Prayer, Bible and Traditions.コミュのWith sincere prayers:-

An Essay on Bible and Traditions
by Uncle Tom

Table of Contents:

?．Why Holy Tradition?
（１）Practical Problem
１．Toward the Unity of the Church
２．Separation of Churches and the Ecumenical Movement
３．Hindrance to the Unity
４．Bible and Tradition as the Ultimate Authority
（２）Logical Problem
１．Biblical Faith as Presupposition
２．Biblical or Practical Starting Point
３．Final Reference-Point concerning Provable Things
４．Final Reference-Point concerning Un-Provable Things
５．Final Authority concerning Faith
?．Relation between Bible and Traditions
（１）Main Understandings of the Traditions
１．Two Final Reference-Points concerning Christian Faith
２．Differences of Final Reference Point among Main Churches
　　?Greek Orthodoxy・・・Tradition (Bible included)
　　?Roman Catholicism・・・Bible and Tradition
　　?Protestants・・・Bible Alone
３．Self Criticism in the Protestants
（２）Two Sides of Understanding Tradition in the New Testament
　１．Approval of Tradition by Paul
２．Severe Criticism on Traditions by Jesus
?．Concluding Remarks
　１．Difficulty of maintaining Sola-Scriptura
　２．Importance of maintaining Sola-Scriptura
　３．What should we do?


?．Why Holy Tradition?
（１）Practical Problem
１．Toward the Unity of the Church
In the high-priestly prayer of our Lord Jesus, we read “I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. --- I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.　And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”　(The Gospel according to John, Ch. 17, verses 11, 20〜23.)
His prayer must be fulfilled, however, it is not yet fulfilled.

２．Separation of Churches and the Ecumenical Movement
The present Christian churches are divided into Greek Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church, and many Protestant Churches. In spite of the Ecumenical movements, especially since the Second Vatican Council, it seems to be hopeless to have the Christian Unity among the churches.

３．Hindrance to the Unity
　One of the reasons hindering the unity of the present churches seems to be the different understanding of the Eucharist (the holy supper), and its factual reason exists in the different mainly four interpretations concerning the Biblical meaning of the bread and wine.
The final hidden reason, however, seems to be in the various human traditions that direct their different Biblical interpretations. In other words, it is the problem of final authority that decides things concerning our faith and life.

４．Bible and Tradition as the Ultimate Authority
　As a matter of fact, concerning the standard of faith and life, Greek Orthodox Christians have the Tradition (Bible included) as their authority, Roman Catholic Christians have both the Bible and the Tradition(s) as their authority, and Protestant Christians, since the time of the Reformation, have the Bible alone as their authority.

（２）Logical Problem
１．Biblical Faith as Presupposition
Honestly speaking, my presupposition is the Biblical Faith.

２．Biblical or Practical Starting Point
　When we discuss on various things, theoretically Christians might well start from God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth. Practically, however, we need to discuss thing from our daily experiences, and we are required to talk logically and then we do need our final reference point.

３．Final Reference-Point concerning Provable Things
　It is generally believed that concerning the provable things, the final judgment is done by human reason. Needless to say, however, it is very clear that we do not know everything and so, concerning the things not proven logically, even our human reason cannot be the final reference point or the final judge.

　Even the present scientific truths are nothing but the generally accepted agreements among the present scientists, and there exists a possibility that they might be denied by the future new scientific discoveries.

４．Final Reference-Point concerning Un-Provable Things
　Concerning the logically un-provable things such as faith, it is not human reason but real authority that must judge finally.

５．Final Authority concerning Faith
　As far as the Christian Faith is concerned, the generally accepted standard of faith is the Bible, as the Word of God. It is the only authority and the final reference point of judgment.
Authority is derived from the Author of the Bible, the Creator of all the creatures. Authority or ex-ousia is derived from the only ultimate real Being and it is no one except God revealed in the Bible.

?．Relation between Bible and Traditions
（１）Main Understandings of the Traditions
１．Two Final Reference-Points concerning Christian Faith
Generally, the Bible as the Word of God has been accepted as the final reference point concerning various things of faith and life.
However, it is only among the Protestant Churches that the principle of the Bible Alone has been accepted.
It is well known that in the Greek Orthodox Church and also in the Roman Catholic Church, Traditions exist as the standard of faith and life together with the Bible.

２．Differences of Final Reference Point among Main Churches
　Among the Christian Churches, there are three main final reference points concerning the final judgments on the problematic things of faith, as follows.
?Greek Orthodoxy・・・Tradition (Bible included)
“Orthodox writers have adopted this way of speaking, treating Scripture and Tradition as two different things, two distinct sources of the Christian faith. But in reality there is only one source, since Scripture exists within Tradition. To separate and contrast the two is to impoverish the idea of both.” (Timothy Ware, The Orthodox Church, p.197)

?Roman Catholicism・・・Bible and Tradition
“The respective qualities of Scripture and Tradition Both Scripture and tradition are human and divine, but in different degrees and conditions. It would be misleading to say that Scripture was wholly divine and tradition purely human: Scripture is human and historical;---”
“Tradition as objectively containing things not contained in Scripture Jesus himself wrote nothing; he did not give his apostles the mission to leave writings, but to preach. They were to preach and to transmit the message and reality of the Gospel.------- The Eucharist is an ideal example of an object of tradition.”
(Yves Congar, The Meaning of Tradition p.99, pp.102~104.)

?Protestants・・・Bible Alone
The Reformation Principle of Bible Alone (Sola-Scriptura) seems to have been accepted among the Protestants together with the principles of Faith Alone, Grace Alone, and Christ Alone.

３．Self Criticism in the Protestants
　Generally, the Reformation Principle of Sola-Scriptura might have been understood as excluding all the human traditions.
According to A. McGrath, however, there are three ways of understanding the Traditions.
?Tradition-０・・・Anabaptists
?Tradition-１・・・Reformation
?Tradition-２・・・Council of Trent
Among the above three, it was only the Anabaptists that consistently followed the principle of Sola-Scripture.
The Council of Trent maintained the two sources of authority, the Bible and the Traditions (both Written and Oral), against the Reformation.

According to J. Pelikan, History of the Development of Doctrine is to be understood as the Christian Tradition.

（２）Two Sides of Understanding Tradition in the New Testament
１．Approval of Tradition by Paul
　According to the Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians ?, we are advised to hold the Biblical Tradition as follows.
“Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.”(Thessalonians ? 2:15)
“But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us.”(Thessalonians ? 3:6)

２．Severe Criticism on Traditions by Jesus
　According to the Gospel of Matthew, we are reminded of the very severe but truly, truly important warning of our Lord Jesus, concerning the danger of misinterpreting the Word of God by the human words as follows.
　“Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.
--- And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”（Matthew 15:6〜9）

?．Concluding Remarks
１．Difficulty of maintaining Sola-Scriptura
As it is clear in the New Testament that traditions or human words were accepted in a sense as the Word of God by Paul, we should be prepared to accept human traditions whether they belong to Greek Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church, or Protestant Churches, so long as they are not out of accordance with the Scriptures.

２．Importance of maintaining Sola-Scriptura
Just as the Lord Jesus criticized severely the human traditions, we have to be very careful not to interpret the Scriptures wrongly by our human traditions so that we might not hinder a repentant sinner to have for sure the eternal life.
In this sense, we should be continually engaged in the comparative study
of the different creeds in the light of the Scriptures, the Word of God, and not vice versa.

３．What should we do?
It seems to me that the similar relation between the Old Testament and the Talmud can be said to the relation between the New Testament and the Tradition(s). Both the New Testament and the Old Testament are the Word of God, while The Talmud and the Tradition(s) are the Human Words.
One of the characteristics of the Word of God is that it is fulfilled in the history. When it happens that there seems to be discrepancies between the Word of God and the human words, we have to wait for the providence of God who rules our history until the final truth be revealed clearly.


（Reference Books）
１．Cornelius Van Til, Apologetics.（Westminster Theological Seminary, 1953）, The Defense of the Faith.（The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company 1955）
２．Timothy Ware, The Orthodox Church.（Penguin Books, 1963）
３．Yves Congar, The Meaning of Tradition.（Igunatius Press, 1964）
４．A. E. McGrath, Reformation Thought.（Japanese Translation by S. Takayanagi, Kyobunkan, 2000）
５．J. Pelikan, The Christian Tradition.（Japanese Translation by H. Suzuki, Kyobunkan, 2006）