October 23, 2005
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Traditions of the “Church” prove Nothing
Andrew C. Bain
October 22, 2005. Sydney, Australia.
In fervent opposition to the title of this article, the Catechism of the Roman church says that –
Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honoured with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence. (Chapter 2, Section 1, Article 2, part II, section 82)
Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up a single sacred deposit of the Word of God. (Chapter 2, Section 1, Article 2, part II, section 97)
The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone. … This means that the task of interpretation has been entrusted to the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome. (Section 1, Article 2, part II, section 85) The task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been entrusted solely to the Magisterium of the Church, that is, to the Pope and to the bishops in communion with him. (Chapter 2, Section 1, Article 2, part II, section 100)
“Believing” is an ecclesial act. The Church’s faith precedes, engenders, supports and nourishes our faith. (Chapter 3, Section 1, Article 2, part II, section 181)
Roman Catholics have a lot in common with the Pharisees of old. Both, for example, believe in justification by works. Catholics believe that baptism saves them and the Pharisees trusted in their circumcision for salvation.
What most people don’t realise, however, is that the CAUSE of the Pharisees’ heresies was that they were interpreting Scripture by TRADITION, and not Scripture by Scripture. And it’s exactly the same with Catholics today. Romanists claim to believe the Scriptures, but interpret it by the opinions of men. Catholics think that the “Chuch’s faith supports and nourishes” their faith (Catechism, Chapter 3, Section 1, Article 2, part II, section 181). Therefore, Catholics must say that EVERYTHING they claim to know about God they have learnt from men, because their Catechism says that “the task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been entrusted solely to the Magisterium the Church, that is, to the Pope and to the bishops in communion with him.” (Chapter 2, Section 1, Article 2, part II, section 100).
What blatant Pharisaism !! This is the very HERESY taught by the Pharisees — that men cannot interpret the Scripture according to Scripture, but they must submit to the traditions of the ”Rabbis”. The Pharisees and Catholics both should have listened to the very Scripture they claimed to believe. ”The secret things belong to Jehovah our God; and the things revealed BELONG TO US and to our sons forever … (Deut 29:29). Bind up the Testimony, seal the Law among My disciples. (Isa 8:16). “Knowing this first, that every prophecy of Scripture did not come into being of its own interpretation; for prophecy was not at any time borne by the will of man, but being borne along by the Holy Spirit, holy men of God spoke.” Is not the Scripture fufilled which says, “No one is able to serve two lords; for either he will hate the one…”. You either serve tradition or serve God’s Word.
Well, why should we be modern day Pharisees, too? LET’S APPEAL TO GOD’s INTERPRETATIONS ALONE without any consideration whatsoever of what men have said in the past.
You see, God says that we can know NOTHING about Him EXCEPT by His Word. “The world by wisdom knew NOT God.” “The fool says in his heart, there is NO GOD.” “The natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God, because they are foolishness to him.” “Christ … [will pour] vengeance … on those who KNOW NOT God and obey not the gospel.” “Howbeit when you KNEW NOT God, you did service to them by nature no-gods.”
We do NOT know anything about God without the Bible. This is why over and over again, God has to say that He exists in the Scripture. “I, even I Jehovah, and God alone; and there is none besides Me,” “Know you, that the Lord He is God”, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” “VERILY THERE IS A GOD.” (Psa 58:10).
God gives a believer to understand and know that it is He that speaks in the Scripture. The doctrine of Christ “shines into their hearts” (2 Cor 4:6), “the Father reveals it” to them, and “the Spirit guides them into all truth.” In fact, the believer has the very UNDERSTANDING, knowledge and truth in his OWN MIND. “And they shall no longer each man teach his neighbor, and each man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah. For they shall all know Me, from the least of them even to the greatest of them, declares Jehovah. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34). This passage SMASHES TO PIECES all those parts of the Roman Catholic Catechism that say, “the task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been entrusted solely to the Magisterium of the Church, that is, to the Pope and to the bishops in communion with him. (Chapter 2, Section 1, Article 2, part II, section 100). The Pope is NOT a teacher, and neither are his bishops. GOD ALONE teaches men about Himself by His Word alone. “They shall no longer each man teach his neighbor” because “He that believes has the witness IN HIMSELF” (1 John 5), the Holy Spirit “spinging up to everlasting life”, who gives the believer the “understanding to know Him that is true”
This is the KEY point. If ALL knowledge of God is derived from Scripture then tradition is useless. All Christian ritings will only ever be summaries of the Bible, which is our one Infallible Standard/Confession. Indeed, the role is the preacher is not to offer Christ, but to MERELY remind men of what is written in the word. “Preach THE WORD in season and out of season,” the Apostle Paul told Timothy.
Further reading —
Is the Pope Dead?
Salvation From Hell
Doubting Your Salvation?
Or, if you found this article helpful, to email it to a friend
Comments (8)
Some people I know wanted to see the “Christian Confession of Faith” on your OTC site. I decided to put a link to it for everyone who visits your comment box here: http://www.outsidethecamp.org/ccfindex.htm
G’day Mr Jargon,
Thanks for posting the link. A guy called Marc Carpenter actually runs outsidethecamp.org, I just support what he says.
Andrew Bain
By the way, here’s a brief letter I wrote to someone about the gospel.
G’day Charly,
I read your articles on free will and God’s Sovereignty, but I haven’t read anything about the FINISHED WORK of Christ on your website. It’s all good and true that God absolutely controls everything, but what about His infinite holiness and justice? The Scripture teaches that He will not fellowship with anyone defiled with the slightest taint of sin, but “the soul that sins shall DIE.” It’s only because 1) all the Elect’s sins were imputed to Christ at the cross and 2) He perfectly obeyed the Law for them, that they get to go to heaven. “He who knew not sin was made sins for us, that we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor 5:21). In fact, there is NO love, commitment or obedience required to obtain God’s favor, if you are Elect. He is ONLY satisfied with Christ’s SPOTLESS garment given to them. “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Of course, believers (and unbelievers) are obliged to perfectly obey the Moral Law with faith, at all times. But ANY love or obedience is out of thankfulness that Christ was made sin and a curse for me, and obeyed the Eternal Law for my righteousness. The grounds of my assurance is the knowledge that “everyone that believing is justified from all things” and “Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness for all who believe.” In fact, to doubt these promises, would be to call God a liar, and indicate lostness.
Christ was raised from the dead as a declaration that the work of salvation for His people is complete. This is the gospel.
Do you believe it, Charly?
Andrew Bain
If what you believe about salvation is true, “heresies” and “false doctrines” shouldn’t matter to you. The Elect will be saved and the unelect won’t. If “false teachings” mislead the Elect, then I guess they weren’t Elect were they.
Indeed, why even preach at all. God works his perfect will despite man’s failing, right?. We should all just go home, watch football, and let God save those he wants to.
Hm. Maybe that’s why the Bible asks how can they know the gospel unless someone tells them.
You might say in response, “Even the Elect must hear the gospel before God can redeem them.” But… doesn’t that make salvation dependent, in some way, upon the believer?
G’day Matt Upton,
Election/Predestination simply means that God gets to decide who goes to heaven. “Whom he predestined, these he also called, and whom he called, these he also justified…” And, yes, ALL the Elect will be CALLED in their time by God’s Word. “They will hear a voice coming behind them in the desert, ‘This is the way, walk you in it.’” But, no, this does NOT make salvation “dependent” on the believer at all. The elect sinner is completely PASSIVE in his conversion — as passive as we are when we look at the sun, and believe the sun is there. “Because it is God who said, “Out of darkness Light shall shine,” who shone in our hearts to give the brightness of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Cor 4:6). And the gospel is the power OF GOD for salvation, because “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word OF GOD.”
Matt, I hope you don’t misunderstand me. God controls EVERYTHING (“He works ALL things according to the counsel of His own will” — Eph 1:11). He controls you and me. But at the same time, He gives COMMANDS to ALL men to OBEY His Law. His Law is summarised in the 10 Commandments, as well as in these words of Christ, “Love God with ALL your heart… and Love your neighbour as yourself.” Now, Matt, I MUST obey God and out of love for lost sinners preach, “Today, if you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” And if one of them is converted, it’s not my message who saved them, but the Message of the Infallible Ambassadors of God — Paul, Peter, John — that saved. “He who hears us, hears God … by this we know the spirit of truth from the spirit of error,” is what they said.
And what was their message?? They proclaimed, witnessed and testified that Christ was risen from the dead as a declaration that the Father was perfectly satisfied with His Work for the Elect. According to Paul, “He who knew no sin was made sin for” the Corinthians and all believers, “that we might become the righteousness in God”. According to Peter, “Christ once suffered concerning sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us [himself, and the people he was writing to] to God.” According to John, “the Lamb of God … takes away the sins of the world.” This is one half of the gospel — that Christ has paid for / been punished for / was sacrificed for the sins of His people.
What’s the other half of the gospel? The author Hebrews (who I think is Paul), says “though being a Son, He learned OBEDIENCE from what He suffered and having been perfected, He came to be the Author of eternal salvation to all the ones obeying Him” and quotes Psalm 45, “You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness.” Furthermore, we hear of “Noah … heir of the RIGHTEOUSNESS according to faith”. And who’s righteousness was Noah an heir to? “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS”. It was Jesus Christ’s obedience to the Eternal Law, establishing a perfect righteousness to impute to His people. This means their NO obedience, NO love and NO commitment required in order for an elect sinner to enter heaven. “IT IS FINISHED”, Christ has done ALL THE WORK necessary. Yes, the elect sinner believes.
But belief is just a passive conviction / intellectual assent / a conviction of the mind. “If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater.” Believing in God is just the same as believing in everyday things (e.g. I believe the bus is going to the city). Of course, since God never lies, the believer has an INFALLIBLE ASSURANCE that God is true. In this sense, the belief amounts to an ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY. “He that believes God has the witness in himself”. And who is “the witness”? Christ refers to him as the “well of water springing up into everlasting life” who causes believers to “never thirst.” He’s the Holy Spirit that witnesses to the hearts of believers that Jesus is the Christ and that they are children of God. Here God is MANIFESTED in their conscience, and he “sets” their hearts with “a seal, that God is true.”
Previously, they had known NOTHING of God, but at their conversion believers have for the first time, God in their conscience. And they have his INFALLIBLE promise that “everyone believing in this One is justified from all things.” Like a criminal in a court when the judge says, “NOT GUILTY”, God Himself tells believers by His Word, “Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness of ALL who believe.” This means that all believers have UNDOUBTED ASSURANCE of their salvation, based on God’s BARE TESTIMONY in the Scripture.
Do you have this assurance? Or are you trusting in your own works?
Andrew C. Bain
Sydney, Australia
Andrew C. Bain’s “proofs” prove nothing!
Bobby J. Kennedy
October 23, 2005, Ruston, Louisiana
As I am currently at work, and do not have time to interact with Mr. Bain with my own thoughts and criticisms of his arguments, I will rather allow for other sources to speak rightly about the place of tradition in the Roman Catholic Church, and what role tradition plays in the Church at large, especially in relation to the scripture and dogma. As the Roman Church is the mother Church of the western world, it is necessary that all of her children that are scattered throughout the various branches of Reformed Catholicism should have an understanding and sympathetic ear toward what is taught about sacred tradition and the Magisterium. Also, as the Church Catholic is also expressed through the practices of Eastern Orthodoxy, it is important that we rightly understand that bodies teaching on the traditions of the Church as well. Included finally in this discussion should be a treatment of what the Anglican tradition of Christianity proclaims to be a proper understanding of the interlocking of tradition and the interpretation of the Bible for dogmatic purposes.
Here are a few internet resources for more discerning readers, who would like to get a second opinion on what it is that Mr. Bain claims about tradition and the Church.
Tradition in the Roman Catholic Church
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15006b.htm
Tradition in the Eastern Orthodox Church
http://www.goarch.org/en/ourfaith/articles/article7116.asp
Dogma in the Anglican Church
http://disseminary.org/hoopoe/dogma/2005/07/chapter_xiv_man.html
I wish I could have found a website that specifically dealt with Anglican views on tradition, but it is apparent from reading this article, what it is that this author believes about tradition.
Again, I wish I could offer more today, but alas, I am at work.
Ok…so the formating didn’t work…
Hey, do you happen to know what the heresy of the Sadducees was?