Evangelism and Apologetics
Scripture and Tradition

I. Overview

A. Natural and supernatural revelation (or general and special revelation) 
	1. Natural – Rom. 1:19-20, Acts 17:26-28, Job 38-40, Ps. 19, Wisdom 13-15
	2. Supernatural – Gen. 6:13 ff., John 1:1, 14, Heb. 1:1-3, 2 Tim. 3:16, 
    2 Pet. 1:19-21
-- Theophanies (e.g., Gen. 18-19)
-- Scripture (2 Tim 3:16)
-- Audible Speech (e.g., Gen. 2:16; 1 Sam. 3:4)
-- Prophecy (e.g., Jer. 25:30-38)
-- Miracles or Miraculous Events (Gen. 21, Ex. 7:14 ff., Ex. 16) 
-- Dreams (e.g., Gen. 28:12-16)
-- Visions (e.g., Dan. 7:13; 8:1)

B. Signs of a true prophet
	1. His words come true (1 Sam. 3:19-20)
	2. What he says is consistent with previous revelation (Dt. 13: 1-5)
	3. His ministry is confirmed miraculously (2 Cor. 12:12) 

C. Unique purpose of written revelation
	1. Act as an ongoing standard – Dt. 31: 24-29, Josh. 1:8, Is. 8:20 
2. To reform the church -- 2 Chron. 34: 14 ff 

D. Interaction between written and oral revelation
1. Not everything Jesus said or did is in the Bible – Jn. 21:25
2. The early church knew of other sayings of Jesus – Acts 20:35
3. The faith of the church was based on oral as well as written sources – 1 Cor. 11:2, 34, 2 Thes. 2:15
Prophetic messages were sometimes reliably preserved outside of Scripture, 2 Chron. 29:35, 35:4, 15, Jude 14 ff. 
The church is commanded to follow both – 2 Thes. 2:15

II. The Modern Debate

A.  INTRODUCTION
1. The apparent contradiction between Scripture and Catholic teachings
2. We must commit ourselves to the truth

B. DEVOLOPMENT OF CHRISTIAN DOGMA

1.  Jesus the revelation of the Father
-- the nature of Jesus' person and teaching
-- reception and memory of Jesus' teachings in the community
-- we know that not all He taught was contained in Scripture
-- to affirm sola scriptura we'd have to assert that Scripture was the only 
    reliable transmission of His words. But how do we know that?

2. The gift of prophecy and the apostles
-- prophecy is analogous to the incarnation. 
-- word of God and word of man
-- prophet is not perfect (e.g. Nathan,  Peter and Paul)
-- different kinds of teachings: infallible, authoritative, temporary, 
    erroneous

3. The role of the early letters
-- previous, authoritative teaching is assumed
-- letters were to clarify and expand, not present all of Christian truth

4. Before the canon
-- Scripture and Tradition served as equal authorities
-- The source of unity and standard of orthodoxy was the bishop and 
    unanimity among Christian churches.
-- The church met in council to resolve disputes 

5. Development of the canon
-- core of certain books
-- disputed NT books
-- finalization of NT canon

6. The various meanings of “tradition” 
-- supernatural revelation 
-- the oral component of supernatural revelation
-- the authoritative teachings of the church
-- the teachings of the church fathers
-- beliefs and practices based on one of the above
-- practices of the church

III. Case Study: The Canon

General division of books
Catholic perspective		Protestant perspective
Canonical	protocanonical 	homologoumena	Canonical
		(never disputed)
	deuterocanonical 	Antilegomena	Apocryphal
		(disputed)
Apocryphal	antilegomena	notha  	Pseudepigraphal
		(never accepted)

Important dates
	Third Council of Carthage (397) – set the canon in the west
	Council of Trent (1546) – first infallible decree on the canon of the entire Bible

IV. Odds and Ends

Material sufficiency vs. the “partim partim” theory

Review of issues in dispute

Deuterocanonical books

All doctrines must be proven from explicit Scriptural statements

Authoritative role of tradition

Relative authority of the church and the individual
	… in ecclesiastical matters
	… in private belief

Ugly polemic from both sides

“Luther took books out of the Bible/Catholics added books to the Bible” 

The Catholic Church suppressed the Bible and forbade people from reading it.