Dear Friends,
In today’s 2nd Reading (2 Thessalonians 2:16–3:5), St. Paul tries to comfort the Thessalonians’ hearts and direct them to the love of God, because they had become alarmed by some people who were saying that “the day of the Lord is at hand” (2 Thes 1:11–2:2). Apparently they had disregarded or forgotten his previous oral (2 Thes 2:5, 15; 3:6–10) and written (his 1st letter to the Thessalonians) teaching on the subject.
Although the particular topic of Paul’s clarification is the Second Coming of Christ, we find in his letters (and throughout the New Testament) that Paul basically uses interchangeably the notions of his “teaching,” “doctrine,” and the “word of God/the Lord.” In other words, Paul is saying that his teaching, ie, what he preaches orally, IS the Word of God, because its source comes from the Revelation of God Himself, as Paul explicitly states in 1 Thes 2:13: “And we also thank God constantly…that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God.” There are other New Testament verses that also clarify that the “word of God” is the oral message of the apostles, their teaching, and their doctrine, such as Acts 4:31; Hebrews 13:7; 1 Cor 11:2; 15:1-2; 2 Thes 2:15, 3:6; 1 Pet 1:25; 2 Tim 1:13, 2:2; Mark 16:15; and others. The Greek word didaskalia, used 21 times in the New Testament, is translated as both “teaching” and “doctrine” (for example: 1 Tim 4:6, 13, 16; Titus 2:1)
This fundamental biblical truth is a source of great comfort to us Catholics: that the “word of God” in the New Testament is commonly understood as the oral word of God that Jesus gave His apostles and instructed them to orally preach and pass on to others (Matt 28:18–20; Mark 16:15), and to which the early Church devoted itself (Acts 2:42; 18:9–11). It was three centuries later when the Church discerned the companion written portion of the oral Word of God (its teachings and doctrines), i.e. the New Testament, which had been faithfully handed down from the apostles to their successors (2 Tim 2:2; Acts 1:20-26) and safeguarded from error by the Holy Spirit (John 14:25-26).
The Protestant notion that the “Bible alone” (the written portion of the oral Word of God) is one’s only authority (Martin Luther) is simply not found anywhere in the Bible. Such a non-biblical assumption, disconnected from the Sacred Tradition of the Catholic Church, has been the source of great confusion and innumerable division amongst denominations (including each “non-denominational” church) for over 500 years—each claiming to have the correct interpretation of Scripture. Fortunately, we Catholics don’t have to be caught up in confusion and division (as the Thessalonians had become on the Second Coming of Christ), wondering what the truth of God’s Revelation is.
Just as Paul faithfully clarified to the Thessalonians authentic Divine Revelation about “the day
of the Lord” through his oral and written teaching, so we Catholics today can take confidence that the
Catholic Church faithfully teaches the fullness of Divine Revelation with respect to faith and morals,
resting on the solid biblical foundation that the Word of God is both oral (Tradition) and written, and
authentically interpreted and taught by the Church’s Magisterium, the servant of the Word of God. Let
us pray, as Paul did in today’s 2nd Reading, that this “word of the Lord may speed forward and be
glorified” in ourselves, the Church, and the world. (For more on “The Transmission of Divine
Revelation,” see the Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraphs 74-141.)
Fr. Jim
