give us its own table of contents.
The Church recognised the Bible.
That does not mean the Church invented Scripture.
It means the Church recognised the inspired writings God had given.
Just as John the Baptist did not make Jesus the Lamb of God by pointing Him out, but truly recognised Him, so the Church did not make the Scriptures inspired by recognising them. She recognised what God had inspired.
This is why it is strange to say:
“I trust the Bible, but I do not trust the Church at all.”
Because the Bible comes to us through the Church’s recognition, preservation, copying, reading, preaching, and handing on.
The Bible is not weakened by this.
It is protected by it.
5. Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium
Catholics often speak of three things:
Sacred Scripture
Sacred Tradition
The Magisterium
That word “Magisterium” simply means the Church’s teaching office.
It refers to the living teaching authority of the Church, especially the Pope and the bishops in communion with him.
Now, this can sound complicated, but the basic idea is simple.
Christ entrusted His Gospel to the Apostles.
That Gospel is handed on in the Church.
It is handed on in Scripture and Tradition.
The Magisterium does not invent the Gospel.
The Magisterium serves the Gospel.
The Church does not receive new public revelation. The faith was once for all entrusted to the saints. The task of the Church is not to add new doctrines to Christ, but to guard, explain, and hand on faithfully what has been received from the Apostles.
The Church’s teaching office is not above the Word of God.
It is under the Word of God.
Its task is to guard, explain, defend, and faithfully hand on what Christ gave.
Think of it like this.
Scripture is the inspired written Word of God.
Tradition is the living handing on of the Word of God from the Apostles.
The Magisterium is the servant that guards and interprets that Word faithfully.
These three are not three rival authorities.
They belong together.
Without Scripture, we lose the inspired written Word.
Without Tradition, we cut Scripture away from the living apostolic faith in which it was received.
Without the Magisterium, interpretation becomes fragmented into countless private opinions.
Christ did not leave His Church with confusion.
He gave His Word.
He gave Apostolic Tradition.
He gave shepherds to teach.
He sent the Holy Spirit.
That is the Catholic vision.
6. Why “Bible alone” leads to division
We should speak gently here.
Many non-Catholic Christians love the Bible deeply. Many put Catholics to shame by their knowledge of Scripture, their hunger for the Word of God, and their zeal to share the Gospel.
We should be grateful for that.
But we should also be honest.
If every Christian is left to interpret the Bible finally for himself or herself, disagreement is inevitable.
One person reads Scripture and says baptism is necessary.
Another says it is only symbolic.
One says the Eucharist is truly Christ’s Body and Blood.
Another says it is only a memorial.
One says confession to a priest is biblical.
Another rejects it.
One says divorce and remarriage are forbidden.
Another permits them.
One says infants should be baptised.
Another says only adults.
One says there should be bishops, priests, and deacons.
Another rejects that structure.
All claim the Bible.
So the question is not:
“Do we believe the Bible?”
The question is:
Who has authority to interpret the Bible faithfully?
Christ did not leave the Bible to become a battlefield of private interpretation.
He gave the Scriptures within the Church He founded.
The Catholic Church does not say:
“Do not read the Bible.”
She says:
“Read the Bible with the Church, in the faith of the Apostles, guided by the Holy Spirit.”
That is very different.
Private reading of Scripture is good.
But private interpretation cannot be the final authority over the faith of the Church.
Otherwise each person becomes his or her own pope.
7. Catholic Tradition is not opposed to Scripture
Some people think Catholic teaching is made of things “added” to the Bible.
But true Catholic doctrine does not contradict Scripture.
It grows from the apostolic faith.
Take the Trinity.
The word “Trinity” is not written in the Bible in that form.
But the truth of the Trinity is biblical: the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God; yet there is one God.
The Church received that truth from the apostolic faith and expressed it with clarity.
Or take the canon of Scripture itself.
The Bible does not contain an inspired contents page. Yet Christians accept that certain books belong to Scripture.
That knowledge comes through the Church’s Tradition.
Or take Sunday worship.
The early Christians gathered on the Lord’s Day because Christ rose on the first day of the week. This became part of the Church’s living worship.
Or take infant Baptism.
The Church’s practice flows from the apostolic understanding of grace, covenant, household baptism, and the necessity of being born again in Christ.
Not everything Christian appears in the Bible as a modern instruction manual.
The Bible is not a flat rulebook where every doctrine is laid out in the same way.
It is inspired Scripture, given within the living faith of the Church.
The Church reads the whole Bible in the light of Christ and the apostolic faith.
That is why Catholics can say:
We believe nothing contrary to Scripture. But we do not reduce the faith to Scripture interpreted privately and apart from the Church.
8. Jesus criticised human traditions, not Sacred Tradition
People sometimes say:
“Jesus condemned tradition.”
But we need to be precise.
Jesus condemned human traditions that contradicted God’s commandments.
He condemned hypocrisy.
He condemned empty religion.
He condemned customs used to avoid obedience to God.
He did not condemn the faithful handing on of God’s revelation.
There is a huge difference between human tradition and Sacred Tradition.
Human tradition can be good, bad, or changeable.
Sacred Tradition is the apostolic handing on of the Gospel.
For example, a parish custom about flowers or hymns is human tradition. It may be lovely, but it is not divine revelation.
But the Church’s faith in the Trinity, the sacraments, the apostolic ministry, and the Eucharist belongs to the apostolic faith handed on from the beginning.
We must not confuse the two.
Catholics should be willing to change merely human customs when necessary.
But we cannot change the faith handed down from the Apostles.
The task of the Church is not to invent a new Gospel for every generation.
The task of the Church is to hand on the same Gospel faithfully in every generation.
9. Why Catholics should read the Bible
Now we must say something very clearly.
Because Catholics believe in Scripture and Tradition, some Catholics wrongly think they do not need to read the Bible.
That is a serious mistake.
Every Catholic should know and love the Scriptures.
The Bible is not a Protestant book.
It is the Word of God entrusted to the Church.
Catholics should read the Gospels.
Catholics should pray the Psalms.
Catholics should know the Acts of the Apostles.
Catholics should hear the prophets.
Catholics should read Saint Paul.
Catholics should let Scripture shape their imagination, conscience, prayer, and worship.
Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.
So we should not defend Catholic Tradition by neglecting the Bible.
We defend Catholic Tradition best when we become more biblical, not less.
A Catholic home should have a Bible.
Catholic children should hear Bible stories.
Catholic adults should read Scripture prayerfully.
Catholic preaching should be soaked in Scripture.
Catholic catechesis should be biblical.
Catholic prayer should return again and again to the Word of God.
The Church does not fear Scripture.
The Church gives us Scripture.
A Catholic who does not know Scripture will often be weak in explaining the faith, weak in prayer, and vulnerable to confusion. We should never be embarrassed by the Bible. It is our book too — indeed, it is the Church’s book.
So a good Catholic answer to “Is the Bible enough?” should never sound like:
“We do not need the Bible.”
It should sound like:
“We love the Bible so much that we receive it in the Church that gave it to us, interpreted in the faith of the Apostles.”
10. How to answer this simply
So if someone asks:
“Why do Catholics not believe in the Bible alone?”
You might say:
“Because Jesus did not leave us the Bible alone. He founded a Church, gave authority to the Apostles, and the New Testament itself was written and recognised within the Church.”
Or:
“Catholics believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God. But the Bible came to us through the Church, and it must be read within the faith handed down from the Apostles.”
Or:
“Scripture and Tradition are not enemies. Scripture is the inspired written Word of God, and Tradition is the living handing on of the same apostolic faith.”
Or:
“The Bible does not contain its own table of contents. The Church recognised, preserved, and handed on the Scriptures.”
Do not be aggressive.
Do not mock other Christians.
Do not speak as though Catholics are always better readers of Scripture. Often we are not.
Speak humbly.
But speak clearly.
The Catholic position is not weaker than “Bible alone”.
It is deeper, older, and more faithful to how Christ actually gave the Gospel to the world.
11. What this asks of us
If Scripture and Tradition belong together, then we must become Catholics who receive the faith gratefully.
We do not invent Christianity for ourselves.
We receive it.
We receive Scripture from the Church.
We receive the Creed from the Church.
We receive the sacraments from the Church.
We receive the pattern of worship from the Church.
We receive the moral teaching of Christ through the Church.
This does not make us passive.
It makes us disciples.
A disciple is one who listens before speaking.
A disciple receives before teaching.
A disciple is formed before claiming to know better.
That is hard today, because we live in a culture that teaches us to choose, customise, and edit everything.
But Catholic faith teaches us to receive what is true.
And then, having received, to hand it on faithfully.
That is Tradition.
Not dead habit.
Not nostalgia.
Not “we have always done it this way.”
Tradition is the Church saying in every generation:
What we have received from the Apostles, we now hand on to you.
And each Catholic must ask:
Am I receiving the faith, or am I merely selecting the bits I already like?
Do I read Scripture with the Church, or only through my own preferences?
Do I allow the Word of God to correct me, or only to confirm me?
Do I treat Tradition as a living gift, or as a burden?
The goal is not to win an argument about Bible and Tradition.
The goal is to become faithful hearers of the Word.
Conclusion
So, is the Bible enough?
If by that we mean, “Is the Bible truly the inspired Word of God?”, then yes, absolutely. The Scriptures are holy, inspired, authoritative, and necessary for the life of the Church.
But if by “Bible alone” we mean, “Did Jesus leave us a book apart from the Church, apart from the Apostles, apart from Tradition, and apart from any living teaching authority?”, then no.
That is not how Christ gave us the faith.
Jesus Christ gave us His Gospel.
He entrusted that Gospel to the Apostles.
The Apostles preached it, lived it, celebrated it, and wrote it.
The Church received it, guarded it, recognised the Scriptures, and handed them on.
Scripture and Tradition flow from the same apostolic source and lead us to the same Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bible is not less precious because it belongs to the Church.
It is more securely received.
The Church is not above the Word of God.
She is its servant.
And the Catholic who receives Scripture in the Church does not receive less.
He receives the Word of God in the fullness of the apostolic faith.
So we do not say:
“Bible or Church.”
We say:
The Bible in the Church.
We do not say:
“Scripture or Tradition.”
We say:
The Word of God handed on in Scripture and Tradition.
We do not say:
“My interpretation alone.”
We say:
The faith of the Apostles, received in the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit.
Before we move to questions, remember these three simple answers.
Is the Bible enough?
The Bible is the inspired Word of God.
The Bible was written, recognised, preserved, and handed on within the Church.
The Bible must be read in the apostolic faith of the Church.
If you remember nothing else, remember this:
Catholics love the Bible, but we do not separate the Bible from the Church Christ founded.
And perhaps each of us should ask:
Do I really know and love the Scriptures as a Catholic should?
Because defending Catholic Tradition should never make us less biblical.
It should make us more faithful hearers of the Word of God.
Amen.
Q&A after Session 3
- What would you say to someone who says, “I only believe what is in the Bible”?
- Why do Catholics believe in Sacred Tradition?
- What is the difference between Sacred Tradition and human traditions?
- How did the Church recognise which books belong in the Bible?
- Why is private interpretation not enough?
- How can Catholics become more biblical without becoming less Catholic?
- What part of Scripture do you find hardest to understand or live?
Closing prayer
Lord Jesus Christ,
You are the Word made flesh,
and You speak to us through the holy Scriptures.
Teach us to love Your Word,
to receive the faith handed down from the Apostles,
and to listen humbly to Your Church.
May Scripture shape our minds,
Tradition root us in the apostolic faith,
and the Holy Spirit lead us into all truth.
Amen.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
St. Mary's, St. John Bosco and St. Edward's 