“Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. I commend you because you
remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I have
delivered them to you” (1 Cor. 11:1-2).
“If any one is disposed to be contentious, we recognize no other practice,
nor do the churches of God” (1 Cor. 11:16).
“Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that you keep away from any brother who is living in idleness and not in
accord with the tradition that you received from us” (2 Thes. 3:6).
Interestingly, Christ Himself, as well as some of the Apostles, referred to
unwritten Old Testament tradition:
(i)
St. Paul (Gal. 3:19) and St. Stephen (Acts 7:52-53) refer to the
Law being “put into effect through angels.” Nowhere is this
mentioned in the Old Testament.
(ii)
St. Paul refers to “Jannes and Jambres” who “opposed Moses”
(2 Tim. 3:8-9). Neither of these two men are mentioned in the
Old Testament.
(iii)
St. Jude mentions the prophecy of Enoch, saying, “Behold the
Lord came with his holy myriads” (St. Jude 1:14). This
prophecy is nowhere to be found in the Old Testament.
(iv)
St. Jude mentions the struggle between St. Michael and the
Devil for the body of Moses (St. Jude 1:9). The only prior
written account of such a struggle is contained in the
apocryphal work, The Assumption of Moses.
(v)
The author of Hebrews mentions the Prophet Isaiah being
“sawed in two” (11:36). Such a death for the Prophet is
mentioned only in the apocryphal work, The Ascension of
Isaiah 5:1-4).
(vi)
Christ says, “the scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat”
(St. Matt. 23:2-3). Nowhere is such a seat mentioned in the Old
Testament.
It is, therefore, not a question of Scripture or Tradition but rather Scripture
and Tradition. Ironically, it is the doctrine of Sola Scriptura and its
condemnation of Tradition per se that is the man-made tradition of the
sixteenth century Reformers that contradicts the word of God.
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