Q: How do we know that the Bible is not the sole rule of faith?
A: The Bible does not claim to be the sole rule of faith. Paul wrote, "What you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also" (2 Tim. 2:2). And he instructed, "Hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter" (2 Thess. 2:15).
These are fightin' words where I come from. Over lunch on Sunday we were talking with our priest and two of our former RCIA catechists about the whole "just my Bible and me" thing. I shared that at the beginning it was exhilarating. It was. "I'm gonna read my Bible and figure it out and get it all right." But it didn't take long before it became a burden to heavy to carry because God never intended anyone to carry it. I have said many times that God let us see what the Church isn't so we would be able to recognize it when we saw it. The Church was never intended to be a loose conglomeration of freelance Christians, peppered by arguments and divisions over carpet color, speaking in tongues, music styles and infant baptism. Jesus said "one flock" and "one shepherd." One means one. (More fightin' words, I know.)These oral teachings and traditions have been handed down and entrusted to the Church, and they remain as much a part of the full Christian faith as the Bible. To ignore them is no less a tragedy than to ignore the Bible.
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