Victor R. Claveau, MJ
We know very little of the Patriarchs, who flourished before the Flood. From the contents of the Scriptures, which began to be written by Moses, they appear as the “preachers of justice” and the “protectors of Religion.” They did not write anything, because they were not even proficient in the art of writing. The same may be said of the Prophets, whom God sent before Moses.
Whatever may be said of this period of human history, it is certain that primitive revelation, most of which was written by Moses, was kept and propagated exclusively by Tradition. This condition of things continued for more than two thousand years.
Nevertheless, on account of the long age of the Patriarchs before the Flood, the keeping of primitive revelation could never be in danger of corruption. For, Abraham, being born in the year 2008 of Adam, might have conversed with Shem who died in the year 2158; while Shem’s father, Noah, who was born in the year 10-56 might have discoursed with Enos, who died in the year 1140. The same Enos, on the other hand was born in the year 235 and lived with his grandfather Adam for seven centuries.
With good reason, Moses could remind his people of the most ancient times of their origin. “Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you; your elders, and they will tell you. When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of men, he fixed the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God” (Deut. 32:7-8).
If Revelation was kept only by Tradition after the creation of man, through the advanced age of the Patriarchs down to the time of Moses, Tradition remained also after Moses to be a vital part in the religious life for the people of God, namely, in the OT. For, after the fall of man, God promised to all mankind a Redeemer and the eventual reward of eternal life. He never revoked this promise, nor did he restrict it to any one nation. This promise continued to be, in a general way, the hope and belief of all the peoples of the earth even after God entered into a special pact with his chosen people.
After the Divine Books had been written, God instituted a ministry – an ordinary ministry - that is, an explanatory Tradition and an authentic interpretation of the priesthood, as we read in Deuteronomy (7:12) and in Malachi, For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts” (2:7).
This ordinary ministry was distinguished from the extraordinary Ministry of the Prophets, whom God at various times sent to promulgate new revelations, as well as to explain those which had already been revealed in the Law. There should be no doubt that in this complex ministry – ordinary and extraordinary – there were divine truths, which were never written, or if they were written, they were vaguely indicated in the Scriptures. These were especially the traditions that belonged to the whole human race and were revealed by God before there was any Scripture. Our Lord, Jesus Himself intimates such doctrine: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat” (Matt. 23:2), obviously not for new revelations, but to authoritatively interpret the Law.
Whatever we may think of the matter, it is certain that the canonical Books of the Scriptures, their authority and divine inspiration, could not have been transmitted other than by Tradition. This is not only self evident, but it also appears from Josephus, who having related how the books of the Scriptures, written up to the time of Artaxerses, were accepted by all, he refers then to other books of the same Scriptures, which afterwards followed saying: “these were not equally accepted as the first, because of the inaccuracy of the succession of the Prophets” (Contra Apion, L, I, 8.). Josephus then testifies how afterwards the Jews accepted and kept these latter books of the Scriptures and believed them as the word of God.
Therefore, it is evident that dogmatic truths were carried on by Tradition, from the creation and fall of man down to the OT, even after the appearance of the written word of God.
This means that since the creation of man down to the coming of Christ, God did not restrict Revelation to the Scriptures.
The Fathers of the Church explicitly and candidly admit that certain truths and practices of the Church are not to be found in the Scriptures: consequently, they cannot be defended but by Tradition. Thus, Origen, in his epistle to the Romans writes: “The Church received from the Apostles the Tradition of baptizing children in their infancy” (L, V. 9). St. Augustine in regard to this practice, confessing that it cannot be proved by the Scriptures, says that there is only in it a “conjecture or supposition” drawn from circumcision. The convincing argument – “If anyone wants to know the divine authority” for this practice – Augustine derived it from this principle: “What the Universal Church holds, was not instituted by the Councils, but was always retained, is rightly believed to be delivered by apostolic authority” (Aug. De Bapt. L, IV, C. 24).
It will not be out of place here to state that when the Anabaptists, a violent and radical body of reformers in the Sixteenth century, demanded from their Protestant brethren the testimony, drawn from the Scriptures, to prove the validity of infant Baptism, Luther, unable to prove it, claimed that, through a miracle, infants emit and act of faith in order to validly receive baptism. Asked to demonstrate such a miracle from the Scriptures, neither Luther or his followers ever attempted to prove it.
Another practice found in Tradition is of praying for the dead. Epiphanius laying aside the question of the inspiration of the Books of Maccabees, says: “I declare that it is necessary for the Church to do it (ti pray for the dead), because she received such rite delivered to her by the ancients” (Epiph. Heres. 85:8).
Or what about Tertullian on this matter. The following statement was written about nineteen hundred years ago: “We offer oblations for the dead on their anniversaries, we do not fast or kneel on the Lord’s Day. We enjoy the same immunity from Easter to Pentecost. We are anxious that not a particle or a drop (of the Holy Eucharist) fall to the ground. Before we start anything, when we come in or go out, at our rising and washing, at meal times, at our wakes, when we sit down or we go to bed, in our conversations, we make the sign of the Cross. If you will ask for any law for this and other such discipline, you will find none in the Scriptures: Tradition is its author, custom confirms it, Faith helps to observe it” (Tert., De Corona, C. 3).
Finally the seventh General Council declares that it approves the use and veneration of images from Tradition. St. John Damascene, the champion and the greatest defender of this doctrine, acknowledges Tradition as its author (John Damascene, De Fide Orthod., IV, 16, Art.7).
The Church, therefore, even after the canon of Scripture was set, publicly professed and believed dogmatic truths and practiced certain rites and discipline, which are not found in the Scriptures. She plainly received them from Tradition. If these doctrines, which stem from Tradition are not observed and practiced in your denomination. Perhaps you should look further into Catholicism. Everything the Catholic Church holds today can be traced back to Tradition.