Summa summae S. Thomae, Tomus III

: Besides Sacred Scripture, divine traditions must necessarily be admitted.

Proof. 1° from Scripture. The Apostle, 2 Thess., II, 14, says: Hold fast and keep the traditions which you have learned, whether by word or by epistle, that is, whether by voice or in writing. And he is speaking of divine traditions pertaining to the faith, for he there exhorts the Thessalonians to remain in the faith.

[The Gospels point to the necessity of tradition. Of Christ it is said, Mark, VI, 34, that he began to teach them many things, although not one single head of this abundant teaching was recorded. Luke, XXIV, 27 — to the disciples going to Emmaus, beginning from Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted in all the Scriptures the things that were concerning himself. Yet nothing of this divine exposition was consigned to Scripture. St. John, who outlived all the Evangelists and the sacred writers and could read through their writings, says, John, XXI, 25: There are also many other things which Jesus did, which, if they were written every one, I do not think the world itself could contain the books that would have to be written. Yet many things which Jesus thus taught, and which were not written by the sacred authors, ought not to have perished, since they were necessary for the constitution of the Church, the instruction of men, and the sanctification of souls. Therefore, with tradition rejected, a necessary medium of divine revelation is cast aside, and indeed the perfect one, without which the whole Christian faith cannot be had.

And the Apostles themselves did not write everything they had received from Christ. In the passage cited above, Paul equates doctrine spread by word, that is, by oral tradition, with the doctrine handed down in his epistle. Gal., I, 6, he says: I praise you, brethren, that in all things you are mindful of me, and keep my precepts as I delivered them to you. St. John does not send Christians exclusively to the Gospels, nor to his own writings and those of the other Apostles, but most strongly inculcates tradition as the norm of salvation, 1 John, II, 24: Let that which you have heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you have heard from the beginning shall abide in you, you also shall abide in the Son. Just as it is necessary to abide in the Father and the Son, so it is necessary also to abide in what has been heard from the beginning and was transmitted to others through tradition. He adds there too, at verses 18 and 22, that those who do not so abide are antichrists. — Many other passages could be brought forward.]

Proof. 2° from the Fathers. What authority traditions possessed after the canon of the Scriptures was completed is demonstrated most abundantly from the testimonies of the Fathers, some few of which it will be enough to note. St. Irenaeus, book II contra Haer., c. 2, complains that the heretics of that age, like the more recent innovators, agree neither with the Scriptures nor with tradition: « For when, he says, they are refuted from the Scriptures, they turn to accusing the very Scriptures, as though they were not correct. But when we appeal to them again concerning that tradition which is from the Apostles, which is guarded by the succession of presbyters in the churches, they set themselves against tradition. » Clement of Alexandria, book VII Strom., c. 16: « As if anyone were made a beast out of a man, so has he ceased to be a man of God and faithful to the Lord who kicked against ecclesiastical tradition and leapt down into the opinions of human heresies. » Tertullian, in his work de Praescriptionibus, is wholly given to upholding the dogma of tradition. Epiphanius, Orat. III contra Eunom.: « But tradition also is needed; for not everything can be sought from the Scriptures. Therefore the most holy Apostles left some things in writing, others by tradition. Which Paul himself affirms in these words: As I delivered them to you. » St. Jerome, contra Luciferianos, c. 4: « Even were the authority of Scripture wanting, the consent of the whole world on this side would obtain the force of a precept; for many other things also which are observed in the churches by tradition have usurped to themselves the authority of the written law. » And thus, unanimously, the doctors of the later ages.]

Proof. 3° from facts. There are many things to be believed with divine faith which even the heretics believe, and yet which are not contained expressly in Scripture, but are held by tradition alone, such as that the Father is unbegotten, that little children are to be baptized, that those baptized by heretics are not to be rebaptized, that the Mother of God remained a virgin before and after childbirth, that there are four Gospels and not more, etc. These things, I say, and many others are believed with divine faith in the Church; these the heretics themselves believe; and yet they are not contained in Scripture, but are held from tradition alone; indeed their very principle, which they believe most firmly, that nothing is to be received unless it is expressed in Scripture, is not found in Scripture. Therefore, willing or unwilling, they are compelled to admit traditions.

It is confirmed. Whence do the heretics know that the Scripture which they commend so greatly is sacred and divine? Not from Scripture itself, for it does not say so; and if it did say so, we would not be bound to believe it in this respect any more than in the others, unless it were first established from elsewhere that it is divine; for it is not infallible except because it is divine. Therefore, in order that I may believe it when it asserts itself to be divine, it must first be established for me from elsewhere that it is divine; otherwise I would be bound to believe as divine Scripture every book that asserts itself to be from God, even the Koran itself. Therefore from tradition alone it is known that this, and not another, Scripture is sacred and divine.

[You will object 1°: Traditions are condemned in the Scriptures. Therefore. — It is proved above. Deut., IV, 2, it is said: You shall not add to the word that I speak to you, neither shall you take away from it. Matt., XV, 6: You have made void the commandment of God because of your tradition. Gal., I, 8: Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach unto you besides that which we have preached unto you, let him be anathema. Apoc., XXII, 18: If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues written in this book.

I answer. I deny the antecedent. To the first: Moses forbids anything to be added to the word of God under a perverse interpretation, corrupting, altering, attacking it. But he does not forbid another word of God to be added, whether written or handed down; otherwise all the canonical books written afterwards would have to be rejected. — To the second: Christ condemns merely human traditions, by which teachers of a false name, under the appearance of interpretation, disfigured the law of God, as is sufficiently shown from his own words, Matt., V, 43 and 44: You have heard that it hath been said: Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and shalt hate thine enemy. But I say to you: Love your enemies. These words, And thou shalt hate thine enemy, had been added by those doctors to the text of Lev., XIX, 18, as though following by contrariety. — To the third: praeter, in the words of the Apostle, is taken for contra, as in that passage of the same Apostle, Rom., XVI, 17: Now I beseech you, brethren, to mark them who make dissensions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them. — To the fourth: the answer is the same; or it must be said that St. John forbids anything to be added to his book as though it were part of it.]

[You will object 2°: Scripture suffices. Therefore. — It is proved above. The Apostle, 2 Tim., III, 15-17, says: « From your infancy you have known the sacred letters, which can instruct you unto salvation, through the faith which is in Christ Jesus. All doctrine divinely inspired is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice: that the man of God may be perfect, instructed unto every good work. » Therefore.

I answer. The letters which Timothy had learned from his infancy were the old Scriptures; for at that time the New Testament was not yet written, or at least not yet complete. But the old letters could instruct Timothy initiatively, not consummatively. The Apostle adds that all doctrine divinely inspired is useful in order that the man of God may be perfect, and he does not say that it is sufficient. Thus piety is useful in order that a man may be a perfect shepherd in the governance of the Church of God, but it does not suffice.

The texts of the holy Fathers invoked against tradition are likewise to be understood, namely of merely human traditions and not legitimate ones.]