The Word of God

[Music] and then the third and final thing that he says in this brief passage from pro thessalonians 2 is that he commends them he thanks god because they receive the word which they heard from paul as he's preaching the gospel not as a word of men of human beings right but as what it really is the word of god which is at work in you believers i cannot overstress the importance of that text of paul in its original context paul is simply commending the thessalonians for receiving the gospel as something that didn't just come from

him but that ultimately came from god but with these words paul gives us a theological principle that is extremely important for the catholic faith and catholic theology and it's this that when we talk about the word of god we do not just mean the bible right so when people say the word of god in contemporary context especially in an american context where we have predominantly protestant historically country they tend to mean the written word of god in the scriptures right in the bible but that's not the only meaning of the word of god in scripture

itself when we look at scripture scripture itself speaks primarily about the word of god in three manifestations first christ himself right christ is the eternal word of god who was made flesh but then christ and the message of christ the word of god the word of christ comes to us through two principle avenues through the word of god in scripture the written word of god but then also through the word of god in the apostolic preaching or through the oral transmission of the word of god and according to the bible the word of god comes

through both those streams not just through one but through both so when catholics refer to the word of god we don't just mean the written word of god we also mean the preaching of the apostles and this verse from first thessalonians chapter 2 is a key witness to that so if you want an example of this you can turn with me to the catechism of the catholic church in the catechism there's a beautiful section in paragraph 75-76 on the word of god and on divine revelation and it talks about the fact that divine revelation does

not just come to us through scripture but also through tradition now a lot of times many non-catholics will actually misunderstand what we mean by that so we'll talk about scripture as the word of god and then sometimes people get the impression that tradition is like some kind of secret traditions that nobody knows about that we pass on by word of mouth but what tradition really refers to is the living proclamation of the faith that has been handed down to us all the way from the time of the apostles and the preaching of the apostle so

let me just read these words of the catechism and you'll see what i'm talking about here in the section on the apostolic tradition this is what the catechism says quote christ the lord in whom the entire revelation of the most high god is summed up commanded the apostles to preach the gospel which had been promised beforehand by the prophets in which he fulfilled in his own person and promulgated with his own lips in preaching the gospel they would communicate the gifts of god to all men the gospel was to be the source of all saving

truth and moral discipline in keeping with the lord's command the gospel was handed on in two ways first orally by the apostles who handed on by the spoken word of their preaching by the example they gave by the institutions they established what they themselves had received whether from the lips of christ from his way of life and works or whether they learned it at the prompting of the holy spirit second in writing by those apostles and other men associated with the apostles who under the inspiration of the same holy spirit committed the message of salvation

to writing okay so why did i just read that what's the point the point is this the reason catholics revere scripture and tradition and not just soul of scripture or scripture alone is because of what paul says in first thessalonians 2 namely that the word of god does not only come to us through the written testimony of the of the scriptures it also comes to us through the oral preaching of the apostles so paul says you accepted the gospel that you heard from us you received the word of god which you heard from us not

as the word of men but as what it really is the word of god so the reason catholics accept both scripture and tradition is that both scripture and tradition when you understand tradition as the preaching of the apostles right both scripture and the preaching of the apostles are the word of god because they both communicate to us the gospel of jesus christ right which he handed on to the apostles and then which the apostles handed on to their successors and which their successors handed on to their successors all the way down to the bishops and

the pope today who are the successors of the apostles and who continue to preach that saving word of jesus christ which comes to us both through scripture and through tradition [Music] you