The Unity of
the Church and the Holy Scriptures
Some attempt to drive a wedge
between the Holy Scriptures and the Church, pitting one against the other. But such attempts reflect a lack of
understanding of both. There is no
conflict, contradiction, or competition between the Gospel, the Holy Scriptures,
and the Church.
During the first 300 plus years of
Church history, there were numerous letters and gospels circulating. Some were authentic; some were not. Some were written by the evangelists and
apostles, and some that claimed to be were fraudulent. So how were the true and authentic Gospel and
teachings of Christ and the apostles determined, preserved and passed on?
Christ the Saviour proclaimed the Gospel
(the truth in all its fullness) and taught it to His apostles. They in turn taught it and passed it on to
their successors. The Gospel was
transmitted primarily through word of mouth, example, and the divine services
of the Church for some 300 years before there was an “official canon”. The
true teachings of Christ and His apostles were a living truth and way of life
preserved as life within the Church by the Holy Spirit – the Holy Tradition of
the Church. This is why St. Paul
admonished the Church at Thessalonica to “...stand fast, and hold the
traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle” (2
Thess. 2: 15)
Finally, in the fourth century the
bishops of the Church gathered in a council and sorted through the various writings
that had been circulating and determined which ones should be considered
authentic and used in the worship of the Church. All the writings were compared to the Holy
Tradition of the Church as it had been lived and passed down for some 300 years
and in this way determined which Gospels and Epistles to include in what we now
call the canon.
The Holy Scriptures (New Testament) were
written in the Church (the evangelists and apostles), for the Church, and were
authenticated by the Church. Together,
they are one Holy Tradition. The
Scriptures do not contradict the Church and the Church does not contradict the
Scriptures since they form one Holy Tradition in the unity of one Holy Spirit. Since the Church, by the Life-giving Holy
Spirit, conceived and gave birth to the Scriptures, and the Holy Spirit was
given to the Church to guide her into all truth (St. John 16:13), the Church
alone can rightly proclaim and interpret them. We naturally know and understand that the
author of a book knows, understands, and interprets the meaning of his own
words and intentions as no stranger can do.
Christ set forth His Church as His
bride, His temple, His foundation or guardian of truth, His New Jerusalem and New
Israel. This was not some invisible,
indefinable, unknowable, nebulous notion, thought, or hoped for dream. The Church was a concrete and knowable
reality – the body of Christ in every place where the believers continued
steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine, koinonia, the breaking of the bread, and
the prayers – in the life and unity of the one Faith, one Lord, one Hope, one
Baptism and one Holy Spirit. He
proclaimed that He would build His Church and the gates of hell would not
prevail against it (Matt 16:18). He
appointed His Church as the guardian and foundation of the truth, “…the church
of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15).
