The Christian faith is not faith in a book; it certainly is not a faith in mere men and women, and what they have to say. Yes, Scripture is invaluable, as it gives us a form of God’s revelation to humanity, and the Holy Spirit helped inspire the way it was written and collected together so that if it is engaged properly, it can point us to the transcendent truth. Yes, tradition is important, as it helps guide us in our engagement of revelation, both those contained in Scripture as well as private revelations of any kind (including natural revelation, that is, the way we can ascertain truths of the faith through nature). Tradition makes sure Christians can and will be able to speak with each other in regards the faith, as, through it, they will not only possess a common vocabulary, but also a common understanding of what is central to the Christian faith. But, despite the importance of Scripture and tradition, we must not confuse either as being an exhaustive representation of Christ’s Gospel. His Gospel, which is given an iconic form in Scripture, transcends Scripture and tradition, as it contains more than can ever be spoken of or known by us. Christ and his work is not limited to the letter of the written Gospel or tradition. He can and does reveal himself in a variety of ways, a variety of forms. When he does so, he gives those who are open to it, the wisdom, insight, and grace they need for their own spiritual wellbeing, which is exactly what he did with St. Paul:
For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it; and I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia; and again I returned to Damascus (Gal. 1:11-17 RSV).
We are so used to the way Christianity developed over the centuries, the way many of its teachings have been presented, both in Scripture and through tradition, we forget how Christianity existed in the first century. Initially, believers did not have any written Gospels, nor did they have the developed understanding of the faith which tradition was able to provide to subsequent generations; rather, they relied on their own experience (especially if they were alive and followed Christ during his temporal ministry), or the experience of others who had direct contact with Christ, as well as the Hebrew Scriptures and their own cultural experience. Much of what they had come to believe was new and mysterious, and they did not think they had to conform themselves to written texts, but rather, they thought they could and should provide texts for future generations which conformed to their lived experience. They did not want us to think Christianity should become a “religion of the book,” which is why those, like Paul, could explain from experience the kind of problems that kind of mindset could bring. Paul did not want us to stick to the letter of the book, but to look beyond it to its proper meaning, the spirit behind the text. Early on, he did not do so, and this is one of the things which led Paul to be hostile to Christ and the Christian faith. Yet, even those who were mistaken, like Paul, could have had good intentions, and a faith in God which allowed them to transcend themselves, to accept that they were wrong and change their ways, when they encountered the work of Christ in their lives.
Now, to be sure, we should not ignore a Scriptural text, and a proper examination of what it can mean on the simple level, and how it could and would have been understood when it was first accepted as Scripture, we must not use such an analysis to limit what we can get from it. We certainly must not limit our faith to that which has been written down, let alone, to the most literal interpretation of that text. Our faith should transcend that; it should have us interact with Christ (and the rest of the Trinity), learning that which we could not learn merely from reading texts, no matter how good the text is. Our faith should produce in us good works, works which others can see and use to discern the grace of Christ in our lives. Paul, therefore, encountered Christ and was transformed by that encounter, which was evident later when he met with Peter and James, who, upon seeing it, was not only able to confirm the truth of his conversion, but that Christ even called him to be an apostle like them: ”Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother” (Gal. 1:18-19 RSV).
Scripture and tradition are important, because they often introduce us to the basics of the Christian faith, even as they serve as a common foundation for all of us to have, a way to talk with each other about our own spirituality and experiences with God. But we must not confine the Christian faith to one particular representation of it, even if it is an inspired one, such as the one found in Scripture; we must appreciate how all representations are limited in what they reveal, that there is always more which God can and does do than what is show to us in any particular representation of the faith. This is not to say that the faith is to be a free-for-all, that any way people want to present it can be and will be affirmed as valid. We can be mistaken in our understanding, either of what we have learned through study of the faith, or through our experiences of the faith. What we say, and the meaning of our words, must be shown to conform to the common ground which God rightfully has directed the church to have. This is why every teaching, and everyone who would presume to teach on some level, about the faith, needs to be examined to see if it conform to the Gospel of Christ. This why Paul had to meet with Peter and Paul so that his place and authority in the Christian community could be affirmed. We should also note, Paul did this only three years after his conversion; if he had begun his apostolic mission immediately after being converted, he would not have been able to have his faith, his conversion, confirmed (indeed, many Christians would have assumed he was setting them up with a trap). We should learn the wisdom of this, and make sure converts take time to get to know their faith, but also to have their conversion confirmed, and their understanding of the faith properly purified before any of them take up the mantle of teacher in any fashion. This is something which early Christians recognized but sadly, something which seems lost today as many converts use their status as convert to gain fame and become a teacher when they are not ready to teach, that is, when they should still accept that they are learning the faith and need to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling.
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