All right, you two, come out of the corner with your hands up. Ready to have a nice clean fight.
No, that sounds like this is going to be combative. This is not going to be combative. This is just going to be an explanation.
Hi, my name is Fr. Mike Schmitz and this is Ascension Presents.
So, a lot of times, a lot of times, when I'm either teaching or when someone encounters a teaching of the Catholic Church,
people will ask, well, where's that in the Bible? And that's a great question, but it's the wrong question.
I mean, really, ultimately, when it comes down to it, it is the wrong question.
Because, yes, while Catholics believe that the Bible is the Word of God, it is inerrant, it's infallible, it's reliable,
it's all these great things, it's a huge gift from the Lord, we realize that it's not the only way that God has revealed himself.
In fact, if you ever wanted to dive a little deeper when it comes to what do Catholics believe about divine revelation
or what do Catholics believe about the Bible, read a little document that was published in the 1960s called Dei Verbum.
Dei Verbum, in English, is the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation.
And it's really critical because that English title of it, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, says a lot.
It's not just on the Bible as the Word of God.
It recognizes that while the Bible is the Word of God, that God also reveals himself definitively,
or clearly, through at least two other sources.
That we have the Bible, huge source of data.
This is the Bible, huge source of data, sacred scripture.
But God also reveals himself through sacred tradition.
And he also reveals his teaching through the Magisterium of the Church.
Magisterium, magistra means teacher, right?
So the sacred scripture, sacred tradition, and the teaching office of the Church, the Magisterium of the Church,
that's divine revelation.
That's what we believe and that's one of the things that's been believed from the beginning because it's been necessary.
I mean, this is so incredibly clear, that it's absolutely necessary, not just theologically, but also just logically.
Now, what do I mean? OK, here's what I mean.
The Christians, why do I believe that they absolutely need sacred scripture, sacred tradition, and the Magisterium?
Well, because that's what's been necessary for the entire history of Christianity.
I mean, so question, where's that in the Bible?
Some people will typically use that question when it comes to purgatory.
That's just kind of a common one.
Where's the word purgatory in the Bible?
And you would look through the whole Bible and you would not find the word purgatory.
At which point, I typically respond, that's true.
Where's the word trinity?
Because if you want to talk about a distinctly Christian doctrine that unites all Christians,
you're talking about the trinity, that we believe that God is one and yet he's Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
So who came up with that? It's not clearly expressed in the Bible.
In fact, the Church had to have a lot of discussion, had to have a lot of debate,
had to have a lot of argument because some people were reading the same book
and coming up with a completely different conclusion, that the Father is greater than the Son.
Why would they come to that conclusion?
Well, because Jesus says that in the scripture, but also Jesus seems to claim to be equal to the Father.
So what do we make of that?
Also, is the Holy Spirit just simply the gift that comes from the Father through the Son?
Or is that Holy Spirit the gift who's also a member of this one united being called God?
That's a huge question and it's not clearly expressed in the Bible.
That's why so many people throughout history have come to different conclusions on this.
So we have sacred scripture and we absolutely needed sacred tradition
and then the magisterium, the teaching office of the Church.
I mean, this is so clear.
Why would we need, and we continue to need this, right?
We continue to need the teaching office of the Church because there are things,
there are questions that you and I experience on a daily basis in our lives
that the Bible never even imagined were going to be asked.
And so yes, you can apply biblical principles to these modern day questions.
Absolutely you can.
That's why we're not just kind of making stuff up as we go.
But how do you know you're applying those biblical principles to modern day questions accurately?
We can keep testing back to the Bible
or you can rely upon sacred scripture, sacred tradition and the teaching office of the Church
which has absolutely been necessary.
Again, absolutely necessary.
When it comes down to it, and I've said, maybe I've said this before,
when it comes down to it, there is no Christian who doesn't also believe in the teaching office of the Church.
There is no Christian who, when I say the Church, I mean the Catholic Church.
There's no Christian who doesn't believe, hasn't put their faith in the magisterium,
the teaching office of the Church.
There is no Christian who doesn't put their faith in the sacred tradition of the Catholic Church.
How do I mean this?
Because every Christian believes in the authority of the Bible.
They believe that the Bible has X number of books.
Now, Catholic Church teaches that there are 73 books of the Bible.
Protestants have 66 books.
Martin Luther got rid of those seven books in the 1500s.
OK, but even though it's 66, even though it's 66 books,
the question you have to ask, logically, is
how did you come to the conclusion that this book should have 66 books in it?
How did you come to the conclusion that these are the 66 books in your Protestant Bible?
The answer, ultimately, it comes down to, well A,
they believe in the authority of Martin Luther to remove those seven,
but B, in the year 250 in the Council of Rome,
sorry, 315 in the Council of Rome,
in the year 398 in the Council of Carthage,
and in the 1500s in the Council of Trent,
the Catholic Church definitively said these are the 73 books of the Bible.
So what happened was the sacred tradition or the magisterium of the Church said
these 73 books are the scripture, are the sacred scripture.
So every Christian who believes in the Bible
actually believes in the magisterium of the Catholic Church.
They actually believe that the magisterium has the authority
to definitively, infallibly teach this
because they could have got this wrong.
I mean, the reality is you could have got the books of the Bible incorrectly.
If I don't believe they got it incorrect or got it wrong,
that means I must be trusting in the authority of the magisterium and the sacred tradition.
I don't know if that makes any sense, but it makes sense to me.
It's a logical kind of a thing.
Because even, think about the illogic.
OK, so in the 1500s, Martin Luther had one of his rallying,
two rallying cries to the Protestant Reformation.
Again, this is not meant to be a Catholic, Protestant kind of a thing
as much as it is to explain our background,
our perspective as Catholics on what God has revealed.
He's revealed himself in sacred scripture, sacred tradition and the magisterium.
OK, so in the 1500s, Martin Luther had two rallying cries to the Protestant Reformation.
One was sola fide, faith alone.
We can talk about that later.
The other was sola scriptura,
that we don't believe anything that doesn't come from scripture.
This is one of the reasons why it's very common to have the question,
where is that in the Bible, right?
Because Martin Luther had this thing, sola scriptura, scripture alone.
Here's the interesting thing.
OK, that means as Christians, we won't believe anything unless it's in the Bible.
OK.
Big question.
Where is the doctrine sola scriptura in the Bible?
Like, where in this book,
even with 73, or seven extra books, 73 in the Catholic Bible,
even in the whole Bible,
where is the doctrine Bible alone found in the Bible?
And this is almost one of those, what you might call like a self-refuting teaching,
that to uphold it refutes itself
because if a thing must be in the Bible to be believed,
where is sola scriptura in the Bible?
Now, some people would turn to, I think, 1 Timothy 3,
2 Timothy 3,
which talks about like this.
It's Paul writing to Timothy and he says,
But you, Timothy, remain faithful to what you've learned and believed
because you know from who you learned it
and that from infancy you have known the sacred scriptures
which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
Good, yeah, so scriptures capable of giving you wisdom
for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus.
And he goes on to say,
All scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction,
for training in righteousness so that the one who belongs to God
is competent and equipped for every good work.
Super good, like just amazing, right?
It's scripture, we love it so much.
Is St. Paul saying in that line,
And all you need is scripture.
Now, I would maintain he's not saying that for a couple of reasons.
One of those reasons being the kind of scripture that St. Paul is referring to
when he's talking to Timothy, he's talking about the Old Testament.
He's not talking about the New Testament
because that's what Paul and Timothy and all the gang in the early church,
when they talk scripture, when they say,
It's in the scriptures, it's in the writings,
what they're talking about is they're talking about the Old Testament.
So, as a modern day Christian, would you say,
Actually, yeah, all you need is the Old Testament for salvation.
Then you'd say, I don't know if I want to say that.
If you don't want to say that, then you also don't want to point out
or don't want to come to the conclusion or maintain that this means
that all you need is scripture or you have scripture alone for a source of data
or a source of truth when it comes to our knowledge of God.
Because you have to ask the question,
What does sacred scripture say is the pillar and foundation of truth?
Well, actually, it's in another letter of St. Paul to Timothy,
the first letter of St. Paul to Timothy, also chapter three.
Because in that letter, St. Paul says this, he says,
I'm writing to you about these matters, right? Timothy, right?
Although I hope to visit you soon, but if I should be delayed,
you should know how to behave in the household of God,
which is the church of the living God,
which is the pillar and foundation of truth.
The pillar and foundation of truth.
See, even the Bible, even the sacred scripture calls the church
the pillar and foundation of truth.
It doesn't call itself the pillar and foundation of truth, it calls the church.
And again, at this point, there's only one church,
the church that would become to be known as the Catholic Church,
the one holy Catholic apostolic church, the Roman Catholic Church.
OK, so sacred scripture is one of God's gifts to us, absolutely.
But as St. Paul wrote in his second letter to the Thessalonians,
he says, hold fast to the teachings that you were taught,
whether by word of mouth, sacred tradition, or by letter.
Yes, the Bible, huge gift of God to us.
But it's not the only gift God has given us.
He wants us to know him and he wants us to know him clearly
and he wants you to know him clearly.
That's one of the reasons why he gave us the gift of sacred scripture.
But it's also the reason why he gave us the gift of sacred tradition.
And it's also why he gave us the gift of the magisterium,
the teaching office of the church.
So here's the question.
Why not just be grateful for all of the gifts?
And to be able to say, OK, if it's not clearly, you know,
always something clearly, clearly expressed in the Bible,
what has tradition taught about it?
What has the teaching office of the church taught about it?
Because these are all God's gifts to the world
so that we can come to have knowledge of him
and fall more and more in love with him and follow him better.
That's it.
From all of us here at Ascension Presents,
my name's Father Mike. God bless.