A Catholic Response to "The Apostles and the Authority of Scripture: Tradition or Truth?"

Thesis: The outline sets Scripture against Tradition, Christ against the Church, grace against sacraments, and Paul against the Twelve. Paul himself holds all of these together, and he does so in the very passages the outline cites.

Introduction: "Is It Religious?" vs. "Is It Scriptural?"

The outline makes a fair concession. It grants that a practice absent from the apostolic record is not automatically sinful. Catholics agree, and they add a further point: some practices are not absent from the record at all. They were handed on orally and in writing together (2 Thess 2:15).

Doctrine develops, but new doctrine is not invented. Jesus promised that the Spirit "will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13). He also told the apostles, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now" (16:12). The Church grows in understanding of one deposit of faith, like a seed growing into a tree (Matt 13:31–32; Dei Verbum 8; St. John Henry Newman, Development of Christian Doctrine). Acts 15 shows the apostles themselves settling a disputed question by council.

"What does Scripture teach?" Catholics ask the same question. The disagreement is about who interprets Scripture authoritatively. "No prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation" (2 Pet 1:20). When the Ethiopian eunuch was asked if he understood what he read, he answered, "How can I, except some man should guide me?" (Acts 8:31).

Peter and the Twelve vs. Paul (Gal 2:7–9; Rom 11:13). The Catholic reply is that these texts divide mission fields, not gospels. Section 5 treats this fully.

1. On Tradition as Authority

A. "The Tradition of Men" (Col 2:8)

The verse condemns human tradition, not apostolic tradition. The phrase is "tradition of men… and not after Christ." Jesus made the same distinction in Mark 7:8: "laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men."

Paul commands apostolic tradition.

The context of Colossians 2 is specific. Paul is warning against a syncretistic "philosophy" involving "worshipping of angels" (2:18) and ascetic rules such as "touch not; taste not; handle not" (2:21). He is not warning against the teaching he himself handed on.

Age does not prove truth, but it does not disprove it either. The outline's rule cuts both ways. Dispensationalism began with J.N. Darby and the Plymouth Brethren in the 1830s and spread through the Scofield Reference Bible (1909). Its Mid-Acts form came later still, with J.C. O'Hair, Cornelius Stam, and Charles Baker in the 1930s–40s. No Church Father, council, or Reformer taught it. Even mainstream dispensationalists such as Charles Ryrie rejected the Mid-Acts form as "ultradispensationalism." By the outline's own test, a reading of Paul that no one found for 1,800 years is the "tradition of men" needing proof. The Catholic test is St. Vincent of Lérins' rule: what has been believed everywhere, always, and by all.

B. "All Scripture Is Given by Inspiration" (2 Tim 3:16–17)

Catholics affirm that all Scripture is inspired (CCC 105–107). The question is whether Scripture teaches that it is the only authority. This passage does not.

The canon is a product of Tradition. No verse lists which books belong in Scripture. The outline relies on the Church's discernment every time it quotes the Bible.

"Rightly dividing" (2 Tim 2:15). The Greek orthotomeō means to "cut straight," that is, to handle accurately, like a road cut straight or a furrow ploughed true. The same word appears in the Greek Old Testament: "he shall direct [make straight] thy paths" (Prov 3:6). It does not mean partitioning Scripture into separate audiences.

"Dispensation" means stewardship, not separate eras. The Greek word is oikonomia, household management.

Catholic theology uses the same word for the single divine economy of salvation (CCC 236, 1066).

C. "Complete in Him" (Col 2:10)

Catholics agree: the believer is complete in Christ. The next two verses explain how: "In whom also ye are circumcised… buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God" (2:11–12). The outline's key text grounds completeness in baptism.

Religious objects. "God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: so that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them" (Acts 19:11–12). The same pattern appears with the hem of Jesus' garment (Matt 9:20–22), Peter's shadow (Acts 5:15), and Elisha's bones (2 Kings 13:21). Sacramentals add nothing to Christ. They are instruments he chooses to use, and they have no power apart from him and the faith of the one using them (CCC 1667–1670).

The Rosary. The Rosary is mostly Scripture. The "Hail Mary" is built from the words of Gabriel and Elizabeth (Luke 1:28, 42), and the mysteries meditated upon are Gospel events. Repetition is not "vain repetition" (Matt 6:7). Jesus condemned the babbling of pagans who "think that they shall be heard for their much speaking." He himself prayed "the same words" three times in Gethsemane (Matt 26:44). The heavenly creatures "rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy" (Rev 4:8).

2. On Mediators

A. One Mediator (1 Tim 2:5)

Catholics affirm that Christ is the one Mediator (CCC 618, 970).

Read the whole passage. Just before verse 5, Paul commands "supplications, prayers, intercessions… be made for all men… For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour" (vv. 1–3). The "for" of verse 5 grounds these intercessions. Believers' prayers for one another do not compete with Christ's unique mediation. They participate in it.

The pattern of participation runs throughout the New Testament.

B. One Intercessor (Rom 8:26, 34)

Christ and the Spirit intercede perfectly. Yet Paul still asks believers to pray for him:

Perfect divine intercession does not exclude the prayers of the members. If it did, Paul was wrong to ask.

Death does not sever the Body. Nothing, including death, separates us from the love of God in Christ (Rom 8:38–39), and the Body of Christ is not divided (1 Cor 12:26). God "is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him" (Luke 20:38). We are "compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses" (Heb 12:1). The saints in heaven offer "the prayers of saints" before God (Rev 5:8; 8:3–4), and the martyrs are aware of events on earth (Rev 6:9–10). "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (Jas 5:16). The saints in glory are the most righteous of all.

Mary. "All generations shall call me blessed" (Luke 1:48). At Cana she intercedes, and Jesus acts (John 2:1–11). From the cross Jesus gives her to the beloved disciple: "Behold thy mother" (John 19:26–27). In Revelation 12:17 the believers are "the remnant of her seed." Asking Mary to pray for us is asking the mother of the Lord to do what every Christian asks of fellow believers.

C. One Access (Eph 2:18)

Catholics agree that access to the Father is through Christ, by the Spirit. The saints do not grant access. They pray with us. The very next verse says believers "are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God" (2:19). The saints are part of the household we have access into.

3. On Works and Salvation

A. Salvation Is by Grace (Eph 2:8; Rom 3:24)

Catholics agree that salvation is by grace, not by our own works. The Council of Trent condemned the idea that anyone can be justified by works done "without divine grace through Jesus Christ" (Session 6, Canon 1). It taught that "none of those things which precede justification, whether faith or works, merit the grace itself of justification" (Session 6, ch. 8). See also CCC 1996 and 2010.

Read the next verse. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Eph 2:10). Grace does not exclude works. It produces them.

B. Salvation Is Not by Works (Titus 3:5; Rom 4:5)

The outline's own proof text teaches baptismal regeneration. Titus 3:5 continues: "…but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." Paul explicitly contrasts works of our own righteousness with God's saving washing. Baptism is on God's side of the contrast.

Romans 4 addresses works done to earn or boast. The "works" Paul excludes are works done as wages or as grounds for boasting: "Where is boasting then? It is excluded" (3:27); "if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory" (4:2); "to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt" (4:4). He does not exclude grace-empowered obedience.

Paul also requires faith that works.

C. Salvation Is in Christ (1 Cor 15:1–4)

Catholics believe the gospel of 1 Corinthians 15 without reservation. Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again.

The passage itself is about tradition and perseverance. "I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received" (v. 3) is the language of handing on tradition. Verse 2 is conditional: "by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain."

"Christ + baptism." Catholic teaching is not Christ plus baptism but Christ acting through baptism. Sacraments are Christ's works, not ours (CCC 1127–1128). "Baptism doth also now save us" (1 Pet 3:21). "Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins" (Acts 22:16).

"Christ + Mass." The Mass is not a second sacrifice or an addition. It makes the one sacrifice of Calvary present (CCC 1366–1367). Paul teaches this:

"Christ + religious objects" and "Christ + good works." These are answered in 1C and 3A–B above. Neither is an addition to Christ.

Religious clothing and pilgrimage. God himself commanded priestly vestments "for glory and for beauty" (Exod 28:2). Pilgrimage is biblical. Jesus' family went to Jerusalem every year (Luke 2:41), and Paul hastened to be in Jerusalem for Pentecost (Acts 20:16). Neither is taught as a means of justification.

Church membership. "The Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved" (Acts 2:47). Paul distinguishes "them that are within" from "them that are without" (1 Cor 5:12–13). Membership in the Body is not an addition to salvation. It is part of what salvation is.

4. On the One Baptism

A. One Baptism Declared (Eph 4:5)

The "one baptism" is water baptism. Paul baptized with water after his commission as apostle to the Gentiles, which is the period Mid-Acts assigns to the Body dispensation:

Paul was himself baptized in water for the remission of sins. Ananias told him: "arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins" (Acts 22:16).

Read the context. "One body, and one Spirit… one Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Eph 4:4–5). The "one body" is visible: it has apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers (4:11). The "one baptism" is the rite of entry into it.

B. One Body Identified (1 Cor 12:13)

Water and Spirit are not rivals.

1 Corinthians 12:13 describes what the Spirit accomplishes in baptism. It does not describe a second, waterless baptism. The outline says baptism "is not performed by human hands." Catholics agree that the Spirit is the true agent, but Scripture shows he acts through a minister and water (Acts 8:36–38; 10:47–48).

C. One Christ Sufficient (Col 2:10–12)

Colossians 2 undoes the argument. "Complete in him" (2:10) is immediately explained as "circumcised with the circumcision made without hands… buried with him in baptism" (2:11–12). Paul presents baptism as the new circumcision. The "without hands" refers to the spiritual reality accomplished, as Romans 6:3–4 and Galatians 3:27 confirm.

Infant baptism.

Baptism is not a human work. An infant can contribute nothing, which makes infant baptism the clearest possible witness to salvation by grace alone.

5. On Paul's "Distinctive" Revelation

A. Paul's Apostleship (Rom 11:13; Gal 2:7–9)

One gospel, two mission fields. Galatians 2:7–9 distinguishes spheres of labor ("we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision"), not different gospels. "Whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed" (1 Cor 15:11).

Read Romans 11 in full. Paul magnifies his office "if by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them" (11:14). His Gentile ministry serves God's plan for Israel. The same chapter describes one olive tree, into which Gentiles are grafted (11:17–24). There is one tree, not two.

B. Paul's Gospel by Revelation (Gal 1:11–12)

Paul received his gospel from Christ, and then confirmed it with the Twelve.

Paul uses the Gospels and the words of Jesus.

If the Gospels were for Israel only, Paul himself did not know it.

Peter endorses Paul. Peter calls Paul "our beloved brother" and warns that "the unlearned and unstable wrest" his letters (2 Pet 3:15–16). Scripture treats Peter and Paul as one voice.

C. Paul's Assignment (Eph 3:1–9)

The "mystery" was foretold. Paul says it is "now made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets … made known to all nations" (Rom 16:25–26). Ephesians 3:5 says it was not known in other ages "as it is now revealed," which compares degree rather than denying any prior knowledge. The content of the mystery is "that the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body" (3:6). That is unity, not separation.

The Old Testament foretold Gentile inclusion.

Israel and the Church are one people.

The Body of Christ existed before Paul.

The mystery is made known "by the church." Paul's assignment ends with "that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God" (Eph 3:10).

"Be Ye Followers of Me" (1 Cor 11:1)

Catholics agree. Following Paul means keeping what Paul handed on. The very next verse says: "Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you" (11:2). In the same chapter he delivers the Eucharist (11:23–26).

Conclusion: "Christ or Religious Additions?"

"Is Christ enough?" Yes. Christ is entirely sufficient, and he freely chose to give himself through his Body. Paul says he fills up "that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church" (Col 1:24). Christ does not lack anything. He wills that his members share in his work.

Responding to the outline's "if" statements:

Ecclesiastical titles. Paul calls himself a father: "in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel" (1 Cor 4:15; cf. Philem 10; 1 Thess 2:11). He establishes offices of bishop, presbyter, and deacon (Phil 1:1; 1 Tim 3; Titus 1:5–7). Jesus' warning in Matthew 23:9 is against usurping God's fatherhood, not against the word itself. Stephen calls the patriarchs "our fathers" (Acts 7:2).

Dispensationalism fragments the canon. It sets aside most of the New Testament by an outside scheme. Yet Paul says "whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning" (Rom 15:4), and the outline's own proof text says "all scripture… is profitable" (2 Tim 3:16). Placing a system above the text is the very error the outline charges against Tradition.

The Catholic alternative is one economy of salvation. Scripture is one book with one divine Author, read as a unity (CCC 112). The Old and New Testaments interpret each other: "the New is hidden in the Old, and the Old is made manifest in the New" (St. Augustine; Dei Verbum 16; CCC 128–130). The covenants with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David are stages fulfilled in Christ, not discarded eras (CCC 54–64). The Church was "prefigured from the world's beginning, prepared in the history of Israel, … instituted by Christ, [and] revealed by the Holy Spirit" (CCC 759–769).

Call to Action: The Three "T's"

A. Test Every Tradition (1 Thess 5:21)

Catholics agree: "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." The standard for testing is Scripture and apostolic Tradition together, since Paul's next letter to the same church says to hold the traditions "by word, or our epistle" (2 Thess 2:15). That test applies equally to recent traditions, including dispensationalism.

B. Trust Christ's Finished Work (1 Cor 15:1–4; Eph 2:8–9)

Catholics trust Christ's finished work. "It is finished" (John 19:30). The sacraments are how the finished work is applied, not how it is completed. The same gospel includes keeping the faith to the end (1 Cor 15:2).

C. Teach Truth with Grace (2 Tim 2:24–25)

Catholics agree. The outline's own counsel should shape the response to it: "gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves." This passage also presupposes a teaching authority. Paul is instructing Timothy, whom he ordained by the laying on of hands (2 Tim 1:6), and who is to hand on what he received (2:2).

Final Thoughts: Responding to the Five "R's"

Responding to the Closing Slogans